Making his escape from Ashton, Duke bumped into Lucille showing Timothy around. Lucille saw that he was out of breath and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Duke swallowed some spit and took a few deep breaths, “That… fire man…”

A ding went off, “Can all members please go to the auditorium, we will be starting the event shortly.”

“It’s starting guys let’s go,” Lucille said.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you guys, I’m going to go to the bathroom,” Timothy told them leaving. He ran back, “Wait guys I have to tell you life is worth living.”

“O…kay…” they both said looking at each other.

“Live! Now I’m going to find this bathroom,” Timothy ran off.

Barry’s eye twitched, he cracked a door open “Stay by the door, we’re going to need to use it.” he told Gloria.

The two crossed paths with Mother and Giselle, along with Mother’s guards; Mother’s suspicion got the best of her, “Who are you?” Those with Mother had put their eyes on the two. “We’re members, I know there’s so many of us, that we go under the radar,” Gloria answered. The voice perked up Giselle as she gasped.

“Names?” Mother asked.

“Gloria!”

“Gloria? Mother turned back to Giselle. Sweetie, do you know this girl?”

“Yeah, she summoned me with Timmy.”

“You guys do everything together?” Barry whispered to Gloria.

“He needed help.”

“Go into the room… now!” Barry pushed her into the room.

“Bye Giselle.”

“Bye-bye Gloria and friend,” Giselle said.

Mother nodded her head for the guards to go after them; Barry shut the door and locked it. “I hope she’s okay, we have to find a way to get her.” Gloria said. The knob rattled and the door thumped. “Oh, my goodness, what are we going to do?”

“Use the key!” Mother demanded.

“Use the window.” Barry told Gloria, opening it. “There’s a fire escape here, go, go, go!”

The knob struck and the guards opened the door to an opened window. “The kids got away.” One guard looked out the window to see the two halfway to the street. They both go back into the hallway.

“Let’ go start the event,” Mother said. She texted the babysitter, ‘Make sure all the windows and doors are locked.’

The babysitter left the room and started going room to room to lock the windows. At the final door on the floor, she bumped into Ashton. “Who the hell are you?” She pulled out her phone.

Ashton slapped the phone out of her hand. “Who are you?”

“You’re in my building and you’re going to pay for my phone!”

“Sure,” Ashton stomped on the phone making it spark and explode.

“Who are y…”

Ashton covered her mouth, “Enough talk, where is the girl? You have a big operation here.” The babysitter made muffled noise. “I’m going to let you speak but if you yell scream or make a loud sound, you’re dead. Do you understand?” The woman replied with more muffled noise. “You can shake or nod your head for clarification.” She nodded her head. “Good, where is the girl?” he let her go.

“Get away!” she yelled out to be grabbed and muffled once again.

“Okay, I’ll find her myself. Intense heat radiated from his hand until her eyes dripped over his hand. “Dumbass.” He kept searching the premise for the missing denizen.

Mother came out on to the stage to greet her followers along with Giselle. Giselle was wearing a white dress. Lucille looked at Duke, “Isn’t that the girl from the play?”

“Yeah,” he answered with his eyes forward.

“She’s, our guide?” She elbowed Duke to make him turn to her, “I’m not sure about this…”

“Why?”

“It’s a child, what can she possibly know?”

“You haven’t seen what she can do, it’s crazy stuff.”

“Still, it’s a child…”

On the stage Mother commands the group, “Family, tonight is the night that we go to the next level.” The group applauded, besides Lucille.

“What’s the matter why aren’t you clapping?” Duke asked Lucille.

“I don’t know… I have to go to the bathroom, can you come with me?”

“What?” Duke blushed.

Lucille caught that and clarified, “Buddy system.”

“Oh yeah. How are we going to get out, Mother is talking.”

“Right, maybe if we just go real quietly, she won’t notice us.”

A member interjected themselves between them, “Shh.”

Lucille was determined to get out, “Okay, we just bring attention to ourselves and then ask for forgiveness if we are caught walking out.”

“Can you stop?” the member said.

“Sorry,” Lucille got up and went two seats over.

“Lucille, can I ask you where you are going?” Mother called out.

“The bathroom…”

“During this time? It can wait.”

“But I really have to go and…”

“You can hold it.”

“But I might go on myself during the trip,” Lucille replied looking around feeling the eye on her.

“That’s not an issue, take a seat!” The weight of Mother’s words brought Lucille back into her seat.”

“There goes that plan,” Duke whispered to Lucille when she sat down.

“At least I got up.”

“Today Giselle will bring us to the next plane, back home with her!” Mother announced the congregation clapped. “Bring out the drinks!” Mother called out to behind the stage. The kitchen staff came out from behind the curtain, wheeling punchbowls of purple and green liquids. Down each row the workers serve cups of the drink. From behind the curtain appeared two drinks for Mother and the guide. “Family, let us toast to our trip to the next plane!”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

In the hallways Timothy heard people clapping, he cracked the door open to see Mother and Giselle holding drinks. “Giselle!” He shouted out swinging the door open.

