Me and My Ghoulfriends (28 page)

“Oh no, I don’t know if I like the sound of this. I’m not going to do it.” Vivian gave a nod, letting me know that she wouldn’t be the one to go, either.

Needless to say, Mrs. Williams wouldn’t go, so I didn’t even ask. I couldn’t blame them at all. It wasn’t right to be sneaky like that, but it was for his own good. I really had no other alternative.

“Mr. Haynes, will you do this for me?” I prayed he would say yes.

“Of course, dear, I wouldn’t have suggested it if I hadn’t been willing. Now tell me what I need to get.”

“All right, we need fabric that has touched his skin.” Hmm, that’s a nice thought. A flash of Callahan’s muscular physique ran through my mind.
Focus, Larue.

“Maybe go to his home and take a shirt from his closet. Then we need hair. Look for his brush and grab some from that.”

Mr. Haynes nodded.

Mindy watched as I spoke into thin air.

“You know, this may actually work.”

I rolled my eyes at Mindy, “You had any doubts?” I laughed.

Mr. Haynes didn’t know where Callahan lived, so Mindy and I jumped in the car to drive him. The others stayed behind, patiently waiting for our return. Spoil sports. Too bad they couldn’t run the store while I was gone. I could have left it open.

We rolled up to Callahan’s street and I parked along the curb. He had told me exactly where he lived and I was glad he had now. Little had I known then the info would come in handy. Mercifully, he was at work and wouldn’t see me parked next to his house. He would have thought I was stalking him for sure if he’d seen me driving my car outside his front window.

I turned around and gave Mr. Haynes a nod to let him know it was safe for him to go ahead with the mission. With a poof, he was gone. Mindy and I waited in nervous silence for Mr. Haynes to return. I was trying not to bite my fingernails. Luckily I’d put on a fresh coat of polish to ward off my gnawing. Mindy spent her time twisting the dial on the radio.

After a short time, Mr. Haynes popped up again in the backseat. I must have been in a worried trance, because I jumped when he reappeared, letting out a shrill screech. All that time and I still hadn’t gotten used to that pop up act they all performed.

“How’d it go? Did you get the items?” I asked. I turned to face him. I was nervous, and wanted to rush and get the heck out of there.

Mr. Haynes produced a shirt and a wad of hair in his hand. Okay, that was kind of gross. I had no idea how he’d done it. How had he carried that stuff out of the house? At the end of the day, I still didn’t understand how all this ghost stuff worked. Mr. Haynes was smiling, obviously very proud of his feat.

“Did he get it?” Mindy asked, before turning to look into the backseat. She’d been too busy with the radio to notice the floating hair and shirt.

I grinned at her and nodded. “Yep.”

“Let’s get out of here, then,” she said.

Zipping through the streets, I rushed back to
Book Nook
with the items secured in my purse for safe keeping.

Fortunately, all was quiet when we returned. I placed the shirt and hair on the counter. I sure hoped no customers came in and saw me with a wad of hair on the counter and a book on spells opened. Talk about losing customers. I couldn’t afford to be closed any longer, though. Not if I wanted to keep my home. I perused the pages of the book again. Abe, Vivian and Mrs. Williams were back, too intrigued by the process to stay away for long.

“I hope this works,” Abe said with a caring smile.

“We’ll need a small bowl to put all this stuff in. We need to cut a small piece of the shirt off, too.” In a hurry, I rummaged through the drawer until I came across the scissors.

Mindy went into the back of the store and came out a short time later carrying a small bowl in front of her. Mindy handed me the bowl and I held it out in front of me, examining it for cracks. Then I carefully placed it on the counter. I felt like we were in some ceremonial ritual. I stood in the middle of the store with everyone looking at me, waiting to see what I would do next. Why was everyone looking at me for answers? Did I look like I had the remedies to all our problems?

“Okay, now that we have everything I guess we’ll start,” I said, more or less talking to myself aloud.

Mindy was looking over my shoulder again, reading the page. I could hear her breath in my ear.

Abe, Vivian and Mr. Haynes soon joined her.

“You should put the hair in first,” Vivian said.

“No, no. It says fabric first,” Abe said.

“Give me the book,” Mindy said, not even realizing what the others were saying. “I’ll tell you what it says.”

“I already looked at the book and it said fabric first,” Mrs. Williams retorted.

“You always did think you knew everything,” Mr. Haynes piped up.

“What makes you say that? You don’t know what you are talking about. Although you always thought you did.”

“I do know what I am talking about. You always walked around like you knew it all. You’re a little snotty if you ask me.” Mr. Haynes gave her a matter-of-fact smirk.

