Stella appeared at the window. "Adam, you can't blame yourself. It's just like Trevor said, the four of you had the experience together. No one should assume full responsibility for what happened to Jared."
Lou added, "It was the man who instigated everything. All four of you were victims." He waved everyone back to the sitting area. "Let's take a moment to settle down, then we can finish our conversation."
Conner kept a watchful eye on Adam, searching for any sign that Adam might give rise to a verbal outburst that he'd later have to apologize for. That was Adam's way—keep everything knotted up inside until he couldn't work out the knots on his own.
"What about Jared?" Trevor said. "If this ritual thing was supposed to conjure the demon into the tree, why did it possess Jared?"
Stella lowered the mug of cocoa to her lap. "From what I've been told, it's possible that since Jared wasn't sacrificed, the ritual technically wasn't completed. So, Jared became a kind of portal. And once the demon thoroughly overpowered him, it would break free from Jared's body into our world."
"But Jared died," Lou said. "So the ritual came to an abrupt end."
Adam cleared his throat and relaxed in the chair. "Maybe Jared dying completed the sacrifice part of the ritual."
Lou offered a congratulatory smile. "Well, that's something I never considered."
A phone chimed with a notification.
Stella crossed the room to the dining table and glanced at her cell. When she returned to the sofa, she said, "Conner, you mentioned that Jared had done an online search for cambion."
"Yeah."
"We've pretty much agreed on the fact that the man at the lake couldn't have conjured a cambion. A half-human, half-demon. That would be like trying to resurrect a corpse, unless he wanted it in spirit form. If so, this man probably believed that he was the cambion. We think he was trying to summon his father."
Trevor narrowed his eyes at Conner. "Cambion? You never told us anything about that."
"It was at the lake," Conner replied. "I just thought it was weird, and with everything that was going on there, I didn't want to bring it up. I didn't want to make things creepier than they already were."
"You should have told us."
"Yeah," Adam said. "You should have said something."
Irritated by his friends' attitudes, Conner sighed. "We didn't even tell each other about our creepy experiences with Jared until a few days ago. Now you're going to give me hell about this cambion crap?"
Trevor groaned dismissively. "Well, you could have told us then. Or after your interview with Lou."
Rising to his feet, Conner shouted, "All of this is crazy! The lake and the man with the damn goat. Jared and the snake. The possession. All of it's effing surreal. Now Jared's dead, and you want to give me a hard time about some stupid half-demon-human-thing."
"I'm just saying."
"Saying what? That I somehow screwed up or let you down or whatever because I didn't tell you guys about some cambion?"
"Hey," Lou hollered. "Everyone calm down. This isn't the time to start turning on each other. We're all working together here."
Conner sat, focused on slowing his breathing.
Hanging his head, Trevor rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry, man. I don't want to start a fight. We're tighter than this crap."
Conner stared at his shoes, the heat of his anger cooling.
Trevor gripped the nape of Conner's neck and brought their heads together. "I'm sorry."
"I know. I'm sorry too."
After several seconds, during which Conner felt the built-up tension diminish, Stella said, "I'm interested in the etchings on the tree. Did you guys see what the four symbols were?"
Trevor shook his head.
"At first," Adam said, "I thought they were, like, the four elements or something like that."
Conner drew in a deep breath. "I only recognized fire and snake. I don't even think I tried to figure out the other two."
Reclining, Lou crossed his legs, setting a foot on his knee. "Well, I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference to understanding what Jared went through. It's value probably lies with the ritual the man wanted to perform."
Adam shot to the edge of his chair. "Jared's bedroom."
Eyeing him with a hint of piqued interest, Stella asked, "What about Jared's bedroom?"
"There's something etched into the floor under his bed."
"What is it?" Lou asked.
"Don't know. The cops showed up before we could see it."
In unison, Stella and Lou responded, "What?!"
"Later," Conner said. "But yeah, there was something scratched into the floor. A word or a picture."
Lou cast his eyes from Stella to each of the boys. "Then we need to go check out Jared's bedroom."
TWENTY-TWO
Mr. Smith had not been receptive to Lou's request to inspect Jared's bedroom. According to Lou, Mr. Smith was offended by the mere suggestion of allowing a paranormal investigator to explore the room once occupied by his deceased son. Yet Lou had persisted, explaining that there might be valuable information in examining the etching on the floor, which the existence of Mr. Smith had claimed ignorance. So, Lou prodded a bit more, saying that the etching on the floor and the interview with the priest would complete the investigation. Then he could successfully present Jared Smith's story as a tragedy, not a scary tale to enthrall the public and satisfy the morbid curiosity of thrill seekers.
To seal the deal, Lou had asserted that the future buyer of the house might sensationalize the etching as a newly discovered detail to the narrative of Jared Smith. In his opinion, interest in Jared and the Smith family would flourish once again.
So, Mr. Smith agreed, stating that he'd arrange for someone to give Lou a key the following afternoon. After one hour in the house, Lou would need to return the key, and then Mr. Smith and his family would officially no longer participate in Lou's investigation.
Conner had listened to the phone conversation with fascination. Lou was a smooth talker, for sure. But Conner also recognized
