The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 40

As we climbed down the shadowy staircase, Ginger inquired, “What do you think scared Babelsama from coming down here?”

“Probably pure cowardice,” I replied. “He was never actually gonna go through the trouble, so he pretended like he intended to do it and changed his mind. I’m sure everything’s fine!”

“Yeah, nothing scary ever occurs in Hell!” Ellie muttered.

I argued, “Oh, come on! People like Blaiselive there, so it can’t be all that dangerous!”

Aleck shot back, “He’s already dead! What does he have to worry about?”

“I’m not as dead as I could be though!” Blaise put in. “My spirit could die, and I’d cease to exist altogether! I wouldn’t tango with anything that would cause that!”

“Thanks, Blaise!” I dryly regarded him. “You’re not helpful!”

Blaise riposted, “Did you really expect me to be?”

I ignored him in order to maintain the premise that our outcome would prove itself as positive, but truthfully, I wasn’t so sure that would come to pass! I wouldn’t admit it to the others, but I was fairly certain that Babelsama had beheld something significant that made him retreat! However, to get the entire Demon League through this ordeal, I felt obligated to keep everybody’s hopes high. “It’ll be fine, guys! We’ve all gotten Roxy to pass her classes- we make the impossible happen all the time! We’ve done it before, and we can do it again! Don’t give up!” They nervously smiled at my pep talk, and I crossed my fingers that I predicted our futures accurately!

At the bottom of the steps was a foyer with only two torches lighting the space. In the archway behind them, we saw pitch black and nothing else. It seemed rather daunting, but Phoebe attempted to put an optimistic spin on the situation, “This isn’t so bad! Babelsama’s chambers were far more frightening!”

“See! There’s nothing suggesting that we’re in any real peril!” I strove to encourage this positivity.

“What about that sign up there?” Fletcher pointed to the bulletin on top of the stone structure that read: “Abandon all hope ye who enter here!”

Blaise chortled, “Ha, ha! Classic!”

I contended, “Obviously, it’s a joke! Don’t let it daunt you! Let’s go!” Ginger and Ellie grabbed a torch, and we reluctantly trekked through the hall.

We walked as quietly as possible so as not to disturb any potential ambushes or boobytraps. It was anxiety-inducing at first, but after a couple of minutes of traveling through this tunnel, I quietly petitioned Blaise, “How much further is your place?”

“Eh, we’re about a hop, skip, and a jump away,” Blaise esteemed.

“What does that even mean?” I questioned more loudly than I meant to.

Ginger hushed me, “Shh! You might wake something up!”

Blaise boldly claimed, “There ain’t nothing down here!” A thunderous growl echoed in the distance, and then Blaise corrected himself, “Well, there’s not usually anything down here…”

The ground beneath us shook, and when the perpetrator of this commotion halted its movements, Ellie shined her torch’s glow in that direction. We saw another giant dog that resembled the one we fought at the engagement party, and Ellie observed, “Oh, it’s just a Hellhound! We can handle that!” Two more heads lifted up, and Ellie stated, “Well, that’s different!”

“Oh! They’re Hades’ pets!” Blaise denoted.

“So, they’re friendly?” Fletcher asked.

The three heads snarled at us, and Aleck answered Fletcher, “Apparently not!”

As the three-headed hound inched towards us, I directed Ginger, “Hurry! Get your laser pointer!” She furiously rummaged through her pockets, but the hounds were getting closer, so I urged her, “Hurry!”

“I’m trying! I’m trying!” Ginger frantically uttered. The hounds became adjacent to Phoebe, and my heart froze! I refused to lose the love of my life to this beast, and I raced to rescue her… until…

“No!” Phoebe smacked the middle hound on the nose, and to everyone’s astonishment, the beast cowered down! It whimpered, and although Phoebe was stunned, she scolded it, “Bad dog! Bad, bad dog!” The three heads truly appeared ashamed of their actions, so after giving each other a shrug, we decided to go around the hounds and continue on our journey.

We went forward a little further, and most of us stepped as silently as possible, but someone took advantage of our lack of conversation to rant. “…And hasn’t she heard of respecting the dead? When a person dies, the proper thing to do is to honor them! Miriam didn’t even try to do that- she made a mockery of my passing by keeping my autopsy as her wallpaper!” Blaise rambled.

Phoebe queried, “Do you actually imagine I’m gonna take your side over my mom?”

“She could’ve pretended to mourn my loss!” Blaise carried on as though he hadn’t caught wind of her enquiry. “She simply-!”

“Stop!” I motioned for everyone to pause their footsteps.

Blaise objected, “I’m not done yet!”

Ellie disagreed, “Oh, yes you are!” She covered his mouth, but his muffled speech was still pretty obnoxious.

“There’s something moving in the distance!” I notified them all. “What other pets does Hades have?”

“I dunno! I reckon one’s a bird…” Blaise recalled. An ominous yowl from afar revealed that our new adversary was a feline, so Blaise unhelpfully added, “Oh yeah, there was a pussycat.”

A large, charcoal-gray puma with a spiked tail and long fangs started stalking us, so Aleck remarked, “I wouldn’t exactly call that a pussycat!”

With my voice cracking slightly, I instructed the lot, “Back up, back up, back up!”

“Oh, relax! She falls asleep when music is played!” Blaise articulated.

“I’ve got some songs on my phone, hang on!” Fletcher pulled out his device, and as soon as he caught a glimpse of what was on the screen, he fainted!

Ginger peeked at his message, and she reported, “Apparently, he’s gonna be a grandfather!”

Ellie ventured, “Being a grandparent isn’t a big deal! You gotta give first-time parents a lot of advice, but-!”

“Uh, maybe this can wait…” Phoebe gestured to the feline creature bending over our heads. It emitted a booming hiss, and it raised its claws to strike…

“But the cat came back the very next day…” I sang when it was mere millimeters from striking us. She stared at me curiously, so I continued, “The cat came back, we thought he was a goner…” The feline showed hints of weariness, so Phoebe joined in, “But the cat came back…” Aleck and Ellie hummed along as the beast yawned and began to lower itself down. “It just couldn’t stay away…” Ginger didn’t know the lyrics, but she made a bid to croon along as the creature settled down. “Away, away, yea, yea, yea!”

We didn’t quit that ditty as Ellie handed Phoebe her torch and assisted me in dragging Fletcher away from the area. It didn’t exactly have the same timbre with our breath labored from our haul, but it kept the beast at bay anyhow. As we exited the creature’s periphery, Blaise exclaimed, “See! She’s a pussycat!” I glared at him, but I didn’t refrain from the refrain as we remained on our escape route.

When we reached enough feet from that opponent, Aleck perplexedly quizzed me, “Why did you choose that song? How is classic rock not your go-to for a jam?”

“It is! But we were facing a scary kitty and I was under pressure!” I verbalized in my defense. I suddenly stalled and shouted, “Hold on!”

“What?” Ellie ceased her gait, and they all apprehensively checked out the dank scenery for hints of jeopardy.

I somewhat reticently admitted, “I remembered having a dream the other day that U2 put a version of that jingle on their latest album!”

Ginger griped, “Ugh! Don’t do that to us! And why would U2 put-?”

Prior to her finishing that sentence, Fletcher’s lids flickered open, and when he espied our watery surroundings, he groaned, “Please tell me none of this came from me!”

I would have loved to have reassured him that he didn’t cause this liquid to be there, or at least not most of it, but the floor beneath us started to shake in a rhythm that suggested something was swiftly hopping toward us. Phoebe irately spoke to Blaise, “That doesn’t sound like a bird, you liar!”

Blaise opened his mouth to protest, but an enormous, white frog entered into our view. It had various barbs throughout its torso, and the red eyes didn’t convey any friendliness, but otherwise, it didn’t seem so menacing. “Oh, an amphibian! We should be alright- they’re pretty harmless!”

Its long, scarlet tongue shot out, and we narrowly avoided it! Ginger spat at Aleck, “Aren’t some amphibians poisonous?”

We dodged another tongue attack, and then Fletcher asked, “How do we win against this damn thing?”

“I dunno! Gimme a break! I only met Hades once!” Blaise answered while pouting.

“Why does Hades have something like this as a pet?” Ellie pondered as we continued evading its assault.

Blaise reasoned, “It’s better than a guard dog! You recall what a wimp that pooch was?”

I responded, “I hate to admit it, but you’re probably correct! If it kills humans and spirits, it-!”

“Uh, it doesn’t kill us,” Blaise refuted. “But it ain’t very pleasant to contend with! You ever get digested?”

“Wait, it won’t kill you?” I grabbed him by his shirt collar and hoisted him up. Preceding him having the opportunity to flee, the frog snatched him up! As Blaise got immersed into the creature’s throat, we all dashed past it. It commenced to choke on its morsel, but we turned a blind eye to its distress and sped to a less lethal section of this establishment.

After a while, Phoebe brought up, “Hey, what are we doing? Our entire purpose here was to return Blaise, and he’s no longer with us…”

Aleck gasped, “Did he die from that after all? That’s horrible!”

“Why?” Ginger probed.

“Hmm… I don’t know!” Aleck concluded. “He wouldn’t be a threat anymore, so our job would be done!”

Phoebe clarified, “I doubt he’s dead! I only meant we wouldn’t have much of a motivation to carry through with this last leg of our little trip here without him!”

I differed, “Um, we still gotta return to Earth, and we’re not going through all those monsters again! Also, we gotta tell whoever’s in charge that Blaise is about to get pooped out, or perhaps he’ll… croak!”

Everyone groaned at my quip, and then, to our bewilderment, Blaise turned up at our sides! Although he was covered in slime, he appeared unharmed. He relayed to us, “He spit me out! My roommate better not be hogging the shower when we get there!” He marched ahead determinedly, and we followed suit.