“Who the hell are you!” Mother asked getting quick to anger. Then adjusted herself. “I mean, who are your young man?”

“Giselle, that’s my cousin!” he briskly walked down the aisle.

“What’s a cousin?” Giselle asked Mother. “Hi Timothy!” she waved at him. “Can he join us?” she asked Mother.

Mother thought to herself, a way to get rid of him, “Yes he can.;” She signaled to a member, “Young man come take a drink with us.”

A person serving drinks poured him a cup. Timothy knocked the cup out of their hand. “I need to get my cousin back.”

“What’s a cousin?” Giselle asked Mother again.

“You can’t take our guide!” a person in the crowd exclaimed.

“She’s a child!”

“Young man you’re going to have to leave,” Mother told him. Members of the congregation started to circle in around him.

“Not without that girl!” Timothy produced Roscoe’s gun.

“Whoa, Tim has gone crazy,” Lucille commented.

“I could have told you that,” Duke said.

Men from the stage pointed their guns at Timothy, “Aw damn,” he said.

“Put the gun down, son,” Mother told him.

Timothy complied and then asked to read an appeal. “Sorry ma’am I really wasn’t trying to use my gun I was going to original give you my appeal that I wrote, may I please read it.”

Mother rolled her eyes and sighed at the request but let him talk to maintain her image to the congregation. “Fine after you read it, you will drink with us, that way you have an understanding of what we are about.”

“I agree.”

“Then you can continue with your appeal.”

Timothy took out a piece of paper and read the cantation on it sending Giselle home. Giselle glowed in an orange aura and levitated above the stage. “She going to take the journey!” a member cried out. People started drinking in a hurry to catch the passage to the next plane. The mission Mother put across was effective, as evident per the actions of her followers. Mother watched her congregation drink without her in amazement. But then her expression changed to confusion. “Our trip!” She cried out. In desperation she grabbed Giselle, but her hands phased through the spirit. “Shoot him!”

Once again, the ignition of the firearm set the wielder on fire. The mayhem encircled the room, the double doors Timothy slipped through turned white, luminating, creating a shadow that extended to the other side of the room, but falling short of Mother. Princess appeared, “Do you understand, what you have done?”

“Who the hell are you?”

“The keeper of the little girl you stole.”

“Keeper?”

“Yes, the keeper of spirits. Anyway, that is not important. I must give you a penalty for your actions.”

The scenery was taken in by the followers who still had their cups in hand. “Where are we,” the congregation started asking. Then theories started to form, “I think we crossed over to the next plane.” “The boy is an arsonist!”

“I’m not an arsonist!” Timothy killed that idea from conception. Having thought about his classmates he called out for them, “Lucille, Duke, you guys here?”

“Yes!” Lucille answered.

“Come out to the aisle or the center.”

“Uh, there’s fire...”

“Yeah and no one is panicking.”

“Wait, are we dead?” a member asked.

“Dead with fire, oh no we are in…” another member panicked.

“You’re not!” Timothy and Princess yelled out.

“Where are we then?” the crowd inquired skeptical.

“You are in a realm, between home and the specter zone,” Timothy told them. Princess looked back at him. “I remembered what you said, I don’t do any of that weird stuff, I promise.”

“Didn’t you just do a spell?”

“What’s the specter zone, it sounds made up?” a member of the congregation exclaimed.

Timothy ignored the Princess and answered the congregation member back giving validity to Mother’s idea, “It’s where the guide is from.”

“That girl was a monster.”

“A monster!” Giselle cried out.

“They’re talking about you,” Timothy informed her.

“I’m not a monster.”

Princess interrupted their exchange. “Say your goodbyes!”

“Bye Giselle, stay out of trouble,” Timothy said.

“Bye-bye, I had fun doing your project,” she waved.

“This guy never does his own work,” commented Duke.

“Lucille lets go!” Timothy called out.

“Come on Duke lets get out of here,” Lucille told him.

Both go to Timothy, “Okay guys, lets get the fuck out here.” When the three of them unite the flames dissipate and Giselle and the Princess fade away.

“Boy, what foolishness did you just pull?” Mother asked.

“Nothing, her people just wanted her back and you had her.”

“…Okay,” she turned to her other guard, “Get that…”

The Princess grabbed Mother from below the stage. “Oh man that lady was a demon, she tried bringing us to hell,” the congregation rambles. There was a calm moment until everyone in the auditorium realized that some otherworldly creature was lurking in the room with them. “Oh, my goodness, there’s a demon in here!”

The congregation started to stampede out of the auditorium. Timothy grabbed, Lucille and Duke, “Stay up guys, don’t fall under, if you do, you’re never coming up.” The three braced for the impact of the bodies crashing against them, “Go with the flow!” They surfed out the room along with the rest of the people, until they rest at a wall. Timothy tugged on Lucille and Duke’s arm, “Don’t go, let them escape, we are still in town,” he informed them.

