3 The Ghoul Next Door Read online

  I glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”

  “Just don’t let people bring you down with them, that’s all.” Elvis adjusted the large jeweled belt on his white suit.

  Who was he talking about? Or did he mean people in general.

  Before I had a chance to ask, a knock sounded at the front door. I hurried over and ushered Karyn into the living room. The electricity in her aura had always been powerful and it was even more apparent now. Karyn didn’t look like a stereotypical witch. She had long blonde hair and no green skin or warts. Not to mention that her fashion sense was impeccable.

  “How have things been?” she asked when she walked through the door.

  She wore jeans that looked very expensive and a blue T-shirt with a white and blue polka-dotted scarf around her neck. Karyn oozed style.

  “Please come in. Can I get you some coffee?”

  Karyn followed me into the living room. “No, thank you. I had two cups already this morning. I’ll be bouncing off the walls soon.”

  I handed Karyn the box with the remains of the witch’s ball. “Like I said, the ball showed up and everything went crazy again.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I think a demon has been around me.”

  “A demon?” Her eyes widened.

  “It could be the same one from before when Becky Schultz placed a spell on Mindy and Callahan. Maybe that evil spirit had nothing to do with Becky, or if it did, she’s back again.” I paused, then added, “I’ve been fighting off a dark spirit. It’s trying to attack me, as if I have a demon trying to possess my body.”

  She stared for a minute, then said, “Larue, I don’t think it’s a demonic possession. Or if it is, it’s been placed on you with a spell… and I don’t think it’s Becky again. I say this because I sense the magic around you. You have to break the spell.”

  I waved my hands. “Oh no, no more spell-casting.”

  I couldn’t get away from the magic lately. What happened to just working in my bookstore and talking to a few ghosts here and there? Life had been so much tamer when I just hung around with a few spirits. But something had changed not long ago and my life had been nothing but chaos ever since.

  “I’m afraid it can’t be avoided,” Karyn said.

  “I have to think of another way.” I shook my head.

  “Do you have any idea who is responsible for the other strange things happening? Has anyone said anything?” she asked. “Any other strange things happening that you forgot to mention?”

  “Well, of course I’m doing the show and there are tons of spirits there… a particularly bad demon too.”

  “Larue, you know what I suggest, but it won’t be easy without the necklace.”

  I let out a deep breath. “What can I do to break this spell if I don’t find the necklace?”

  “First, I need to find out exactly what spell this is. Then you’ll have to perform a spell to counteract this one. I have faith that if anyone can do this, you can, Larue. You just need to break this cycle once and for all.”

  I wasn’t sure breaking this cycle once and for all was possible for me. This must just be how my luck was going to be from here on out.

  “I need to talk with a few people. I’ll call you soon,” she said, walking toward the door.

  “Thanks, Karyn.” I hugged her and watched as she marched down the steps toward her car.

  Just as Karyn left, my cell rang. “We’re on our way. How are you feeling?” Mindy asked.

  I’d almost forgotten about the show. I had to hurry if I didn’t want people to think I was one of the ghosts. My appearance would frighten people more than any ghost.

  “Ugh. I guess I’m fine.”

  She chuckled. “You don’t sound convinced about that. This is taking so much out of you and I hate it.”

  Before I had time to change my mind, I said, “I have to decide between the show and the store. I don’t know if I can do any more of the show. There is no way I can continue to do both.”

  Mindy sighed, then said, “It’s not an option. I think you know which one you’ll pick. The store means everything to you.”

  I nodded, even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “You’re right. It does mean everything to me. There’s no way I can go on without Book Nook. I can’t let my grandparents down. They worked hard for that store. I won’t disappoint them. I’ll have to tell Matt that I can no longer do the show. He can find someone else to replace me or just use Cooper.”

  Mindy paused, then said, “I know you can’t continue, but it is just a couple more days. Can you push through?”

  Just a couple more days? That was easy for her to say. “I don’t know.”

  “Maybe you should give it one more shot before you give it up. If there is a demon involved, this is exactly what it would want. If someone placed a spell on you, then this is exactly what they wanted to happen… to affect your life. Don’t let them do that.”

  Reassurance filled her voice, but was that enough to make me change my mind?

  “There comes a point where you can’t fight it anymore, Mindy. You have to walk away and let them have it. Move on with your life. I can’t let them take everything from me.”

  “Do you want me to tell them that you can’t do it?” she asked.

  When she asked the question, it hit me. I wasn’t a quitter. I had to continue to fight. What had I been thinking? She was right, I had to fight.

  “I’ll be waiting outside for y’all. Let’s kick some demon butt.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Cooper honked the horn as I stepped out onto my front porch. He was behind the wheel and Mindy sat in the front seat, which was fine with me. I relished my space this morning. I was in a foul mood, and I knew exactly why. I couldn’t control the negative feeling.

  Before climbing into the backseat, I hurried over to the mailbox to check for another letter. I pulled out a couple of envelopes with the usual junk mail… but staring back at me was another taunting letter.

  My heart rate spiked. I shoved the letter into my bag and jumped in the SUV. With any luck, I’d have a chance to read it soon. It was probably another warning.