We encountered an edifice comprised entirely of jagged rocks and magma, but aside from its ominous materials, it gave off the aura of a five-star hotel. A billboard with crimson letters spelled out, “Demons’ straight,” and a fiery yet peaceful river encircled the building. I cried out to Blaise, “You live here?”

“Why is that so surprising?” Blaise folded his arms in offense.

“Doesn’t matter! I’m ready to go home, so move!” Ellie pushed him to the front door, and she immediately regretted that due to the residue that she now had on her palms.

The lobby contained auburn furniture, carnelian wallpaper, and even burgundy plants, but other than an overuse of reddish shades, I would have forgotten that we were in Hell! We strolled up to the front desk and rang the bell. After a short spell, I rang it again, and we gazed around in addlement of our lack of service. We nearly gave up, but then I detected a strange tapping from beneath the counter. I peered underneath the counter, and…

A crow was endlessly pecking a demon I recognized as Kaaron! Kaaron pathetically whined, “I surrender! I don’t wanna fight you! It didn’t go so well the last time, which is why I brought in Hades’ pets, but that plan backfired, so… Room Thirteen!”

As we departed from his sight, Blaise triumphantly commented, “I told ya he had a bird!”

We found his residence relatively fast, and before he went in, I addressed Blaise, “Well, it’s been fun, but… no no it hasn’t! We will miss… Nevermind! …Eh! I’m too tired to be clever! Just go in!”

“Bye, y’all!” Blaise opened his door, and we curiously glimpsed inside. Someone was in the living room, and we didn’t expect to get shocked by his roommate’s appearance, but it made our jaws drop…

The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 39

“We could bring him there ourselves,” I suggested.

“I think you just literally told us to go to Hell!” Aleck pointed out.

Phoebe remarked, “Gosh, you made it sound so normal! Let’s go drop off our dry cleaning, grab some coffee, and then drop off this zombie in the land of eternal torture!”

Blaise indignantly responded, “Uh, the Z word is considered offensive by the undead! And, also, not everything down there is so bad! My digs are kinda nice! Although my roommate won’t quit listening to rap! Now there’s your eternal torture!”

“And apparently you’re not closely supervised or else they wouldn’t have been able to sneak you out!” I unenthusiastically added to his argument.

“You can’t get away with murder, but you can get away with a lot if you’ve got enough nerve!” Blaise sagely stated.

I rolled my eyes, and then I reverted back to the original conversation, “So anyways, I know it sounds a little crazy,-”

Fletcher interrupted me, “It sounds a lot crazy!”

“Fine! It sounds a lot crazy, but what choice do we’ve got?” I quarreled. “We can’t stay here all night! Pierre said it was a little emergency, but it didn’t seem like he really thought it was little!”

“That’s true!” Phoebe agreed with me. “And we can’t leave Blaise in the Netherworld lobby ‘cause it’s too easy for him to get out. He’s been involved with enough trouble, he needs to stay down there permanently!”

Aleck debated this concept, “But how exactly are we gonna do that? Do they have stairs or an elevator or something?” 

Blaise confirmed, “They have several staircases.”

“Cool! Can you tell us where one of them is?” Aleck requested. 

“Uh… There’s one by the cafeteria…” Blaise jogged his memory. 

I asked him, “And where’s that at?”

Blaise answered, “I dunno!”

After I growled in frustration, Phoebe propositioned, “Maybe we can get directions from Babelsama. Yes, he’s an evil a-hole, but he also created this whole mess, so he has to clean it up!”

“Oh, yes! Let’s go to the evil a-hole for help! They’re always so willing to lend a hand!” Fletcher sarcastically muttered. “Then, afterward, we can all go frolic in a field and make daisy chains for our hair!”

“That’s it!” I declared following a lightbulb going off in my head.

Fletcher sternly addressed me, “Listen, if you wanna act like a damn hippie, that’s your business! But I’m not about to participate in that!”

I corrected him, “No, I didn’t mean that! Ginger would probably enjoy the daisy chains, but it’ll be dark by the time we get out of here, so even she would say no to that! What I meant was that I remember when we went to the Netherworld before, and we saw Kaaron and the surviving demons cart Damon to the place of the condemned…”

“Good!” Fletcher approved.

“How does a demon die?” Aleck questioned. “Aren’t they already dead? Isn’t that the entire gimmick behind the afterlife?”

Blaise huffed, “There’s different levels to death! Like I am dead, but a skeleton is more dead! And demons are more dead than skeletons, but…”

I cut him off, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! My purpose in bringing that up was he went down a staircase, so we could use the steps in Babelsama’s chambers to get Blaise home!”

“Can’t we go to the upper level and let the angels bring him home after he gets caught jumping the pearly gates?” Fletcher entreated.

“I’ve tried that!” Blaise briefed us. “Well, actually, I was hoping to get a piece of their fence to pawn, but that didn’t go so well! I’m not allowed on the upper level anymore- they have my picture up and everything!”

Aleck opined, “I’d rather take my chances waiting in the lobby.”

A fish-like creature with entirely green scales ambled into the area, and in a raspy voice, he petitioned us, “Hey! You guys got any cigarettes?” 

Aleck relented to my idea, “Alright, let’s go!”

We entered into the part of the wall with a small opening, and we came across a foyer with black, lacquered walls that had a Netherworld logo in the center. We studied the map for a second, and then Fletcher grumbled, “Is this thing supposed to be helpful?”

“Babelsama’s guardian number three, which is to the left. See?” I indicated to its location on the key.

“No!” Fletcher stared at it with a slanted head. “But if you know where you’re going, we’ll follow you!”

Aleck stood by the entrance and steeled himself up. “Alright, underworld- here we come! I’m totally ready! I’m not at all nervous!” He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he involuntarily let out a yelp.

Ginger apologized, “Sorry! Did we scare you?”

“No, I’m fine!” Aleck squeaked.

“What are you guys doing here?” Phoebe inquired. “It hasn’t been twenty minutes already, has it?”

Ellie replied, “No, but shortly after all of you left, Lilith came by to collect more of her stuff. Apparently, she needed a copy of her ex-husband’s will A.S.A.P.! Not you, her other ex-husband!”

I queried, “Obviously! But what does she need that for at this late hour?”

“Who cares?” Fletcher barked. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

“I’d like to hear more about this anecdote…” Blaise input.

After letting out an exasperated exhale, I swiftly regarded him, “Yeah, sure you do! Get moving!”

The grand hallway bore the appearance of a prestigious office building, but each door broadcasted different noises. Behind one, we heard what sounded like electric currents, and another transmitted an eerie tune on a church organ. “This joint is creepy!” Fletcher evaluated. 

“Relax! Most of the inhabitants here travel by tunnel ‘cause they don’t wanna talk to anyone,” Ginger apprised him.

“Hey! You seven over there! I wanna talk to you!” A woman with long, dark hair that covered her gray, reptilian skin spoke to us. Fletcher glared at Ginger, and Ginger gazed at him sheepishly.

I politely declined, “We’d love to, but we’re kind of in a hurry right now…”

We strove to bypass her, but she stood in front of our path with her hands on her hips. “No! You’re gonna do this!” We took a collective gulp, but to our astonishment, her tone changed completely as she showed off her footwear. “What goes better with this dress- the periwinkle or the lavender?”

“Those are different colors?” Aleck puzzled.

“Go with the lavender!” Phoebe recommended.

The woman chirped, “Thanks!”

Once she went back into her room, Fletcher catechized, “So, none of these monsters are gonna attack us?”

“Nah, they’re off-duty!” Blaise assured him. “Besides, if you cause too much mayhem here, they’ll fire you!”

“What happens when you get fired?” Ellie wondered.

Blaise educated her, “You get tossed into fire, you know, down there in the bad part of Hell!”

Prior to anyone reacting to that, a man with purple skin and bat-like wings hung suspended from the ceiling! He canvassed us, “Does anyone here happen to have any peanut butter?”

“Peanut butter?” I repeated in confusion.

“Yeah! I was going on ceiling walk, and apparently, someone spat their gum out here.” The winged man gestured towards his heels.

Phoebe denoted, “Wow! No one is having luck with their shoes here today!”

Ellie informed him, “We didn’t bring any peanut butter, sorry! Good luck with this though!”

“I appreciate the thought!” He resumed his attempt to free himself, and we returned to our quest.

“It’s not funny!” A moose stood on its hind legs trying to get a volleyball net unstuck from its antlers as laughter roared from within its quarters.

Aleck commented, “This place seems nice! Why do you keep trying to escape it and go back to Earth?”

Blaise divulged, “You can’t get into mischief here!”

As she stared at the moose, Phoebe disagreed, “Are you certain about that?”

We came to a large chamber with the label of, “Guardian three,” and I observed, “They took out the trap door, that’s a plus!” No one seemed quelled by this notion. I took a deep breath, and I inwardly prayed for a positive result as I knocked on the door. Suddenly, the floor beneath us opened up, and I mumbled, “Spoke too soon!”

We landed on the stony floor with a thud, and after we absorbed the impact, Ellie groaned, “Ugh! That’s gonna hurt in the morning!”

“Oh hey, boss!” Blaise rather uncomfortably greeted a person in the distance. It wasn’t until right then that we noticed his noggin had become detached from his body again!

“Blaise! It’s about damn time you got here!” Babelsama hollered. “You were only supposed to be gone five minutes!”

After uttering a noise of derision, Blaise differed, “You said to leave five weeks!”

Babelsama bellowed, “That was sarcasm! Seriously, why would I want an illegally released Hellian to be gone that long?”

“I dunno! I was just following orders!” Blaise justified himself.

