A Grave Conjuring Read online

THIRTY

  THE SUN WAS BARELY UP the next morning when there was a tap at Ashley’s bedroom door. “Ashley? Maya? Time to get up.”

  She blinked hard not recognizing the voice. Her brain shook the slumber remembering that Jake was there now. She rubbed Maya’s shoulder. “C’mon. We’ve got to get up.” She looked down at the floor where Leah was curled in a ball with just the top of her head showing in the folds of the sleeping bag.

  “Leah. Wake up.” Ashley threw the comforter back and Maya immediately grabbed for it.

  “Just five more minutes.”

  She looked out the window and saw the rays of the sun reflecting orange streaks across the lake. Birds chirped outside, and she heard the small thuds of her uncle walking down the stairs.

  She got up and pulled her robe over her shoulders. “C’mon you guys! Let’s get this over with. You can take a nap this afternoon.” She stepped past Leah who was rubbing her eyes as she sat up.

  Thankfully there was no one in the bathroom and she could at least brush her teeth before facing the day. With any luck it would be Jake who found the body. At least he had experience in death and corpses. If they found the body that is.

  When she finished in the bathroom and went back to her room to get changed, Maya and Leah were just coming out, dressed in jeans and sweatshirts. Maya muttered as she went past, “This couldn’t wait till eight? This is waaaay too early to get up.”

  “Quit complaining.” She went into her room and changed into long pants and a cotton shirt with long sleeves. Everything was bound to be sodden with rainwater in the fairy circle, and she remembered the scratches from the underbrush.

  When she got downstairs, her uncle had taken control of the situation standing at the counter like a sergeant major handing each of them a glass of orange juice.

  Maya looked over at her. “No breakfast. Just juice, in case what we find is gruesome. You know.”

  Claire wandered in and looked over at Jake. “I’ll take the girls with me, and the guys can go with you.”

  He shook his head. “No. The girls are coming with me.” He glanced over at Mason. “You should bring your truck as well. But remember, if we find her, we don’t disturb the scene. I’ll call the police and they can do their investigation.”

  “Wuh...we’ll find her. I know it.” Preston was the first one out the door.

  Henry was at his heels. “I’m going to check the shed to see if that board is where we left it.”

  A few minutes later having downed her juice, Ashley stepped outside. Henry was just coming out of the shed and he looked disappointed. “It’s still there.”

  Her eyebrows bobbed higher, looking over at Maya. “Good. Maybe this will be the end of it.”

  Maya nodded and followed her uncle down the driveway where his SUV was parked. Ashley wondered if it was his or if it was a department issue. It looked pretty new.

  She sighed, mentally berating herself for being so shallow. They were on the way to find a girl’s body. A girl who had been callously murdered and she was thinking of her uncle’s ride? That was sick.

  Leah fell into step beside her and looked over, “We probably would have found her yesterday if not for the storm. I hope an animal hasn’t gotten to her body.”

  The orange juice she’d drank earlier rose to the back of Ashley’s throat as a picture of the mangled girl flashed in her brain. Eeew.

  Her uncle opened his door and got inside. “You tell me where to stop since you’ve been there.”

  When Ashley was settled in the seat next to him, Maya chimed in, fully awake and raring to go now. “There’s the old lady’s house after we go around the bend in the road and then it’s not far after that. I wonder if she’ll run out at us like she did before.”

  “Not likely at this hour of the day.” Ashley snapped her seat belt on and looked over at her uncle. “If we do find Skylar’s body, you might want to question the old lady. She might have seen something.”

  “Don’t worry, she’ll be the first person the police will question if we turn up anything.” He turned and backed out of the driveway onto the road.

  Ashley saw her aunt’s car and then Mason’s truck behind them. She watched the road on each side, dreading the task ahead. After the night they’d spent, plus having her aunt and uncle with them made this trip all the more real. And Preston with that weird sense he’d developed, had been pretty sure.

  As they came to the old lady’s cottage, Ashley’s jaw fell open. The old crone’s car was parked there but the front door was wide open. She peered at the door half expecting the old witch to come flying out.

