Little Red Gem (29 page)

She opened the magic book
to the page marked with a feather.

“
Did Ruby really come to
you in a dream and tell you there were ghosts trapped here?”
Shanessa asked, staring at the items on the table.

“
Yes,” Audrey said. Her
stony facial expression gave away nothing of the lie. “That’s why
I’ve been acting weird lately. You’d be a nutcase, too, if your
dead sister haunted your dreams.”

Shanessa’s face lit up.
“So Ruby is here with us right now. Can we talk to her?”

Audrey shrugged. “You can
talk all you like, but she can’t talk back. Look, I appreciate the
lift but I’m running out of time. Mom’s expecting me home by
dinner.”

“
You could be like a
medium?” Natalie begged. “Between Ruby and us. We miss her so
much.”

“
In order for me to talk
to Ruby I’ll be in a state of astral projection. You won’t be able
to see me,” explained Audrey, “so no, I can’t act like a medium.
Sorry. For this to work I have to put myself in a trance. You won’t
see anything except me lying on the couch. I’ll appear to be
sleeping. Whatever you do, don’t wake me up. I can get myself out
of the trance. Hey, maybe you want to check out the hot tub on the
back deck.”

“
That sounds like a great
idea,” Natalie said, flicking a nervous glance around the
room.

They left and Audrey
stretched out on the couch. The room was immersed in the soft glow
of the candles and waning afternoon. She closed her eyes to put
herself in a trance. Within minutes her head dropped off the
cushion. And then a slightly opaque version of Audrey materialized
in front of the couch.

“
I’m impressed,” I gushed.
“It took me hours to get myself into a trance.”

“
I’ve had a lot of
practice.” Audrey’s smile dropped. “I visit Dad once a week to see
how he’s doing. I know I shouldn’t because it’s spying, but I like
to see him.”

The door blew open,
revealing William standing on the patio. He bowed deeply and said,
“Whether this works or not, Miss Audrey, I am grateful for your
efforts.”

“
I’ll need the watch,”
Audrey said.

William reached into his
pocket and withdrew it. He stared at it longingly. With a scowl,
Audrey crossed the containment line and took the watch out of his
hand. Next she upturned the bowl off the dining table containing
fake fruit and placed the watch and a dozen items into the bowl.
Some I recognized; crushed-up petals, buttons, cinnamon sticks, a
tuft of hair.

With her hand hovering
over the bowl she chanted, “Inkead. Ekneid. Draklun e a
dishkard.”

She sprinkled a handful of
something from her pocket I was sure wasn’t lint, and in breathless
anticipation we three watched Audrey strike a match and drop it
into the bowl.

“
I just asked the power to
reveal itself,” she stage whispered to me.

The flames grew taller.
And then they formed a shape.

“
Thouloul ei mincaash o
leond,” she chanted.

The shape shifted from a
ball into the silhouette of a full grown man. It grew as tall as
the ceiling and moved toward Audrey.

She raised both hands out
wide, as if she was holding an invisible beach ball. “Thouloul ei
mincaash o leond.”

She turned the palms of
her hands outward and aimed them at the front door. The shape
elongated until it no longer resembled a man. It looked more like a
wolf. Audrey guided the wolf shape toward the front door. Even I
could tell the thing was fighting to stay in the room.

Audrey’s face was red and
terse, and her hair lifted up in billowing strands as the magic
caused a whirlpool of wind inside the cabin. Her voice grew louder
as she guided the smoke out of the cabin and into the bright
sunlight.

“
Thouloul ei mincaash o
leond.”

Wind whipped around the
cabin. The candles fluttered but held their flame.

“
I vanquish you and your
curse,” she shouted.

The shape exploded into
millions of fragments, as if someone had thrown a handful of black
pepper into an invisible wall. And then—

Nothing. Magic contained
far less theatrics than I’d been led to believe.

Audrey was hunched over
sucking up air when Anne asked, “Did it work?”

