“So, if you smudged the theater for ghosts, did that make Julia go away too?” Lorna asked, rolling a sage and lavender smudging stick between her hands before bringing it to her face to smell the fragrant bundle.
“No. She’s not negative energy. I saw her watching me when I was going through. I can’t be sure, but I think she was smiling and nodding,” Heather answered. “It’s strange. She hasn’t been as vocal lately, but the others are. I’m hoping smudging scared off any leftover negative energy, and she’ll start talking again. I’d give anything for a straight answer. Her telling us that we’re brought together to help us heal from our past pains without telling us how we’re supposed to do that is so vague it’s annoying. Even if she was talking to me right now, I’m not sure it would matter. Spirits rarely give a straightforward answer about anything. Normally they’re too confused.”
“We’re doing the right thing,” Vivien said. She leaned to the side, and artfully tried to stretch her sore hip without being obvious about it. “This is our path. I feel it. We are meant to learn how to wield this magic.”
That wasn’t exactly true. She couldn’t be sure if she felt this way because it was what they were supposed to be doing, or because she wanted it to be what they were meant to be doing. All she knew was that the ache inside her had a name.
Sam.
“Save your heart for me. It’s mine.”
She needed to see Sam. For twenty years she’d carried that name in her heart, and now she had the chance to hear him and see him, hopefully touch him. It had taken her days of begging to talk her friends into trying again. Now that she had them here, she would not let them talk themselves out of it.
She needed this to work.
Heather stood. “Okay, let’s do this then. I’ll grab the card table, and we’ll set up in here. It seems as good of a place as any.”
“What about the dining room?” Lorna asked.
“I think that table might be too big. It won’t be conducive to holding hands, at least not comfortably,” Heather said. “Is it still in the storage closet?”
Vivien nodded and Heather disappeared down the hallway.
Vivien hurried to her room to change out of the business suit. She’d been halfway into a dress when she remembered that in high school she’d been more of a beach bum than a beauty queen. Instead, she’d opted for khaki capris, a t-shirt, and a long sweater jacket. It was something Sam would have expected her to wear.
When she returned to the living room, her friends had set up a séance area on the folding table. The directions illustrated in the book were simple. They placed the book in the middle of the table and then set the candles around it—blue for clarity according to the candle-making instructions.
The illustration showed them placing their hands with the forefinger rings on the book to form a triangle, but already they found holding hands connected them better. Heather had wrote out what they should say from the multiple examples in the book. That way they’d all be on the same page when it came time to call Sam.
The light from the window had darkened as evening turned to night. Vivien closed the curtains, not wanting anyone peeking in on what they were doing. Her street did not get a lot of traffic this time of night, but the occasional tourist did try to sneak past her lawn to the beach.
Vivien’s bare toes curled against the carpet. She felt almost giddy with excitement. The first time they’d tried a séance, she’d been too drunk to form a coherent thought. This time would be different. This time she’d get Sam to show himself.
“I think I ate too much,” Lorna said, rubbing her stomach.
Vivien knew it wasn’t the tacos. Lorna eyed the book nervously. They’d been discussing this for nearly two weeks, but this was the first time they were going to summon a spirit since the attack. It was clearly a challenging prospect for her friend.
“We don’t have to do this.” Heather reached for Lorna’s hand, hesitated, and then pulled away without touching her. The friendly gesture of reaching out was automatic, but they were getting better at catching themselves before making contact. There were very little secrets amongst the three of them.
Vivien was sure when the novelty of the experience wore off, it would become annoying. She didn’t want them, even as her friends, knowing what she felt every second of the day. Yeah, she usually would tell them everything anyway, but sometimes a woman needed to process what she was feeling before others weighed in—like with Troy. She didn’t know why the new neighbor flustered her as much as he did.
However, it wasn’t lost on Vivien that usually it was she who knew what everyone else was thinking even if they didn’t want her to. It was a lot different being on the other side of the experience.
Tonight was not the night to try to figure that out. Tonight was about Sam.
“Lorna? Just say the word and we’ll stop,” Heather asserted.
Vivien’s breath caught, and she stiffened, waiting for Lorna’s response. Lorna could stop the night’s events with one word—any of them could for any reason. If Lorna said no, then Vivien would respect her wishes.
Vivien felt tears threatening her eyes, and she forced them back. She held still. Time felt like it slowed as she waited for the answer. She didn’t want to manipulate Lorna with her pain, but she wanted this so badly.
Sam.
The name whispered through her thoughts like a plea to the universe.
Sam.
Please, Sam.
Lorna’s eyes met hers, and Vivien knew the woman understood. “I’m all right. We’ll be smarter this time. No demons. Just Sam.”
Sam.
Vivien tried to smile, but the gesture was weak. She looked at the book. If this worked, Sam would be standing in front of her on the book as it rested on the card table in the middle of her living room.
“Light the candles,” Lorna said. “Let’s do this.”
Heather went to the messenger bag on the couch and pulled out a candle lighter. She pressed the trigger a couple of times before a flame erupted from the tip. She drew the flame to the first candlewick and whispered, “Our intent is to talk to Sam Stone.”
As if some mystical force answered her words, the remaining candles in the room lit before Heather could pull the lighter away from the first one. Not only was it the four on the table, but the decorative candles Vivien had placed around the room. She even saw a soft glow coming from the kitchen pass-through.
The overhead lights flickered. Vivien expected that to happen, as it had happened each time they tried this.
“I wonder what it is about stirring spirits that cause them to drain power from everything,” Lorna said, looking at the now dark overhead lights.
“They need the energy to manifest themselves,” Heather said.
“What do you think ghosts used before electricity?” Vivien wondered.
“People?” Heather supposed. She laid the pieces of paper on the table so everyone could read the spell at the same time during the ceremony. “Powerful emotions?”
“Maybe that’s why they had group séances. Groups of people in a heightened state might be enough to fuel an entity,” Lorna said.
Vivien placed her hands on the card table and slid them toward her friends. If heightened emotion is all it took, then she had enough this evening to bring back Sam fifty times. “I’m ready.”