Out of Sight, Out of Mind//A Beetlejuice Fanfiction

||Chapter Forty Two|| Summoned

A set of items now set on the coffee table in front of them, the Maitlands peered down at them unsure of what to do. And it was as if these were things that they were sure they'd never seen before (which was kind of true, in a way). Betelgeuse, Lydia, and Charles were all still in the middle of reading the Handbook, trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Sure, Lydia and her dad wanted to introduce Emily to their new family members and housemates but they didn't want Emily to know that they'd moved.

Lydia had (almost) passed out another two times in the last fifteen or so minutes, leading to Barbara summoning a copy of the Handbook of her own to read through and find a way to keep Lydia from passing out further (she found something, which would only last for a short time but it was still worth it, wasn't it?) and having any more visions. But how exactly were they going to know if something happened or was going to happen if Lydia didn't have any visions for a while.

In the end, though, Barbara decided against using it.

Lydia, feeling faint once again, decided to lay down on the couch she was currently sat down on, with her dad and Betelgeuse getting up beforehand. Barbara summoned a blanket and gingerly placed it over Lydia's body with help from Adam. As the teenager took a brief and short nap, all four adults stepped out of the living room - moving to the kitchen and sat down to talk. Betelgeuse had moved to sit down on the couch on the opposite side of the living room - continuing to read through the Handbook.

Charles stood up, moving over to the pantry and opening it, grabbing out a snack each for him and Delia as well as one for Lydia when she awoke from her nap - which, hopefully, was going to be soon. As he sat back down at the kitchen island next to Delia and across from Adam and Barbara, not a single word was spoken by any one of the four adults - or at least it was until Barbara spoke up, looking over towards Charles with an inquisitive expression.

"Do you hope that it's going to work and you're going to reconnect with your first wife and Lydia with her mother? Cause from what I heard of her from Lydia, she sounds nice. And I'd actually like to get to know her if this all works."

Adam and Delia nodded, humming their agreements.

Charles rested a hand under his chin briefly, thinking to himself then he turned back to look at Barbara. "Yeah, I hope so. And I hope she decides to stay if it does. Cause she's still a part of the family even if and though she's not here anymore."

Barbara nodded, feeling sorrow for the living male and for Lydia.

And it was at that moment when Lydia awoke from her short nap, pushing the blanket off of her, standing up from the couch, gathering up the set of six objects that Adam, Barbara, and Betelgeuse had summoned, and moved over to the kitchen. As she set down each object one after the other, all four adults, confusion on each of their faces, turned their attention over towards her.

"Wouldn't it be a little easier for you and your dad to do it in the living room, Lyds?" Adam asked, cocking his head to the side as he reached up a hand and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"It would," Lydia said in response as the five of them turned to look into the living room and over towards Betelgeuse, who had since set the Handbook face down on the coffee table where the objects previously were. "But I had another vision whilst I was napping. I didn't exactly pass out and have it this time, but when I did have it... I sensed something that felt a little off and I don't know what it was."

"Can you describe what exactly happened in your vision? If the barrier between this world and the Netherworld weakened and faded even more?" Barbara gave Lydia a curious, but inquisitive look, a slight but small hint of panic, maybe even stress, in her eyes that she and Lydia could tell was also in everyone else's eyes.

Lydia nodded and added, "it did. It's getting closer and closer to weakening and fading away completely as we speak. And that's going to happen very soon if we don't act fast enough to stop it from doing so."

"Then we'll have to do something about it soon," Adam said. "Lydia and Charles can try to see if they can summon Emily and then we'll go from there."

The other four nodded, standing up in unison - with Charles and Lydia picking up three of the six objects each and following Delia and the Maitlands back into the living room. Charles and Lydia set the objects they had down on the coffee table, their attention focusing over towards Betelgeuse.

When a silence befell the living room, Charles was the one to break it by clearing his throat and directing the attention of everyone else in the room to him as he looked over towards and addressed Betelgeuse. "So, what's the first thing we do?"

"Well, I was looking over the summoning spell and its instructions and it turns out that it's actually easier to do than I thought it would be," the demon replied, a lighter shade of green filtering through his normal green hair. "It actually requires not only family members of the deceased being summoned, but also others that are close to the remaining living family members."

A curious look appeared on Adam's face as he turned his head to look over at Betelgeuse and clarified just that. "So... the six of us all need to take part in doing this spell or it won't work?"

Betelgeuse nodded. "Basically, yeah..."

"Well, what do we do first?" Barbara queried concernedly, looking directly at Betelgeuse with a confused, but curious at the same time, look on her face.

Betelgeuse looked down at the instructions that were written in the Handbook, then looked back at Barbara. "Says that we need to sit on the middle of the floor in a perfect circle and hold hands."

When the other five did so and Betelgeuse sat himself down on the floor in between Adam and Barbara, setting the Handbook off to the side and beside him so he could refer to it as he helped the others through the spell before grabbing Adam and Barbara's hands. Barbara grabbed Lydia's and Adam grabbed Delia's. Grabbing hold of his daughter and second wife's hands, Charles looked over towards Betelgeuse.

"What's next?"

Betelgeuse turned his head and looked down at the Handbook again. "After setting down the six objects you got from the Netherworld, the of the family members of the deceased being summoned will start to quietly chant, with any other family members and associates or friends joining In after."

"Yeah, but what's the chant?" Lydia questioned confusedly, her and her dad setting all of the objects onto the floor in the center of the circle.

Betelgeuse read out the required chant word for word, Lydia copying him and all four of the adults eventually joining in. At first, nothing seemed to happen, and the six of them were just about to give up, deeming it nothing but a failure, but then, a light appeared in the air and descended towards the ground. Since the light was much too bright, Lydia, her dad, and Delia each had to shield their eyes from the intensity of it. Barbara, Adam, and Betelgeuse had stood up and moved off to the side.

It faded away, a figure landing on the floor. Lydia slowly removed her hands from her face and glanced over in the direction where the light was. As her dad and Delia did the same and Betelgeuse and the Maitlands moved closer and regrouped with the rest of the family, Lydia found herself blinking in surprise as she looked over towards the transparent figure on the floor.

"Mom?"