Prowl Page 11

  I shook my head.

  He released me and I gasped and sputtered, sucking in air. I massaged my neck with quivering fingers.

  “W-w-who are you?”

  “I’m your worst nightmare.”

  “I-I thought you cared about me. I thought you were my dad.”

  His face was so close to mine I could smell his animal-like breath. The black beady eyes traveled up my body.

  “Your dad is a coward and a lowlife. He thought he could be as powerful as me, but he was wrong. I played him like a fiddle and now I’ve done the same thing to his daughter. How’s that for poetic justice?”

  “So you did know my dad?”

  “Yeah, and I destroyed him the same way I’m going to destroy you.”

  I thought of what Mom had said, about all the awful things my dad had done.

  “You made him do all those bad things?”

  Red flashed in his black eyes, a rumble sounded in his gut. I flinched, closed my eyes.

  “I don’t make anyone do anything. People are stupid. They fall for anything I tell them. Don’t blame that on me. That’s not my fault. Let’s take you for example. I’ve been speaking to you for years and you’ve listened every time, but I wasn’t the one who held the blade to your arm or forced you to make out with some loser. You did that all on your own.”

  My body trembled. I thought of that evil voice in my head I’d listened to over the years.

  “You used to be strong and smart. You didn’t believe in love and goodness. You were only out for yourself. Then you moved here and got all soft. You started believing in things like God and unconditional love. You disgust me now.” He spat at me. “I came here because I had to save you from yourself.”

  I had to get away from him. I needed to purge Wesley from my life. Remembering what Rhiannon said about getting rid of a spirit, I knew if I could just get out of the room I might be able to get rid of him for good. I searched for a way out but he stood between me and the door. There was no way I could fight him. His body was pure muscle. So I used the only weapon I had—my brain. I’d confuse him with my words.

  “But I don’t believe in those things. Not anymore,” I said.

  He sniffed, blowing hot air in my face.

  “Now that I know the truth about my dad I see that love is just a myth, a lie we deceive ourselves with.”

  “Maybe you’re not as dumb as you look.”

  I puffed out my chest, pretending to be braver than I felt. “I like the power I have with you, Wesley.”

  He smiled, drool dripping from his fangs. “Perhaps I’ve underestimated you.” His ears perked toward the door. “Sounds like Granny and Mother-Dearest are coming to check on you. I’ll be back.”

  He vanished. I exhaled loudly. My whole body ached as if I’d just worked out for hours. Tension filled my shoulders and neck. I wished I could lay here for hours but instead I peeled myself off my bed. A knock sounded at my bedroom door.

  “Kenzie, wanna go out and grab a bite to eat with Grandma and I?” Mom asked.

  I flung open the door. “I can’t. I need to go talk to Rhiannon.”

  “What? But I just got here.”

  “This is important, Mom. I need to make things right.”

  Mom sighed. “Fine. Do you want us to pick something up for you?”

  “No, I’ll be okay.”

  “You sure?” Her bright pink lips lowered into a frown.

  “Yeah. I’ll see you later.” I ran past her before she could stop me.

  “What are you doing here?” Rhiannon wore a scowl on her face.

  “Look, I know you’re mad at me but I need your help.”

  “You have a lot of nerve coming here after what you did to me.”

  “I know and I’m sorry. Please Rhiannon, can you just let me in? I need to talk to you.”

  “Is this some kind of trap?” Rhiannon wedged herself in the doorframe, her gaze darting nervously from side to side. I saw the ring of bruises still visible trailing up her pale arms. Shame burned through me. Tears pricked my eyes.

  “I’m so sorry Rhiannon. You’re right. I totally messed up. But Wesley is going to kill me and I have to get rid of him. I don’t know where else to turn.” My lips quivered, tears spilled down my cheeks. “Please, Rhiannon. You have every right not to trust me but I really, really need you.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  I sniffed. “You shouldn’t. But you’re my last hope.”

  “You should’ve thought about that before you let your spirit friend attack me.” She started to slam the door in my face.