“Argh! You’re lucky they’ve been busy dealing with Hades’ escaped pets or else you would’ve gotten us both in hot water! Now, come on! Let’s get you back down there while they’re distracted!” A palid, older man with a large bald spot, a crown of dark hair, an obtuse and crooked nose, and black, beady eyes sauntered into view, and when he beheld our presence, he hid Blaise’s noggin behind his tattered, brown robes and bashfully articulated, “Oh, hello! When did you all arrive in my chambers?”

I pointed to Blaise’s torso and relayed, “About when your friend here did!”

Babelsama gave up on his ruse of not having a current connection to Blaise, but he didn’t appear to have any desire to admit to anything else. “Friend? We’re more like coworkers! Actually, no! That would imply some equality. He’s a stooge I like to call on because he’s dumb enough to do what I say!”

“Hold on, when you referred to us as coworkers, were you saying that ‘cause we’re getting paid for this shindig?” Blaise posed to him.

“No!” Babelsama snapped. “If we were getting paid, you’d get your check docked from being two weeks late! I only said that ‘cause we’re tasking together on a…” He eyeballed the six of us, and he changed his tune, “And by that I mean I have no clue why you’re here! I didn’t even realize you escaped from the Netherworld, no siree!”

Phoebe probed, “Do you think we’re stupid?”

Babelsama shrugged. “No! But I was hoping you were!”

“So, you cursed the wands the conduit sold to some kids in Terra Belle?” Aleck inferred.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Babelsama denied that allegation. “I live amongst fire and brimstone- where would I get the necessary materials to make cursed wands?” He leaned against a heap of rocks, and a geyser of lava erupted, so he quickly moved out of harm’s way.

Fletcher quizzed him, “Aren’t you dead too?”

Babelsama snarkily clarified, “Yeah, but my spirit isn’t! What, you want me to be gone forever?”

“Well, you tried to kill us previously, so forgive us if we don’t mourn your loss,” Ginger asserted.

“What are you guys even doing here?” Babelsama pouted. “Don’t you have some heroic, goody-two-shoes bit to do on Earth?”

I conveyed to him, “Absolutely, but first we gotta take care of the problem you created by returning that undead jackass to your downstairs neighbors!”

Blaise brought up, “Uh, this undead jackass would like to get himself reassembled, please!”

“The problem I created?” Babelsama verbalized as he affixed Blaise to his trunk. “I’m merely an innocent bystander to your escapades!”

“Then you wouldn’t mind if we use your staircase to return your wonderful stooge to his rockstar roommate?” I presumed. Blaise almost objected to my phrasing, so I adjusted my sentence, “Alright, his rap-loving roommate!” Blaise nodded in approval.

Ellie offered, “Or, we can leave, and you can do it yourself!”

Babelsama acquiesced, “Fine!” He grabbed Blaise’s arm and yanked him to the stairwell. When he peeked at what was at the bottom, he reversed course, “Nope! You’ll have to do it!”

“Fine!” I obliged. As we stared into the abyss, I consoled everyone, “Don’t worry- we won’t be there long!”

“Oh, yeah! Not at all!” Babelsama snickered.

I directed the others, “Ignore him! We’ll be alright!” Nobody, myself included, truly believed that, but we all took a second to prepare ourselves for what must be done. Once we blocked out the anxiety of what lurked in the darkness, we descended the steps.

The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 38

Something jumped out from the debris! We all screamed, and we were prepared to flee from another monstrous trap, but thankfully, we stayed in our places because it was only Jett! “You crazy cat! You nearly gave us all heart attacks! What are you doing in here?” She responded by kicking dirt up with her back paws. “Oh, I see! You did that with the other abandoned house too!”

“This one feels the same as that other joint!” Fletcher opined while cradling himself. “I’m not scared! There’s a cold breeze…”

“There’s probably less wind in the garage area,” Phoebe pointed out. “You’ll probably get warmer when we get going!”

Fletcher hesitated, and then he graciously gestured toward the entryway. “Ladies first!”

Ellie muttered, “Oh, sure! Now you wanna act chivalrous!”

I peered into an adjacent hallway, and I recommended, “Woah! You guys have gotta see this!”

“Send us a picture!” Aleck requested.

“Oh, brother! Let’s go!” Ginger nudged Aleck in the direction of the interior, and eventually, the other followed him inside.

This foyer was mostly still intact. The black-and-white, checkered marble flooring was dirty, and some of the bloodwood used from the framework poked out in certain spots, but otherwise, it stayed in decent shape. The tall, narrow passageway gave off a foreboding aura, but the gilded frames on the wall detracted from the intimidation a bit! Each one had a picture of Lilith in high-end clothing and lavish accessories, and as we gazed at them, Aleck remarked, “She definitely had a theme going on!”

I somewhere sarcastically quipped, “She finally found her true love!”

“Ooh! I love those curtains!” Ginger expressed while peeking into a nearby room. “She won’t miss them if I grabbed them, right?”

“Ginger, don’t loot the building!” Fletcher advised her.

After stepping into the quarters to retrieve the item she had been eyeing, Ginger defended herself, “Hey! Someone is gonna strip these ruins for their valuables! I just wanna get my fair share before they do!”

Phoebe commented, “I doubt anyone will dare to rob this site! The other abandoned house never got any visitors, and based on the two minutes we’ve spent here so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one winds up bearing the same fate!”

“Unless she hires the same construction company to tear this soon-to-be shack down! Since they put the Netherworld door in, they’re obviously okay with scouring land for goods!” Ellie noted.

“Nothing else in here looks like it was salvaged from the old abode,” Ginger observed.

Aleck verbalized, “That’s strange! Why would they only take a single thing from the last dwelling on this lot? Do you think they knew what it was?”

Blaise put in, “It would take a powerful wielder of magic to reinstall a portal to the afterlife like that. Not saying a construction worker couldn’t obtain these skills, but it was more than likely a Netherworld guardian that a Netherworld guardian performed this feat. He’s not supposed to, but Babelsama complained about not having a way to sneak stuff around, so he probably did it. I imagine he thought I’d realize he would do that so I could return, and he’s probably not so happy that I didn’t try to return on my own! I probably should’ve reckoned he would do that instead of just hiding out in the woods!”

“Hmm… So, in addition to collecting the being he somehow smuggled out of Hell, he reopened the portal so Damon could cause more mischief in Terra Belle, huh?” I conjectured. “Ugh! So, bringing one of his underlings back to that undead territory isn’t gonna stop him forever, is it?”

“That’s depressing!” Ellie lamented. “Well… We still gotta bring this idiot back! Maybe we can find a permanent solution en route!”

I appreciated her optimism, but that was a hard pill to swallow. We foiled one devious plot, but how could we prevent him from developing another one? I couldn’t fathom how to shut down his operation permanently, but I didn’t want the darkness from that potential future to dim the light fueling our current mission, so I agreed, “We’ll work something out! Let’s get moving!”

“Wait!” Ginger entreated us. “I gotta grab those curtains!”

“That’s probably not such a brilliant idea!” Aleck cautioned her.

Ginger dismissed that notion, “Oh, please! What’s the worst that can happen?”

Phoebe warned her, “No one has ever uttered that sentence and had any considerable luck afterward!”

Ignoring her forewarning, Ginger approached the curtains confidently. She gently tugged on the rod, and when the unit moved, a couple of bats flew out! Ginger shrieked, ran back to us, and rather bitterly stated, “I changed my mind!” That plan went so obviously bad that there was no need to give her I-told-you-so, so we said nothing and moved on.

When we reached the doorway to the garage, we collectively grew nervous. Well, not Blaise- he looked rather bored. It felt scary to picture the portal in its original location knowing the potency that it carried! When it was opened last year, Babelsama possessed the ability to send powerful spells to Earth, and the very concept of it existing there once more was tremendously frightening! Of course, the alternative wasn’t much better- if the portal wasn’t there, then how would we have gotten this zombie nuisance where he belonged? I took a deep breath, and I expressed, “Here we go…”

There it was! Directly across from us, the heavy, oaken door situated itself! Its surface conveyed no distinguishable design, but somehow, it seemed as though it was glaring at us! I glanced around the space, and it was fairly empty save for some boxes on the floating shelves. There were no evident threats around the perimeter, but I didn’t trust Babelsama enough to assume that we could go across scot-free! I ordered Blaise, “You go first!”

“Me? Why?” Blaise objected.

“Are you scared?” I inquired.

Blaise replied, “No, but I still don’t wanna do it!”

I embellished on my decree, “Well, you’re dead, and we’re not, so if there are any monsters lurking in the shadows, your odds for survival are higher than ours!”

“Hey, you’ve survived loads of monsters so far! You can lick whatever else comes to you!” Blaise encouraged us.

“Get in there!” I barked.

Blaise begrudgingly acquiesced, “Okay, okay!” He stepped forward, and we all anxiously watched as he walked across the room. I truly anticipated a terrifying creature to hop out at any second, and it sort of astonished me when he got to the opposite end without incident! “Come on in! The water’s fine!” he invited us.

We hesitantly set foot inside of the terrain, and when we got halfway through, we accepted that we were most likely not going to get ambushed. We let out an alleviated exhale, and then Fletcher indicated to the ground and denoted, “Lilith’s got an oil leak in her car!”

“Awesome! I hope she broke down on the road to her mansion in New York!” I guffawed.

“Connor, focus!” Phoebe directed me.

I snapped my attention back to the original target, “Right! Go ahead, Blaise! Open the door!”

Once again, our pulses quickened in fear of what may transpire. It appeared inevitable to encounter a dramatic event, but instead… Blaise jiggled the handle, and then he assessed, “It’s locked!”

“Why would he do that if he wanted Blaise to go in?” Ellie queried.

“He produced the portal in someone’s full-time residence, so he probably didn’t wanna run the risk of her accidentally stumbling into it,” Phoebe hypothesized.

