SHADOWS - Adversary

CHAPTER 8

Nora and Valley entered the house and closed the door behind them silently, Nora shoving the key Vanessa gave them back into her pocket. Knowing now what hid inside, the house seemed creepy and dead. Not even a breeze rattled the windows or moved the curtains and the pair's footsteps seemed muffled and quiet. Some sort of presence made the hairs on the back of Nora's neck stand on end.

"It's quiet," Nora stated, relieved to hear that her voice sounded perfectly normal and not muffled.

"It's trying to freak us out," Valley replied. They made their way to the kitchen. Valley set down the duffle bag she had been carrying on the bench and unzipped it, rummaging through its contents. "Here we go," she announced happily, placing the objects next to the bag. They were small hand-made bags filled with dried sage and basil, rock salt, and graveyard dirt. Nora and Valley had made them earlier in the motel room; these would destroy the poltergeist.

A loud crash echoed through the house and Nora swore. "I'm guessing it's figured out what we're doing," she said. The sounds of thumps on the walls grew closer and Nora ducked just in time as a picture frame was thrown hard toward her head. "Fuck!" she exclaimed as it shattered against the cupboard behind her.

"We need to hurry up," murmured Valley as she shoved several of the bags into Nora's hands. "I'll do the second storey, you do this one."

Nora nodded and got up, being wary of more picture frames. Valley slipped out of the room and ascended the stairs, several bags in her own arms.

One in every corner of every room, Nora reminded herself as she hurried into the lounge room. She had placed three down before the poltergeist struck again. This time, as she stood to drop the fourth bag in the last corner, the couch rocketed toward her, pinning her legs against the wall.

"Ugh, you son of a bitch," she grunted as she pushed the couch away from her. She would have bruises for sure. Nora rushed out of the room before the poltergeist could throw the TV or something bigger at her.

One room done. Next was the foyer. Nora felt a rush of gratitude toward Vanessa, as there were no picture frames hanging on the walls to be used against her in this room. Two rooms done.

She moved on to the garage. Nora eyed the cans of paint suspiciously. Then she wondered how Valley was doing upstairs, as nothing was thrown at her and that must mean that the poltergeist was busy elsewhere. She quickly abandoned this theory as the point of a screwdriver narrowly missed her left hand and clattered on the ground noisily. After dropping a bag in the last corner, Nora exited the garage and made her way back to the kitchen and dining room. Damn, why is this house so big?

As she walked quickly, Nora felt her feet lift off the floor and she fell backward and landed on her ass heavily. "Ugh fuck off!" It pulled her hair roughly in response and Nora shoved a hand inside her hoodies pocket and grabbed a handful of rock salt. "I said fuck off," she growled, throwing it over her shoulder. The tugging on her hair stopped an she got up and ran to the dining room, putting down a bag in each corner. Five rooms done. Last was the kitchen, where she and Valley planned to meet last to read out the chant and finish the spell.

Sure enough, Valley rushed into the kithen after her. "That was a nightmare," she panted. Nora put down the last four bags... but there was still one left in Nora's pocket. "Okay, lets finish this," Valley said, rubbing her hands together eagerly.

"Valley," Nora interupted.

"What?"

Nora pulled the last bag out of her pocket. "There's still one left."

Valley looked puzzled. "That's impossible, we made just the right amount."

"Maybe..." she began, before remembering. "SHIT! Valley, I missed a corner in the living room!"

Before Valley could reply, she was thrown into the opposite wall with such force that her head slammed into it and Nora was sure she heard a crack. "Valley!" She cried, dropping the bag in her hand and running to her crumpled form. She didn't reply. "Valley!" Nora repeated, shaking her this time.

Valley groaned and rubbed the back of her head. "Fuck," she breathed, sitting up.

"Are you okay?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, I- NORA LOOK OUT!" Nora didn't bother turning but just grabbed Valley and and pressed them both to the floor. THUD! When Nora raised her head, a knife was stuck into the wall, wobbling side to side, right where Valley's face had been seconds before.

"GET OUT!" Nora shouted and the pair scrambled up and ran to the back glass door, sliding it open roughly and throwing themselves out, dodging more knives.

"Shit shit shit," Nora gasped, getting up from the grass in Vanessa's backyard. She looked to her left to see Valley also sitting up, looking frustrated. Is she mad at me? Of course she's mad at you, you idiot! You stuffed up the whole banishing!

"Valley, I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine. We can fix this." Valley snapped. Shit.

"How?" Nora asked quietly. How could she have stuffed up so badly? She could have told herself that it was because this was her first case, but that wasn't an excuse. Nora had wanted to do well on her first case, hadn't she trained?

Valley sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Well we didn't do the chant, so the spell hasn't started which means that we can just go back inside and finish it." She grimaced and clutched her ribs.

"You okay?" She questioned worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine. I think it's just a cracked rib." She looked at Nora's guilty face and continued. "Nora it's okay. It'll heal in a few days. Enhanced healing remember?" Nora still felt extremely guilty. Valley, being a werewolf, healed about three times faster than a human, but that didn't stop her from feeling pain.

"Nora-" Valley began in a softer tone.

"Okay, well let's finish this," she cut in. Nora didn't want her sister to comfort her. It was her fault, not Valley's. Stow your crap and finish the damn job Nora, she thought angrily to herself.

"Hang on," said Valley, "it's going to be even more pissed off now that it knows what we're up to. We have to do this as fast as possible." Nora nodded and the two walked warily back inside. As soon as they entered the house every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen began to open and slam shut seemingly by themselves.

With a nod from Valley, Nora ran to the lounge room with the small bag clutched tightly in her hand. She had a new determination to complete the job now, out of both embarrassment and a need to prove her worth to her sister. The last bag was dropped into the corner with little incident; Nora skilfully dodged a TV remote and she ran back to the kitchen to join Valley.

"Ready?" Valley asked. She had all the ingredients needed for the banishing ritual in a bowl on the bench with the matches ready in her hand. Underneath the bowl was a banishing sygil drawn onto the countertop. Nora nodded, picked up Valley's book and read the Latin chant aloud.

"Pessimum vidi faciem tuam, ut te hinc accendunt ignem!" As Nora spoke Valley threw the lit matches into the bowl and the flames shot in front of her face as the contents ignited. An almighty gust of air made their hair whip around their faces briefly and then Nora felt the presence of an extra person disappear. She could now hear the hum of the refrigerator behind her as random household sounds returned. Noises from outside penetrated the house as well through the walls and windows as they normally should. It was done, the poltergeist was gone.