Atticus #3
If the deal I struck really does connect to my disappearing, to the way Atlas shrinks away from me, do I really want to understand it? Will it make my life impossible to live, or incriminate me?
Do I really want to know about it if it means I’ve lost complete control?
“If you don’t find the answers, it could end in danger for you and those you love,” Madam Lu says softly.
Images of my family, of Cameron, of myself flash through my mind. I grab her hands.
Madam Lu’s eyes slide shut, and she takes a deep breath.
Julian shifts awkwardly next to me, his hand still latched onto Atlas as we wait.
“You’ve been feeling very healthy lately, haven’t you?” Madam Lu mutters.
“Yes, but I exercise a lot,” I inform her.
“This has nothing to do with exercise. I can feel… There is something dark around you, son. There is…” Her breath catches, her hands twitching against mine.
“What is it?” Julian presses.
“I can see… there is…”
We wait on the edge of our metaphorical chairs as her eyes dart back and forth behind closed lids.
Then, suddenly, she rips her hands from mine. With wide, terrified eyes, she speaks to Julian without ever looking away from my gaze.
“Julian, call the church. Now.”
Julian jumps up, taking his phone from his pocket as he heads toward the door.
“What should I tell them?” he asks over his shoulder.
“Tell them we have a demon problem,” Madam Lu answers quietly.
Julian slips out of the room, and we sit in silence, all while I bear the weight of the woman’s intense gaze.
“I didn’t know psychics believe in God,” I comment.
Her expression doesn’t change as she says, “You don’t have to trust me or believe in my work, but you do need help, Atticus. You messed with something bigger than yourself, and now you’re paying the price.”
This shuts me right up.
Until now, I’ve been intentionally blocking away the memory of that night. I haven’t even been able to touch the book, let alone dwell on what I’ve lost.
Have I lost more than I thought? Am I… am I going to hurt someone?
The thought makes me shiver, and as we wait for Julian’s return, it weighs heavily on my chest.
A few minutes later, as if sensing I’m about to freak out in this silence, Julian bursts back into the room.
“Reverend Clark is five minutes out,” he rushes to say.
“Good,” Madam Lu tells him. Then, to me, she says, “He’ll be able to sense other things from you.”
“Other?” I squeak.
“It’ll be okay,” Atlas whispers, more to himself than anyone else, and Julian falls to his knees behind him, holding him close.
“It will be okay,” he reassures my brother.
So we wait those long five minutes, with Madam Lu staring holes into my face and Julian comforting my brother.
Just as I should be, if he would only let me touch him.
And as the priest shows up, Julian fetches him and brings him to this small, back room.
“I knew it,” the older man hisses, staring down at me from the doorway.
It’s the priest from the grocery store. The one who tried to convert me to his church.
“Reverend Clark,” Madam Lu says. “I could sense something dark attached to him. I figured you’d be able to help.”
The older man’s blue eyes narrow. “Not attached to, Louisa, but inside.”
“Inside?!” Atlas nearly screeches, jumping to his feet.
Something grows cold inside of me.
“Yes, son, inside,” the reverend confirms. “I saw you not long ago, Atticus. Do you remember that?’
Slowly, I nod.
“And do you know what I sensed in you?” He does not wait for a response. “I could sense it inside of you. In the same way I can feel the presence of our Lord in the air that surrounds us, when I saw you, I could feel it, dormant inside of you.”
“Is it another incubus?” Julian asks from where he stands next to the man.
“I know it’s evil,” Reverend Clark offers. “I know it craves nutrients and is using this boy as a vessel for it.”
I resist the urge to correct him, to say that I’m a man, not a boy, and instead ask, “What does it want? What are the nutrients it’s searching for?”
“I don’t know,” he admits. “Tell me everything from the beginning.”
So I do. I start with Atty’s being cursed, how I tried to save him, and end with the videos my new camera captured.
“You’re saying that you’ve begun leaving your room at night, but have no memory of it?” Madam Lu asks.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Atlas demands. “We could have helped you!”
“I just learned about it today,” I answer defensively.
Not that I intended to mention it to him.
“That’s when it feeds,” the reverend concludes. “Are there any signs of where you go? Faint memories or feelings?”
“No, sir.”
He takes a deep breath, eyes flickering between all of us. “I need to look into this. I may have handled a few similar cases, but this feels more… devious. Is there a way to keep Atticus from straying at night until I figure it out?”
The room is silent, and I fear for a moment that there isn’t a solution. But then I see the small, satisfied smile take shape on my sweet, precious little brother’s face.
“Oh,” he starts, a hint of glee in his tone. “I know just what to do.”
Oh, fuck.
He’s going to lock me up, isn’t he?