Ginger grumped, “Oh, lovely! The key could be anywhere! How are we supposed to find it?”

I notified them, “It’s gotta be hidden in here somewhere! He wouldn’t have had Blaise wandering all over the place searching for it! If the door’s the same, the key probably is too! Look for a silver spoon!”

“Why a spoon?” Aleck puzzled.

“Babelsama works in a mysterious manner!” Blaise affirmed.

Aleck sourly reacted, “That is an unsatisfying answer!” He shook his head and joined us in scouring the vicinity.

We combed through every inch of that locale, and we didn’t see a hint of it anywhere. Fletcher came across a pink power tool set that disgusted him, and Phoebe struggled due to Jett’s insistence on getting pets at that exact second, but other than that, nothing occurred. After there was nothing left to check, I stood with my hands on my hips and wracked my brain on how to proceed. “It has to be here!” I exclaimed. “Babelsama wouldn’t go through the trouble of creating this portal without a way to use it!”

“Maybe, or maybe he really was that dumb! Sometimes, smart people behave like morons! Or maybe he got caught before he could finish the last step,” Ellie speculated.

“Yeah, maybe..” Her theory seemed plausible to me, but I didn’t want to accept it! My gut maintained that the key was in that quadrant somewhere, but I couldn’t comprehend where that may have been… until… 

Blaise proclaimed, “Ah, well, all is lost! It’s been fun seeing y’all again, but I best believe I ought to resume stowing away in the woods!”

He attempted to slip past me, but I grabbed him by his pant pocket and sternly regarded him, “You’re not going anywhere! We… What’s that in there?”

“Oh, I’ve been picking up valuables I unearth in the forest. Let’s take a gander… I’ve got a quarter, an earring, some old bottle caps, and an eating utensil!” Blaise furnished a spoon that resembled the one used during our previous misadventure in that otherworldly region!

“You’ve had the spoon the whole time?” I roared.

Blaise rebutted, “I’ve had a spoon! You said the spoon was in here, so I didn’t mention it!”

I snatched the spoon out of his grasp, and I muttered, “Boy, I’m glad that you’re heading home now!” I gladly guided the key to its lock, but then I faltered. All of a sudden, this expedition felt real, and my anxiety over this quest resurfaced anew! It was a simple task in theory, but transporting ourselves to another realm posed a risk still! What if we went in there and never left? Based on that premise, I concluded, “Ginger and Ellie, you stay behind. If we don’t rematerialize in, like, twenty minutes or so, go in and get us!”

Aleck and Fletcher emitted cries of protest, and Fletcher pressed me, “How come they get to stay?”

“Ginger and Ellie went in with us previously, so it’s your turn,” I rationalized.

“Don’t pout, guys! It’s not like you’ll be there for such a lengthy stretch!” Ginger relayed to Fletcher and Aleck. I hoped it wasn’t apparent on my visage, but I disagreed with her estimate of our duration there!

I cast my doubts aside, and I convinced myself that our journey would probe to be brief after all as I put the key in the hole. The door became ajar, and we were greeted by the same swirling vortex that floated in a sea of foggy electricity. Aleck and Fletcher linked arms with Blaise to ensure that he couldn’t flee, and I held Phoebe’s hand mostly due to a need for some subtle comfort. She squeezed my palm, and I summoned the courage to step into the void…

Even though I immediately landed on solid ground when we did this in the past, I still presumed we would float around in nothingness for a while! It surprised me when we touched our feet on a white, marble floor! When Fletcher and Aleck entered, they glimpsed at the gilded seats, sparkling walls shimmering from a warm source, and a wrap-around carpet that resembled clouds in amazement. “Wow! The tourbillion made it seem like we’d surface somewhere spooky!” Aleck affirmed.

A man dressed in all white popped out from beneath his pearly desk, and he breathily acknowledged us, “Welcome to the Other Side!” He appeared to recognize us, and he apprised, “Oh, the livings are back! Listen, there’s a little emergency happening, so just show yourself to your friend’s chamber!”

“But-!” I strove to correct his misjudgment, but he dashed out of sight before I could finish my sentence. “Dammit!”

“They should really have a backup for Pierre when he can’t stay up front!” Phoebe commotated. “Any creep could crawl in or out of here unnoticed!”

Blaise snapped, “Hey! Don’t ruin things for us!”

Fletcher questioned me, “What do we do now?”

I bit my lip as I contemplated that point he raised. After a minute, I spoke up, “Well…”

The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 37

After letting out a frustrated sigh, I remarked, “I didn’t know they really did that!” I watched a dozen ducklings cross the road for a minute, and then I banged my head on the steering wheel.

“Oh, Connor! Relax!” Phoebe advised me. “Fletcher isn’t gonna let anything happen to him!”

“But that doesn’t mean something won’t! Ugh, I should’ve had Blaise ride with us!” I glanced around at the pristine appearance of my luxury vehicle, and I changed my tune, “Actually, no, I should not have! But, why did these ducks have to cross at this exact moment? They could’ve waited for us to pass! No one is behind us! Well, now there is!”

Phoebe reassured me, “I’m sure Fletcher is keeping a close eye on him! He knows how important it is for us to get Blaise back to the Netherworld, he isn’t gonna mess this up!”

I asserted, “I trust Fletcher! Aleck, Ellie, and Ginger too! It’s Blaise I don’t trust! He’s a selfish opportunist who would turn his back on us in a flash if he thought it’d benefit him somehow! What if he decides to slip out of the back of his truck and Fletcher doesn’t see it? He could wind up anywhere in the city, and it’d take forever to find him again!”

“Connor, you’re giving my former stepdad far too much credit!” Phoebe denoted. “I seriously doubt he’d be able to even figure out how to open the truck bed from the inside! Even if he did, where’s he gonna go? He’s legally dead, so it’s not like he can go anywhere authorities may run into him!”

“Maybe you’re right!” I acknowledged. “But I still don’t like being so far behind everyone else! I’m sure they could handle Roxy or whatever pest that decides to show up, but they shouldn’t have to deal with that drama on their own! Plus, we’re gonna be out even later with this delay! Tuesday morning is gonna be so rough!”

Phoebe countered my argument, “Or maybe everything will work out! We’re gonna get through this mess unscathed! We have to believe that!”

I beamed at her, “Okay, you’re definitely right this time!” She smiled back, and then we started kissing. We were in the middle of a passionate embrace when the car behind us honked. “Hey! We have to wait for the-!” I gestured towards the spot where the birds were lined up, and I saw that they had vanished. “Oh, shit! We can go!” I sped out of that area.

As we drove closer to our abode, I followed Phoebe’s wisdom and kept my thoughts focused on the positive aspects of this mission. All we had to do was drop Blaise off in the Netherworld and come back- simple! A gnawing feeling of misgiving formed at the pit of my stomach, but I ignored it because, logically, there was no reason I needed to listen to my anxiety… until…

“Oh no!” Phoebe moaned.

“What? What is it?” I queried with my anxiety back at its peak.

Phoebe put her phone to her ear and greeted the caller, “Hey, Mom! How’s it going?”

I could hear Miriam reply to that, “I’m fine. What are you up to at the moment?”

“Uh… Nothing!” Phoebe fibbed. Miriam was aware of the supernatural foe we developed since she and Blaise briefly lived with us when a guardian of the undead planted a window to his dimension on the bathroom wall of our dwelling, so it wasn’t as though we couldn’t have communicated the truth to her, but neither of us wanted to get more people involved with our current undertaking if we could help it! Besides, the problem at hand was about to get resolved… right…?

“Great!” Miriam chimed. “Is it okay if I come over? I finished your wedding dress, but I wanted you to try it on in case I needed to make adjustments.”

Phoebe politely declined, “Tonight… isn’t good! But we haven’t set a date yet, so there’s no rush, is there?”

Miriam somewhat despondently responded, “Oh! I assumed you’d say yes, and I’m already here! What, are you parked in the garage or something?”

“We’re not there yet!” I informed her. Considering that Fletcher had her ex in his trunk, I urged her, “Why don’t you let yourself inside, and we’ll meet you in there?”

“Okay, I suppose I can… Oh hi, Rowan! Am I here with what group? I’m gonna hang up, guys! I’ll see you soon!” Miriam articulated to us.

I objected, “No, Miriam! Don’t go to-!” I realized she ended the conversation, and after I groaned, I catechized Phoebe, “Does your mom like our friends?” Phoebe shrugged, and as I raced to the meeting spot, I prayed that Blaise would have the brains to wait inside his concealed site until his former wife left his periphery!

When Phoebe and I finally arrived on Dusk Lily Lane, we could hear a verbal altercation occurring from down the block. Phoebe optimistically remarked, “Maybe Richard is fighting with one of his lady friends!” Both of us frowned because neither of us believed that. We drove closer, and our last bead of hope for a different outcome vanished. “What could they possibly get so angry about? They’re not even married anymore!”

“We’re about to find out!” I dismally expressed. We each sighed while we unbuckled our seatbelts, and then we begrudgingly walked into this fresh chaos.

“You had no right to sell it!’ Blaise bellowed.

Miriam argued, “Wrong! I had every right to sell that truck! You’re dead, remember?”

Blaise hollered, “Just ‘cause I croaked doesn’t mean you’re allowed to get rid of my stuff!”

“Yes, it does!” Miriam disagreed. “I’m a widow- it’s literally my job to take care of my late husband’s belongings!”

“How dare you profit off of my possessions!” Blaise roared. “Here I am getting eternally tortured, and you’re living like a queen off of the cool grand you made off my baby!”

Miriam scoffed at that notion, “That piece of crap wasn’t worth a thousand dollars! I sold it to a junkyard for a hundred bucks!”

Blaise erupted at that revelation, and Aleck probed, “Do we let them reach a conclusion to this dispute, or should we wait ‘til they take a breath to interrupt?”

