Mr. Conjure, page 5
“What else should I do to them?”
Mary grinned evilly. This could be fun.
Everything on Stu/Tony’s level desk perpetually slid to the right. If he took his eyes off it, everything ended up on the floor. Tony/Stu tripped over his untied shoelaces when he was called to the white board. Dale came back with clothes even more soaked than before from trying to rinse the coffee out. His face was a bright red for the whole class. His hot embarrassment probably cut the drying time in half. Harvey only did minor stuff to the boys, but Mary couldn’t stop grinning throughout class, especially when Stu/Tony propped the right side of his desk up so all his stuff would now slide naturally to the left.
The boys didn’t bother her again, and when the bell rang, they shot out of the classroom like track stars.
“That was beautiful, Harvey,” Mary said.
“Just don’t tell Helena. She wouldn’t approve.”
“Promise.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
No one bothered Mary during third period, but she was still very aware of Harvey as he gave a running commentary during the lesson. His comments though didn’t help her. They only distracted her so that the one time the teacher called on her, Mary didn’t realize it, and everyone snickered at how out of it she seemed. Mary was going to check her bag very carefully from now on to make sure he didn’t hitch a ride with her ever again.
When Mary got to lunch in the art room, she realized something about her boyfriend. He had a big mouth, and he talked to Rachel too much. She would never have thought her boyfriend and best friend being friends would be such a problem.
“How have you not brought a ghost to school before today?” Rachel demanded when Mary sat down.
“I didn’t bring one today,” she said and shot Kyle a dark look.
“Can I borrow him?”
“For what?”
“Hey, I’m not a baseball player to be traded from team to team.”
“I want to do something to Vicky.”
“Whoa now,” Kyle said.
“Nothing permanent,” Rachel assured him.
“That doesn’t narrow things down much,” he said.
“Who is the ghost?” Eddie asked.
“Oh, his name’s Harvey. He owned the Snyder Diner. Do you remember it?”
Eddie shook his head. “No, sorry.”
“Hello, Harvey,” Taryn said. Her face then reddened. “He can hear me right?” she asked.
Taryn’s bottle of tea gave a little wiggle where it sat on the table. No one’s hands were near it.
Taryn’s eyes became saucers along with Eddie’s.
“So can I borrow him?” Rachel asked.
“Harvey?”
“You need to ask? No, I don’t want to go with her. I’m sticking with you, though it sounds like that girl needs babysitting too.”
She turned to Rachel, “Sorry. He doesn’t want to go with you, and he can make things really difficult if I give you his anchor.”
Rachel deflated. “Fine, but next time bring a cooler ghost to school.”
Rachel’s soda can jittered on the table in warning.
“Harvey is a great ghost,” Mary said and waved at Rachel to play along.
“Yeah, he’s swell,” Rachel said in a dull tone.
“I’m not here to be your buddy. I’m here to be your babysitter. Remember that.”
For the rest of the day, Harvey was quiet. He barely said two words to her during her afternoon classes. She almost forgot he was there, but when she’d looked in her bag, the handle of the spatula poked out to remind her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When they went to the hospital, they got on the elevator before Mary remembered the elevator ghost.
“Are you listening today?”
“Yes. Floor four, please.”
“Hey. What’s with you?” Harvey asked.
“Hello. I guess she listens to you.”
“She does even if she doesn’t want to. Did she give you the cold shoulder?”
“Yes. And I’ve only ever been pleasant to her.”
“Yeah, she can be a bit ungrateful.”
“Now that’s unfair. I forgot, okay? I’m sorry.”
Rachel cocked an eyebrow at her.
“Passive-aggression doesn’t stop at death,” she told her.
All the floor buttons began lighting up one-by-one.
“Oh come on! And we’re supposed to be the immature ones?” Mary said.
Neither ghost answered her. She guessed she was the one getting the cold shoulder now.
Jenny was awake when they tapped on her door, but it was obvious that she’d been given something recently to calm her as her pupils were blown out.
“Hey look, it’s the Ghost Whisperer,” she said, pointing at Mary.
“Hi, Jenny. I could never call myself that. My boobs aren’t big enough.”
Mary’s comment seemed to tickle Jenny quite a bit. She began giggling and wouldn’t stop. Mary and Rachel exchanged uncertain looks.
“How are you feeling, Jenny?” Rachel asked.
“Like I’m floating!” Jenny stretched her arms up in the air and made little flapping motions with her hands.
“This girl is on the good stuff.”
Whatever they’d given Jenny had certainly turned her mood around. But it seemed to have also taken away all of her concentration and common sense. Mary noticed the bed rails were up, and she could see the outline of restraints around Jenny’s ankles.
“What are you two doing back?” Ryan asked from the doorway. He held a Styrofoam bowl of vanilla ice cream.
Jenny eagerly held out her hands for it. “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Roar!”
Ryan handed the bowl to her. She started eating it happily.
He was still waiting for Rachel and Mary to answer.
Rachel was staring at Jenny.
Mary had to answer. “We tried to find Mr. Conjure last night.”
