She took her hammer to the rest of the bones, attacking any shards larger than an inch. When she was done, the floor was covered with white powder and shrapnel. And the body of her boyfriend lay motionless in the middle, one arm extended in her direction.
CHAPTER
FIFTY-ONE
On the tile floor of the crypt, Nick moaned. His voice was different. More familiar.
“Nick?” Jenn asked. She stopped hammering the small shard of bone she was pulverizing and moved next to him.
“It hurts,” he wheezed. “I can’t breathe.” His voice was definitely warmer, fuller. Even riddled with pain it sounded more like her Nick, not the monster that had taken him over.
“I’ll go call an ambulance,” she promised. She leaned over and kissed his lips.
“No,” he said, his hand clutching her shoulder. “Don’t leave me down here.”
“I don’t think you should move,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Help me up,” he insisted.
Carefully, slowly, Jennica wrapped an arm around him and helped him to his feet. He grunted and moaned with each movement, but at last he was leaning on her for support as they walked out of the crypt, through the basement and one by one up the stairs. Jenn looked at the jars of blood and dead things at the base of the stairwell as they passed and wondered if something there would help right now, if she only knew how to use it. In the back of her mind she vowed to study the things that Meredith had left behind.
She helped Nick to the couch and laid him back. He was gasping in pain. Sweat rolled down his forehead.
“Do you remember anything?” she asked.
He shook his head. “We were trying to use the Ouija board to talk to your aunt and then . . .”
“Then the Pumpkin Man came,” Jenn finished. When he moaned, she kissed his head. “Wait here a moment.”
She ran into the kitchen and ducked through the pantry. Inside the hidden room, the body of Travis lay motionless. Jenn grabbed it by the ankles and dragged it into the kitchen. She grabbed a large spoon from the sink and then ran back. She found the eyeballs lying there on the floor, and with the side of a finger pressed them onto the spoon.
“Ew,” she said to herself, but took them anyway. She tossed them on the tile floor near the body when she got back to the kitchen. Then she backed up and locked the hidden room before closing the pantry. The police didn’t need to know about that room, she’d decided. Not until she knew more about it herself.
After a survey of the kitchen, Jenn nodded, returned to the front room and picked up the phone to dial 911. “There’s been a murder,” she announced when a woman answered. “And another man is gravely hurt.”
“Someone will be right there,” the woman replied. She sounded bored.
Jenn had barely hung up when a knock came on the door. “She wasn’t kidding,” she mumbled.
Officer Barkiewicz was there when she answered. He immediately asked, “What happened? I’ve been outside all night. I didn’t see anyone around, but I just got a call on the radio—”
“You missed all the fun,” Jenn agreed. “The Pumpkin Man was here, but I think we’ve sent him away for good.”
“There’s an ambulance coming,” Scott said. “Who . . . ?”
“Nick’s been stabbed,” Jenn explained. She pointed to the couch where Nick lay with his hand holding the knife protruding from his chest. “But Travis, from the grocery . . .” She pointed to the kitchen and shook her head.
“Oh no,” Scott said, and walked past her to look. When he came back, his face was white. “But I was outside the whole time.”
Jenn shrugged. “I’m afraid you missed the action.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. Then his face changed as he realized the connotations of what she said. He spoke fast. “Did he get away, or is he still here in the house?”
“No and yes,” Jenn said. She pointed to the kitchen. “The Pumpkin Man was Travis.”
Scott looked shocked and confused. He opened his mouth to say something but then shook his head. “Let me check on that ambulance.” He disappeared out the front door.
Jenn knelt by the couch and kissed Nick’s head. “Hold on, okay?” she whispered. “Just hold on.”
Nick coughed. “I’m not giving up ’til I get another chance at seeing you on Baker Beach.”
Jenn smiled. “I’ll go there every week if you want, so you need to stick around to see. And you have to get naked. In front of the gay guys. Not a problem for me, really.”
Nick started to laugh but then choked. “Deal,” he managed.
Jenn brushed a piece of hair from his eye and leaned down to kiss his forehead again. She felt horrible that she had done this to him, but he hadn’t been himself at the time. She wondered where the devil that she’d stabbed had actually gone. And was he really gone? She hoped that destroying the bones he’d used as his anchor was enough. Jenn vowed to throw the dust into the sea as soon as she could.
Nick closed his eyes, and she leaned back on her heels and looked around the room. Her aunt’s interests were everywhere, and she was just beginning to understand their power. Statues of Maldita snakes and books of the occult, candles poured from bee’s wax mixed with virgin blood . . . Jenn suddenly realized that she wanted to know more. She needed to know more. There are some things that a woman has to do to protect what she loves. No matter what. She was going to make sure she would never be powerless against something like the Pumpkin Man—or any man—again. She had the house. And the library. She just needed to study and practice.
If only she could talk to Meredith one more time. If only she could understand just a little bit more about what could be accomplished here.
Maybe she could.
Her days as a teacher were done, she knew. She knew it suddenly and with complete finality. She would call Sister Beatrice. She would not be going back home to teach the kids in Chicago where the capital of Nebraska was. No, she needed to become a student herself again. Her new schoolroom was here, in this house. And she was the sole student.
Jenn felt wetness on her side where Nick had slashed at her with the knife in the basement. She slipped a hand under her shirt and traced the cut. It didn’t feel deep, but her fingers still came back red. She took them and touched Nick’s forehead, tracing a smudge in the shape of a sickle.
“My love to blind you, my blood to bind you,” she whispered, repeating a line she’d seen in Meredith’s journal.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she replied.
She stroked Nick’s hair once and stood up. She kissed him quickly and then walked into the kitchen, and from there, into the pantry. Unlocking the secret room. She didn’t slow as she walked, because for some reason she no longer had any fear of the hidden room or the dark. She just hoped Officer Barkiewicz didn’t return while she was in here.
The Ouija board was there, where she knew it would be. It lay on the floor where it was left. She had a feeling there was still a power and a mystery here for her to uncover in this room, but now was not the time. Closing the door tight behind her, she took the Ouija board and left.
She closed the pantry door and walked past the dead body of Travis, past the unconscious body of Nick. Quietly Jenn pulled out the fireplace stone and slipped the witchboard back into the secret compartment. Then she replaced the stone, checking to make sure it fit snugly. No evidence.