She looked at Sherlock, who sat near her, watching with a canine intensity. “Looks like we’ll be watching that Passions marathon after all,” she said.
Sherlock whined through his nose.
Claire gathered all the dusty boxes to stuff them back into the chest where they came from. With the five boxes clutched to her side, she leaned over the chest and saw that she had forgotten one. It was half-buried under a scarf. She only saw the corner of it, but it looked quite worn and well used. She moved the scarf.
Under it was a Ouija board; one of the originals, from the look of the box—or at least from the fifties. If Ignatius has only been on Earth since the mid-nineties, what is he doing with a Ouija board from what looks like the fifties?
That man is one big mystery, Claire thought. But there was a smile on her face as she pulled the box out of the chest, blowing the dust off of it. It came away in a cloud, and both she and Sherlock broke out into a sneezing fit.
“Think Tab will go for this?” she asked Sherlock once they got control of themselves. "I know we can't afford any messed up juju right now, but I think if we used the board right, we could maybe communicate with whoever Maria's trying to save. We could help instead of just sitting here on our asses. What do you say, Sherlock?"
Sherlock barked. It sounded like a bark of approval to Claire.
“Claire!” Tabby said. “Please tell me how to turn the channel on this TV! I can’t even figure out how to turn it off!”
Claire snickered. There must’ve been some spell on the TV that prevented anyone but Ignatius from changing the channel. Clever old man, she thought.
Claire went downstairs with Sherlock at her heels. Tabby was standing in front of the television, pressing every button visible with no luck.
“Think outside of the box,” Claire said.
“I am!”
“No, literally think outside of the box.” Claire bent behind the television and pulled the plug free from the outlet. The TV snapped off with a click.
“You must think you’re so clever,” Tabby said, crossing her arms.
Claire shrugged.
“I found this.” She showed Tabby the Ouija board game.
“Whoa…” Absentmindedly, Tabby began smoothing the bandages under her chin.
“I know, right? Everything else was, as you would put it, ‘lame’. I figured since you’re hardcore, that’d you’d be more interested in this.”
Tabby took the box from Claire’s hands and looked it over like it was some fine piece of art. “You know me so well, Claire.”
Claire beamed. “Sometimes, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
“Real funny.” Tabby stuck out her tongue.
“C’mon, let’s go in the dining room.”
They did, but not before Sherlock reminded Claire of what she promised. He went in the kitchen and barked his head off until Claire came in. She opened the fridge and let him take his pick. Sherlock wound up eating about a pound of sliced roast beef and, oddly enough, a bottle of horseradish.
Doesn’t taste like horse, he thought.
Claire thought it was pretty gross, especially seeing the horseradish smeared all over the Bloodhound’s muzzle. But I made a promise, and I never go back on my promises.
Sherlock burped and laid down on the kitchen tile. Just leave me here. I can die happy, now.
Claire did, returning to the dining room.
The lights were off, but a few candles sat flickering on the table. Claire and Tabby settled next to one another, obvious fear and excitement in their eyes.
They set up the board, which was tattered and falling apart. Claire wondered why, but the answer came to her soon enough. Wasn’t Maria tasked with finding a way to get a village of people out of the world in between? Otherwise known to the commoner as a type of purgatory?
Yep.
Claire believed Ignatius probably picked up the Ouija board at a garage sale or something, and used it as much as he could, trying to communicate with his old village.
“You ready?” Tabby asked.
The game was fairly easy to set up. All it consisted of was the board, the wedge piece, which Tabby and Claire both had their fingers on lightly, and their fear.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Claire asked Tabby.
Tabby grinned. “Seriously?”
“Should’ve guessed.” But who am I kidding? She had never used a Ouija board before, but she had seen the horror movies where the characters would bring one out, and all hell would break loose. Of course, that wasn’t real…but neither were witches and wizards and magical worlds until the day before yesterday.
Tabby went on anyway, unaware of Claire’s fear.
“Are there any spirits here that want to communicate with us?”
The wedge drifted to YES.
“I didn’t do that,” Tabby said. “Look how lightly my fingers are on it.”
Claire hadn’t done it, either. In fact, she sincerely hoped the wedge wouldn’t move at all, that Ouija boards were nothing but a gimmick.
Amusement on Tabby’s face, she said, “What is your name?”
Again, slowly, the wedge moved across the letters and stopped on ‘D,’ then traveled to ‘E.’ Two letters in, and Claire already knew what the spirit was going to spell.
‘DEATH’.
She snapped her hand away. Not the time for that, she thought.
“Claire! You can’t take your fingers off the wedge.”
“Then stop moving it!”
“I’m not. It was Mr. D-E,” Tabby answered.
“You know what that’s going to spell, right? You’re not dumb.”
“Delbert? Devin? Delilah? Demi?”
“No,” Claire said. She was about ready to get up. The Soap Network wasn’t looking too bad compared to this…or maybe Clue.
“Don’t be a baby. Sit back down,” Tabby said.
Claire settled back in her chair and just as she reached her hand out to touch the wedge, the board