Jenny’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth. “You don’t find Mr. Conjure. He finds you.” The manic happiness was gone from her voice.
“Well, that didn’t happen either,” Rachel said.
“He must not want you.”
“I think you two should go,” Ryan said.
“Tell us what you did, Jenny,” Rachel said.
“I lost the game. He found me.”
“There’s no such thing as Mr. Conjure,” Mary said.
Her statement surprised both siblings but for different reasons.
Jenny’s hand closed into a fist around her plastic spoon. “He does exist. I saw him.”
“I played the game. Nothing happened. I invited him, I hid in the bathroom, and then I made my way back to the kitchen with my eyes closed. Nothing happened.”
Jenny was shaking her head.
“He wasn’t there. He’s never been there,” Mary said, watching Jenny closely.
Jenny threw her bowl of ice cream at her. Mary dodged it easily, but it made a mess on the floor.
“He’s there! He’s upstairs! I know it!”
“You two need to leave now,” Ryan said.
But something Jenny had said had caught Rachel’s and Mary’s attention. “There’s no upstairs. The house is one story,” Rachel said.
“Yes, there is an upstairs. The stairs are scary, but it’s possible to get up them.”
“The boys told us the house was at 251 South Street,” Rachel said.
Jenny looked at Rachel in confusion. “251 South Street? No, it’s 488 Norris Street. They wouldn’t tell me the address because they didn’t want me going there. It was some elementary school ‘No Girls Allowed’ bullshit, but I followed them, and they stopped at that house. They didn’t get out, but it was because they knew I was following, but it didn’t matter. I’d found it. That had to be the place. Of course, it was place. Mr. Conjure was there! So it was the right house. They told you the wrong house. That’s it. They told you the wrong address because they don’t want girls there.”
But Jenny didn’t seem sure.
Mary and Rachel knew it was time to go.
As they were going down the stairs to leave the hospital, Rachel asked, “You up to playing the game again?”
“Straight home!”
“It’s Friday night. I don’t need to be home early.
“The second rule!”
“It’s not spell casting. It’s a game.”
“A game with a thing called Mr. Conjure. I may only have a high school education, but even I know that word means. It’s synonymous with spell casting.”
“It’s just a spooky name. We don’t think he exists, but we gotta prove it to Jenny to help her.”
“We don’t?” Rachel asked.
Mary ignored her question. “I gotta call Kyle if we’re doing this.”
“Why?”
“Because he’d like to know when I’m about to summon an evil entity. Taryn might want to know too.”
“No, no, no!”
“Are we really about to arrange a double date to an abandoned house?”
“Looks like.”
“Did you put me on mute again?”
“I hear you. I’m just not listening.”
“You are not doing this!”
They were in the parking garage heading to Rachel’s car. Mary let her book bag slip off her shoulder and kept walking.
“No, come back here!”
“Either you’re going with us or you’re being left behind.”
“You know, suspicious bags have a tendency of being blown up these days,” Rachel said.
“I promised Helena. You promised Helena. Are you really going to break your promise?”
Harvey’s guilt trip hit the mark, but Mary couldn’t leave Rachel to go home and be a good girl because Rachel would go out to the abandoned house, probably by herself, and Mary didn’t want to consider what might happen to her. There may be no Mr. Conjure, but it sounded like this other house was dilapidated, and Rachel could hurt herself.
“Gran will understand.”
“Then call her and ask.”
“I said she’ll understand, not give permission.”
“There’s that weasel logic again.”
“Are you going to come along or not?”
“Pick me up, but when Helena comes home, I’m telling her all about this.”
“Fine.” Mary knew she’d be in hot water when this was over, but she wasn’t going to run home. She was seeing this through.
They each called their significant others. Funnily, Kyle and Taryn both reminded the girls that they should eat. All four met up at a fast food place. It was turning more and more into a double date. Except for the fifth wheel that showed up with Taryn.
“Eddie? What are you—?” Mary asked.
“I called him. It only seemed fair,” Rachel said.
“Is this what you usually do on a Friday night?” he asked.
“No,” Mary said, but she was drowned out by everyone else saying yes.
“Mary, really. We do a lot of weird stuff,” Rachel said.
“Fine. But not usually explore weird abandoned buildings.”
“What about the Laffoon Plantation?” Kyle asked.
“It wasn’t abandoned. It was derelict.”
“Geez, Mary. You using a Ginsu to split those hairs?” Rachel asked.
CHAPTER THREE
Mirror Games
With tummies full of hamburgers and fries, the five teens and one ghost went to 488 Norris Street. The address was on the edge of town. It was so far out that sidewalks didn’t reach it. There were empty lots and other abandoned houses up and down the street. And the few houses that were occupied looked to be in rougher shape than some of the abandoned homes. Norris Street was barely a street. It was barely a road. The only lines were a pair of faded double yellows down the middle and pot holes broke the pavement. Unlike 251 High Street, there was no fence and no “No Trespassing” signs. It didn’t need them. Only an idiot would break into such a dilapidated building.
The cars pulled over off onto the brown grass that lined the road. They’d seen no other traffic since turning onto Norris Street, and now out of the cars, they couldn’t hear anything but buzzing power lines and cicadas.
