Merry parked the car in the (thankfully largely empty) school parking lot and stared at the buildings, thoughtful and more than a little worried. She was thinking about how long it had been since she'd been to high school, wondering what her friends from way back then were up to now. She was wondering what high school was like these days, if it was anything like high school was when she was in. She was thinking about anything but what she'd have to get out of her car and do in a few minutes.
Her fingertips brushed her lips, she blushed a little, as she thought about what had happened between her and Dennis not so long ago. She had wanted very badly to kiss him, but hadn't been sure how he would take it. For that matter, she wasn't sure how she'd handle it if he kissed her. She had to have been incredibly obvious about this crush (was that really the right word?) she had on the man... but neither Amber, Laurel, nor her father had commented on it. Not that they would. But...
She shook her head, sighed. It was all procrastination, and she knew it. In a few minutes she would have to get out of the car and go face the ghost, and this was one she probably couldn't talk down. Hell, most of the rest of them... they'd gotten rid of all the easy ones first. Subconsciously trying to work their way up to the hard ones, maybe... or maybe just hoping that someone else would take care of it.
Merry bit her lip and slouched down further in the driver's seat. The problem, really, was that there was no one else. Sorcerers, witches, magicians, priests, psychics, whichever. There weren't enough people out there who dealt with the so-called paranormal that they could just pass off the less-than-choice assignments whenever they felt like it. In her world it was generally a 'you found it so you get to deal with it' type situation. The only exceptions were when the problem was well, truly, and clearly out of the range of the person who had discovered the problem, and then backup could be called in. That was not the case here, however much she wanted to admit it. She was more than capable of dealing with a single ghost by herself. Just... perhaps not necessarily able to do it and emerge unscathed.
Slowly, hyper-aware of her movements, she pulled the keys out and clipped them to the belt-loop of her jeans. She grabbed her backpack from the seat next to her and slung it over her shoulder as she opened the door and set foot to pavement. She stood up and closed the door behind her, then moved to the trunk and sat on it to check the contents of her backpack. Raven's wing, sacred sage, crystal in case she needed to heal herself. Mirror, in case she needed to call her father for help, or in case she needed to call home. Totem of Annwn, pendant... more for good luck than anything else. She'd worn it ever since she was a little girl, ever since she could remember... she suspected it had been her mother's, but had never actually been told. All she remembered about it was that it would keep her safe, and there was so much of that belief imbued in the pendant by now that it probably actually did.
Black-handled knife, rowan wand that was really more of a stick, holy water blessed in all the proper ways from the spring behind her house, small shaker of salt. Power bars, bottled water for drinking, bandages and bactine and cell phone in case she needed to call the more mundane authorities. She was about as ready as she was going to be.
With a deep breath and one last check to make sure everything was in her backpack, Merry started towards the school. She wasn't sure if it was going to make things worse, or if it really didn't matter that she didn't know where the ghost would be. She'd declined the use of the glasses from the Kriticos house... machine... whatever the hell it was... preferring instead to use her own sight. If nothing else, she could drop right out of the spirit world without having to get the glasses off, which might mean the difference between life and death for her, or at least a smooth trip home versus a ride in an ambulance. But as she swung her head from side to side, remembering those long ago hunting trips in the woods, she didn't see any sign of the ghost.
Damn.
"Can I help you, miss?"
Merry screamed, jumped about a foot in the air, and came down on a wet patch of linoleum. She nearly fell backwards into the lockers, would have hit her head if it hadn't been for the well-meaning janitor. He was, she noted with the abstracted mind of someone who was far too much on edge, dressed in the Freddy Kreuger red-and-green sweater. She wondered if that was a bad omen.
"Sorry..." she took a deep breath. "Sorry. Scary movie marathon last night, still a little too keyed up." She gave the man what she hoped was a charming smile and shook his hand. "My name is Meredith Kane... I'm the debunker the school asked for?"
The janitor looked puzzled.
"The principal..." Damn, what was the man's name. "Mr. Lauder asked me to come in and see if I could find the source of all these hauntings you've been having lately? I guess no one could find out how they were doing it..."
"Oh..." The janitor's face cleared, then clouded over again at the mention of the hauntings. "Yeah, that would be the football field, over by the bleachers. You come just in the nick of time, young Miss. People were starting to get real scared... Coach thought he might have to cancel the next few games."