  Leah must have been watching the house too because she commented, “That’s weird. I wonder what she’s doing leaving her door wide open like that.”

  Jake slowed down and then wheeled the suburban into the old lady’s driveway.

  Ashley looked over at him. “What are you doing?”

  He put the car in park and looked over at her. “Call it a cop’s Spidey sense, but I’ve learned to never ignore it. It’s a strong suspicion that’s usually right. I just want to check this out and talk to the old gal before we get there.”

  When he got out of the vehicle, Ashley stared at him walking over to the small stoop and then tap on the door. He looked back briefly and then disappeared inside.

  Maya piped up from behind her. “Aunt Claire and Mason are parked on the side of the road, behind us. I honestly don’t know what Uncle Jake hopes to achieve here. We should just get going and start looking in the fairy circle.”

  “Yeah. Preston said she was there. And he seems to be tuned in with this spirit.” Leah added.

  Ashley continued to watch the empty door opening. She glanced to the side of the house when movement flashed there. She stared hard but there was nothing but an old wooden shed beside some high bushes. But she could have sworn she saw a flash of red and a young woman for a moment.

  Waitaminnit. Red?

  Jake came out and hurried over to the vehicle. When he got in he started the car and turning to back out of the driveway, his words were clipped, “No old lady, but I think I saw a young girl in a red hoodie at the edge of the yard.”

  “I saw her too! She was running past that shed and then I lost sight of her in the bush.”

  Leah leaned forward, her hand on the back of Ashley’s seat. “What’s a young woman doing out at this time of day? It’s barely light out.”

  Ashley turned across the backseat. “Leah? Your new blouse you wore yesterday; what color is it?”

  “Emerald green. You saw me in it.”

  Ashley felt the color drain from her face. “When we were in the woods yesterday, I saw someone wearing something red through the trees. I thought it was you…”

  “Wasn’t me.” Leah’s eyes bulged. “Oh man…” She pointed back to the old woman’s house and then up toward where they were heading. “You think it could be…?” They stared at each other quietly.

  “What about the old witch? Maybe she turned herself into someone young?”

  Uncle Jake glanced at Maya. “Now that’s just crazy. But it is odd that the old lady wasn’t there and this girl was.”

  When they got back on the road and had gone a little way, Ashley pointed to the area where the path began. Another flash of red and a girl’s long, blond hair had been there for a micro-second. “Did you see her? She’s going down the path!”

  Jake pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned it off. “Yeah? How’d she manage to get down here so fast?”

  Maya’s hand was on the door handle. “See? Maybe that witch did something! She’s some kind of shape-shifter or something.”

  “That’s crazy.” Ashley got out of the car and followed her uncle over to the break in the fence.

  Aunt Claire stepped over and looked up at Jake. “Did you talk to Mrs. Kovac, the old lady?”

  Jake shook his head. “No, I checked the house but she wasn’t around. There was a young woman in a red hoodie—”

&nbs
p; “I saw her too!” Preston started down the path. “C’mon!”

  Ashley walked quickly beside her aunt going down the path, trying to avoid the wet branches and underbrush that were still wet from the day before. She looked over at Claire. “Did you see her?”

  Claire shook her head. “No. I wonder why she’d be at Mrs. Kovac’s house? And now here?”

  Henry brushed by them running ahead to catch up with Preston. “Little red riding hoodie! I want to see what her game is.”

  Ashley rolled her eyes. Trust Henry to make light of looking for a dead girl. He skipped by Maya and Leah, almost tripping over a tree root in the process.

  “Don’t go in the fairy circle, Henry. Stay on the perimeter!” Leah called after him.

  Mason was behind her, his feet squishing in the soft packed earth of the trail. “I have to be at work for ten. I hope we find this Skylar soon. If not, I’m gonna have to leave you here.”

  Aunt Claire turned and shot a dirty look at him. “I think your boss will understand if we find a dead girl’s body and you’re late.”

  “Yeah. Shit. Sorry. That was kind of cold, wasn’t it?”