“Does a zombie actually breathe?” Ginger posed to us.

“You witch!” Blaise screamed. “I should sue you!”

Miriam reminded him, “You can’t sue me, you’re dead! Look! I keep your autopsy results on my phone!” 

Blaise puzzled, “Autopsy? My body’s been with me the whole time, and no one has cut it open?”

“It was clinical research done to ascertain your most likely cause of death. See!” She showed her phone’s screen to him.

“The deceased lived a life of luxury until his untimely demise,” Blaise read out loud. “An investigation into his disappearance was not requested, and a celebration was held in honor of his departure. Ouch! I know I annoyed y’all, but did you really have to party after I was gone?”

Ellie stated, “We didn’t do anything festive after you kicked the bucket.”

Miriam commented, “Speak for yourself!”

“That doesn’t sound like your history!” Ellie opined.

“Sure, it does!” Blaise refuted. “The Terra Belle police deemed that he went missing due to his playboy mannerisms!”

Phoebe peered at him skeptically. “When were you ever a playboy?”

Miriam interjected, “In his dreams!”

“The subject wasn’t declared deceased until he resurfaced in his hometown nearly ninety years after he was last sighted,” Fletcher took Miriam’s device and reported that fact for us.

“Hey! I was only sixty-three when I bit the dust!” Blaise huffed.

I declared, “That sounds more like Damon’s biography!” I glanced at the digital document, and I confirmed, “It is Damon’s biography! The cause of death was ruled self-defense after the kidnapping of minors!”

The six individuals in the Demon League all gasped, but Miriam grumped, “They mixed up Blaise and Damon’s autopsy? I don’t wanna have to explain this to the life insurance people! I already spent half the money! And I’d have to redo his death certificate…”

“Do you recognize the significance of this?” I petitioned the others. “We have Damon’s motive! This will be a huge help to us!” I mulled it over briefly, and then I less enthusiastically projected, “Or it would have been if we found this out a couple weeks ago! I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore since we foiled his plan.”

“Speaking of which, shouldn’t we get going?” Phoebe brought up.

Blaise protested that suggestion, “Hold on! I’m not done feuding!”

Fletcher decreed, “Oh, yes, you are! I’m starting to get cold, and it’s getting close to supper, so let’s get this field trip over with!” He turned him around and pushed him towards Lilith’s abandoned house. ‘No more interruptions!” A familiar sedan pulled up in front of our path, and Fletcher exclaimed, “What did I just say?”

Brantley emerged with an armful of roses, and he beseeched my fiancé, “Phoebe, my loe! Please, accept these flowers as a token of my undying desire for you!” He tripped over a small crack, and not only did he tumble forward, but he fell into the bouquet! “Oh no! They’re crushed! It’s okay, I can fix this!”

“You could, but you’re not going to!” Ginger smashed a couple of blooms as she hovered over Brantley. “Don’t you remember what we told you the last time you wouldn’t leave Phoebe alone?”

“Yeah, I know! You said that when we broke up, it was forever,” Brantley recalled. “But I don’t think that’s true! The hospital calling me to Phoebe’s bedside re-sparked something, and if I can rekindle the passion within me, I’m certain that Phoebe will relight the flame too once enough days have rolled by!”

Aleck folded his arms and challenged him, “Tell us what else we told you!”

Brantley nervously pulled at his collar, and he admitted, “You said you’d kick my ass if I ever returned. But, surely, you didn’t mean that literally!”

“Trust me, boy! They’ll do it!” Blaise disclosed to Brantley.

“Who are you?” Brantley enquired.

We advanced towards him, and he uttered a cowardly scream as he fled to his vehicle. After he slammed his door, he called out, “Goodbye, Phoebe! I’ll miss you!”

Phoebe coolly reacted, “I don’t care!”

Brantley grimaced at her frigidness towards him, and he started his car without another word. I expected to conclude our interactions with this jerk infinitely, but, at the opposite end of the lane, his sedan halted and began smoking. “None of you will touch me while I call a tow, will you?”

“Just ignore him!” Ellie advised. “Let’s go!”

“You’re leaving?” Miriam disappointedly stared at us. “But I was really looking forward to seeing how you like your gown! I worked so hard to get to this stage in the process, and now you have to go away?”

“We’re bringing Blaise back to the afterlife,” I informed her.

Miriam reversed course, “Oh! Well, have fun! I’ll swing by another day! Send me pictures of him burning in Hell!”

Blaise seethed, “You big-!”

“Nope! No more of that! Get your undead butt out of here!” I shoved him towards the ruins of the McMansion, and afterward, I espied Rowan watering his front lawn. “How long have you been there?”

“Oh, you’re talking to me?” Rowan glanced up. “I wasn’t listening! I was repeating some positive affirmations in my head ‘cause, whatever you’re up to, I don’t wanna get involved!”

I commended him, “I seriously appreciate you ignoring us!” He gave me a thumbs up, and the Demon League members trekked up the small hill leading up to the condemned structure.

Trudging to my ex-wife’s domicile was a bit strange, but what made the experience even stranger was the fact that I had ventured onto this land previously under different circumstances! The layout got altered, but the feel remained the same! I got a chill as we grew closer to the entrance, and it had nothing to do with the brisk, autumnal weather! Well, mostly- none of us brought sweaters, so…. Anyways, Aleck nervously chuckled, “The pine needles got cleared out nicely! That’s an improvement, I guess…”

“It’s gonna be fine, guys!” Phoebe encouraged us. “Just in and out, and we’ll be done in a jiffy!”

“That’s what I was saying to your mother on our honeymoon!” Blaise mentioned.

Phoebe shuddered. “Congratulations! You made me dread a thought more than a journey to the Netherworld!”

We all paused at the doorway, and I canvassed the lot, “So, who’s gonna go first?” No one volunteered. “Of course, it’s gotta be me!” I took a deep breath, stepped onto the property, and…

The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 36

“No, Victor! I’m not gonna have time to cook lasagna tonight!” Ellie let out an exasperated exhale, and then she resumed tailing on her cell phone, “I’m not telling my boss that I can’t take care of an urgent task ‘cause my husband isn’t getting the dinner he wants!” She paused while he asked her something, and then she answered, “I don’t know when I’ll get home! Emergencies don’t exactly give you a schedule!” She clicked her tongue in annoyance and then directed him, “You can either wait for me to bring home fast food or you can make your own meal!” She paused again, and then she irately queried, “What? In thirty-five years, you never figured out how to use a microwave?” She paused a third time, and then she asserted, “Look, I gotta go! I’m knee-deep in paperwork, and if I don’t get this done, they’re gonna shut down the school! Love ya, bye!” She hung up, and she commented, “Don’t let that man become a widower, he’ll starve to death!”

“I don’t think the odds of that happening are very high!” I opined as I led the other five down a dirt pathway surrounded by trees. A branch hit my mouth, and after I spat the leaves out, I went on, “This forest seems annoying, not dangerous!”

Phoebe gently brought up, “Uh, babe! I’m pretty sure she’s not worried about woodland creatures…”

Ellie agreed with that and added, “Though I’m not a big fan of them either!”

“Most species in this habitat aren’t seeking humans out,” Aleck educated us. “Typically, coyotes and bobcats won’t attack people unless they wander into their territory.”

“That’s comforting, Aleck!” Ginger sarcastically responded. “Ugh! In addition to wearing the wrong shoes for a hike and a Netherworld monster lurking about, now I gotta concern myself with getting attacked by a furry predator!”

Aleck pointed out, “Some predators have feathers!”

Fletcher recommended to Aleck, “How ‘bout don’t say anything unless you see that Netherworld monster!”

“Guys, we may not be dealing with a monster at all! Mrithan’s accomplice could’ve been a person too!” I cautioned them. “Or at least partly. But we don’t know if they even pose a threat! They’re a supplier, and they have no clue that Mrithan’s services are unavailable! They’re not preparing to contend with an enemy at the moment, so we may startle them, but we won’t make them attack us! Well, at least not right away! I’m not sure what they’d do after they realize we’re here…” I bit my lip fretfully.

“You provide about as much solace as Aleck!” Ginger noted.

Fletcher muttered, “I still don’t see why we couldn’t just let the prick stay alone in the woods! After a day or two with no communication, don’t you picture they’d recognize what’s going on?”

Phoebe reminded him, “We’ve been over this, Fletcher! He’s a supplier- if Mrithan isn’t willing to hawk their merchandise, then they’ll find someone else who will! If we want peace in our city, we gotta get rid of the supplier!”

“How exactly are we supposed to get rid of the supplier?” Ellie wondered. “We didn’t exactly bring any weapons…”

“Mriithan didn’t mention anything about needing a weapon,” I told her. “H only mentioned giving him a message, so I can’t imagine he’s deadly!”

Aleck argued, “He also said he was too creeped out to do it himself!”

I countered, “He’s been through a traumatic event! He didn’t realize what he was doing to the community, so he probably doesn’t wanna face his past.”

“So, it’s up to us to meet his creepy supplier?” Ginger probed.

“Who else would do it?” Phoebe shot back. “I mean, Sage might’ve volunteered, but then her daughter would get involved…”

I concurred with Phoebe’s argument, “Yeah, we don’t want any kids involved with risky business like this! We’ll eliminate the supplier ourselves, and-.”

The nearby bushes rustled, and all of our hearts froze! We were under the impression Mrithan’s accomplice was hidden deeper in the thicket, so none of us were mentally prepared to encounter an otherworldly beast yet! We all panicked, but we simmered down when we fully saw the intruders on our path. They didn’t pose any immediate peril, but they had the potential to hinder our journey significantly…

“What’s going on here?” a police officer I knew as Bill inquired as he stood by his partner, Arnold, and stared at us in amusement at our startled reactions.