  I reached out to block it. “Please, Rhiannon. I need you. I’m desperate.” The tears came faster and snot leaked from my nose. “He’s gonna kill me. I’m scared.”

  I saw the walls crumble. Her face softened. “Okay, come in, but don’t make me regret this.”

  I sighed with relief as I followed her inside. After I spilled the whole story Rhiannon paced in her living room, wearing a path in the carpet.

  “Okay, this is what we’ll do. Go get your Ouija board. Do you think your Grandma will let you have it back?”

  I walked to the window, peered out. Grandma’s car was gone. “I think they went to lunch so hopefully they left it.”

  “Okay, once you get your board bring it back here and we’ll break both my board and yours into seven pieces, sprinkle them with holy water and bury them in seven different locations in my backyard. Lucky for you, I got some holy water the other night. After Wesley attacked me I thought I might need it to protect myself.”

  “Are you sure this will work? I mean, he shows up all the time now. It doesn’t seem like he needs the board.”

  “True. But it’s the board that first brought him here. It may be that he needs the boards in order to stay here.”

  “You really think so?”

  Rhiannon bit her lip. “I’m not sure.”

  My heart dropped, my shoulders stooped.

  “But it’s worth a try. Here. I have a couple of other things to do to ward off evil spirits.” She raced to her room and returned a moment later with two plastic bags and a cross. “Okay, in this one is some salt. Put it in your pocket and keep some in there at all times. In this one is sage. Burn it in your room tonight. Also, take this cross. Hang it over your bed.” She pressed all of them into my palm.

  I nodded. I was hopeful that something would work. “Alright. I’ll go get my board and be back in a few.”

  Tearing the boards into seven pieces wasn’t as easy as we originally thought. We used scissors, a hammer, a saw and our bare hands. It took half an hour to break both boards and by the time we were done we were drenched in sweat and our arms were sore and achy. I scooped up the fourteen pieces of the board while Rhiannon gathered up the shovels and holy water, which was apparently just water that had been blessed by a priest. Together we headed out to Rhiannon’s backyard.

  The yard was nothing but dirt. Not a weed or patch of grass anywhere.

  “We bought it this way. It totally needs to be landscaped but my parents are never home so they don’t care.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Anyway, let’s lay the pieces of the board on the ground here. We’ll sprinkle them all with the water and then we’ll split up to bury them.”

  I dropped the remnants of the board at my feet. Rhiannon doused them with water. She used the entire bottle. They were practically soaked by the time she finished. After discarding the bottle she threw me a shovel.

  “Here. You take that side of the yard, I’ll take the other.”

  I hit the shovel into the hard ground, pushed with my entire body until it gave, the tip disappearing into the earth. I pushed harder until I had a shovel full of dirt. Then I threw it over my shoulder and repeated the sequence again. Since there weren’t any trees, the sun beat down hard on my back. Sweat soaked my neck, slid between my shoulder blades. “How deep does the hole need to be?”

  “Not very. Just deep enough to bury it.” Rhiannon’s back was to m
e. I could see her bending over a hole she had already dug.

  When I was satisfied with mine I dropped the first piece of my board inside. It felt good to throw dirt over the top of it until it was no longer visible.

  “Make sure they’re not too close to each other,” Rhiannon instructed from her side of the yard.

  I moved a few feet over and dug again. This time when I threw the portion in I caught a glimpse of the letter “A” which reminded me of something. “Hey.” I turned to Rhiannon who leaned against her shovel, wiping her brow. “Did I ever tell you about the last time I used the board? The time before Wesley visited me?”

  She shook her head.

  “It was the strangest thing. I was asking him all kinds of questions and he was answering them but then all of the sudden the planchette spelled the whole alphabet backwards.”

  “What?” Her eyes bugged out of her head. “And you’re just now telling me this?”

  “Why? Was it significant?”

