Evil Unearthed: Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Kathleen's head hurt. She still lay on the sofa in the great hall of the house on Maljardin, and her head pounded with pain and with morning light from the sun falling full upon her.

"Good," said a voice beside her, and she looked to see Julia, now dressed as she usually was in a blue business suit and kneeling beside her.

"Jules?" She found herself using the old name from their university days. Indeed, she felt as though they were back in her rooms at Cambridge, and waking up after a night of furious partying.

"We must have drunk too much last night. I had the strangest dream!"

"Oh yeah?" Kathleen slowly sat up and Julia came to sit beside her.

"Yes. I dreamed that I poisoned you, and then some woman was here and she was talking to that portrait! Why did I ever decide to hang it there?"

"I don't know," said Kathleen, "but it wasn't a dream. You met the Conjure Woman last night."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Jules, something really weird is going on here."

"Well, all I know is that I don't want that portrait here. I'm going to remove it today."

"Julia, you need to be straight with me. Our lives depend on it."

"Aren't you being a little dramatic, Kat?"

"No," said Kathleen, "because there's another thing that wasn't a dream. You did drug my wine last night. I think you just wanted me to sleep, but you did it."

"No! Why would I do that?"

"Well," said Kathleen, "it was you but it wasn't you as well."

"Now you're making no sense at all!"

"What do you remember about the last few weeks?"

"I don't know," Julia said. "It's like I've been wandering around in a fog, and every time I've come out of it, I've found that a few days have passed and that strange things have happened in the meantime."

"Like what?"

"Like the internet being switched off. Only you or I can do that, so it must have been me, but why would I do that?"

"I'm telling you that this house is strange," said Kathleen, "and you've changed by living here."

"I'm sorry about that," said Julia, "but it can't be helped."

"What on earth does that mean?" Kathleen was exasperated.

"I have to do what I'm called to do," said Julia. "That's all I can say, but you are right. This house has many secrets. Maybe we need some help to figure them out. What about that doctor friend of yours? What was his name, Bartlet?"

"No," said Kathleen, "Barrett. Robert Barrett. He's been researching this island for some time now, and has always wanted a chance to come over here and do firsthand field work."

"Well," said Julia, "now that communications are restored, will you be able to contact him?"

"I'll certainly try," said Kathleen. "I'll certainly try!"

"First," said Julia, "let's get rid of this portrait!"

"Alright," said Kathleen, and they both went to the large canvas and lifted it from where it hung on the wall.

"Here," said Julia. "We'll put this thing in the crypt," and together they went down the stairs and carried the portrait to a far corner of the vaulted chamber where stood the mysterious cryo-capsule. Though it was damaged beyond repair, it was large and heavy, and it was with great satisfaction that Kathleen felt it drop full upon the canvas.

"Well," she said, "this is not the usual thing one would do with art like this, but I think the hall will look better without it. Let's go find that tapestry of the hunted deer!"

"Right," said Julia, and they searched the house until they had found what they were looking for.

After hanging the tapestry in the hall, they went about their various activities, Kathleen working in her bedroom-cum-office and using the newly-restored internet connection to dash off an email to Stephen telling him that plans were in the works for their coming to Maljardin, and Julia secluded in some other part of the house. Meanwhile, the work on the house continued, and Kathleen had much to do to prioritize the tasks of the various workers. Julia had left her in charge once again, and though from the night of her arrival she had thought this to be a token position only, after last night's events, she felt at last that she was dealing with her friend as she should be, no longer clouded or cunning, but her true self. Still, she wondered how long this state of affairs would last, and her fears were confirmed and intensified when, as she returned through the great hall for her usual dinner with Julia, she happened to look over at the place where they had hung the tapestry that morning. Her heart missed a beat, for there on the wall, looking as perfect as it ever had, was the portrait of Jacques Eloi des Mondes, and on the floor beneath it lay tattered shreds of cloth in greens and browns. As she bent down for a closer look, she discovered with a kind of bitter amusement that the remains of the tapestry looked as though they had been torn unevenly as if by main strength.

"Julia!" Her knees were weak and she was in danger of falling. How could that portrait have returned to the wall?

"What is it?" Julia emerged from the dining-room.

"Look!"

"No! How did this happen? Kat! What's going on here?"

"You tell me!"

"I don't understand," said Julia.

"I do," said Kathleen. "This thing is truly evil! Perhaps if Barrett can find the secret of it, we can destroy it."

"Destroy?" Julia shifted her gaze between the portrait and Kathleen. "I don't know that we have to destroy it. We just have to bury it and lay it to rest!"

"But we tried that," said Kathleen. "We put a very heavy machine on top of it and it still found its way back up here, and look at the floor!"

"It's a shame about that tapestry," said Julia. "Still, there are others."

"Come on, Jules," Kathleen said, looking at her friend squarely. "Level with me! Something's going on here that you aren't telling me."

"Alright," said Julia. "Alright, but not here. Come with me to the tower! Dinner will keep a while."