“Uh…” I had no idea how to reply to that. When I dealt with these two prior to this juncture, I had gone into the abandoned house. They were too afraid to go in there, so they took my word for what occurred. I seriously lacked confidence that they would give me the benefit of the doubt in this instance! “Not much! We simply wanted to unwind in nature to relax after a stressful day. You can’t deny that we have a job that can get overwhelming!”

Arnold retorted, “No, but we can deny that you’re out here for a relaxing jaunt! We overheard your conversation about eliminating a supplier…”

My stomach lurched upon hearing that revelation. I was lost on how to rationalize that discussion so that it made sense to people outside of our circle. “Well, it’s… We were… I…”

“It’s not what you’re thinking!” Phoebe swiftly jumped in. “We’re not here to murder anyone!”

“Yeah, you’re just gonna eliminate them- totally different!” Bill derisively regarded us.

Aleck articulated, “Eliminate doesn’t necessarily mean kill! We could be playing a game or something!”

Arnold gazed at us skeptically. “You’re playing a game, huh?”

“Uh-huh! Don’t we appear to be having fun to you?” Fletcher quizzed them with a lack of enthusiasm that raised Bill and Arnold’s eyebrows.

“What? You don’t believe us?” Ellie challenged them. “Do we really strike you as murderers? Go ahead and search us- you won’t find anything!”

Bill ordered, “Turn around. Keep your hands flat.”

It shocked me that they would actually go through with it! Granted, none of us were dressed for an excursion, and we were hiding something from them, but still! I rested my palms against a trunk, and as Arnold pat me down, I spotted a large shadow moving by the brush in the distance! I gasped, and Arnold barked, “Oh, hush! It’s not strip search!”

Arnold pulled a clove of garlic out of my pocket and gawked at me perplexedly, so I shrugged and tried to maintain my cool about that curio. “It’s for luck!” I lied. He didn’t buy that, but he returned it to me anyhow. I counted my blessings that I didn’t choose to bring a stake or a silver dagger!

“They’re all clear!” Bill determined. “They’ve gotta be telling the truth about playing a game!”

“Yeah, of course we are! What kind of idiots would come into a treacherous situation completely unarmed?” Ginger covertly cast a bitter glance at me.

I laughed to avoid further suspicion with the two officers, but inwardly, that stung a little. I trusted a medicated Mrithan, and I truly thought he aimed to do a good deed to make up for some of the mayhem his actions caused! I didn’t have a motive to impugn his honesty- he was a victim of a dumb but determined demon’s manipulation after all! The subject of getting manipulated made me suddenly consider perhaps he intended to portray a sad sap, pull at our heartstrings, and lure us into a trap! My eyes shifted guiltily, but preceding me berating myself for making poor choices…

There it was again! Whatever I recently spotted peeked around the corner! The silhouette ducked away as soon as I craned my neck in their direction, and even though I didn’t discern any identifiable features, I definitely could confirm that someone was following our every move! And it seemed far too big to be Roxy as well as Brantley! My astonishment must’ve been plainly etched on my visage because Arnold catechized, “What’s the matter?”

“Oh! I… I gotta take a leak!” I fibbed. I would’ve been glad to get this transaction with the Netherworld accomplice over with early, but not with these bystanders in the vicinity! In the interest of expediting this affair, I appealed to them, “Can we hurry this up? I really gotta go!”

“Alright,” Arnold relented. “But be careful- we got a report of an aggressive deer in this location.”

Aleck refuted that concept, “Deer are very meek animals!”

Bill riposted, “It’s rare, but it happens occasionally according to animal control. They can’t be here for another twenty minutes, so we’re trying to secure the perimeter.”

“If you see it, call us! Otherwise, enjoy your game!” Clearly, Arnold found our antics odd, and I couldn’t blame him for thinking that! A bunch of adults ages thirty and over playing in the wilderness while wearing their work clothes is very strange, but not as strange as the reality of our circumstances, so we let it slide.

“Yes we…” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone poke their head out from behind a hemlock tree- someone that I knew! My blood boiled, but I strove not to display my ire to the officers as I finished my sentence, “… we’re having fun, not murdering anyone!” We all chuckled, and as soon as the two men were out of earshot…

I dashed towards the timber and hollered, “You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you!”

Blaise emitted a high-pitched scream as he fled from my advances. I tailed him closely, and as we circled the large plant, Blaise cried out, “You can’t kill me- I’m already dead!”

“Then why are you running?” I rebutted.

“I can still feel pain!” Blaise tripped over some roots, and as I stood over his body, he threw his hands up in surrender. “Don’t hurt me! I’ll tell y’all whatever you wanna hear!”

Since we needed information, I folded my arms and focused elsewhere to convey my begrudging agreement to his terms. He picked himself up, but only his torso became upright. “Whoops! Lost my head!”

Phoebe slighted him, “It wouldn’t be the first time!”

“Literally!” Blaise corroborated with her insult. His limbs flailed as they searched for his noggin, so Blaise instructed the rest of himself, “A little to your left! No, I said your left! Now you’ve gone too far! Go back the other way!”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” I collected his cranium, and his straw-like hair felt crusty, which made me dearly wish I had brought some sanitizer! It felt slightly disturbing to reattach a skull to its corresponding vertebrae! His sunken-in, blue eyes blinked as he reoriented himself, and I observed that his old, grubby clothes and disheveled appearance still resembled an old scarecrow! After a minute or so of silence, I prodded him, “Well…?”

Blaise exclaimed, “What? You haven’t given me any questions!”

“Why were you bringing cursed wands to Earth knowing innocent kids would be victims?” Ellie accosted him.

“He sold them to kids? Hey, dude! I wasn’t aware of the buyers!” Blaise defended himself.

Ginger petitioned him, “Would that knowledge have changed anything?”

Blaise fluctuated on that, “Eh…”

“Why did you bring cursed wands up here at all?” Fletcher huffed.

“I was forced to!” Blaise justified his behavior. “Ya gotta understand, down there, I’m only a servant! I don’t wanna return to eternal torture for my disobedience, so…”

Aleck grilled him, “Who made this order to you?”

Blaise gestured in a manner that conveyed his ignorance on that topic. “I dunno! Some fella in red!”

“Oh, that’s helpful!” Phoebe sardonically addressed him. “Well, you’ll have to tell your boss this operation is over ‘cause we disabled his conduit.”

“Sounds like something y’all would do!” Blaise remarked. “Listen, I’d love to deliver that message, but they tore down the house with the portal. I’ve been hiding from the livings out here, but I hate it! It’s cold, and there’s lots of bitey bugs! And this deer keeps attacking me! I’m glad the cops are set to get it!”

I shook my head at his account, and then I enlightened him, “Gather your belongings ‘cause we might have a way to get you home!”

The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 35

“Oh, great! He fainted again!” I griped as I beheld Mrithan lying spread eagle on the ground. He began to convulse, and that completely altered my assumption. “…Wait…”

“What’s happening?” Aleck inquired.

Father Barbelo replied, “An evil spirit is leaving his body. So, does that answer your question about whether or not my methods work?”

Aleck grew sheepish upon hearing that prod. “Oh, you heard that? I… uh…”

“Should we call an ambulance?” Manuel peered at Mrithan fretfully.

“Nah, he’ll be fine” Father Barbelo appeared totally unconcerned about this eventuality.

His tremors worsened, and we grew more and more apprehensive about his condition. Our moods shifted from wondering if Father Barbelo was legitimate to pondering if he was secretly a killer too! Ginger nearly ran to his aid, but Father Barbelo stopped her. “But…!” Ginger gestured towards Mrithan’s limp body shaking quite violently.

Father Barbelo directed her, “Don’t interfere- the process is almost over!”

Mrithan quit moving, which prompted Ellie to shout, “Oh my god, he’s dead!”

“Stand back, or the demon may choose you its next vessel!” Father Barbelo warned us.

“I’m gonna call my girls,” Fletcher asserted. “I gotta tell them Daddy can’t pay for their next semester of college ‘cause he’s gonna need a defense attorney for his murder conviction!”

Phoebe squinted as she studied Mrithan. “I think he’s still breathing…”

Mrithan suddenly popped up to a sitting position, and Father Barbelo somewhat triumphantly regarded us, “See! He’s fine!” Mrithan proceeded to emit an extraordinary amount of vomit, and Father Barbelo still didn’t appear bothered. “Make sure he drinks plenty of fluids later!”

“Oh no!” Mrithan panickedly uttered. “Oh no, oh no, oh no! Where is he?”

“The devil? He’s gone!” Father Barbelo informed him.

Mrithan’s eyes grew wide. “No! We gotta get him back!”

Manuel raised an eyebrow at that strange declaration. “You want to be possessed?”

“We gotta get him back!” Mrithan repeated.

“We’re not helping you with that!” Ellie bluntly vociferated.

Mrithan spat, “I’m not talking to you!” He glanced around the hallway, and he stared at the doorway as he proclaimed, “They’ve purged the campus! We’ll have to do it elsewhere!” He dashed out of the vicinity.

I relayed to Manuel and the three priests, “We’ll take care of this!” Before any of them could protest this plan, the six of us in the Demon League trailed after him.

We found him in front of the school by the student parking lot with his arms wide and his lids closed. We ogled at him and tried to assess the situation, and eventually, Mrithan remarked, “I realize they’re there, but this shouldn’t take long!”

“Who are you speaking to?” I grilled him as his eyelids remained firmly shut.

“My advisors. They want you to go away!” Mrithan disdainfully expressed to me.

Ginger commented, “Gosh, he used to seem so normal! Well, maybe not normal, but not so looney tunes!”

Phoebe pretended to offer, “Whatever you’re attempting to do, maybe we can lend a hand! What do your ‘advisors’ need?”