She gave him her best disarming smile-and-shrug, or at least the best one she could muster. "Probably just some kids from a rival school making trouble. From what I hear the only reason I got called in is because Mr. Lauder wanted a specialist, someone who knew exactly what to look for so that this whole thing could get cleaned up sooner."
"That right?" the man asked, replacing the mop in the bucket. "Here, I'll walk you over..."
"Thank you."
"There's no doubt but that it's been pretty scary here these last few weeks. People keep saying they saw this girl hanging, or strangled, or some such. Of course, no one 'round here believes in ghosts..." he looked sideways at her, as if asking for confirmation that they didn't exist, or wondering if she was going to contradict him.
Merry shrugged. "If Mr. Lauder believed in ghosts, he'd've called in a priest, no doubt. That's good enough for me."
Apparently the dodge was good enough for the janitor, too, because he let the question of whether or not ghosts were real slide. "Well, if you can wrap up this mess, it'll be good for all of us. Got a big game coming up just tomorrow night, and if Coach has to call it off we'll lose by default."
Merry kept her face very still. It was clear that the man was more interested in the football game than the potential distress to students, and from the amount of school pride and pep-squad cheer on the walls the sentiment was a popular one. Oh well. Smiling and nodding wouldn't hurt her any. And besides, they were at the football field.
"Well... thanks for your help." She smiled and shook the man's hand once again, then walked out into the middle of the football field, fingering her pendant.
"It's mostly over there, behind those east-side bleachers," the janitor called. Merry nodded slowly, spinning around in a circle, trying to get a feel for the area.
After one circuit of walking around in a small, slow circle, she thought she was getting dizzy. After the third, she knew she was feeling nauseous, and it wasn't dizziness. The smell of sweat, stale popcorn, gym clothes... it really was like being back in high school again, all the bad parts. That locker-room scent that never really went away until you'd been gone from the entire building a month. Underneath, the smell of jocks having sex with cheerleaders on the locker room benches, or in the bleachers. The smell of blood as it gushed from the noses of the football players who weren't lucky enough to get out of the way. The smell of football leather, of water cooler plastic, of Gatorade.
The memories, the emotions of hundred upon hundreds of teenagers crashed over and through her. Anger, angst, fear, pressure, ecstasy, grief, terror, rage. Joy and sadness, love and hate, mania and depression. Her jaw clenched, her teeth sank into her lip. The pain brought her back, forced her shields back up again.
"Okay, Meredith, that was dumb," she muttered to herself. Her head hurt, inside her mind where her senses, her empathy had been rubbed raw. Something dripped over her upper lip, and she touched her face; her nose was bleeding. "Perfect."
Well. There was no doubt but that this area was the center of an amazing amount of high school trauma. Either that or she just was getting the full brunt of it, having gone through the school building itself with her mind carefully wrapped in its defenses. Either way...
A flicker out of the corner of her eye made her turn. Whatever had been there was gone, but she went towards the spot anyway. Nothing. Her nose was still dripping; she rummaged in her bag for a stray piece of gauze and pressed it to her nose. Well, as long as she was at the east end...
The vial and the salt came out. "I see Grandfather sitting in the east..." she murmured, slowly walking a circle around the field. "He is sacred... he is looking at us..."
As she walked, the small, familiar, comforting blue glow began to radiate from the ground. Also as she walked, the flicker in the corner of her vision became stronger. She had the distinct feeling she was encroaching on someone's territory. Her pace quickened, but her voice and hands remained steady. Inside the circle she would be safe...
"I see Grandfather sitting in the west... he is sacred, he is looking at us..."
The flicker was growing, and she could hear screams in the back of her mind, as if from far away and down a long tunnel. The hair prickled up on the back of her neck in conjunction with that eerie feeling of being watched.
She managed to make it around the field before the ghost came screaming at her. She screamed, and both voices mingled in her ears and in her mind. At the last second she managed to leap aside, skidding along the grass. The ghost slammed into the circle barrier.
"Well, you're not going to come quietly, are you..." Merry muttered, wincing from the already open wounds and standing slowly. The ghost turned and stared at her. The witch was slightly crouched, raven's wing in one hand and holy water and salt dangling precariously from the other. The ghost advanced again, and Merry swung the raven's wing. "Back. Off!"