Kathleen climbed the winding stairs of the north tower and was surprised to find that Julia did not stop in any of the lower rooms or even at the room which had been her first office. Instead, she climbed to what had been the makeshift bedroom and opened the trap-door to the widow's walk. As Kathleen stepped out onto it, she thought of Matt Dawson and his tragic end and hoped desperately that this would not be a repeat performance. However, Julia still seemed to be more-or-less herself, so she resolved to trust her even up here in this lofty place.

Julia leaned on the railing of the narrow catwalk and sighed.

“I was thinking about last night,” she said, not looking at Kathleen but down over the cliff-heights to the churning sea below. “I remember a dream I had on my first day here.”

“Yes,” said Kathleen. “I remember that as well. Something really frightened you!”

“Well, the dream was frightening to me, but it might not have been to others. It was about this house. I was floating in the air and I watched a procession of figures coming up from the shore. They were dressed in seventeenth-century clothing. They filed in and I went with them, and then I was next to a young woman who seemed not to be a part of the scene. She seemed to be like me, invisible to the other guests.

“Well, she took me away to a private place and warned me about the man who had led the guests in. This was Jacques Eloi des Mondes, and when she left me, he was there. He could see me for some reason, and he offered me a bargain. He would help me with my Cancer if I would agree to take up residence in the mansion for the rest of my life.”

“That was the whole bargain? Why on earth did you accept? You’re usually more sensible than that.”

“I know,” said Julia, “but he got into my head somehow. It’s like he made me accept it, I guess, but that’s not all. By the next day, the fogginess had begun. I don’t know how I did it, but I must have retrieved the portrait from where you left it, and from then on, the periods of fog have increased and increased. I’ve often woken in the night with that bloody locket around my neck and dressed in those gaudy clothes, and I’ve found myself shaking and sweating.”

“What about now? How do you feel now?”

“Ever since I found myself lying on the floor of the hall this morning,” said Julia, “I feel much better! I do remember more about last night as I said, and if it was all real as you tell me, then that woman you seem to know was the same woman from my dream. How can that be?”

“Oh,” said Kathleen, a faint smile playing across her face, “the Conjure Woman is no ordinary person.”

“She told me to trust her if I met her again,” said Julia. “She tried to warn me, but I was so upset about the prognosis I had been given that I didn’t really hear what she had said!”

“Well,” said Kathleen, “one thing’s for sure. Jacques Eloi des Mondes is not the only spirit in this house. It’s not him who’s possessing you. He and his partner have plans for you, and,” she continued after a long pause, “for me as well.”

“What do you mean?” Julia now confronted her.

“I found a Voodoo doll in my room on the night you conducted me here. It was dressed like me and there was a pin lying next to it.” She saw Julia’s shocked expression and the tears in her eyes, but she knew that she had to be relentless. “There was another doll there as well. It wore a builder’s uniform like Bill Temple often did. It had a pin through its heart.”

“No! No!” Julia’s screams echoed across the island and Kathleen thought that she heard a slight pause in the sounds of the workers’ equipment, but perhaps that was just her imagination.

“Julia,” she said, taking her friend by the shoulders and leading her away from the railing. “I don’t hold you responsible for this, but you’re in too deep here. Will you admit that at least?”

“Alright,” said Julia. “Alright. You’re right. Even now, I can feel that presence licking at the edges of my mind, wanting to find a way in. I want to keep it out. It seems somehow worse than Jacques, like some kind of animal!”

“But how did it get in in the first place? Don’t you have to consent?”

“I think that once I said yes to Jacques,” said Julia, “the other just found its way in.”

“Well, from what I know of that spirit,” said Kathleen, “it is cold and malicious. It has killed before now.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I have my sources,” said Kathleen. She did trust Julia, but she wanted to keep her friends from becoming targets of the evil influences now working through her for as long as possible.

“Well, if your friend Stephen really is a priest,” said Julia, “then perhaps he can help us.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” said Kathleen. “I got an email from him today saying that he and Barrett will be ready to come here in three days. He will be assisting Barrett with his research and they may be bringing another.”

“You should go and get them, Kat,” said Julia. She sounded incredibly tired. “I’m glad to host them. There will be enough rooms ready by then, but I don’t know if I’ll--if I’ll be myself.”

“Alright,” said Kathleen. “Alright, Jules. Now, let’s go get that dinner!”

“That’s the best suggestion I’ve heard all day,” said Julia, and she managed to smile, though it looked more like a grimace to Kathleen.

The dinner proceeded in a leisurely fashion, and by the time they had finished, Julia was actually laughing out loud. They reminisced about old days and toasted their friendship several times, and by the time they were both ready for bed, Kathleen actually felt that the house was almost cheerful for once. As she walked to her room, she thought back upon the words that the Conjure Woman had said when she had broken down in her cabin.

“There is always reason to hope,” she had said, and she had spoken about Kathleen’s love for Julia and how that would overcome the evil. She did find herself hoping that Vangie was right, and for the first time, her hopes were stronger than her fears. Now that Julia knew, she thought, perhaps she would be able to fight against the force that wanted to possess her. Still, she knew that Julia could not fight it alone, and not even all the love in the world could prevail against the coldness and cunning of that demonic spirit. However, she remembered the glow on Vangie's face as she had imparted strength to her, and she thought that here at least was a match for this evil, and as she lay down to sleep, she prayed that the next three days would go by quickly and without incident.