Back From The Dead

The silence on the line spoke volumes. Naomi wondered how Agnostic William Sawyer really was. She was just about to ask him when he cut in. “This is just impossible. I mean…the ingredients are real enough…the positioning of the stars is all based on known astrological charts, but the spell itself…the dialogue and what’s said. I made that all up.”

“You made it up?”

“Yeah. Do you know anything about the boy who performed the spell?”

“He’s a trouble-maker.”

“Is he Catholic?”

“Catholic?”

“A believer. A Christian, Jew, or even Muslim?”

Naomi shrugged. “I’m pretty sure he’s Christian in name only.”

“You said he believed my book was non-fiction?”

“That’s what Tim said. It didn’t matter how many times Tim corrected Gordon and told him it was fiction, it didn’t work. Gordon was convinced the spell in the book was real.”

“Belief can be strong.” Naomi heard William rummaging around in the background. “Hold on a minute, Ms. Gaines.”

Naomi drifted into the living room to see what was going on. Jeff was sitting on the sofa intently watching the news. He turned to her. “It’s really happening,” he said. For the first time in the twenty years she and Jeff had been married, he looked deathly afraid. “It’s like…” He was so stunned he couldn’t finish his sentence.

William Sawyer came back on the line. “Are you there, Ms. Gaines?”

“Yeah.”

“When did all this happen?” William’s voice had taken on a new tone. It sounded grave.

Naomi backtracked in her mind. “Three weeks ago. Maybe less.”

“Can you be a little more specific?”

Naomi sighed and tried to do better. How long had Tim been out of school? A week? That would place things at around June 5. Gordon had come to Tim about a week before that to borrow the book, probably May 24. “Gordon borrowed Tim’s copy of Back From the Dead the week of May 24th. I’d say it was May 27th when the police showed up here to accuse Tim of robbing that grave.”

“They showed up the afternoon of the 27th?”

“Yes.”

“So the grave was robbed the night before?”

“Yes.”

There was a pause, followed by an audible whisper. “My God!”

“What?” The tone of William’s voice sent shards of ice down Naomi’s spine.

“I’m consulting a book, Ms. Gaines,” William Sawyer said. His voice maintained that grave tone. “It’s…a rather old volume and technically it’s a piece of fiction, but it’s based on a very old legend. It contains many recipes for magical formulae. Anyway, I remember a reference to the month before the Summer Solstice, so I did some research. In four years the stars will be in a perfect alignment on the night of the Summer Solstice, but listen to this…” She heard the whispering of pages and then he continued. “The stars align to their position six years before this is to happen, and in yearly increments they continually shift until the night of the Solstice, when they’re in the correct position. However, in the years prior, if certain rituals are conducted at midnight on May 26^th or 27^th, depending on the alignment of the stars, it’s enough to throw the gates open and call to certain dark gods.”

“Do you believe that?” Naomi asked.

“I’d like to tell you no, I don’t believe it. But then all I have to do is look at my TV and see what’s happening in your town and…” Once again he trailed off, at a loss for words.

“So if Gordon were to read the spell at a certain time at night and use the correct ingredients, he could make this thing work?”

“If his belief was genuine, yes. Only…and here’s what I don’t understand…the spell I’m looking at says that in order for this particular ritual to work, there must be a human body for the magician to conjure the demon up to inhabit. The demon uses the body as a vessel and it spreads itself by contaminating other living things, usually by killing them. Only then can the demon replicate itself to newly created vessels.”

Naomi drew in a breath. “Oh my God!”

“What?”

“When you wrote that you didn’t realize, did you?”

“When I wrote this I was combining fact with fiction! I was putting in elements of different belief and magical systems for verisimilitude and making stuff up for dramatic effect! When I wrote this I was writing a novel, Ms. Gaines! Fiction! Make-believe! I realize most people today cannot tell the difference between fiction and non-fiction, that many people believe The Da Vinci Code is real, but I don’t write for them. If they’re too stupid to differentiate — ”

“But the spell you wrote about was one your characters used to conjure the dead back to life?”

“Yes,” William Sawyer admitted. “The antagonist uses it to ressurect his enemy. He turns him into a slave, of sorts. But yes, the guy is dead in the book and he’s called back to life.”

“And you’re saying in similar real spells that in order for it to work, the demon must inhabit a dead human body.”

“Yes — “ William’s voice trailed off as he understood what Naomi was getting at. “Oh no, you don’t think — ”

“There was a dead body in the woods when Gordon conducted his ritual,” Naomi stated.

“But that’s impossible! The odds of that happening are a million to one! If I’d known any of this would have been even remotely possible I never would have — “

“Is there a way to stop it?”

“Stop it?”

“A way to get the corpse, or the zombie, or whatever, to be dead again?”

There was the fluttering of pages as William rifled through his research material on the other end. “I suppose there has to be, but damned if I’ll be able to find it in time.”

“Would somebody who is involved with magic be aware of something like this?”

“Do you know anybody local that practices Wicca?”

“No.”

“Any occult supply stores near you?”

“A few.” She knew of a couple in Lancaster.

“I’d try with them. They’re probably glued to the TV wondering how they can assist in trying to stop what’s going on. I’m sure some of the more sensitive ones are already working on rituals in their attempt to reverse the destructive nature of whatever it was Gordon did.”

For a self-proclaimed Agnostic, William Sawyer sure put a lot of faith in alternative belief systems. “I’ll make a few calls,” Naomi said.

“Please keep me posted.”

“I will.” She got William’s home phone number and hung up.

Jeff was in the kitchen demanding to know what was happening. “Hold on,” she told him, as she dialed the number to Brendan Hall.

It took awhile, but she was finally put through to Officer Clapton, who sounded exhausted. “Tell Tim that his father and I will be by in an hour or so,” she said. “I’ve got a few calls to make and — ”

“Ms. Gaines, I think you should stay home. Have you seen what’s going on outside?”

“I know what’s going on, Officer Clapton, I’m not stupid!”

“Stay inside!” Officer Clapton was firm on this despite the tinge of exhaustion Naomi detected in his voice. “It’s dangerous out there. Tim is safe here, trust me.”

“I just learned something that I think you need to hear,” Naomi said.

Officer Clapton paused for a moment. Naomi could hear activity in the background; intermingling voices, ringing phones, a scurry of footsteps. When Officer Clapton came back on the line he sounded like he was trying to keep his voice down. “We’re tearing our hair out trying to keep this under control and all we keep hearing is that