Light flew from the tips of the feathers. Naked force threw the ghost back, accompanied by the sound of a thunderclap in the distance. At least, Merry hoped anyone in the vicinity would think it was distant thunder. She really didn't want to have to explain why she was going insane in the middle of a football field. The ghost stopped and stared at her, considering.
"What..." it said, and its voice was raspy, sexless, reduced to a husk by the ropes around the ghost's neck. "... are you?"
"Witch..." Merry said, suddenly remembering the stupid chant from that damn movie she had been forced to listen to in school. Witch, witch, you're a bitch.
"Witch..." the ghost repeated, and started towards her very, very slowly. Merry raised the raven's wing, and the ghost started edging around her in a circle. Moving with her, Merry carefully slung her backpack around on her shoulders and reached a hand in, replacing the salt and holy water and grabbing the totem. "Witch..."
"Go back..." Merry whispered. "Go back. Please."
The ghost charged her again. Merry screamed, nearly dropped the totem, and slammed it back with the raven's wing again. She closed her eyes, heart pounding in her chest, and spat out the words before it had a chance to recover and charge her again.
"Cwn Annwn, take this lost soul to your realm let her rest in peace..." Merry gasped, sidestepping at the last minute to avoid another pass by the ghost. "Cwn Annwn, take this soul to your dark realm, let her go in peace..." Deep breaths, dodging the ghost, clutching the totem so hard it dug a pattern into her hand. "Cwn Annwn, take your child..."
The ghost screamed, but this time the hideously mind-breaking sound was mingled with the sound of the ratchet hounds. Familiar as it was, it send a chill down Merry's spine, and gave her the lingering feeling that some day, some day soon, it would be her blood they were baying for. But not today.
Merry dropped the raven's wing and reached into her backpack, again grabbing the salt and holy water. She rubbed salt over her bloody elbow, threw at the ghost. It passed right through, but that didn't matter. "With salt and blood I bind you to your grave," she yelled. Popped open the small vial and flung the last of it. "With water of the moon I bind you to your death. Pass into the lands of the dead and trouble the living no more."
The ratchets were nearing.
"Annwn, take your child..." she screamed as the wind of their passing whipped her hair all around her head, preventing her from seeing anything. Childlike, she sank down into a crouch and grabbed her pendant, hoping they would pass her by. "Morrighan, goddess, protect me..." she murmured, more out of instinct than anything else. "Help me..."
The wind and howling and screaming seemed to last forever. When it finally subsided and she could brush her hair out of her eyes and see again, everything was gone. The faint blue glow of her circle had been dissipated by the sheer force of the ratchet hounds' presence. There was a paw print scorched into the earth as if to remind her of their passing, of their power. She shivered and almost touched it, pulling back at the last minute and stuffing everything she'd dropped into her bag again.
"Bloody ghosts," she muttered. "Bloody magicians who can't keep their own damn experiments to themselves." Merry sighed, glanced skyward with a scowl, and shouldered her backpack again. "I swear, Cyrus, if you weren't already dead, I'd kill you."
It might have been her imagination, but she thought she could hear the old man laugh in response.
Merry shivered again. She clutched her pendant tight in her hand and glanced around to make sure no one had seen the strange display. The field was relatively empty, and she thanked her goddess for small favors; probably everyone had been driven off by the rumors of the ghost. Taking deep breaths, she decided to walk around the field a little longer. She was feeling too shaky to drive anyway.
Her fingertips brushed her lips, she blushed a little, as she thought about what had happened between her and Dennis not so long ago. She had wanted very badly to kiss him, but hadn't been sure how he would take it. For that matter, she wasn't sure how she'd handle it if he kissed her. She had to have been incredibly obvious about this crush (was that really the right word?) she had on the man... but neither Amber, Laurel, nor her father had commented on it. Not that they would. But...
She shook her head, sighed. It was all procrastination, and she knew it. In a few minutes she would have to get out of the car and go face the ghost, and this was one she probably couldn't talk down. Hell, most of the rest of them... they'd gotten rid of all the easy ones first. Subconsciously trying to work their way up to the hard ones, maybe... or maybe just hoping that someone else would take care of it.