  Ashley shook her head. “Ya think?”

  Jake and the rest of the troupe halted just up ahead and in a few moments Ashley and her aunt stood with them waiting for directions.

  Jake’s voice was low, “Leah said this fairy circle’s about twenty feet in that direction. When we get there, we branch out.” He pulled the collar of his jacket higher and turned following Leah.

  Whether it was the chill of the early morning or the task ahead, Ashley shivered making her way through the wet trees. Every now and then a large, icy drop of rain fell from a high branch onto her head, while her sneakers were completely drenched from the underbrush.

  “Hold it right there!” a harsh voice shouted.

  She looked up and saw her uncle, Preston, Henry, and Leah standing at the edge of the circle staring. But what was really weird was that the voice which had told them to stop was familiar. Lucas?

  THIRTY ONE

  CLAIRE RACED PAST HER NIECE at the sound of Lucas’s voice. What was he doing out in the woods at this hour? When she got to the spot beside Maya, her breath froze in her chest.

  Lucas had a gun in his hand waving it in an arc aimed at each of them in turn! Beside him was a shovel and a deep hole. But it was the body laying beside him that made her jerk back.

  A young woman in a red hoodie, her blond hair splayed across the grass lay there. Her eyes were open in a face that held the gray pallor of death.

  “Lucas! What?” Her heart raced in her chest seeing the gun in his hand and the wild, desperate look in his eyes. She pulled Maya in behind her.

  “Drop the gun, Lucas!” Jake stepped forward and Lucas aimed it at him.

  “Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot!” Lucas cocked the trigger. The snap was like a knife to her gut. He had killed the young woman. It was the same woman she’d seen peering in the door. Skylar. Oh my God. He’d killed that woman, and he wouldn’t hesitate to kill any of them.

  Movement at the far side of the clearing caught her eye. The old lady? Mrs. Kovac stepped out from the trees. Her arms were raised and the forefinger of each hand crossed each other as she advanced. She mumbled words in a low voice while her narrow eyes were riveted to Lucas.

  Lucas must have sensed her or heard her murmuring because he turned slightly, now aiming the gun at her.

  He jerked and fell to the side before the thunderclap of the gunshot registered in her ears. A red hole flared in his temple, spattering blood on the grass beside him when he landed. Claire gasped. It had happened so quickly!

  Jake stepped forward, the gun still smoking in his outstretched hand before him.

  “Oh my God! Lucas was going to kill us!” She could only stare as Jake approached the downed man slowly, with the gun still aimed at him.

  Maya clasped Claire’s waist, openly crying into her chest. “Aunt Claire! He killed Skylar! He was going to kill us!”

  Henry added, “Thank God your uncle was here.”

  “And Mrs. Kovac.” Ashley walked like she was in a trance over to the old woman. The old crone stood stock-still, muttering in some foreign language, staring at Lucas. “Mrs. Kovac?”

  She watched Jake rise from where he had squatted to check for a pulse, slipping his gun back into his jacket.

  He looked over at Claire and shook his head slowly, “This was your boyfriend? This is Lucas? And you had him around my nieces?”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks and it was hard to find her voice, “I didn’t know! Oh my God! I told him everything last night on the phone!”

  Preston had moved over to the girl’s body and he touched her cheek with his fingertips. Henry and Mason joined him looking at her while Leah and Ashley stood next to the old woman. All of this was going on but for Claire it barely registered in her brain. She clung to Maya, rubbing the girl’s back and murmuring, “I’m sorry,” over and over again.

  Sorry for bringing such a monster anywhere near them. Sorry for the poor girl he’d murdered. Sorry she’d ever met him. Sorry... She looked over at Jake watching him speak on his cell phone, calling this in to his office.

  Sorry that they had split up. But there was no going back.

  THIRTY TWO

  ASHLEY’S FEET MOVED AUTOMATICALLY walking over to the old woman. Her mind had shut down when Lucas had stood there with a gun in his hands threatening to kill them. He’d already killed poor Skylar. Her face still held the marks where he’d beaten and strangled her. But Lucas was gone now. Thanks to the old woman showing up.

