Suffer a Witch (6 page)

People poured into the room. Em went to the doorway to make sure she was available if anyone needed anything. Every seat in the room filled or was being saved. There were people sitting cross-legged in the front of the room and along all the aisles. A row of adults stood beside Em at the back of the room. Sarah Wildes threaded her way toward Em.

“My class wanted to go to the meeting,” Sarah Wildes said. “I know there’s not room, but . . .”

“We can set up the overheads to match.” Em waved to George to get his attention.

“Like we do for the Wiccan holidays?” Sarah Wildes asked.

Em nodded. George moved through the crowd toward Em. Knowing what needed to be done, he left with Sarah Wildes. John Parker followed them out the door. This Salem ghost-hunting endeavor had taken over the store. As if they knew them personally, people whispered the names of the Salem Twenty.

“That was weird,” Bridget said in a low tone to Em.

“What?” Em asked.

“I passed someone talking about me,” Bridget said. “Did you know that I’m fantastic?”

“No.” Em shook her head, and Bridget laughed.

They watched Alice come in with her gentleman client. She moved the sweater Em had put down to save them a seat. He sat down, and she came back to say hello.

“He wanted to come,” Alice said. “Turns out, he’s been interested in the Salem Witches since he was a kid. At least, that’s what he said. He’s become quite fond of me.”

“Who hasn’t?” Em asked. “Did you hear Bridget is fantastic?”

“Don’t worry, Em,” Bridget said. “They said you were a bitter old shrew.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Alice laughed.

Bridget giggled, and Em shook her head.

“Are you going to be okay with . . .” Em leaned in to Alice, “John Parker?”

The young man came through the door at the exact moment. John Parker looked from Alice to Em.

“Can I help with something?” John Parker asked.

“My friend, Emogene, here was just telling me you were leading the meeting,” Alice said in her southern accent.

Like most of the Salem Twenty, Alice gave off a radiant sexual energy. The young man flushed and glanced at Bridget, who gave him a sweet-but-sexy smile. To cover his arousal, he moved into the room without saying another word. Bridget giggled.

“Anything?” Em asked Alice.

“That’s no relation of mine,” Alice said. “He’s most definitely not the descendant of one of my children.”

“You know all your children’s descendants?” Bridget asked.

Alice pointed to her head to indicate that she used her skills as a witch to track them.

“Don’t you?” Alice asked. She glanced at Em, who nodded.

“Sure, I just thought . . . I wasn’t sure that was . . .” Bridget held her hands up to make quotation marks and said, “Approved.”

“Try to stop me,” Em said. Alice laughed.

“I do, too,” Bridget said.

“Of course, you do, dear,” Alice said. She gave Bridget a light hug. In a low voice, she said, “Don’t let the bitter shrew get to you.”

They laughed. Em watched John Parker for a few minutes while Alice and Bridget caught up. She touched Alice’s arm.

“Could he be a relative of John’s?” Em asked. “He kind of looks like him.”

“No way.” Alice shook her head. “I can smell my John on his relations.”

“We think he’s someone who’s named ‘John Parker’ but has no relationship to you or John,” Em said.

“I do,” Alice said. She looked at Bridget, who nodded.

“I wonder why he looks like John,” Bridget said.

“Good question,” Em said. She glanced at Bridget, “Don’t . . .”

The time between Bridget wanting something and her getting it was always short. Before Em could get the words out, Bridget had cast a spell. Em watched tiny particles of yellow light fly across the room to the young man. The tiny particles circled the young man from head to toe before coming back to Bridget. John Parker continued talking to the co-owner of the group and didn’t seem to notice the magic surrounding him.

“Plastic surgery,” Bridget whispered.

“That’s not good,” Em said.

“Why?” Alice asked.

“He’s manipulating the situation for his gain,” Em said.

“Con man?” Alice asked.

She turned to look at the young man. She glanced at Bridget before nodding in agreement to Em. The lights dimmed, and her gentleman waved to her. Alice smiled and trotted forward to her seat. Isaac and his college-aged son, Asher, came in the door. Em pointed to two seats she’d saved for them near Alice. He stopped for a moment, cupped her elbow to say hello, and they went to sit down. Bridget found a stool and pulled it over to where Em was leaning against the wall.

“Okay, let’s get started,” John Parker said.

Em watched people settle in their seats and open their minds. There was a crackle of excited anticipation in the air.

