Lost Souls

Chapter 10

"There is only one thing we can do," Esmeralda said, following Bethany and John into their grandmother's home. The pair of siblings stormed through the halls with purpose, acting as one. John pulled a long skinny coffee table away from the furniture and placed it in the center of the room while Bethany pulled three candles from a high shelf. She placed them on the table in a triangular formation. First the one made of white wax, then pink wax, and lastly the purple.

"They want me to contact their other grandmother," Rene said with a soft realization. "Gertrude."

"Yes," Bethany said. She pointed at the candles with her index and middle fingers and raised her hands above her head. With that swift motion, the wicks of the candles sparked to life with a blue flame that melted into red. She turned to Rene and gestured to the table.

"She's one of the strangest witches we know," John said as he sat on the floor. "And the other strongest witch we know was just high jacked by a demon."

Bethany and Esmeralda joined him around the table. Rene, nodding with understanding, sat between Bethany and John. She took each of their hands and closed her eyes.

"I'll be blindly searching around the other side, I can use your blood relation to find her," she explained.

"Should we call your sister?" Esmeralda asked. "We might need her. Plus, she'd probably want to know that we are about to talk to your grandmother."

"I don't want to do that to her unless we have to," Bethany said without looking at Esmeralda. She kept her eyes on the dancing flames of the candles. "Pulling her focus away from the work she's doing right now, just to remind her of what we've lost. That would be cruel."

"Something is wrong," Rene spoke. "The blood connection. It's not strong enough."

"Maybe we do need Destiny," John suggested.

"Why isn't it strong enough?" Beth asked.

"I couldn't say," Rene answered, eyes still shut. "It seems that I'm being pulled in multiple directions. Almost to your grandmother... but I'm also being towards something else. Something darker."

"How do we pull you away from that darkness and push you towards her?" Esmeralda asked.

"Nothing you could do," Rene said bluntly. "But perhaps if we combine a witch's summoning with my psychic séance."

"Witches reaching into other realms is dangerous," John said.

"Last time we did that, we pulled a demon through," Bethany said. "And look how that turned out."

"But I'm built for this. With me guiding the efforts, we'll hopefully avoid any unforeseen side effects," Rene explained. "I just need a little help stabilizing."

"Better than nothing, I guess," Esmeralda said with a shrug.

Bethany nodded at the support and looked to her brother. They shared a knowing glance and closed their eyes. Together they spoke, "Spiritus invocamus. Haec a verbis accersierunt illam velum per animam meam de morte et vita."

Rene gasped and the flames of the candles increased in size as the lightbulbs flickered. Rene released Beth and John's hands and opened her eyes. She grasped her chest and let out a scream. She looked around with shock, her face was softer than normal. She smiled after looking at the people around her.

"Oh my." The voice that left her lips wasn't hers. It was an elderly voice full of comforting maternity. This was Gertrude Gates.

"Grandma?" Bethany asked, tears in her eyes.

"Yes, I'm here," Gertrude said through Rene's mouth. "But how?"

"We summoned you," John said.

"John," Gertrude said. "Does this mean we are in Silver Hollow?"