“I don’t know. Some dame came to visit him today, and it ticked him off.”
My eyes widened. “Some dame? Do you mean a person?”
Artie ignored me. He pointed his spoon toward the tube. “You gonna try to catch him?”
“I was planning on it.”
“Good luck. You’ll need it.”
How could Artie sit and munch his grits so nonchalantly while the upstairs was rumbling as if an earthquake was striking it?
“Artie, can you remember any more? Who are you? How’d you die?”
He shook his head. “I told you, he won’t let me remember. I can’t. It’s not that I don’t want to.” The spirit stopped eating. He closed his eyes. His brows pinched and his mouth twisted as if he was in horrible agony.
“Artie? Are you okay?”
His lids popped open. “Just trying to remember. Nope. Can’t do it.”
Talking to him was wasting time. I nodded to Roan. “I’m going to call the spirit down here. Are you ready?”
He nodded. “I’m ready. You just tell me what to do.”
“Okay.”
I cupped my hand around my mouth and inhaled a deep breath. I prayed this was the right thing. I didn’t pray much, but when I did, I meant it. I needed all the help I could get in that moment.
I yelled from the pit of my lungs. “Hey, ugly! Why don’t you come down here and say hello?”
The rumbling stopped. Just like that. As if I’d flipped a switch. I waited. What I’d said had either really ticked the big bad off or he’d come down gently, ready to pounce.
A cold breeze sliced through the air.
“You did it now,” Artie said.
Next thing I knew, Artie had vanished. Right after that, every picture and mirror nailed to the walls in the front room smashed to the floor.
“Holy cow,” Roan said.
“He’s testing us.” I fisted my hands. “Stay strong.”
The room quaked as if the earth had split open and was ready to swallow us whole.
The black form appeared before us. It was inky and bottomless. I sensed that if I fisted my hand into the thing, it would never come out.
“Is that it?” Roan said.
I glanced at him. I’d never seen Roan afraid, and this was probably about as close as I was ever going to come. His eyes glassed over as they took in the misshapen blob.
“You can see it?” I said.
Roan’s brow wrinkled. “I’d have to be blind not to.”
“You returned,” it said in a raspy, metallic voice.
“I did. I don’t scare easily.”
“Are you prepared to die?”