“
We’ll soon find out,”
said William.

He took a breath and
stepped into the room.

“
I can’t bear to look,”
squealed Anne.

William took a second step
into the cabin, and then another without getting zapped by the
invisible force. Anne, still squealing though this time with joy,
rushed into his arms. They stayed locked in each other’s embrace,
kissing and caressing each other, and I turned away with a warm
face like I was spying on a couple of horny teens.

“
You okay?” I asked
Audrey.

She was fully recovered
now and wearing a satisfied smile. “Yeah. Peace of cake.” She
nodded at Anne and William. “Those two seem happy to see each
other.”

I giggled. “They look like
they need a room.”

The afternoon sun dipped
further in the sky, only I realized that it wasn’t the sun
disappearing, it was Anne’s and William’s ghostly auras fading.
Their images grew weaker and weaker until they were almost
invisible. They mouthed the words, “thank you” and then disappeared
entirely.

“
Obviously that worked,”
Audrey said matter-of-factly. She stuck her head over the bowl.
“The watch is still here, though badly charred. Not sure if it’s of
use to anyone now. Okay, let’s see if there’s a spell that can help
you.”

She consulted the spell
book and I stared at the spot where Anne and William had last
stood. Yes they’d been cursed, but at least they’d had each other
for company. If Audrey couldn’t unlock my curse, I’d be alone and
forever out of Leo’s grasp.

We were flipping through
the pages when we were spooked by the sound of heavy footsteps on
the patio. It had slipped my mind that Natalie and Shanessa were
out on the deck, and with the cool change that had slipped in they
probably wanted to come back inside. We both looked up, but it
wasn’t Natalie or Shanessa standing in the doorway.

It was Leo.

His eyes quickly scanned
the room and widened in alarm when he spied Audrey lying on the
couch. He rushed over and shook the motionless body.

“
Audrey. Wake up.” He
pressed his fingers against her throat. He shook her again. “Wake
up.”

Natalie and Shanessa ran
into the room. “No, Leo. Don’t wake her up,” they shouted
simultaneously.

Beside me, Audrey groaned.
“Oh, no. I can’t fight it. Ruby, I forgive you for what you did.
We’re sisters forever. I’ll find a way to come back and help you. I
promise.”

Her apparition vanished
and moments later the body on the couch stirred.

Leo’s voice was filled
with concern when he helped her sit up. “Audrey, what are you doing
here?”

While she stretched her
neck and arms, she shot a warning look in the direction of Natalie
and Shanessa. “We came up to the cabin to study. I guess I fell
asleep. What are you doing here?”

Natalie’s tone was urgent,
pleading. “I can’t take any more of this. Leo deserves to know the
truth.”

Shanessa pushed past
Natalie. “Audrey had dreams about Ruby being trapped in this cabin.
She was using magic to release her.”

Leo looked from Natalie to
Shanessa and finally his eyes rested of Audrey’s. She blushed and
looked away. I felt sorry for her.

At last he turned his
attention on Natalie and Shanessa. “Ladies, can you do me a favor
and wait in the car. I’d like to ask Audrey a few questions in
private about these dreams.”

Natalie and Shanessa left
and Leo waited until he heard the car doors slam before he took a
seat in the armchair by the window.

“
I’m sorry about the way I
acted at the auditions,” Leo said.

Audrey kept her face
impassive. “Okay.”

“
You don’t know what I’m
talking about, do you?”

“
I do. I just don’t want
to be reminded of it.”

“
You’re not having dreams
about Ruby either, are you?”

Audrey scowled at him.
“Are you calling me a liar?”

He nodded. “Yes, I am. Do
you wanna tell me what you’re really doing here? I’m kinda fed up
with the lies and deception.”

I could tell from the way
Audrey’s lips quivered that she wrestled with telling the truth or
telling more lies. I hoped she would opt for the truth. Somehow I
felt that it would be less damaging if it came from someone
else.

