Wade walks behind me, dipping his fingertips in the water and spritzing it into the four corners. As we finish this one space, the room feels lighter—brighter, even.
We continue from my bedroom to the resurrection chamber, then throughout the rest of the house. One by one, we banish any unwanted energies from the house. The whole process takes nearly an hour to complete, but by the time we make it back to where we started—my bedroom—the house feels like a heavy burden has been lifted. Even some of the workers seem to have noticed, because two of them even said hello and smiled. But throughout the experience, we didn’t have a single sighting of my dad.
The embers of the smudging contents are nearly completely burnt out as I place the shell on my desk.
Wade holds the water bowl close and nods to the candle. “Now, it’s time to release any of the energies it trapped. Then we can set up the wards.”
I exhale slowly, staring at the candle. Its flame flickers back and forth, dancing as if it’s any other ordinary flame. Bending in, I blow out the candle.
A shockwave of energy escapes with it as whatever unwelcome energies are cast out of the house and beyond its border.
“Okay, now we’re on the clock. We’ve got an hour to reset the wards,” I mutter, gathering four stones from the bed and heading for the doorway.
“And if we miss it, we get to wait a whole month until the next full moon,” Wade says, shifting his eyebrows up. He keeps hold of the saltwater and follows me.
I continue down the hallway to the doorway we used last winter when his grandpa had become a revenant. It’s the last time I used it, and instantly I’m reminded of the terrifying moments of that day.
When we walk outside, we’re greeted by the sweet smell of rain filtering through dying leaves. Drizzle lingers in the air, blanketing us as soon as we walk beyond the shielding of the house.
Glancing down, Wade takes the compass out from his pocket. “Okay, we’ll want to start in the north and work clockwise from there.” He finds north and starts walking. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where the boundary of the property is?”
I shake my head. “Not even the remotest. We’ll just need to wing it and do our best.” Unfortunately, our property is vast, so finding the four corners to place the stones could prove difficult. Especially if we only have an hour to do it in.
Finding north takes a little bit of time, but we finally walk as far out into the woods as I dare.
“Let’s place the ward here. We still have the other three to maintain,” I say, dropping to my knees and inscribing the first stone with the Nordic runes for protection and calling upon the element of earth.
As I place the stone on the ground, Wade sprinkles the saltwater across it.
“By the element of earth, I ward thee. Guard this space from all ill will and any unwelcome energies that may wish to bring us harm,” I say, still touching the stone. When the words are done, the runes light up, glowing like hot embers.
Pleased by the result, I stand up and brush off my knees.
I shoot a sideways smile to Wade, who returns the sentiment. “On to east,” he says, sweeping his hand out in front of him.
Nodding, I walk in the direction he pointed. We walk in silence, keeping the manor in eyeshot as best we can while we find our next corner. The rainy weather seeps into my clothing, making me shiver in the chill of the fall air. It certainly helps with urging us along to finish this quickly, so we can get back inside.
Finding the east and south corners takes longer than I anticipated, mostly because I wanted to get us as wide a circumference around the manor as possible. By the time we’re on the last corner, Wade and I are practically running through the trees to get to the western corner to seal the circle.
“We’ve got about ten minutes to drop the last stone or we’ll have to wait until the next full moon,” Wade says, picking up speed.
“Ugh,” I groan, rushing forward to keep up. My feet slosh inside my Nikes and I’m already daydreaming about a nice, hot bath.
A sudden flash of movement in the underbrush to my left catches my eye. At first, it looks animalistic, like perhaps a bear making its way through the dense trees. That alone is enough to pull me up short. But the more I focus on it, the more human it becomes. It stands upright on two legs, then turns to face me as if it senses my presence.
“Wade, stop. Don’t move,” I say, crouching down and freezing.
Wade rushes back, dropping down beside me. “What is it?” he says, his eyes wide as he looks over my shoulder. “What do you see?”
“There’s someone out there,” I say, standing to a low crouch and weaving my way in and out of trees.
“Autumn, the wards—” Wade says, rushing after me. “This is not the time. It might be out on that side of the circle for a reason.”
I look down as Wade tugs on my sleeve, trying to get me to stop. Blinking back my surprise, I shake my head. “Of course, you’re right. Let’s finish this.”
Looking back over my shoulder, the dark figure is gone, anyway.
Strengthening my resolve, I turn back around to hunt for the western corner. However, I find myself stumbling backward as the dark figure comes barreling toward us at an unnatural speed. Its features are half human, half something else. And one-hundred percent pissed off.
Its voice is a strange disturbance in the air, like it speaks across different dimensions, each one slightly out of sync. “GET OUT!” it wails.
Chapter 15
Against the Clock
I land hard on my backside and the final stone for the ward tumbles from my