“Hello,” John Parker said. “My name is John Parker. Yes,
that
John Parker.”

There was a faint rustling in the crowd. This crowd knew that John Parker was a fisherman who was married to Alice Parker. One of Sarah’s middle-aged yoga participants’ hand shot up in the air. A waif of a woman, she didn’t wait for his acknowledgement to speak.

“Can you tell us about Alice Parker?” the woman asked. “She’s always been a mystery to me because there’s nothing in the books or websites about her and John. I did find a reference that John packed up his family and left Salem Village the
very night
Alice was hanged.”

The crowd mumbled their agreement with the question. This John Parker wasn’t about to let the meeting slip away from him. He gave the women a thin smile and turned his attention to the crowd.

“We’ll have time for everything,” John Parker said. “Let’s get started.”

“That’s smart,” George said in her ear. Em startled at his voice. She hadn’t seen him come in. She turned her head to look at him. “He needs to let the knowledge of who he says he is linger in people’s minds for a while. Makes it more believable.”

“He certainly knows what he’s doing,” Bridget whispered from the other side of her.

George looked at Bridget, and they nodded.

“We’d expect something emotionally charged next,” George said. “Either graphic violence or an emotional gut punch. Better to have both.”

Scowling, Em nodded.

“Can you get the lights?” John Parker asked. He nodded to Em.

Em flicked off the light switch on the wall behind her. John Parker hit a button on his computer, and the drawing of Bridget’s hanging came on the screen. People gasped. Em looked at Bridget. She was scowling. Bridget gave a quick shake of her head. She leaned into Em.

“I’d never wear that outfit,” Bridget said. “Look at the bows.”

Em’s lips moved to form a smile. Just then, John Parker launched into a vivid description of Bridget’s botched hanging. A wave of nausea went through the crowd. Somewhere in the area outside the room, a woman began to cry. Em’s face stalled in her almost-smile.

“Told you,” George said in her ear.

“He’s performing magic,” Em whispered to George.

George jerked with surprise. He turned his full attention to John Parker. Bridget stared at the young man in the front of the room. As the crowd slipped under his spell, Alice turned to look at Em. She nodded to Isaac and Asher. They were enraptured with this John Parker. Em gave Alice a slight nod, and Alice turned her hand over to surround herself, Isaac, Asher, and her gentleman with a protective bubble. The humans jerked awake the moment the bubble was completed.

Tiny sparks of magic seemed to emanate from the area around John Parker’s head and surround him. The magic flowed over the crowd like a fog before flowing out of the room to capture every human in the store.

The crowd was enraptured.

Sarah Wildes came in the door and stood next to George. The line of witches openly gawked at John Parker. Somehow, he didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he couldn’t see the protective bubble Alice had placed around Isaac, Asher, and her gentleman. As if he were a pawn to the magic, John Parker’s mind and spirit seemed caught up in the gruesome story he was telling.

“What the hell?” Sarah Wildes said in a low voice. “Any ideas?”

“None,” George said.

“Ever see this before?” Bridget asked.

George and Sarah Wildes shook their heads. Em kept her eyes on John Parker. Despite the intensity of her gaze, John Parker never looked in her direction. He kept talking. He gave a brief description of their trials and the eventual end in their hanging.

“Possessed?” Sarah Wildes asked.

George shook his head.

“Under someone else’s power,” Em said.

The demon appeared the moment the words left her mouth.

He looked exactly as he had in her vision, down to his black leather chaps and top hat. As if he didn’t have a care in the world, the demon sauntered out from behind John Parker. Grinning at Em, he took off his top hat and put it on John Parker’s head.

The room became silent. John Parker’s mouth was moving, but Em couldn’t hear a word he was saying.

“Do you see . . .?” Em asked.

Em turned to look at Bridget. Her face was slack and her eyes vague. She glanced at George. He looked puzzled by something in the front of the room. With her touch, his eyes lost their focus, and he fell into a trance. She looked past George to Sarah Wildes. She was entranced by this demon.

Em’s heart raced with panic. She swallowed hard. The demon had taken control of the room. Em’s panic grew. George had to burn the vision to get rid of the demon the last time. The creature gave Em a cocky grin. She was alone this time.

“I see him, Em.”

The words appeared in her mind. She had no idea who’d said them. Em’s eyes scanned the audience.

Alice stood up.

“Be gone!” Alice screamed at the demon.

The creature turned to look at Alice. His eyes went from black to glowing red.

