Benedict laughed. The sound was full of contempt. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re dead. It’s not as if you can kill me again.”
Odessa smiled at her father. “You are absolutely right, father. I cannot kill you again, but I can make sure you never hurt another soul.” Her hands came up in front of her, as if to ward off a blow and her eyes slowly closed. Odessa began to chant in words Ronan could not understand.
He took Everly’s elbow and led her back to where Ten and Cope were standing near the white light. “What language is she speaking? What’s she doing?”
“I have no idea what language that is,” Ten said, his eyes filled with fear. “I think she might be-”
Whatever Ten was about to say was swept away by Benedict screaming.
The jail rumbled, as if it were being hit by an earthquake. A reddish light appeared behind Benedict. One by one, figures appeared behind him. Nameless and faceless, they reached for Benedict, tearing his at his clothes and then his flesh.
Ronan grabbed Everly and turned her face away from what was happening. “Are they?” he asked, unable to say the word demons out loud.
Ten nodded and turned around. He faced the white light and began to pray. Ronan heard the words to the Hail Mary and started to recite along.
Benedict screamed again, his voice seeming to break. “Stop this, Odessa! I love you!”
“The only thing you love is yourself. I hope you enjoy an eternity of suffering, pain, and fear. You deserve nothing less.”
Ronan saw the red light pulse brighter and then it was gone. He chanced a look behind him. Odessa stood alone. There was no sign of Benedict or anyone else.
“What did you do?” Ronan asked.
“It’s better that you don’t know. What I can tell you is that Donald Benedict will never harm anyone again, living or dead. All of the men imprisoned here are free. As am I.” Odessa knelt in front of Everly. “Thank you for making me see there was a way back for my soul. I was filled with so much hatred that I could no longer see that I could choose another path.” She set a hand on Everly’s head. “Forget what you saw here today, little one. Forget the words. Forget their actions. Forget me.” With those words, Odessa vanished.
“Did all of the inmates cross over?” Everly asked.
“Not yet,” Bellamy said. “I’m still here.”
“What are you waiting for? Magnolia Anne is waiting for you.”
“I wanted to thank you all for helping me,” Bellamy said. “Especially you, Everly. I did a lot of thinking last night after your visit and I realized I needed to forgive myself for what I’d done that horrible day. I’ve got a lot of work to do, but plenty of time to do it.”
“I’m so proud of you, Bellamy. Be well.” Everly hugged the spirit and stepped back, giving him access to the light.
“Thanks, again.” Bellamy saluted and walked into the light. It sparkled brighter for several seconds and slowly dimmed.
“Whose ready for Italian food?” Everly asked with a cheeky grin. “I need lasagna and meatballs and garlic bread.”
“You heard the lady!” Jude snorted. “Lasagna it is!” He took Everly’s hand and ran toward the cellblock door with her. Cope was right behind them.
“Are you okay?” Ronan asked.
“I am. It’s gonna take me a while to forget what I saw today with Odessa. Aside from that, I’m good.”
“Do I even want to know what she did?” Ronan asked.
“I think she summoned demons from hell to come for Benedict. I’ve never heard of anything like that before. I sure as hell have never seen anything close to what happened today.”
“Do you think Odessa wiped Everly’s mind of what she saw and heard?” To be honest, that was Ronan’s greatest worry, that his daughter would somehow remember what Odessa had done and how to do it herself.
“I do. I read Everly after Odessa vanished and couldn’t find any thoughts about her. I don’t want to upset you, but I think she did that to keep Everly from knowing how to do it too.”
“I was thinking that exact thing. Everly’s more powerful than either of us know. I didn’t want to think or talk about it before, but her gifts are only growing stronger.”
“Yeah, they are.” Ten agreed, with a laugh. “Let’s get the hell out of here. I want Italian food too. One of those all you can eat places would be nice.”
“Come on, my spicy meatball.” Ronan took Ten’s hand and led him out of the prison. He hoped to hell they never visited another place like this again. He felt like he’d aged twenty years in the last twenty minutes.
