The Man Who Wasn’t There – Part 51

Wanting to get away from the crowd, the Circle members decide to meet up at the mausoleum where their ancestors are buried. Unfortunately, something has happened to the adults. They seem to have been possessed. Instead of going to the cemetery, they head to Chase’s house. Brian and Dwight head to the cemetery, but when Brian has a seizure, Dwight knows they have to join the others.

“Our folks drove us to Chase’s house. Why didn’t Brian answer?”

“He’s in a bad way, Jordan. I’m on my way. Lost at the moment. Where am I? Bloody hell. Help!”

“Where are you?”

“No earthly idea.”

“Dwight’s on the way over,” Jordan said to her . “But he’s lost. I’m shit with directions.” She held out the phone pleadingly.

Chase took the phone and gave Dwight clear and easy to follow directions. Within minutes, he pulled up. Brian’s seizure was still going. By now, he was drooling.

“Did he eat or drink anything?” Jordan asked.

“No, nothing. It started in the cemetery. I figured maybe you’d gotten your wires crossed and come here. I guess you had no choice. What are they doing?”

“No idea. Help me get him in the house,” Jordan commanded.

“Isn’t it locked?”

“Chase is here.”

It took all of them, but they got Brian up the steep steps to the front door. Chase let them in and they carried Brian to the kitchen, laying him on the table.

“Let me look,” Marissa said. “Boys, go keep an eye on our parents. We’ve got this.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. If anything happens, Jordan will kick ass and take names.” She gave Chase a quick kiss.

The boys left. The girls assessed Brian’s condition. The seizure hadn’t stopped. The drool had become foam.

“Someone’s torturing him,” Marissa said. “Think, dammit!” Taking a few deep breaths, she made herself stop shaking. “Okay, symptoms. Foaming at the mouth. Seizing. Arched spine. Can’t check the pupils as the eyes are rolled back.”

“What do we do?”

“Wing it. I’m not sure what this is, but I think it’s magical not chemical. He was careful what he ate and drank. He didn’t have anything at the party, like the rest of us. Okay, improvisation time. Jordan, I need a couple of your spikes, one of each, please. And some of the blessed salt. He should have plenty in his pockets. And holy water. A pot.” She reached above them to the pots that hung over the butcher’s block. Fortunately, the stove was gas and hadn’t been damaged when the grove blew up.

Marissa poured the holy water and a teaspoon of blessed salt with cumin into a pot and set it to boil. Jordan stirred the mixture with her spikes while Marissa searched Dora’s cupboard for Valerian.

“I want it for the seizure. It’s calming. I don’t know if we can get him to drink this, but we’re going to try.”

She added a measure of the herb in the water. It boiled for a minute before she poured some off and blew on it. With a silver spoon, she dipped some out and put it to Brian’s lips. He spit it out, gagging on it, but she gave him more. His seizure increased. Marissa held him as he thrashed, muttering an incantation. The girls helped to hold Brian, but he was bigger and stronger than all of them. Jordan invoked air and held him firmly with invisible bonds.

“Keep holding him. He needs the rest of this.” Little by little, Marissa spooned the salty water into Brian’s mouth. When it was gone, they waited and watched.

With a shiver, he relaxed. His eyes returned to normal and he quit gasping for breath. Jordan approached, touching his face and neck gingerly.

“Are you okay now?”

“What the hell happened? One second, I’m in the cemetery. Now I’m in Chase’s kitchen?”

They explained as he tried to stand. Wobbly and weak in the knees, he was determined to get outside.

“There’s no telling what’s going on.”

“How do you think this happened? They didn’t eat or drink anything. We were all really careful.”

“Someone very powerful,” Brian said. “If they got to me, they can get to our folks.”

“Why not us?” Marissa asked.

“Because we’re not considered as big a threat,” Jordan said. “For once I’m glad of their narrow minded chauvinism. It gives us an edge.”

They ran outside. Marissa screamed. The boys were all face down on the ground, pinned by tree roots. She tried to run forward, but Jordan and Louisa caught her.

“My turn,” Brian growled. Stepping forward, he entered the circle and strode purposefully toward their parents.

Tree roots jumped up, trying to snare him, but he tied them in knots with a swipe of his hand. Another flick of his fingers and his friends were released. They rose to their knees, the roots receding rapidly. The girls ran forward to stand by their future mates. Jordan tried to follow Brian, but a wall of thorns sprang up, blocking her path. She didn’t know if it was from the Evil, or if Brian had done it to protect her. Either way, she didn’t fight it, but retreated slightly.

“I’m here,” Brian bellowed.

The air in front of him shimmered and glowed. Like water cascading over stones, the walls of the mausoleum appeared. Where the other was white marble, this one was black. The vines covering it were vivid red with putrid green leaves. The ground around it shifted and the doors swung inward.

© 2017 Dellani Oakes

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