“Don’t look at his eyes,” Em yelled. “You can get caught in his gaze!”

“Be gone!” Alice said.

The demon hissed. Secure in Alice’s protection bubble, Isaac and Asher jumped to their feet.

“Be gone from this room!” Isaac said. His words echoed through the store. “This is a human dwelling, not made for the likes of you. You are not welcome here!”

“Go!” Asher yelled in support of his father.

Alice’s gentleman got to his feet. Em could see only the back of his brown suit. He turned to look at the door. Em saw panic on his face. Horrified by the entranced people and the demon, the man was ready to bolt. He reached his hand out to push Alice behind him.

“Be gone!” Alice said.

The demon crouched, making ready to spring onto Alice.

“No!” Em said to Alice. “This is my battle.”

Em stepped away from the wall and walked to the middle of the aisle.

“It’s my fight,” Em said.

“Em!” Alice yelled with fear. “You can’t . . .”

“Stay there,” Em said. “Protect the humans.”

Em glanced at her before turning her full attention to the demon. Alice’s gentleman stepped in front of Alice to shield her from the demon.

“Enough!” Em said.

Her hands came together in a sharp clap. Bridget, George, and Sarah Wildes awoke from their trance. The demon turned its red eyes to Em.

“You are not welcome here,” Em said.

“Em!” George yelled. He tried to get to her, but Em tossed an invisible wall around him and the witches. He banged his fists against it. As he had on the gallows, George began reciting the Lord’s Prayer in his preacher’s voice. From behind the protective wall, the others joined him.

“
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . .,
” George, Sarah Wildes, and Bridget said .

The demon hissed at Em.

“You will leave this place,” Em said.

“
 . . .thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven . . .
” the witches said.

To the demon’s dismay, his legs began to fade from under him.

“I built this building from the ground up,” Em said.

“ . . .
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses
 . . .”

“This is
my
building,
my
store,
my
home. You are
not
welcome here. It is protected from the likes of you. You will leave.”

Em reached the palm of her left hand up to the heavens to pull down the power of the angels.

“ . . .
as we forgive those who trespass against us
 . . .”

She pushed the palm of her right hand out in front of her. She looked up to see a sparkling figure eight shining above her head.

“ . . .
Lead us not into temptation
 . . .”

“Be gone!” Em said.

“ . . .
but deliver us from evil!
”

The demon sprang into the air to attack her. She pointed the palm of her right hand at him. There was a flash, like a firecracker, and the room fell into pitch-black silence. Sarah Wildes and Bridget screamed in horror. The smell of smoke rose from the front of the room.

“Light returneth,” Em said.

The gloom vanished. The room lights flickered and came on. The room was absolutely still. The demon had vanished, leaving only a wisp of smoke in his place.

“We believe we’ve found the actual site of the Salem Witch burials.” John Parker’s voice cracked through the still silence.

The young man had been speaking the entire time the demon was there. He stopped talking and looked confused at Em, who was still standing in the aisle.

“Is there a problem?” John Parker asked.

“Spider emergency,” Em said.

She took a tissue from the boxes along the aisle and pretended to capture a spider. John Parker glanced at Isaac and Asher, who were sitting down.

“My son is terrible allergic,” Isaac said in a thick Yiddish accent that would rival his ancestor. “Very bad, very bad.”

Asher nodded. Em held up the tissue indicating that she’d captured the spider. With great flourish, George took the tissue from her and jogged to the bathroom. Em went back to her spot next to the door.

“I had no idea there were horrible spiders here,” Alice said in her southern accent. “I’m terrified of those spiders.”

She turned to her gentleman. Touching his arm, she cleared his memory of the demon. His face went from care worn to a bright smile for the lovely Alice.

“Come on, Shug. Let’s get out of here,” Alice said.

The man looked at John Parker and then at Alice. She held out her hand, and he took it. They walked down the aisle and left the building.

“Now, where was I?” John Parker asked. “That’s right . . .”

When George returned, Em pointed out the door. George, Sarah Wildes, and Bridget followed her to her office. Em didn’t say a word until her office door was closed. Em took her seat at her desk. Bridget sat down in a chair while George and Sarah Wildes stood.

“What the hell was that?” George asked.

“No idea,” Em said.

“But you . . .?” Sarah Wildes asked. “How?”

“No idea,” Em said. “Have any of you seen this demon before?”

“No,” Bridget said. Sarah Wildes shook her head.

