Part 8 (1/2)
”In a way, yes,” Steven said. ”Do you know what's going on here?”
”What, in the house?” Evie asked.
”Yes, the house,” Steven said. ”The bangings. The attacks on your son and mother.”
”No, I don't,” she said. ”Why don't you tell me?”
”But you know something is wrong, don't you?” Steven asked. ”You have the gift. You can tell something is off.”
”Listen,” Evie said, ”the only reason I'm even talking with you is her,” nodding to her mother. ”She's scared out of her mind. I think you two are the reason.”
”We're not the reason,” Roy said. ”Whatever is here, it was going on before we showed up. We're helping because June asked us to.”
”Because you brought her a book,” Evie said.
”Yes,” Roy said.
”How much did you charge my mother for whatever she's holding?” Evie asked.
”Charge?” Steven said. ”That's not what we're doing here. We've been all over the Sound running down answers to the problem here, and we haven't asked June for a dime. And don't intend to.”
”Then why are you here?” Evie asked, becoming agitated.
”We've already told you,” Roy said. ”To help.”
Evie turned to June. ”Why now?”
”They brought me the book of your great-grandfather,” June said, ”so I knew they had the gift, like your father. If Mark were here, we wouldn't be going through this. He'd put a stop to it. So I asked them to try.”
”What I don't think my mother has told you,” Evie said, turning back to Steven, ”is that the bangings have been following us for years. And she holds me responsible.”
”That's not true,” June said. ”I don't blame you. I just wish you'd help get rid of it, that's all. I know you could if you wanted to.”
”She used to pressure my father this way, too,” Evie said to Steven and Roy. ”Anything she didn't like, she'd grind on him until he gave in and fixed whatever she wanted fixed.”
”Look,” Roy said, ”I've had a look at what's here, what's causing the bangings. You're in a lot of danger.”
”Are we?” Evie asked, sarcastically. ”Tell me, what do you think is the problem? What have you seen?”
”We saw one of the ent.i.ties hold a knife to your mother's throat,” Roy said.
”That was because of you,” Evie said. ”You caused that.”
”So you do know what is going on,” Steven said.
”No,” Evie said, ”I want to hear it from you. From the heroes come to save the day.”
”There are three ent.i.ties,” Roy said. ”One of them is major. They're all fighting for something. We don't know what, yet. But we do know you're the door, you're the reason they're here.”
”And what do you propose?” Evie said. ”You want to exorcise me? Is that it? You want to exorcise the house?”
”No,” Steven said, ”that's why we wanted to talk to you, to find out why they're here.”
”And then exorcise the house,” Evie said.
”Maybe,” Roy said. ”Depends on what we find.”
”Why don't you just exorcise it now?” Evie said. ”Go ahead. I'll wait in here.”
”We don't know yet if an exorcism is the right way to go,” Roy said. He reached inside his jacket pocket and shook the jar. He could feel the rosemary sprig within it bouncing against the gla.s.s. Hurry up and work! he thought.
”This is a waste of time,” Evie said. She turned to June. ”Would you please let me handle things my own way? They're just meddling, they don't know what's going on here, and they likely never will. Tell them to go away, we don't need them here.”
”I will not!” June said. ”I'm tired of living with it, Evie. I want something done about it. Steven and Roy are welcome here anytime as far as I'm concerned.” She turned to Steven. ”Please don't let Evie dissuade you. I and Robbie need your help, even if she doesn't.”
”Keep Robbie out of this,” Evie said.
”He's already involved!” June said. ”He's scared out of his wits. He sleeps in my room half the time. I wish you'd let me send him over to Uncle Bill's place for a couple of nights, so we could both get a decent night's sleep!”
”Please, more drama, mother,” Evie said.
”It's true!” June said. ”He's scared, and you want to pretend he isn't. Let me take him over to Bill's.”
”No,” Evie said, ”that's not going to happen. He's perfectly fine here.”
Roy shook the rosemary sprig in the gla.s.s jar again, irritated that it wasn't working.
”Perhaps we could talk to Robbie?” Steven asked.
”Absolutely not,” Evie said.
”Why not?” June asked.
”Because I don't want him to,” Evie said. ”There's no reason for him to meet these two.”
June sat back in her chair and let out a sigh. Steven could tell she was used to having this argument with Evie, and never won it.
”Well, I guess that's it then,” Steven said, turning to leave.
”Bye,” Evie said.
”Wait!” June said. ”Don't go. We do need your help, even if Evie doesn't think so.”
”We'll have to see about that,” Roy said to June. ”We'll be in touch.” He followed Steven out the kitchen door and back to their car. He pulled the gla.s.s jar out of his coat pocket and looked at it. ”Worthless,” he said.
”We must have done it wrong,” Steven said. ”What was it supposed to do, exactly?”
”Make her trust us,” Roy said. ”Maybe you read it wrong? The instructions?”