  And for Uncle Jake.

  Leah walked with her and reached to touch the old woman’s arm. “Mrs. Kovac?”

  The old woman’s eyes were dark, shiny like the eyes of a crow, staring first at Leah and then turning to Ashley. Her skin was like worn leather, tanned and creased with lines. Wisps of white hair poked from under a gray scarf, and her fingers were claws when she gripped Ashley’s shoulder. “I tried to warn you.”

  Ashley’s eyes welled with tears. “Yes. I know that now.”

  “How did you know?” Leah was crying as well but managed to get the words out.

  “Later. It is not finished.” The old woman stepped away from them and went over to the girl’s body, dropping down on her knees next to Preston.

  Ashley watched her scoop a handful of earth and roll in into her fingers. She placed her index finger on the Skylar’s forehead leaving a streak of dirt there.

  “Hey! Don’t touch her! This is a crime scene.”

  But she ignored Jake’s words and her fingers touched the girl’s chest, leaving a smudge in the red sweater over the girl’s heart. All the while she muttered an incantation.

  She looked over at Maya and then turned to Preston, touching his forehead and saying more words. When she pushed at the earth trying to get up, Ashley and Leah bent to help her rise. Again, her bony finger rose to touch first Leah and then Ashley’s forehead.

  Her head jerked to the side where Maya stood with Aunt Claire. Slowly they made their way over so that she could repeat the ritual with her sister.

  Ashley’s eyes went wider, when her hand rose again to touch her aunt’s face. The old lady smiled at Claire. “You know what you must do now. It has followed you since you were a teenager. It must be destroyed.”

  Ashley knew without being told what she was referring to.

  The Ouija board.

  Henry came over. “What about me and my brother? We were there too. Don’t we get the blessing or whatever it is you did to them?”

  She sniggered and then smiled showing more than a few gaps in her teeth. Her hand rose to tap his forehead and she looked over at Mason.

  He shook his head. “I’m good. I don’t need that, whatever it is.”

  She crooked her finger beckoning him closer. He huffed a sigh and at a snail’s pace came over to stand before her. His eyes closed as her hand rose to touch him as well.
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br />   Ashley looked over and tried to see past her uncle to where Lucas lay on the ground. The man who’d almost killed them. Even her aunt who had cared for him didn’t go near him to weep over his death.

  She thought of the Ouija board and how Skylar had taken over from their contact with their parents. If she hadn’t, would Lucas have gotten away with killing her? She turned to Maya and then pulled her into her arms.

  They’d never know the answer to that question. She was just glad it was over.

  THIRTY THREE

  Late August

  ASHLEY LOOKED UP AT THE SKY as she floated in the water. The taunts and laughter from the raft closer to shore was muted and only the sound of her breathing and heartbeat filled her ears. She closed her eyes enjoying the sun’s warmth on her face while her body was cooled by the lake. It was hard to believe that the summer was practically over and that she’d be a sophomore at Saranac High.

  Something bounced off her head and she jerked up in the water, looking toward the raft. A red and white beach ball floated near her while Maya and Henry laughed.

  Maya yelled to her, “Hey! Aunt Claire has lunch ready. You looked like you were almost asleep out there.”

  Preston smiled. “I told them not to do that. But you know Henry.” He spun around and raced at Henry, the two of them falling off the raft into the water with a cannonball jump.

  She swam lazily toward them watching her sister peer into the water after them. One good thing about that whole nightmare experience had been Preston’s speech. Whatever had happened, he no longer stuttered. And Maya now seemed to favor him above Henry. She smiled. You could only take so much of a constant smart-ass.

  Leah was on the shore with Mason, the two of them helping Aunt Claire with the BBQ and lunch. She looked over when Henry popped up next to her. “Did she bring that awful soup, do you think? Who makes a soup out of cabbage? And it’s red. Yuck.”

  Ashley splashed a handful of water at him. “It’s borsch. She grows her own cabbage and you’ll have some to be polite.”