Merry bit her lip and slouched down further in the driver's seat. The problem, really, was that there was no one else. Sorcerers, witches, magicians, priests, psychics, whichever. There weren't enough people out there who dealt with the so-called paranormal that they could just pass off the less-than-choice assignments whenever they felt like it. In her world it was generally a 'you found it so you get to deal with it' type situation. The only exceptions were when the problem was well, truly, and clearly out of the range of the person who had discovered the problem, and then backup could be called in. That was not the case here, however much she wanted to admit it. She was more than capable of dealing with a single ghost by herself. Just... perhaps not necessarily able to do it and emerge unscathed.
Slowly, hyper-aware of her movements, she pulled the keys out and clipped them to the belt-loop of her jeans. She grabbed her backpack from the seat next to her and slung it over her shoulder as she opened the door and set foot to pavement. She stood up and closed the door behind her, then moved to the trunk and sat on it to check the contents of her backpack. Raven's wing, sacred sage, crystal in case she needed to heal herself. Mirror, in case she needed to call her father for help, or in case she needed to call home. Totem of Annwn, pendant... more for good luck than anything else. She'd worn it ever since she was a little girl, ever since she could remember... she suspected it had been her mother's, but had never actually been told. All she remembered about it was that it would keep her safe, and there was so much of that belief imbued in the pendant by now that it probably actually did.
Black-handled knife, rowan wand that was really more of a stick, holy water blessed in all the proper ways from the spring behind her house, small shaker of salt. Power bars, bottled water for drinking, bandages and bactine and cell phone in case she needed to call the more mundane authorities. She was about as ready as she was going to be.
With a deep breath and one last check to make sure everything was in her backpack, Merry started towards the school. She wasn't sure if it was going to make things worse, or if it really didn't matter that she didn't know where the ghost would be. She'd declined the use of the glasses from the Kriticos house... machine... whatever the hell it was... preferring instead to use her own sight. If nothing else, she could drop right out of the spirit world without having to get the glasses off, which might mean the difference between life and death for her, or at least a smooth trip home versus a ride in an ambulance. But as she swung her head from side to side, remembering those long ago hunting trips in the woods, she didn't see any sign of the ghost.
Damn.
"Can I help you, miss?"
Merry screamed, jumped about a foot in the air, and came down on a wet patch of linoleum. She nearly fell backwards into the lockers, would have hit her head if it hadn't been for the well-meaning janitor. He was, she noted with the abstracted mind of someone who was far too much on edge, dressed in the Freddy Kreuger red-and-green sweater. She wondered if that was a bad omen.
"Sorry..." she took a deep breath. "Sorry. Scary movie marathon last night, still a little too keyed up." She gave the man what she hoped was a charming smile and shook his hand. "My name is Meredith Kane... I'm the debunker the school asked for?"
The janitor looked puzzled.
"The principal..." Damn, what was the man's name. "Mr. Lauder asked me to come in and see if I could find the source of all these hauntings you've been having lately? I guess no one could find out how they were doing it..."
"Oh..." The janitor's face cleared, then clouded over again at the mention of the hauntings. "Yeah, that would be the football field, over by the bleachers. You come just in the nick of time, young Miss. People were starting to get real scared... Coach thought he might have to cancel the next few games."
She gave him her best disarming smile-and-shrug, or at least the best one she could muster. "Probably just some kids from a rival school making trouble. From what I hear the only reason I got called in is because Mr. Lauder wanted a specialist, someone who knew exactly what to look for so that this whole thing could get cleaned up sooner."
"That right?" the man asked, replacing the mop in the bucket. "Here, I'll walk you over..."
"Thank you."
"There's no doubt but that it's been pretty scary here these last few weeks. People keep saying they saw this girl hanging, or strangled, or some such. Of course, no one 'round here believes in ghosts..." he looked sideways at her, as if asking for confirmation that they didn't exist, or wondering if she was going to contradict him.
Merry shrugged. "If Mr. Lauder believed in ghosts, he'd've called in a priest, no doubt. That's good enough for me."
Apparently the dodge was good enough for the janitor, too, because he let the question of whether or not ghosts were real slide. "Well, if you can wrap up this mess, it'll be good for all of us. Got a big game coming up just tomorrow night, and if Coach has to call it off we'll lose by default."
Merry kept her face very still. It was clear that the man was more interested in the football game than the potential distress to students, and from the amount of school pride and pep-squad cheer on the walls the sentiment was a popular one. Oh well. Smiling and nodding wouldn't hurt her any. And besides, they were at the football field.
