Jenn backed up another inch. “Why did you make him kill those kids?”
Nick’s mouth laughed. “Because they taste sooooo good!”
“They were just little kids.”
Nick stepped forward. His voice lost its humor. “You should be less worried about the dead and more worried about yourself.”
“Why are you doing this?” she whispered.
“Because I can,” he said, stepping closer again. “And because I want to stay here. Souls are my bridge.”
“Why did you have to kill my dad and Kirstin and Brian? And now you’ve taken over Nick. You’ve taken everyone that was close to me. Why me?”
Nick grinned menacingly. “Because you’re weak. Your life will taste so sweet, seasoned by loss. You always were a pathetic wallflower. You needed everyone else to prop you up. Your father, Kirstin . . . you could never stand on your own, and now you’re about to fall for the very last time.”
Jenn felt the lure of his lies. The place in her heart that had always begged her to hide instead of seek opened at his words, threatening to suck her in. But then she thought of Meredith’s words from her journal. Meredith had been brave and had never given up on George. She’d written, There are some things that a woman has to do to protect what she loves. No matter what.
Jenn leaned back against the casket as the Pumpkin Man moved closer, and she felt it shift a little as he crowded her, leaving her no room to run. She could smell the warmth of his breath, he was so close. She thought of Meredith’s strength. And then the words of the Book of Shadows came back to her. Heart and bones, the text had read. She’d already tried to use the heart . . .
An idea occurred as the stone behind her shifted. The heart she’d crushed might have had a tie to Perenais power, but the bones of George Perenais the Pumpkin Man rested here. The bones of George Perenais. The bones that this vengeful soul had taken root in.
If this ancient evil had truly found an anchor in George to tie itself to this realm, then by destroying those bones, could she break the link?
The Pumpkin Man grinned. A cat to a cornered mouse. He knew she could go nowhere now. He had taken everything from her but her life . . . and that was next. He lifted the knife and raised it toward her chest. As he did, she threw herself backward against the casket, forcing it to rock. Then, as he lifted the knife to stab, she darted around the other side and with a running start threw herself with all her might against it from the opposite direction.
The Pumpkin Man gave chase, suddenly looking not victorious but fearful. But he was already too late. The casket shifted, overbalanced. It fell toward Nick’s feet. There was a crack as loud and sharp as a cannon; then the stone top of the coffin opened and crashed to the ground. The bones of a dead man exploded across the stone floor.
The Pumpkin Man stood in shock amid the bones. He backed out of the human wreckage, looking lost, unsure. Jenn edged forward until she stood atop the bones, the ribs and arms and skull of a dead man strewn around her feet.
“What have you done?” the Pumpkin Man whispered.
“Oops,” Jenn said with a false smile. “Looks like I made a mess.”
“You’ll be sorry for that,” Nick said, and he moved toward her, knife in hand.
“Why, are these your bones?” Jenn asked sweetly, bending down to finger the empty eye socket of the yellowed skull.
“No, they’re not mine. But they’re the bones of my host. Don’t defile them,” Nick demanded.
This was the right thing, Jenn now knew for sure. She had grabbed the hammer to fend off Nick, but now she raised it and brought it down on the skull of her uncle. “It’s over,” she screamed at her boyfriend’s face, though it wasn’t her boyfriend currently wearing it. “It’s all over, leave us alone!”
The skull shattered, pieces exploding across the floor. Like with broken porcelain, a tiny cloud of white dust rose from the center.
Nick ran forward and shoved her. “Stop!”
She toppled backward but still held the hammer. Righting herself and seeing the flat expression of Nick’s face just inches from her own she whispered, “It’s over. Now it really is. Go back to where you came from.”
He stabbed at her with the knife, but Jenn pushed away. His blade swished past, a sharp sting down the flesh over her rib cage. Jenn responded with the hammer, slamming it into Nick’s carving arm with a meaty thunk. He dropped the knife and clutched his biceps.
Jenn didn’t wait to see how long it took him to recover; she brought the hammer down again and again, this time on every bone of the skeleton that lay around her on the floor. She pounded the hammer into each, enjoying the blows that changed each fossil-like bone into piles of fragments and dust.
She looked at Nick again, and saw him moving. He was coming very slowly toward her, as if he moved underwater. With every crushed bone, he flinched. So Jenn slammed the point of her hammer through her uncle’s skull one last time, and now the pieces gave way, fracturing the shell that had housed a demon who had deserved to die centuries before she was born.
When Jennica brought the last stroke down, the one that pulverized the skull into nothing but dust, Nick collapsed, falling helpless to the ground at her feet. Jenn kept bringing the hammer down, though, crushing bone after bone of the skeleton, knowing that with every blow she was eliminating the power of the curse.
Nick screamed. It was a horrible sound, and he rolled back to his feet. He rushed her, knife raised, but Jenn brought the hammer around and caught him in the shoulder. He swore and was knocked back, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he brought the knife around and tried to drive it into her chest.
Jennica moved just in time. Nick missed. Off balance, he fell to his knee.
“Let him go,” Jenn said softly, not to Nick but to the thing inside him.
Nick’s mouth opened, and the Pumpkin Man’s voice simply said, “No.”
He began to rise. Jenn was prepared for that. She brought her hammer down and struck the hand that held the knife, and the weapon went clattering across the floor. The Pumpkin Man gripped his hand to nurse the pain.
“Let him go,” she repeated, this time with more determination.
“No,” Nick refused, this time wearing a smile that didn’t look at all happy. He rose, and his eyes glared at her with such fire that she knew he would kill her, even if it was his last act. He came at her with both fists raised.
Jenn dove and grabbed the knife from the floor. As she picked it up, she felt his weight upon her. His arm reached around to grab her in a choke hold. She gasped, and stars shone behind her eyes. His arm only tightened further. She could feel the blood pounding in her head like a jackhammer. He was squeezing. Her head felt as if it would explode as she gasped to try to suck in even a little bit of breath, but she couldn’t, he was going to strangle her with the crook of his arm.
Jenn closed her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered silently. “This isn’t you.”
She flipped the knife in her hand so that it pointed behind her, and then she stabbed backward as hard as she could. Her heart sank as she felt it connect.
Nick fell to the ground, clutching the knife. His expression was clearly one of surprise. “What have you done?” he whispered, and then his eyes fluttered closed.
Jenn pushed herself away, kept herself crouched in a defensive stance. After a few moments without seeing Nick move, she rose, wary of the strength of the spirit. But her boyfriend did nothing. She could see his chest rise and fall, a stain of blood seeping wider across his shirt with every breath. But who knew if she’d obliterated the Pumpkin Man? Who knew what exactly would send the evil spirit back to wherever it had come?