“Are you deaf?” Roxy emerged from the bushes. Her hair got tangled in a branch, and after she released it, she vociferated, “They told you to go away, so… Go away!”

“You can see them too?” I posed to her.

Roxy put herself in a protective position in front of Mrithan, and she verbalized, “No! I’m sure this has something to do with my sweetie pie, Damon!” She gazed up at Mrithan and verified, “Doesn’t it?”

Mrithan snapped, “You leave my uncle out of this!”

“Uncle? You don’t have anything in common!” Alck turned to us and determined, “He’s lost it!”

“It’s true! Well, he’s my great, great uncle, but he’s an uncle nonetheless!” Mrithan filled us in. “My advisors brought this to my attention.”

Fletcher asked, “You just accept whatever the voices tell you as fact?”

Mrithan indignantly answered, “Hey! My advisors never steer me wrong! NEVER! … But I did verify it on a family history site. My mom never knew her grandfather, and now I know why! My grandpa married a woman of color, and apparently, Edlin found this too scandalous to allow his namesake to remain in the family!”

“How did he think that would work with your grandfather having the same name and all? Can’t exactly deny they’re related with ‘junior’ in the title!” Ellie pointed out.

“Aw, man!” I bemoaned. “When I was trying to find a link to Damon in the modern world, I read that his nephew’s marriage caused some controversy, but I gave up trying to get through that book! If I had continued my research, I could’ve found you ages ago! At least it felt like ages ago..”

Ginger probed, “So, you allowed yourself to get inhabited by your uncle’s demonic spirit? Because… it’s a reunion?”

Mrithan bellowed, “You don’t get it! Edlin cut my grandparents off from his fortune, and they were broke! They didn’t have a penny to their name! They struggled for decades! They would’ve been destitute ‘til their dying days if Mom didn’t have the foresight to marry a wealthy engineer! But Edlin didn’t know that would happen! He was perfectly happy to let his son starve to death!”

“Hold on! Your dad is rich?” Phoebe pried. “Then why do you take the bus?”

“I had to maintain my cover!” Mrithan justified himself. “If you all believed I was a poor, bumbling fool, you’d never recognize that I was helping to bring down the town that screwed my family over! Also, I got my license revoked ‘cause of a DUI…”

Fletcher puzzled, “So, you permitted your uncle to live in your body ‘cause his brother was a racist a-hole? I could see getting revenge on Edlin, but what did we do to you guys?”

Mrithan spelled it out, “Edlin practically ran Terra Belle a hundred years ago! When he disowned Damon and Edlin Junior, the entire city turned against us! They made us miserable, and we never got justice against those who wronged us! Well, we’re getting our vengeance now! Their wickedness runs in the blood of everyone here, so we can finally give them the punishment they deserve!”

After Mrithan maniacally cackled, Aleck opined, “Oh, I see the resemblance now! You both inherited that Joker laugh!”

“Tease me if you want! You won’t view it as funny once we unleash destruction on the region!” Mrithan resumed his original pose, and he beseeched the universe, “Come on! Bring him back fast! I’m gonna miss my bus!”

“Okay, well, first of all, my ancestors came from Philadelphia…” I commenced in debating Mrithan. “And prior to that, Europe…”

Mrithan sneered, “Psh! You’re not exempt! Damon told me all about you! You’re protecting the people in this area, and you made him miserable too!”

I nodded in acknowledgment of the accuracy of his allegation. “Fair enough! But you said you’re trying to penalize the heirs of the individuals who were mean to your family in yesteryear, and you’re the direct descendant of the dude who started all this drama! Shouldn’t you punish yourself then?”

“Huh! I never really thought about that! … No, I won’t listen to him!” Mrithan argued with someone we couldn’t ascertain the location of. “No, I wasn’t agreeing with him! I was simply concurring with that premise…”

“What do we do?” Phoebe whispered to us during Mrithan’s contention with invisible beings. “We can’t let him get inhabited by Damon again!”

Ellie affirmed, “Yeah! Carrying a demon within him and hallucinations is a dangerous combo!”

My face lit up after she expressed that. “That’s it! I have the remedy for this! I…” I trailed off after I espied Roxy’s defiant visage, and I frowned. “Someone distract her!”

“Nice try!” Roxy exclaimed. “You’re not gonna interfere with this anymore! I’ll make sure nothing stops my dreamy darling from wreaking havoc in the city! No one is gonna chase me away!”

“Roxy!” A woman with a rainbow coif poked her head out of the window of a hippie van. “Have any of you seen my daughter?”

Fletcher responded, “Yeah! She’s right-.” He observed that she had vanished, and he furrowed his brows. “Where’d she go?”

Aleck assured the woman, “We’ll keep an eye out for her, Sage!”

“What is she up to?” Sage exasperatedly enquired. “Please tell me she’s doing something completely usual like having a secret boyfriend!”

“She wishes!” Ginger muttered.

Sage was about to delve into the meaning of Ginger’s muttering, but then Mrithan’s presence startled her. “Ooh! Your aura is so dark! Let me cleanse that for you!”

Mrithan’s pupils went wide. “Noooo!” He took off again, so we pursued him.

Apparently, Mrithan was significantly more fit than the six of us! Fletcher and Ellie tapped out pretty early, and Phoebe as well as myself didn’t last too much longer! As I hunched over to catch my breath, I heard Aleck crash into a lamppost, so I cried out, “I hope Ginger caught up with him!”

“I’m fine, by the way!” Aleck pouted.

“He’s on the soccer field!” Ginger shouted to us. “Oh no! Get here immediately!” We all groaned, but we did our best to comply.

Aleck, Phoebe, and I arrived there first, and we were alarmed to witness Mrithan standing beneath the scoreboard that currently had Damon’s image plastered on it! Damon was in the process of transmitting a red hue to Mrithan, but they both paused to grin victoriously at us. “Game over!’ Damon leered.

Mrithan tacked onto that, “You lose!”

They both diabolically guffawed until Roxy popped into the scene and badgered us, “Yeah! You lose! We win! The game is ours! Ha, ha, ha!”

“Ugh! Why’d you invite her!” Damon critiqued Mrithan. “Now she’s gonna stick to your side after we redo the conduit spell!”

“I can be with him forever!” Roxy gawked at Mrithan with dewy eyes.

Mrithan looked thoroughly nonplussed at that idea, but then he shrugged it off. “Eh! That’s a price I’m willing to pay!” 

They resumed their supernatural activity, and we prepared ourselves to thwart this transaction. Roxy was ready to intercept us, but I figured we had the upper hand with our numbers. I grew a bit anxious that she would prevent me from administering the cure for this conundrum, but I already planned on passing it to whoever got closest to Mrithan. We charged forward, and she matched our voracity! A battle seemed inevitable… until…

“Arghhhhh!” Mrithan howled. We beheld the newly blanked-out scoreboard, and Mrithan got exceedingly steam up. “What did you do?”

“We got reinforcements!” Ellie indicated to the person next to her.

Sage aimed her palms at the spot where Damon had previously roosted, and she chanted, “May no evil enter this property!”

Roxy roared, “Mom! How could you do that to my true love?”

“True love?” Sage started to rub her temples. “Guys, as a parent, how do I handle this?” We all gestured in a manner that depicted our lack of insight on the topic.

“Your reiki can’t hold us back forever!” Mrithan vehemently avowed. “My advisors will assist me in discovering in discovering him again, and we will release the fury of-!”

As his mouth opened wide, I grabbed his jaw and shoved a pill down his throat like I once did for Jett when she got fleas. He coughed slightly, but it appeared to take! We watched in silence for a small stretch, and I prayed that it would be instantly effective! After a minute or so, Mrithan glimpsed around the field in shock. “Where’d my advisors go?”

I briefed him, “To your imagination where they belong! Oh, you’re bipolar- you’ll need these!” I tossed him my medication.

“Wow! I’m so embarrassed!” Mrithan craned his neck low in shame. “Sorry for the whole trying to destroy you thing!”

“Uh… We forgive you, I guess!” Phoebe reacted with uncertainty on how to handle this. “Just don’t do it again!”

Mrithan requested, “So, I’m gonna go beg Manuel for my job back since Dad said he’s tired of loaning me money. Can you all talk to my Netherworld accomplice? I don’t need his supplies anymore, but I don’t wanna break the news to him… He creeps me out!”

I blinked in bewilderment. A Netherworld accomplice…?

The Terra-Belle Demon, Chapter 34

“Tell me, why are we here?” A man with salt and pepper hair and a matching beard that really got highlighted against his gingery taupe skin scratched his chin as he lounged on his green armchair.

While I sprawled out on the coordinating couch adjacent to his seat, I sardonically responded, “Well, I assume you went to a ton of school to get your degree, and you probably enjoy this type of work…”

He calmly clarified, “Let me rephrase that. Why are you here?”

“My job forced me to be here. They found it necessary, but I don’t! I really don’t wanna be here! No offense, Doctor Cifarelli!” I didn’t have any issues with seeking therapy for my mental health, but I would’ve preferred it to have occurred on my own accord! I disliked getting mandated to attend this appointment! Okay, so technically Manuel didn’t compel me to get a psychiatrist, but naturally, if the majority of the staff at Rosemary King High believed I was off my rocker, then my unwillingness to go to this session likely would’ve garnered some sort of discipline from human resources! This directive wasn’t even the element that dampened my mood the most though- the meeting with this shrink threatened my tardiness to an arrangement that may have spelled out dire consequences for the town if it didn’t transpire!

“Besides that,” Doctor Cifarelli prodded me. 

I emitted an exasperated sigh, and I filled him in, “They think I’m nuts, but it isn’t true! Things have been pretty hectic lately, but once they simmer down, I’ll be fine!” I almost added that this visit may prevent me from quieting down that chaos, but I really didn’t want to get into the details of why that was, so I bit my lip.

