Hunter watches from inside the flame, and calls on the spirit fire once more. This time the wall begins to swirl like a tornado, pulling the spirit of the escaping demon into the center. Reaching the center, the demon screams one last time before it disintegrates.
Jake stands over the decayed body and looks at Hunter holding his sister. He is relieved to see they are unharmed.
“What was that?” Ruby asks from the deck.
Hunter answers “They are called many name’s some call them Wendigo, others Dogman or Skin Walkers. They prey on the sick and weak to steal their bodies.”
Looking up into Hunter’s brown eyes, Elsbeth says quietly, “Thank you.”
Unable to let her go just yet, he strokes her hair back from her face, and says, “I told you, I will keep you safe, Elsbeth. You just have to believe it. Let’s go, before more come.”
Walking on shaky legs, she looks at Jake and sees the fury in his face. Hunter pulls her up the deck steps and inside, counting on Elina to help stop Jake.
Advancing on his sister, Jake is stopped midstride. Elina plants her hand on his chest and says quietly, “Not now, Jake. She is weary, let her rest.”
“Weary?” Jake says angrily. “She could have been taken again, or killed!” Side stepping Elina, he is once again stopped by her, except this time she pushes back and causes him to stumble.
“Don’t you think she knows that, Jake? We will talk to her, but you need to calm down. We are all in this together.” Looking down into Elina’s blue eyes, he runs shaking hands through his blonde hair.
“Together? She grows weaker every day, how much more can she take? How can you help her, Elina? Do you even know how?”
“I do not have all the answers, Jake but I will do all in my power to save your sister. Where is your faith?” Turning away from him, she says, “We need to clean this up.”
Uncle Ronnie comes out of the house with Hunter holding a shovel, “You two go inside, and let us take care of this,” he says gesturing to the body.
“Hunter, how did you know what was coming?” Elina asks him, curious about his gifts, and Jake looks at him wanting to know the answer to that as well.
“Elsbeth told me. She has gifts she is not aware of; I heard the warning from her mind. Her spirit warned her, she just has not yet learned to hear it,” Hunter answers calmly as he looks at her brother.
With a look of surprise, Jakes looks at him and asks, “Why didn’t you warn us? We could have stopped her from going outside.”
“Then she would not know of her gift. She needs to learn to trust herself. You can’t always protect her, Jake.”
Angry and feeling helpless to protect his sister, he tells Hunter, “You don’t know what she has been through. We almost lost her once. I won’t let it happen again!”
Elina steps close to Jake, slipping her hand into his. “We won’t let it happen again, Jake. Polly can show her how to cast a protective shield around her, a bubble of sorts. It will keep her safe when we can’t.”
Ronnie urges them inside saying, “Elsbeth needs to see you Jake, don’t go to her in anger.”
With a nod of agreement, he follows Elina inside. Jake turns around at the top of the steps and calls out to Hunter, “Thank you, for saving Beth. I won’t forget it.”
Jake drops his boots by the back door, and stops Elina from leaving. “I am sorry I snapped at you. Forgive me, I was terrified for her.” He leans down and kisses her forehead quickly. She smiles saying, “Always.”
What would I not do to protect mine, Elina thinks as she walks away to find her family.
Jake walks into the living room and finds Elsbeth wrapped in a blanket, sitting near the fire, holding a steaming mug.
She looks up into her brother’s eyes, so like her own, she brushes back her long, blonde hair and sets her mug down, then rushes to him, and buries her face in his shirt.
Jake sighs deep, as he wraps his sister in a hug. “I hate it when you do that. I am such a sucker for you, Bethie.”
“I love you too, Jake,” she mumbles into his shirt.
He pushes Elsbeth away and asks, “Why? Why would you leave us? How can I keep you safe if I am not with you? You know I would have taken you to the mines!” Angrily, he begins to pace.
“That’s exactly why I tried to leave!” Elsbeth says exasperated. “I won’t be responsible for your death, just as you can’t be responsible for mine!”
“You are not going to die Elsbeth!”
Drawn inside by the noise, Hunter and Ronnie quietly enter the room from the deck and listen.
“The demon, Asa did things to me, Jake,” voice breaking. Elsbeth continues, “Things unimaginable, but the most unbearable part was what he did to the people I love.”
“YOU!” she says poking him in the chest, “He made me watch while they killed you slowly, Jake. You begged, screamed and pleaded for me to help you but I could only watch. Then when it was over, he would do it again and again!”
Openly crying now, she yells, “I can’t take a breath without the nightmares. They torment me. I am broken, Jake. I have nothing left inside me