“So how do we play this game?” Kyle asked.
Eddie looked about to answer, but Mary cut him off. “We don’t. At least not at right away. First, we go in and check out the place and see if there’s anything spooky without doing the game.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Taryn said.
Thankfully, Kyle had thought to bring extra flashlights. “We should all stick together,” he said.
“Yeah, nobody should go anywhere alone,” Mary said.
“And be careful where you step. I fear rotted floorboards may be a very real concern,” Eddie added.
As if on cue, they heard several creaks from the house.
“Well, this place certainly looks like it could be haunted,” Rachel said.
“Or at the least infested,” Kyle said.
“Infested with what?” Taryn asked.
“You know the usual: Rats, cockroaches—” Kyle stopped.
Eddie laughed at something, and Mary turned to see Rachel quickly hide something behind her back. Taryn reached around her and grabbed it. It was a notebook, and on it, the words “DON’T SAY SPIDERS!” were written in frantic pencil.
“You think there might be spiders?” Taryn asked in a quavering voice.
“No, I’m sure the rats and cockroaches have scared them all away,” Rachel assured her.
“Are you really afraid of spiders?” Mary asked.
“I’m not afraid of spiders. I just think they should all be dead. And they feel the same about me. It’s a long standing feud that I will fight until the bitter end.”
“Well, now you have me on your side. I’ll help you squash all the nasty spiders. They won’t stand a chance,” Rachel said.
Taryn didn’t look very reassured. “Spiders are wily.”
“They won’t get past me. I promise.”
“They will be up on the ceiling waiting,” Taryn realized.
“I have a hat. You can have it.”
Rachel pulled out a baseball cap and gave it to her. Eddie looked like he wanted a hat now too. With all the talk of falling spiders, Mary had to admit she was sort of wanting one as well.
“Are we standing out here all night?”
Mary ignored Harvey.
“Okay, so this is just a tour. We look around to see if anything jumps out at us and then we leave. Nobody goes anywhere by themselves and we stay safe,” she said.
“Jumps out at us?” Eddie asked uncertainly.
“Figuratively. If something literally jumps at you, run screaming so the rest of us know to run too.”
“Spiders can jump,” Taryn said, stepping closer to Rachel.
“If you don’t want to go in, you don’t have to,” Rachel said.
“No, I’m going in. Don’t want the spiders to get you.”
“Aw, that’s my brave little arachnophobic girlfriend.”
“We ready?” Mary asked.
Everyone nodded.
“Let’s get this haunted house tour going,” Rachel said.
They all turned on their flashlights and went to the front door. It was so empty out there that no one was worried about others seeing them. The door frame had dry rot making it easy for Kyle to pull off the boards covering the door. They entered what Mary assumed was once a living room or parlor, but now it was like the other abandoned house, empty of purpose. Trash had found its way into this house as well. There wasn’t graffiti like the previous house. The walls were clear of words, but mold had bloomed across them. The air was musty and dank. Maybe they should have worn face masks.
“Hello?” Rachel called.
Taryn was waving her flashlight around wildly as she looked for spiders.
Kyle took Mary’s free hand and gave it a squeeze. “You gonna protect me from the spiders?” he asked.
“I’ll watch your back if you watch mine.”
“Deal.”
“No hanky-panky.”
Mary didn’t let go of Kyle’s hand. If Harvey really had a problem with it, they were going to have words again.
“Nothing’s jumping out at me,” Eddie said.
“That’s a good thing,” Taryn said.
“Mary, you hear anything?” Rachel asked.
Mary started to shake her head, but there was a creak above them from the second floor.
“What was that?” Harvey asked.
“You could check it out and tell us,” Mary told him.
“Haha. And get killed again? I don’t think so.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Mary, you want to share with the rest of the class?” Rachel asked.
“Harvey’s a chicken.”
“Nothing wrong with chickens, except they make excellent entrees. I’m not becoming something’s entrée.”
“Just go upstairs and see.”
“Bwack. That was chicken for no.”
“Seriously? Go upstairs.”
“Nope.”
“If you don’t, then I have to go up there with the rotted boards and possibly fall down and break my neck.”
“Um, I’m not cool with that idea,” Kyle said, his hand tightening on hers.
“Are we having a party? Was I invited?”
“Jesus! Where’d you come from?”
“This is my home, or it was my home. What’s the proper tense? I was alive. I am now dead. I used to live here. I am still here.”
Mary put her hand up to make the rest of the gang be quiet. The ghost sounded young and female and there was a lilt to her voice that didn’t sound quite right. A normal person didn’t speak with that cadence. Mary thought it best to be extra cautious with her.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
“Kid, she was asking you that.”
“Hello?”
“Hi. Yes, I can hear you.”
“Really? No one’s heard me in a long time. I screamed and screamed and not even echoes to answer me.”
“Yeah, I bet that was upsetting.”
“Not really. They didn’t like it when I screamed before. They would get mad. Now no one gets mad.”
“That’s good?” The ghost sounded a bit like Jenny which wasn’t good.
