One of the ghosts lunged for Gary. He twirled around, breaking the contact and retreated to the stairs, where Wayne had just reached. Wayne poured a circle of salt. He only had enough to contain his large form.
Gary looked at the situation, patting his pockets. He realized he failed to restock his ghost deterrents.
“Get over here! I’ll hold you,” Wayne said as more ghosts moved up through the floor. “God in Heaven, there are so many of them.”
Gary ran, dodging another emerging ghost. He jogged to the left and passed the creature only to find two more bearing down on him. He spun around and found himself surrounded by superpowered ghosts.
The door crashed open.
“FLOOR!” Cid shouted.
Gary threw himself down. Wayne crouched in his salt circle on the stairs.
Cid aimed high and pulled the trigger of the shotgun, discharging both chambers. Rock salt peppered the mob.
Jesse arrived, in nothing but a towel, brandishing the Fed’s handgun. He shot iron pellet after pellet at the beasts. The ghosts withered in pain. Some lost cohesiveness. A few managed to turn around and charge Cid and Jesse.
Pete entered with a cordless, handheld paint sprayer and doused the creatures with holy water. They screamed as if on fire and melted through the floor.
Gary crawled towards the door. Wayne saw a clear path and ran full out, stopping only to scoop Gary off the floor and toss him over his shoulder before exiting the building.
Cid, Jesse, and Pete backed out, locking the door after them.
Bouncing up and down over Wayne’s shoulder, Gary saw their three liberators turn around on the porch and lower their weapons. “God, I wish I had my camera.”
Wayne stopped and set Gary down. He turned around to see the three contractors walk through the melting snow. Pete was whistling the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
“Here comes the good, the naked and What the Fuck,” Wayne said and saluted the guys. “Jesse, aren’t you cold?”
“Cowboys don’t get cold,” Jesse said through shivering lips. He ran to the trailer.
“And then there were two,” Wayne said. “How’d you guys get to us so fast?”
“I heard you when I was with Jesse in the trailer,” Cid answered.
“Gary butt-dialed me,” Pete said.
“It must have been when I backed into the kitchen door on my way up the stairs,” Gary said and then held up his phone. “I will never complain about this piece of junk again.”
“I wonder how much damage we did to the hall?” Cid worried.
Wayne patted him on the back. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it before Kiki sees it.”
“Is anyone else hungry?” Pete asked.
“I’m on it. Deep-dish pizza in forty minutes,” Cid said.
Walrus gave him a thumbs-up.
Cid walked up the stairs through the common room and into the kitchen. He found Faye waiting for him. She looked at him and asked, “What’s happened?”
“There appears to be a leak in the foundation wall facing the lake. The weather warming has melted a lot of the built-up ice on that side of the building. Water has run in and dissolved the salt on the floor. We had to go in and do battle to get Gary and Wayne out safely.”
“I’m sorry, I should have had their back. I was busy following a group of cloaked ghosts in the woods. I think someone slaughtered a black magic cult.”
“Did you speak to any of them?”
“I couldn’t, it was a residual haunt,” Faye answered.
Cid set the sawed-off shotgun down and preheated the oven. He drew the red book from the back of his jeans where he had jammed it when he heard Gary’s distress call. “Before you ask, I intend to finish the book tonight. So far, our heroes have had a time of it.”
“Heroes? You and Sally are nuts.” Faye scoffed. “They died, they failed.”
Cid shook his head. “Jake inscribed this on Murphy’s coffin, ‘Remember, my friend, death is never the end.’ Just because Jon and Daniel are dead, it didn’t stop them from trying to protect us from the crazy ghosts, or Daniel entrusting me with his book. In my eyes, they are heroes.”
Faye’s visage told Cid that she wasn’t convinced.
“You saved Jon with my iron skillet. You’re a hero. You’ve saved us before. What do I need to do to get you to understand your value?”
Faye hung her head. “I’m no hero, Cid. The more clues I pick up on about who I may have been, or who I associated with, I’m starting to fear that I’m a villain.”
“Were a villain, not are,” Cid insisted. “Mia will tell you that people really don’t change after death, but they can change. Murphy changed. He stopped being a farmer with his nose in the dirt and, instead, became one of the strongest allies we have on the side of good.”
“He was virtuous to begin with,” Faye argued.
“No, he was cowed by his mother, and that’s a whole other thing. Faye, he isn’t a virtuous ghost. He has honor, but he slips up as all humans do. But he’s a hero, like Jon and Daniel are. You’re a hero. You could be sitting and haunting Hal’s mansion causing all sorts of havoc, but instead, you help us out. You’re our eyes. You have our backs.”
“No wonder Sally fell in love with you, Cid. You make everyone feel better about themselves.”
“I didn’t use to be this way. I changed.”
Faye smiled. “Speaking of heroes, where is Jesse?”
“I think taking a