  “Kenzie, when a spirit recites the alphabet backwards that means they’re escaping from the board. You have to stop them. That’s why you never should’ve played without me. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

  Cold pinpricks of fear ran up my spine. I surveyed the dug up yard, the dirt under my nails, mud caking my shoes, dust brushing my shins. “So, does that mean this won’t work? That we did all this for nothing?”

  Rhiannon pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaled loudly. “I don’t know, but we still need to try. Just keep digging.”

  We both heard the noise at the same time. We froze. Our eyes locked, betraying the fear we felt. Rattling sounded near the side gate. We glanced in the direction of the sound and saw the lock on the gate vibrating as if someone was trying to open it. I gripped the shovel tighter. The gate continued rattling.

  “Dig! Dig! Hurry!” Rhiannon said, her voice laced with panic.

  I pushed the shovel into the dirt, threw it behind me spraying my head and back. Rhiannon worked in a dizzying frenzy. Dust filled the air. The rattling became the soundtrack to which we dug. Working as fast as we could, we finished the remaining pieces. Once we were done, the rattling ceased. We collapsed in the dirt, breathing hard. Sweat soaked our bodies and we were covered head to toe in dirt and mud.

  “I think it worked,” I said in response to the silence.

  Rhiannon turned to me, her face red and glistening. “Let’s hope it did. If not, then I’m afraid we’re both in trouble.”

  Later that evening, after I’d showered and calmed down from the events of the day, Haley called. I sat on my bed, legs pulled in close to my body. Mom and Grandma chatted in the family room. The sound of their voices comforted me. I kept my door ajar, because I was too frightened to close it all the way.

  “Hey, what the heck? I heard your mom’s there.”

  “Yeah, I know. Crazy, huh?” I wondered how much she knew. “How did you find out?”

  “I had a hair appointment scheduled with her today. When I showed up for it they said your mom had to leave on an emergency trip to see you.”

  Thanks a lot. Good going, Mom. Way to air our dirty laundry.

  “So, what’s the big emergency?”

  I forced a light laugh from my throat. There was nothing I kept secret from Haley. She knew everything about me. I wanted to tell her what was going on, but I just couldn’t. Besides, she’d totally flip if she found out. “Nothing. She’s just visiting. Maybe she just said that to get the time off. You know my mom. She’s a total drama queen.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Haley sounded distant as if my lie formed a chasm between us.

  “So, what’s new with you?” I asked. “Anything?”

  “Nah. Same old.”

  “What about Derek? You two back together yet?”

  “No, he’s still with Chelsea.”

  “I’m sorry, Hales, but it’s totally his loss. You’ll meet someone better. I’m sure of it.”

  “I hope so. Hey, I ran into Tanner today. He broke up with Scarlet.”

  “Really? They’ve been together for like two years.”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s crazy. Remember what a huge crush you used to have on him?”

  I laughed. I’d been crushing on Tanner since elementary school. “Yeah.”

  “Well, now he’s back on the market. Want me to put in a good word?”

  “Nah. I have Isaac now. Remember?” The thought of him squeezed my heart. I prayed we had finally gotten rid of Wesley.

  “Right. How are things with you guys?”

  ”Really good actually.”

  “Great.” Her enthusiasm sounded forced. I felt bad for her. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Well, I better go. I’ll talk to you later.”

  When I hung up emptiness filled me. Haley and I had been best friends forever. Conversations between us were usually as easy as breathing. I longed to have that back. Maybe when all this was over, I would. I wanted that more than I could say.

  Bored and too nervous to sleep, I logged on to Facebook to see what was going on with my cyber-friends. I scanned my friend’s posts, laughing at how innocent they were. Clearly everyone else was having a fun ghost-free summer. I hadn’t updated my status in weeks. What would I say?

  Having fun in Cali. Making lots of new friends… even dead ones. Or Spent the day burying my Ouija board at my friend’s house. Hoping to get rid of the psychotic spirit who’s stalking me and threatening my life.

  Discouraged, I logged off. After spending my whole life looking for excitement, now I just longed for normalcy.