“We just saw Mother get sucked into an orange hole,” Duke said.

“Like I said we were between home and the Specter zone, where the guide was from. This is what you signed up for.”

“The Specter zone, has demons?”

“It has spirits…Look either way if you don’t want to die, let these people run out of here.” Timothy thought about Gloria, “Oh crap!” He pulled out his phone and called Gloria. “Gloria, where are you?” During the call Duke and Lucille took the opportunity to leave on their own.

“I’m outside, we saw Giselle… What’s the rumbling?”

“The people are stampeding; the summoning people came a dragged Mother somewhere with them and now these people think that they are in some sort of hell trap.”

“Oh wow.”

“Get away from the building, I don’t want you to be trampled.”

Gloria and Barry went to safety to watch the stampede of Loving Hands Friendship House congregation members. “Man, they are pouring out that place,” Barry commented.

“That’s what a demon will do…” Gloria said texting Timothy.

“I’m surprised the building isn’t on fire. This is nothing like the hotline…”

The sky cleared up and the temperature lowered, with a scream and a loud voice saying goodbye and echoed out with the paranormal changes. “Giselle!” Gloria cried out, “Have a safe trip.”

“She wasn’t yelling, was she?”

“No, she was saying goodbye.”

“Again?”

“She likes me, okay.” As they returned to reality it hit them hard, a burn mark on the street took them away from the goodbyes. “Roscoe is gone…”

“Yes, this is going to be hard especially after everything his girlfriend just went through…”

Timothy met up with the two, who looked at the burn mark without a word. “Did you see Lucille and Duke?”

“No, but I’ll let you two be. You just had a crazy day,” Barry said walking away.

“You did too!” Gloria yelled out. It had no effect on Barry. “Are you okay?” she asked Timothy.

“Yeah… we’ll just see them at school…”

“Tim, I mean…” Gloria stopped; “We should get rest, we exhausted ourselves.”

“Yeah, I kinda wished I gave the kid a proper goodbye.”

“She said goodbye. But let’s not dwell on it right now.”

While Timothy and Gloria walked home, when Gloria spotted Lucille and Duke. “You know those two almost lost their lives, maybe we should go talk to them.”

“You know what… even though I don’t like them, I agree.” Timothy called over to the two, “Hey come walk with us.” Lucille took the invitation, Duke hesitated. “What’s the matter?”

“He’s not used to you being nice,” Gloria answered.

“Fine, I’ll greet him with an insult.”

“Tim!”

“It’s because you kicked him in the face,” Barry said from behind.

“Did you kick him in the face?”

“No,” Timothy answered.

“You kicked him in the face,” Barry informed her.

“No, I didn’t; when?”

“In the bookstore.”

“What?”

“Oh, that makes sense, when you were possessed,” Timothy added.

“Possessed!”

“Did you lose your memory?”

“Obviously,” Barry chimed in.

In an orange void, the Princess, Ashton, and Giselle are with Mother. “Ashton watch the lady, I’m going to bring the girl back.” The Princess laid her hand on Giselle’s head and continued talking to the woman, “Ma’am as you know you are being penalized for your actions against the girl.”

“I didn’t do anything to the girl!” the lady panicked.

“Ashton.”

“On it; lady you’re not going anywhere, get comfortable.” Giselle and the Princess fade away into the orange. Mother ran away from Ashton, “No where to go!” his voice echoed. Either the woman was running in the void or was blocked going side by side with a stream of fire. “I wonder what the Princess will do to you?”

Timothy returned home, he stopped on his front steps to be filled with guilt. He sighed, “Oh man, I do not want to do this…” He turned around and walked to Roscoe’s house. On the steps he thought about how he was going to break the news to the woman. After his reflection, he knocked on the door. The girlfriend opened the door, “Oh you’re that kid who keeps knocking on my door.”

“Yeah… well…”

“Where’s Roscoe?”

“So, he didn’t make back from the Loving Hands Friendship House…”

“What do you mean, he didn’t make it back!”

“So, he was set on fire by an…”

“Is this more of your magic stuff!”

“Yes ma’am, he tried to shoot at a spirit, and it set him on fire.”

“Why didn’t you put him out?”

“The fire was so quick; we didn’t have a chance to.”

The girlfriend fell to her knees sobbing, “I can’t believe this!”

Timothy went to console her, “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t touch me, you’re walking death!”

The boy backed away, “I’m sorry, I’ll let you be…” (insert Roscoe’s return)

Back at school Timothy met up with Gloria, Lucille, Barry, and Duke by the front door. “What a crazy weekend, right?” Duke said. The other four groaned and grumbled, “You guys are right, it was crazy in a terrible way.”

“Let’s strive for normalcy, I know we all need that in our lives,” Timothy said.

“Yeah,” the rest of them agreed.

“Let’s make a pact…”

“…to stay away from magic,” Gloria finished his sentence.

“To stay away from magic.” They fist bumped each other in agreement.