“Well, no one asked you. And I couldn’t care less if you think I’m snotty.” Mrs. Williams fumed.

The drone of the constant chattering all around me was driving me crazy. I could not believe they were bickering. I was already nervous and couldn’t concentrate. Not to mention adding fighting into the equation. My hands were shaking and my stomach was churning.

“Hey,” I screamed, as loud as my lungs would allow. “Everyone needs to shut up and calm down!”

Astonished expressions surrounded me. I was sorry I’d had to yell like that, but they’d left me no choice. Finally, I had silence. You could have heard a pin drop in my mind, for once. Mindy handed me the book, recognizing that everyone must have been getting on my nerves.

“Thank you,” I said. “Now let me see what it says. Looks like none of you were right.” I ran my finger across the page. “It says to put in the rosemary first, and then the hair and everything else follows after that.”

They all nodded, happy with my response.

“All right, it says to hold the bowl up. I guess like I’m offering it to some gods or something. I really have no idea what I’m doing. Ugh, I need salt. I don’t have salt.” I moaned loudly. How was I supposed to know what I was doing was correct?

“Wait, I’ve got it covered. I have some little packets in my purse.” Mindy bounced to her purse, her big hoop earrings dangling wildly.

I raised my eyebrow at her, “What else do you have in that thing? The kitchen sink?”

I laughed as she rummaged through her purse, tossing items carelessly everywhere all over the counter.

“What can I say? I love French Fries from
McDonald’s.
”

She handed me the packet of salt, and I lightly sprinkled it in a circle around the bowl while speaking the following words: “I bless this place for only love and good can remain; hate and evil are cast out.”

Just then, as the word ‘evil’ floated in the air, Abe and Vivian disappeared; they did not want any part of it. In the 1800s witchcraft was still very much a concern. Luckily, I could perform the spell without their help. I would have been in big trouble if I’d really needed them.

After the space was prepared, I placed the book down and took a deep, relaxing breath.

“Everyone must be quiet, I have to meditate and concentrate on the spell before I perform it.”

I sure sounded like I knew what I was doing, but really I had no idea. Mindy and Mr. Haynes nodded in unison. Mindy was unaware of the timing of her nod. It had been in perfect unity with Mr. Haynes.

The book instructed that, when my thoughts were clear and free of emotion, I should engrave the person’s name, hold up the bowl containing all the ingredients and the white candle. How was I supposed to clear my thoughts? That wouldn’t be an easy task. At that time, I was supposed to think of the person I wanted the spell to be broken from. Envisioning the person in my mind would break them free.

As clearly as I could, using my fingernail as the book instructed, I carved the words into the wax. I pressed strongly to ensure it was as firmly written as it should be. Next, I placed a few more drops of rosemary into the bowl, and then rubbed some on the candle to anoint it. Carefully I rubbed the oil along the base of the candle and all around it, coating every inch of it. All the while, I was still thinking of Callahan and concentrating on breaking him free from the hex Brianna had assigned to him. The air in the room intensified. I felt like I was in a dream and nothing could have stopped me from carrying out the spell at that moment. I felt empowered.

Vigilantly, I sat the bowl back on the counter and placed the candle back in the holder; I then sat the candle next to the bowl. Cautiously, I lit the candle, careful not to burn my manicure (I needed to look good to perform magic, right?) and spoke the following words:

As this candle burns…

I call on the Powers around me for aid…

That I shall break the spell that binds this person…

and let the lust and the ties fade…

That they shall be cleansed and free…

I focused all of my energy on casting out the negative spell Brianna had bound to Callahan. I conjured up every positive thought I could think of (trying to leave out the naughty ones).

The spell was complete. I’d followed every last detail listed, and all that was left to do, at that moment, was to wait. Once I’d finished the spell, I felt drained from top to toe. After having four spirits in the room, drawing on my energy, and then focusing my energy on a spell I’d never done before, I felt exhausted. I could barely hold my head up.

“There. Now we’ll see how that works.” I rubbed my aching head.

“How long do you think it takes?” Mindy asked softly.

“I would think it should take affect right away.”

Callahan and Brianna walked past the window as if on cue. I felt like someone had let the air out of me. All that trouble, and it hadn’t worked. I’d done it all for nothing.

“What happened? Damn, it didn’t work,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Why didn’t it work?” Mindy slumped across the counter.

“Well, if you had read the paragraph at the end of the page you’d know why it didn’t work. Why are you completely clueless all the time?” Mrs. Williams snorted. She’d popped up just in time to add her two cents worth.