“George?” Em asked. “Have you read about such a thing?”

“Never,” George said. “We covered devils and demons in theology school, but that guy never came up. And I assure you, I’ve never seen him before.”

“Have you ever felt his presence?” Em asked. “Any of you?”

“Yes,” Sarah Wildes said. “Yes. I have.”

“Do you remember when?” Em asked.

“Have you?” Sarah Wildes ignored Em’s question to ask Bridget and George. “Have you felt him before?”

Bridget nodded. George was staring off into the distance. Sarah Wildes touched his arm, and he looked at her.

“Have you felt this demon before?” Sarah Wildes repeated.

“Yes,” George said.

“Where?” Em asked.

“Salem Village,” George said. He glanced at Sarah Wildes. She and Bridget nodded their heads. “They came for me in Maine. They dragged me from my dinner table and brought me back to Salem Village for trial. I remember being astonished how much Salem Village had changed. There was a cast over the town, a kind of grey fog or shadow. Returning to Salem Village, that’s the first time I felt this demon. That’s why I was so terrified for Em. The very same creature who’d descended Salem Village into madness has returned.”

“What are we going to do?” Bridget asked.

“No idea,” Em said. “But one thing’s for sure. This is definitely between me and him.”

George went to her. He nodded, and she stood from her chair.

“Sarah?” George said. He touched her shoulder. “Bridget?”

“Well?” Em smiled.

“Clear,” Sarah Wildes said. Bridget nodded.

“You’re ‘clear,’” George said. “What does it mean?”

“It means the demon is gone,” Em said.

“For now,” Sarah Wildes said.

“Gone is gone,” Em said.

“And these kids?” Bridget asked.

“We need to keep an eye on this John Parker,” George said. “He may be the entire scope of our problem or the tip of the iceberg. You saw him the day you had the vision, right?”

“He was waiting outside the store for Shonelle,” Em said.

“But not inside,” Sarah Wildes said.

“He didn’t have an invitation to come inside until tonight,” Em said.

The witches gave remarkably similar worried nods of their heads. Em smiled.

“We had success tonight,” Em said. “We should feel good about that.”

“We’re going to have to be careful,” Sarah Wildes said. “All of us.”

“Protection,” George said. “We must keep up our psychic protection at all times.”

“And stay connected to each other,” Em said. “Now is not the time to wander off to the island for fifty years.”

Sarah Wildes and Bridget nodded.

“I’ll tell the others,” Sarah Wildes said. With a nod, she left the office.

“I’m going back up to see what else he says,” Bridget said.

“Want to see the photo of your ghost?” Em smiled.

Bridget blushed. She raised a hand in goodbye and darted out of the room.

“Well?” Em asked George.

“I think you’re incredibly brave,” he said.

“But?” Em asked.

“I don’t know what we’re up against,” George said.

“I don’t, either,” Em said.

“Why has he come?” George asked. “While I have an idea of
how
he took over Salem Village, I have no idea
why
. Or why he is here
now
.”

Em looked at him, and their eyes held.

“I’m wondering when we
ever
knew what we were up against —
or
why,” George said. “When I started my life, I never thought I’d be hanged as a witch. I was a man of God, after all. When I was hanged as a witch, I never thought I’d live three hundred more years. And I never thought I’d have all of this and all of you in my life.”

Em blushed.

“I guess I’m trying to say, ‘Situation normal.’” George grinned at Em. She nodded. “You want to go up?”

Em shook her head.

“I don’t, either,” George said.

“What about . . .?” Em pointed up.

“We’re going with them on their ghost hunt, right?” George asked.

Em nodded.

“We’ll end up having the séance here,” George said. “That is what you were thinking, right?”

Em nodded.

“Then there’s no reason to listen to the blowhard,” George said. “Let’s get Isaac and Asher and go to dinner.”

Nodding, Em puckered her lips and blew a short burst of air to call them to her. Ten minutes later, Isaac and Asher came into the office.

“We were thinking of getting dinner,” Isaac said. “Would you like to join us?”

“Sounds fun,” Em said.

“I know just the place,” George said with a smile.

“Lead on, my friend,” Isaac said.

Em peered out her bedroom windows at the pre-dawn fog. She went to the closet for a thick, wool Aran sweater. She pulled the sweater over her long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans. Turning, she caught a glimpse of herself in the full-length mirror. Even after all of this time, she was still startled by her image in a mirror. She stopped.