Audrey sighed. “I can see
ghosts, but only when I put myself in a trace. It’s called astral
projection. Ruby
is
trapped in the afterlife, and I’m here to help
her.”

“
How?”

“
Magic.” Audrey shook her
head. “Who am I kidding? Magic won’t work for Ruby. She’s here
because she doesn’t want to leave. She’s still connected to…well,
you. No amount of magic will set her free. Not if she feels as if
she died before she had the chance to finish something
important.”

“
What if I said goodbye?
Would that set her free? I never got that chance and maybe she
can’t go until she hears it.”

“
It might
work.”

Leo leaned over until his
elbows rested on his knees. “You don’t have her eyes
anymore.”

Audrey fidgeted and
avoided his stare. “Excuse me?”

Leo didn’t respond. His
eyes probed hers relentlessly.

“
Please stop staring at me
like you’re about to kill me.”

Leo relaxed and smiled.
“Sorry. You and Ruby really do look similar, did you know
that?”

Audrey scowled.
“No.”

“
Except for the eyes. But
yours seem different now. I’m curious to know how you broke your
wrist.”

Audrey’s eyes narrowed as
if this sudden shift in the conversation would lead her into a
trap. One thing about Audrey, she wasn’t stupid. “How can you not
know? It’s all over school. I tripped over a hurdle.”

“
Which one?”

“
Excuse me?”

I mentally projected an
image of the poltergeist barreling into me at the
third
hurdle, but from
the confused look on Audrey’s face she wasn’t capable of
telepathy.

“
I stopped by your house
to bring you flowers the day after you broke your wrist,” Leo told
her. “Do you remember what you said?”

If looks could have
drilled holes in people’s heads, Leo would have had two holes the
size of dimes in his from the deadliness of Audrey’s stare. “Why
are you asking me twenty questions?”

“
Do you remember what you
said?”

“
No. I’m sure I was on
painkillers.”

“
You said you hoped they’d
give the hurdle a few weeks off. You don’t remember anything about
breaking your wrist because you weren’t there when it happened,
were you? Ruby found a way to come back from the grave and she did
something. It’s like she possessed your body. That’s why you don’t
have her eyes anymore. That’s how I know it’s you and not her. You
don’t have her eyes.”

Audrey offered him a weak
smile. “You’re right. You said no more lies, so I won’t. I know it
sounds crazy, but she took over my spirit to be with
you.”

Leo reached into his
jacket and pulled out a bottle. He set it down on the coffee table
with a
thump
.
Even from across the room I could read the label:
BOURBON.

Audrey screwed up her
nose. “Did you come here to get drunk?”

Leo was unmoving as he
stared at the bottle. “When Ruby and I first started dating, we
went to a few parties and she got mad because I got drunk. But
that’s what parties are for, right? Anyway, she’d noticed how I
drank even when there was no social occasion. She confronted me,
asked me why. I told her I drank to get the demons out of my head.
I don’t know why I have them, I just do. She promised to help me
get rid of them.”

He finally took his gaze
off the bottle and turned his attention to the open front door.
“We’d sit some nights and watch the stars. Not here, but down by
the lake. When I was with Ruby, I didn’t feel like drinking. But
the moment she’d leave my side the demons would return. If I can
spend the night here without opening that bottle, at least her
death won’t have been a waste. She’ll have saved me. That ought to
be enough to set her free, don’t you think? If I tell her that I
loved her more than anything on the planet that should be enough to
set her free.”

Audrey got up and placed a
hand on Leo’s. “I’ll stay and keep you company if you like. My mom
always says a problem shared is a problem halved.”

“
Thanks, but I won’t ask
you girls to stay here after dark. Besides, I’ve got to do this on
my own.” He paused. “In a way I feel as if I kept her spirit
earthbound. I didn’t want to believe she’d died so I didn’t. If I
can do this one thing, she’ll be released, I’m sure of
it.”