  When I settled into my seat, Mindy turned around and stared at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You look like something the cat dragged in after the dog buried it.”

  “Thanks for that delightful observation, but I kind of feel exactly like something that’s just been dug up.”

  Mindy stared for a few seconds longer, searching my eyes. She knew something was wrong… something different. But if she’d asked me what, I wouldn’t have been able to answer.

  We pulled up in front of the farmhouse. For a moment everyone was quiet, staring up at the house. Eerie wind blew across the outside of the house, whipping the branches on the trees wildly. The evil knew what I’d come here to do today and it was ready for a fight.

  The strange feeling in my home was the same feeling I’d gotten when I was in this house. I realized that now. But why was this thing only attaching to me? Why not Cooper? Or Mindy? Was there a connection between Jennie and me?

  We met with the homeowner again in her living room. Jennie’s boyfriend was with her today. He was a muscular guy who looked as if he could stand up to anything, but unfortunately when dealing with evil spirits, it didn’t matter your size or strength. His face showed his worry. He wore jeans and a brown polo shirt that matched his hair.

  “This is my boyfriend, Ben Hall.” Jennie gestured toward the man.

  He stretched out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  After the introductions, we sat at the dining room table to discuss our findings before beginning the final stage of the investigation. It would be hard to reveal what I’d seen to Jennie. I hoped she was prepared for what I had to say.

  “There are a lot of dead people passing through this house. And it’s not good for the people living here,” I told Jennie. “They pass through a portal in the house.”

  The camera wa
s right in front of me. I guess I’d gotten used to it pretty quickly.

  “How else has it affected the people here?” Matt asked.

  “They want her attention, that’s for sure.” I pointed to Jennie.

  “They’re unsettled and scared,” Cooper said, turning his blond head and flashing a worried look my way.

  Ben reached for Jennie’s hand. I knew this would be a lot for her to handle, but they had to know the truth.

  “There are a lot of things happening here that worry me,” I said more to myself than anyone else, although all eyes were focused on me.

  “Have you had any more scratches?” Cooper asked.

  Ben leaned forward and answered, “Last night she had some show up on her arms, plus her eyes changed colors—they looked blue and Jennie has brown eyes. She was there with me, but her eyes were despondent. It’s like something was trying to take over.”

  My stomach turned and the room began to spin. The description of her eyes was exactly what Callahan had said about mine. I hadn’t noticed anything about my eyes, but maybe I wouldn’t notice. What the heck was happening to me?

  Jennie hesitated, then said, “I woke up and felt hands on me. The spirit was in the bed with me.”

  “Do you have a lot of dreams? Maybe more than the average person?” I asked.

  “Yes. Usually vivid.” She nodded. “The last one was where these little monsters had me cornered in my bedroom. They were throwing things at me and hurting people.” Jennie jumped up and pulled something from the cabinet drawer. “Here, I drew this picture of them.” She handed the paper to Matt.

  He let out an audible gulp, then handed the page to me.

  In the middle of the white paper were several evil-looking creatures. The same thing I’d seen outside my house. They were skinny with long arms and they wore capes. Their eyes were bright blue.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  After finishing the interview, we grabbed our equipment and started our investigation. When we moved into the hallway, I pulled Cooper and Matt to the side. Of course the camera was in my face, so it wasn’t exactly private.

  “I can’t deny what I’m seeing in this house.” I pointed down the hall. “The man is very upset. He likes to push people around. He needs to leave.”

  The man in the overalls was back. This time he wasn’t confined to the bedroom. He stood defiantly in the middle of the hall.

  “Do you feel the electricity? It’s a weird feeling,” Cooper said.

  “He can push electricity through people,” I said, as a tingle raced down my spine.

  Static crackled in the air. Matt looked as if he wanted to run and Mindy wasn’t far behind him.

  “These creatures that she drew in the picture are living on her roof. They’ve been up there for months.” I pointed over our heads. “At least that’s what the man in the overalls said.”

  Cooper and Matt stared at me wide-eyed. The energy coming from Mindy let me know she wanted out of there. I prayed she didn’t have a panic attack before we finished filming for the day.

  “They live on the roof?” Matt asked.

  “Yep. They are almost alien-looking and they scuttle around on the roof. They want to be attached to Jennie.”

  Cooper cast a glance my way. I knew what he was thinking. These evil things didn’t just want Jennie. I was pretty sure they wanted me too.

  I continued without acknowledging the look Cooper had given me. “They’re drawn to certain areas and people. Jennie just so happens to be one of the unlucky ones. And someone sent them here.”

  Was I one of the unlucky ones too?

  “I’ve never heard of these monsters before now and I’ve researched a lot of dark spirits,” Cooper said.

  And Cooper thought he knew everything about demons. I had showed him. I had the 411 on these creatures. Okay, it was thanks to Heath, the man in the overalls, who didn’t want to leave his former residence. It wasn’t my fault if he wouldn’t talk to Cooper.

  “They’re very dark energy.” My voice was almost a whisper now. The more I spoke about them the more I knew they were after me too. Not just Jennie.