  16

  I flicked off the light on my nightstand and darkness flooded the room. For the first night in weeks I could breathe easy. Ever since Rhiannon and I tore up our Ouija boards Wesley had been gone. No sign of him in two days. For added insurance, I burnt sage in my room earlier in the evening, filled my pajama pockets with salt, and hung the cross on the wall above my bed. I was pretty sure I warded off any evil spirits. Turning over I pressed my face into my fluffy pillow and closed my eyes. Just as I was fading away, an ice-cold breeze whisked over my body.

  I sprang up only to be pushed back down so hard, the wind knocked out of me. As I struggled to get my breath back, scratches appeared on my arm, red angry welts rising from my flesh. Pain ripped through my skin. I hugged myself, in an effort to shield my body from the invisible talons that slashed at me.

  “Wesley!” I pleaded. “Stop it! What are you doing?”

  “Punishing you!” He hissed, his face materializing before my eyes. Only this time it wasn’t the shadow, or the man, or even the dragon-like face he’d had last time. This time he bore the face of a snake. The long serrated tongue shot out and licked my cheek. It burned like poison and I frantically rubbed it off. “How dare you betray me?”

  “I’m…I’m sorry,” I sputtered, attempting to push him off me with my legs. “It won’t happen again.”

  “You’re right it won’t.”

  I flailed and kicked, but he held me tight. His body crushed mine. I went limp, tiring from the struggle.

  “You can’t get rid of me. No matter how hard you try. I’m a part of you now, Kenzie.”

  He slithered around me, tying my legs and arms and lastly weaving around my neck. Wesley squeezed and my body buzzed like all the circulation was being cut off from my limbs. I felt my windpipe closing up and I leaned against his sleek, slimy body for support.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this.” His tongue darted in and out of my ear as he spoke. “I can save you if you just ask me to.”

  With all my strength I nodded. He released my body and I slumped back on the bed, the feeling slowly returning to my limbs. I gulped in air, relieving my burning lungs and throat. Wesley slid across my bed, gently touched my cheek with his scaly skin. His black reptilian eyes locked with mine.

  “Just remember, I’m the only one who can save you now.”

  I nodded, too weary to speak.

&nb
sp; “If you obey me, I’ll protect you. But if you betray me again I’ll destroy you and your family. Maybe I’ll even kill that boyfriend of yours too.”

  My heart hurt as I thought of Isaac and Mom and Grandma. What had I done? What evil had I brought upon us? The words of Sandy ran through my mind.

  Be careful. That snake is out to destroy you.

  If only I had listened. If only I had understood what she meant. It was the last part that nagged at me though. There is only one person who can save you from him. I had no idea who that person was.

  “Rest now, my child. I’ll see you in the morning.” The snakelike body disappeared, leaving me alone in my room.

  I entered the kitchen to find Mom and Grandma sitting at the table sipping coffee and chatting. Mom’s hair was sticking up all over her head, her eyes were ringed with black mascara that she to wash off the night before, and her cheek bore the indentations of her pillow. Grandma wore her robe, her hair mussed, her face tired. It looked like we all had difficulty sleeping the night before. By the way their heads popped up and their mouths stopped moving when they saw me indicated I had been the topic of conversation.

  “Hey.” I pulled out a chair, joined them. “I need to talk to you.”

  The expectancy in their eyes cut to my heart. Clearly they’d been waiting for me to come clean. It hadn’t gone well when they found out I’d taken the Ouija board. In fact, I was pretty sure they didn’t believe me when I told them I got rid of it.

  “I need to tell you everything,” I said.

  When I first stepped into the room, I planned to just stick to the subject of Wesley. After all, that was the pressing matter at hand. However, now I found myself holding out my arms, pointing to my scars, which at this point were barely visible.

  “What is that?” Mom leaned forward studying my skin intently. “Please tell me it’s not what I think it is.”

  I breathed deeply. There was no turning back now. It was time to tell them everything. It was the only way for me to move forward and get better.