72. Calling The Spirit

"What do you mean by that?" Emily asked looking confused. Why did Scarlett say that? And how does she know about our connections with the stone? Who is she? And what is she doing with her bag?

"Emily, haven't you seen the news? The spell had spread to the next three towns too, engulfing more and more houses every passing second."

"Three towns?!" John exclaimed.

"That's what the news says but the numbers can be higher. Only Skylar's and few other houses are left in this town and two towns have even been declared as corpse towns. Everyone is running away and going somewhere else but they don't know that they aren't safe anywhere - none of us are. The Government is asking the rest which are still alive to go to other towns but it is only a matter of time when they all will meet their demise - it's unavoidable. Scientists are clueless and I'm telling you, they will be. No one dares to enter the area which is affected. Not even the priests or anyone from the Church. It is too negative to even reverse it or do something to it." Scarlett said turning towards Emily.

"Wait a minute," Emily began going closer to Scarlett, "How do you know about the spell? And what do you know about the stone? And more importantly, how?"

Scarlett smiled. "I guess, Skylar did not tell you who I am."

Everyone looked at Skylar.

"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?" Skylar faced her sister and said, "What do you want me to say, sis? That you have some kind of power to talk to spirits?"

"You still don't believe me, Skylar, don't you?"

"It's not like that, Scarlett, I just do not see anyone or anything! Last night you sent me a photo of the house of your neighbor at night and said that she was in the room. And a few minutes after, you sent me another photo from afar circling something on the roof above their beds in which you captioned she isn't done yet. She is coming after more! Who was 'she'? And then you told me that she is becoming strong, having eaten so many souls and her target can be any house next and that I should better leave. Now I have zoomed so many times on that photograph and adjusted its brightness too, but I do not see anyone else in the room except two people - two normal humans."

Scarlett smiled and shook her head.

"Forget that," John said remembering the real reason both he and Emily had come there. "Why did you give me that box? And when I told Skylar that you were here, she said that it couldn't be possible as you lived 650 miles away."

Scarlett raised her eyebrow. "So many questions but little time to answer." She took a deep breath. "Whatever you saw yesterday night, it wasn't me,"

"Don't lie, Scarlett," John interrupted her, "I know what I saw and whom I saw - you! You are the same girl!"

"Let me finish," She said politely, "Evil can take many forms - your regrets, your fears, your unfulfilled or fulfilled wishes, your subconscious thoughts, or even something else."

"So, you mean to say that whomever John saw last night weren't you?" Emily asked.

Scarlett nodded. "It was her."

"Ok," Emily raised her hands. "you need to tell us who you really are! Like you came in the house and straight away said that John was the one who touched the stone - how did you know that and what did you know about the stone? And then you told me about the curse, like how do you even know about it? And if you weren't the one whom John saw last night and it was 'her', who was she and how do you know all this? And - "

"I can understand, Emily, " Scarlett said putting her hand back in her backpack like she was reaching for something. "You all have so many questions which you want answers to and trust me, I will but not at this moment. You will know everything soon but for now, we are running out of time. Come with me, I'll explain everything later."

Emily, John, and Skylar went along with Scarlett upstairs.

"I missed my room!" Scarlett exclaimed turning the knob and opening the door. "Thanks, Skylar, for not messing up my things and for keeping them as it is."

"Enjoy while it lasts, Scarlett, only your room is left to pack," Skylar said entering the room.

"Welcome to my room," Scarlett said to John and Emily. "Please sit on the bed while I bring something." She turned towards Skylar. "Hope you haven't displaced that,"

"I haven't, it's in your cupboard - top shelf." She instructed and sat next to Emily.

John, Emily, and Skylar watched as Scarlett went inside her cupboard.

"What do you think she went to get?" John whispered to Emily.

Emily shrugged. "Let's see," She whispered back as they saw Scarlett coming out with a big oval thing which was half her height, covered in a red cloth.

"Can you hold it for a sec?" Scarlett asked John.

"Sure," He took the object from Scarlett's hand. "Oh, it's heavy,"

Scarlett smiled as she went to close the door. She closed the curtains and switched off all the light sources. Slowly, the four found themselves in dark.

"John, can you please keep it in front of the door? I'll be right back. And yes, don't remove the cloth."

John got up and placed the object where Scarlett had instructed him as Emily and Skylar saw him with a confused look on their faces questioning what was Scarlett doing and what was all that with that object kept near the door.

Scarlett went inside her closet and came back with some candles and a matchstick in her hands.

"Thank you, John," She smiled at him and knelt down in front of the object which was resting against the door. She then began to place candles in front of it in a semi-circle. With the help of a matchstick, she lit all the four candles one by one which gave a little illumination in the room.

"Now," Scarlett began sitting in front of the object covered with the red cloth. "Listen to me carefully. First, I want you all to sit around the candles." John, Emily, and Skylar got up from the bed and sat down near Scarlett with exactly one candle in front of each.

Scarlett said and slowly began to slide down the red cloth which was covering the object revealing an antique mirror underneath it.

She placed her right hand- palm, down- on the floor and she gave her left hand to Skylar who was sitting next to her. Skylar placed her hand in hers and gave her other hand to Emily and then Emily held John's right hand.

"John," Scarlett said to John. "Please place your left hand on ground - palm down- and do not move it."

John did what he was told. "Can you tell us what is happening?"

"You will in a couple of minutes. Trust me, it's for your good only." Scarlett said with a smile, trying to calm him down. "Now, we all can see our reflections in this mirror. Within a few minutes, I want to all to not get up or say anything - whatever happens."

Gulping the saliva of fear and uncertainty, all nodded in unison.

"Good," Scarlett began. "And remember, when you see your reflection fading away, don't panic. It's just a cue to leave your hands holding each other and blow out the candle in front of you but don't blow anyone else's."

With this, Scarlett took a deep breath. Staring at the rusted gold, carved, oval-shaped mirror, she began saying some lines in an unknown language.

Within a few seconds, the flames of the candles began wavering but none of them moved still holding each other's hands and continued to look in the mirror staring at their own reflection.

Suddenly, their reflections began fading away - piece by piece. They can't move or say anything even if they wanted to so they held each other's hand with the tight grip of fear as their breaths elevated. Scarlett was still saying something in a language none of them could understand.

Then their eyes grew wide, unable to comprehend what they were seeing - their reflections completely vanished and the mirror turned lucid white where their reflections should be. The lucid white area began swirling around causing ripples - just like when you move the water with a stick in a clockwise direction in fast motions.

With the swirling gaining speed, they saw something -  head, perhaps - trying to come out.

"Now!" Scarlett yelled.

Even though they were too terrified to even move seeing something coming right at them from the mirror, but everyone blew out their candles on her command.

The room got dark. They felt a breeze gently against their skin moving in the opposite direction.

"Skylar, can you turn on the lights please?"

"Su-sure," Skylar stumbled.

"Wait," Scarlett said, "Before that, please wear this," she gave everyone a metal ring. "Wear this. It'll help you see them."

"See who?" Emily asked.

"The spirit," Scarlett said as if it was nothing new to her - after all she had done this before too.

Skylar wore her ring and got up to switch on the lights.

Just when the room was illuminated, John and Emily turned towards their left and placed their hands on their open mouth as they saw someone in front of them.

"Welcome back," Scarlett said with a smile.