  Mindy swallowed hard and Matt didn’t move an inch as he stared at me wide-eyed. Cooper had moved a couple steps forward. He probably wanted to get Heath to speak with him. But the male ghost wasn’t going to… he’d told me I was the only one he would communicate with. He wasn’t even talking the way the other ghosts did. Instead, he was just placing the thoughts in my head.

  “Jennie is different,” I said. “I think she’s a sensitive. This thing is stealing parts of her energy.”

  “I want both of you to be okay. I’m worried about you,” Cooper said.

  Mindy’s expression turned even more dire with Cooper’s words.

  “The evil spirit wants in the house. It’s not good for Jennie. It’s a bad presence and if it gets a hold of her it will make her do bad things. It can’t get in.” I looked from Matt to Cooper. “This would be awful. It will hurt people any chance it gets.”

  “The male spirit became hostile when we arrived, but I don’t think he’ll harm anyone. He’s nothing to really be concerned with. He died several years ago in this house,” Cooper said.

  Matt inched down the hall. He looked as if he wanted nothing more than to get away from the action. From over his shoulder, he said, “Okay, let’s see if you all can get one more round of evidence.”

  Cooper and I made our way from room to room. As we moved through the house, the feeling only intensified. I began snapping photos one right after the other. With any luck, I’d catch something in the photo. I always liked truth to back up the things I saw. As I made a step forward, a voice sounded. Everyone froze, so I knew I wasn’t the only one who’d heard it. With any luck, we’d caught it on the recorder.

  The evil spirit had seeped in and was crawling through the walls, following every move we made. The spirit might be able to take on a human form, but it was in no way human.

  Cooper and I made our way up the stairs to one of the back rooms. Mindy bravely followed close behind. When I inched the door open, I spotted the thing right away. The creature was in the corner of the bedroom when I stepped through the door, snarling and growling at me.

  The floor shook as the creature crawled across the old hardwood floor.

  “The thing is making me sick,” I said.

  “What do you mean, sick?” Mindy asked as she neared the door.

  When she saw the thing she backed up, then froze as she stared at it. We were all frozen on the spot.

  “I mean like I may barf on your shoes in a second.”

  “We need to get out of here.” Mindy pulled my arm.

  “We can’t leave yet. The cameras are rolling.” I pointed.

  As the cameraman stepped forward to video the black figure we’d seen, the evil spirit disappeared. Part of me wished that he’d gotten it on tape because, like I said, I loved evidence to back of the claims of the paranormal, but the other part of me was relieved that the evil was gone.

  “Larue, maybe you should leave. It’s not good if you’re getting sick.” Cooper stood beside me.

  “You can leave if you want, but there is no way I’m giving up that easily.”

  “You need not to try to be the hero here. You can’t put this above your health.” Cooper touched my arm.

  That wasn’t what Matt would say. He’d want us to stay no matter what. Undoubtedly, the scarier the outcome, the bigger the ratings. And why did Cooper care if I stayed? So that he could be the hero? No way. I wasn’t falling for that.

  We moved back down stairs and handed over any evidence that we may have captured to the tech guy. We swapped out equipment and continued our tour through the downstairs part of the house. After another hour and no additional activity, we met Matt, Jennie and Ben back at the dining room table to review the evidence.

  Matt played back the recorder. “There are voices on the recorders. Did you hear the whistling?”

  The angry m
ale voice over the recorder said, “Danger, Larue.”

  Ben said, “Now I have something to back up what I’m hearing.”

  “That was the angry man,” I said when I heard the voice say my name across the recorder. “Did you hear the deep husky voice? It is very creepy.”

  Matt played the next recording. “Get out of my house,” the male voice said again.

  As we sat around the table, Cooper’s EMF detector began beeping wildly. “It’s trying to communicate with us through that.”

  The heavy feeling had returned.

  Mindy had been quiet for the whole investigation and rightfully so. “I am freaked out. I can’t believe something was standing there in that room. It kind of looked like a man, but I couldn’t see its face clearly. The rest of the thing was pitch-black.”

  Ben shook his head. “This explains so much. We’ve heard footsteps and seen doors open and close. We’ve had people get scratched.”

  While he talked, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye in the living room. The creature growled, so I knew it was in there, but I wouldn’t give it the attention that it so dearly desired.

  “We saw something dark in the bedroom upstairs,” I said.

  Cooper stood and hurried out of the room as if he’d sensed something, but he didn’t give us an explanation. I focused my attention on Jennie again.

  Jennie nodded as she stared at us. “I stopped sleeping in that bedroom because the activity was too strong. I always feel uneasy when I go in there. One time, the dresser was pulled away from the wall, blocking the door. I refused to stay in that room ever again. When the lights are out, it is darker than dark.”

  Cooper returned. “There is a vortex here. It’s an opening to the other world and we need to close it.” He pointed toward the door.

  Wow. Had he found it while outside? Everyone stared at him but didn’t say a word. What could they say to an announcement like that?

  “This doorway is allowing in the spirits,” he continued.

  Ben shook his head. “I used to think that spirits moved on, now I know they’d don’t. Can you get them to leave and get out of our house?” He looked at me with a pleading stare.