Doctor Cifarelli asked, “Why do they think you’re nuts?”

“Uh…” I tried to phrase my answer in a manner that did not convey that my colleagues caught me in the aftermath of battles against random monsters. After a bout of contemplation, I came up with, “I guess ‘cause I talked to myself a couple of times and maybe snapped at them a bit. But I haven’t done anything totally out wild! They’re just overreacting!”

“Connor, please realize that one of your coworkers is also my client. I can’t say what we discussed specifically, but he expressed some… concerns about his buddy’s behavior,” Doctor Cifarelli leveled with me. “You wouldn’t happen to be that buddy, would you?”

Inwardly, I groaned. It hadn’t registered to me until right then that Aleck hadn’t talked to him since he found out the truth of what was going on, so he doubtlessly griped about my claims of a demonic dunce terrorizing the area! I didn’t blame him for spilling his guts about me to Doctor Cifarelli since he didn’t have any clue at that point I’d be using his services too, but it was a terrible inconvenience that he caused for me in this moment! I could only imagine what he revealed to Doctor Cifarelli, and I concluded my only hope was to take a stab at downplaying his narrative. “Oh, did he tell you about the novel I’m writing?”

I chuckled and glanced over to see if he bought that premise, but his unmoved visage suggested that he did not. “Oh, you’re an author, huh? Alright, who’s your protagonist?”

“My protagonist?” I mulled over that terminology, but I drew a blank. “Dammit! My fiancé’s an English teacher- I should know this!” Doctor Cifarelli smirked in a slightly victorious fashion, and rather than admitting he called my bluff, I stubbornly stated, “It’s more of a non-fiction really…”

“Uh-huh… So, what’s your ‘book’ about?” Doctor Cifarelli scribbled something down as he queried me.

I definitely regarded him, “Why don’t you check your notes? I noticed you didn’t jot anything down until now, so clearly, you already have some ideas about me!”

Doctor Cifarelli countered, “I’d rather hear it from you in your own words. Your friend may not have gotten some of the details correct, and I’m not one to rely on third-hand information. So, give me the facts.” I hesitated. Nobody held me in an honest light when I broadcasted the truth (except for Phoebe), so I didn’t expect a different result from this guy! Doctor Cifarelli labeling me as insane would have been worse than when my colleagues did it though due to his expertise, so I definitely didn’t want him to gain that opinion! He seemed to sense my misgivings because he coaxed me, “I’m not here to judge you! I’m here to support you! Whatever you share stays in this room! Please, speak about your experiences.”

I maintained my doubts initially, but then I realized that Aleck dealt with outlandish creatures last semester. I speculated whether or not Aleck disclosed this history with Doctor Cifarelli and theorized that he had based on Doctor Cifarelli’s lack of alarm at the topic of what Aleck divulged. Perhaps Doctor Cifarelli once contended with otherworldly adversaries too- I never deliberated on other individuals getting involved with this realm, but I couldn’t have been the first one to endure this! With all of this in mind, I took a deep breath and confessed, “A dumb but devious demon has a grudge against the high school and the city, and he’s been planting cursed wands around Terra Belle that trick innocent teens into unleashing mystical entities wherever I am ‘cause I’m the biggest hindrance to the Hellian plot!”

My assertion sat there for a minute, and its weight wafted throughout the space. Doctor Cifarelli recorded a few items in his ledger, but his expression didn’t budge from its stoic nature. I couldn’t discern if this boded well for me or not, but I deemed it as possibly beneficial since he didn’t seem startled by these revelations. I grew optimistic that he would dole out a favorable opinion, but then he probed, “How long have you been having these visions?”

“They’re no visions! They…!” I trailed off when the keyword sunk in. He labeled my narration as “visions,” which implied that they were delusions! I regretted showing such honesty to him, and I possessed no inkling on how I could convince him that my deposition wasn’t fictitious, so I begrudgingly relayed, “About a year.”

“Did anything traumatic occur a year ago?” Doctor Cifarelli posed to me.

I glanced at my watch, and even though there was plenty of time until my next venture’s commencement, I knew where this interaction was going, and I feared the outcome of this would contain a high probability of me being tardy to my higher priority. It bothered me that I had to continue answering these enquiries, and I unwillingly reflected on what to tell him. I nearly explained that Damon enrolled in my school during this period, but I didn’t want any further interrogation from him trying to extract a more rationale event that may have triggered the symptoms he thought I displayed, so I articulated, “My ex-wife cheated on me and filed for divorce.”

A lightbulb went off in Doctor Cifarelli’s head as if I confirmed the hypothesis he formulated, and he grabbed a prescription pad off of a desk close to his proximity “Well, the good news is that there’s a solution to this problem! You’re exhibiting signs of bipolar disorder, which means-.”

“You’re going to prescribe me a lithium supplement, which will regulate the chemicals in my brain and help me control my emotions more,” I finished his sentence. “My dad was a doctor, and for a while, I wanted to go into medical school, so I grilled him about different diseases at the dinner table. Mom was not pleased! Incidentally, I used to be a sales rep for Novak Neander, and I’ve actually sold a lithium supplement to various facilities in the region!”

“Is that the brand you’d like me to prescribe?” Doctor Cifarelli catechized.

I don’t know if he saw me roll my eyes, but I’m positive he heard the cynicism in my voice as I verbalized, “Yeah, sure! It’ll be like a family reunion!”

He handed me the prescription, and I snatched it as I sat up. I was prepared to dash out of that joint, but then Doctor Cifarelli stopped me, “We still have twenty minutes left.” I resentfully plopped back down on the sofa, and he conversed, “So, you mentioned your parents. How was your relationship with them growing up?” I intended to respond to him, but I let out an exasperated exhale and lamented my fortune preceding the rest of this transaction.

At the drugstore, I paced in front of a pharmacy counter. I acknowledged that they had other orders to fill, but not everyone at this establishment held the same urgency as me! I reckoned that the affair would carry on without me, but I didn’t feel content with allowing my fellow Demon Leaguers to shoulder this burden alone! I needed to be there in case something went wrong! My patience wore out, and I peered over the counter and pressed, “How much longer do I gotta wait for my medicine?”

I’m working on it, sir,” the pharmacist addressed me.

“No, you’re not,” I disagreed. “That’s an inhaler in your hand.”

She politely reacted, “Sir, we process orders as they come in. Unless it’s an emergency, please have a seat. We’ll call you when we’re done.”

In any other scenario, I would’ve exercised patience and complied with her wishes, but seeing how the fate of the community was on the line, I didn’t want to encourage anything that impeded that effort, especially not picking up medication that I didn’t actually need! Therefore, I deemed my idea as necessary, leaned in, and whispered, “I’ve been diagnosed with an ailment that produces grandiose delusions…” She ceased her current undertaking and grabbed a small bottle off of the shelf behind her. I took it and began to query, “How much do I-?”

“Don’t worry about the copay today!” She nervously smiled. I meant to hurry out of there at that juncture, but then…

“Oh hello, Peter!” I grimaced. I felt I had been quiet enough, but a part of me grew apprehensive that he overheard my unhinged dialogue with the pharmacist! The last thing I needed was for one of my students to get the impression that I hallucinated anything or ever!

Peter removed an earbud I hadn’t previously spotted, and he canvassed me, “Huh? Did you say something, Mister Fenmore?”

I lied, “Nope!” Since everything seemed to be taken care of, I raced out of the drugstore.

Phoebe was standing by the entrance of Rosemary King along with Ginger, Aleck, Fletcher, and Ellie. They were positioned by Father Barbelo, two other priests that I didn’t recognize, and Manuel, and they all paused their pursuit when I entered into the vicinity. “Did I…? Did I…?” I strove to communicate to them with a diminished lung capacity.

“You’re lucky that the choir auditions went long!” Manuel remarked. “We delayed the proceedings until all of the potential witnesses vacated the premises. Not that we’re doing anything morally wrong… With all of the strange occurrences on our campus, obviously, we need a purge! It’s just that no one else can know we’re performing a religious ceremony here…”

“All the other cars are gone,” Ellie reported while peering into the faculty parking lot on the other side. “Of course, we don’t know about Mrithan since he takes the bus…”

Manuel reassured her, “He’s still around, but last I checked, he was still tangled in the bike racks… again! We have at least a half hour alone.”

Ellie became mollified by this tidbit. “Oh, great!”

“Shall we commence?” Father Barbelo petitioned us. Manuel nodded, so Father Barbelo affirmed, “Excellent! Now, I’ll warn you, this process may become tedious…”

“You’re exorcising evil spirits from the property- how dull could that be?” Aleck pondered.

A considerable stretch later, we watched the three priests in the downstairs hallway with significant tedium. Father Barbelo occupied the center counting the beads on his rosary, the priest on his left had a basin of holy water he would sporadically sprinkle onto his surroundings, and the priest on his right swung an incense burner around. The process was exciting for a few seconds, but after taking very slow steps throughout the building, our interest waned. I supposed that our entanglements with authentic spooks encouraged our fancies to picture specters departing from these quarters repeatedly, so this lack of vigor and drama disappointed us. “Maybe I didn’t need to rush here after all!” I quietly expressed.

Ginger softly pried, “Are we certain he’s an expert on this? Did we vouch for his credentials at all?”

“Well, there’s not gonna be fiends hiding around every corner!” Fletcher brought up. “If we encounter some, we’ll get some action!”

“If the creeps showed up today! This whole ordeal may do nothing more than protect them ever returning,” Phoebe conjectured.

Aleck put in, “Possibly! But… I hate to say it, but we don’t really have proof that this practice even works!”

As if on cue, a noise at the end of the foyer overtly demonstrated that this operation achieved success…