"Well... thanks for your help." She smiled and shook the man's hand once again, then walked out into the middle of the football field, fingering her pendant.
"It's mostly over there, behind those east-side bleachers," the janitor called. Merry nodded slowly, spinning around in a circle, trying to get a feel for the area.
After one circuit of walking around in a small, slow circle, she thought she was getting dizzy. After the third, she knew she was feeling nauseous, and it wasn't dizziness. The smell of sweat, stale popcorn, gym clothes... it really was like being back in high school again, all the bad parts. That locker-room scent that never really went away until you'd been gone from the entire building a month. Underneath, the smell of jocks having sex with cheerleaders on the locker room benches, or in the bleachers. The smell of blood as it gushed from the noses of the football players who weren't lucky enough to get out of the way. The smell of football leather, of water cooler plastic, of Gatorade.
The memories, the emotions of hundred upon hundreds of teenagers crashed over and through her. Anger, angst, fear, pressure, ecstasy, grief, terror, rage. Joy and sadness, love and hate, mania and depression. Her jaw clenched, her teeth sank into her lip. The pain brought her back, forced her shields back up again.
"Okay, Meredith, that was dumb," she muttered to herself. Her head hurt, inside her mind where her senses, her empathy had been rubbed raw. Something dripped over her upper lip, and she touched her face; her nose was bleeding. "Perfect."
Well. There was no doubt but that this area was the center of an amazing amount of high school trauma. Either that or she just was getting the full brunt of it, having gone through the school building itself with her mind carefully wrapped in its defenses. Either way...
A flicker out of the corner of her eye made her turn. Whatever had been there was gone, but she went towards the spot anyway. Nothing. Her nose was still dripping; she rummaged in her bag for a stray piece of gauze and pressed it to her nose. Well, as long as she was at the east end...
The vial and the salt came out. "I see Grandfather sitting in the east..." she murmured, slowly walking a circle around the field. "He is sacred... he is looking at us..."
As she walked, the small, familiar, comforting blue glow began to radiate from the ground. Also as she walked, the flicker in the corner of her vision became stronger. She had the distinct feeling she was encroaching on someone's territory. Her pace quickened, but her voice and hands remained steady. Inside the circle she would be safe...
"I see Grandfather sitting in the west... he is sacred, he is looking at us..."
The flicker was growing, and she could hear screams in the back of her mind, as if from far away and down a long tunnel. The hair prickled up on the back of her neck in conjunction with that eerie feeling of being watched.
She managed to make it around the field before the ghost came screaming at her. She screamed, and both voices mingled in her ears and in her mind. At the last second she managed to leap aside, skidding along the grass. The ghost slammed into the circle barrier.
"Well, you're not going to come quietly, are you..." Merry muttered, wincing from the already open wounds and standing slowly. The ghost turned and stared at her. The witch was slightly crouched, raven's wing in one hand and holy water and salt dangling precariously from the other. The ghost advanced again, and Merry swung the raven's wing. "Back. Off!"
Light flew from the tips of the feathers. Naked force threw the ghost back, accompanied by the sound of a thunderclap in the distance. At least, Merry hoped anyone in the vicinity would think it was distant thunder. She really didn't want to have to explain why she was going insane in the middle of a football field. The ghost stopped and stared at her, considering.
"What..." it said, and its voice was raspy, sexless, reduced to a husk by the ropes around the ghost's neck. "... are you?"
"Witch..." Merry said, suddenly remembering the stupid chant from that damn movie she had been forced to listen to in school. Witch, witch, you're a bitch.
"Witch..." the ghost repeated, and started towards her very, very slowly. Merry raised the raven's wing, and the ghost started edging around her in a circle. Moving with her, Merry carefully slung her backpack around on her shoulders and reached a hand in, replacing the salt and holy water and grabbing the totem. "Witch..."
"Go back..." Merry whispered. "Go back. Please."
The ghost charged her again. Merry screamed, nearly dropped the totem, and slammed it back with the raven's wing again. She closed her eyes, heart pounding in her chest, and spat out the words before it had a chance to recover and charge her again.
"Cwn Annwn, take this lost soul to your realm let her rest in peace..." Merry gasped, sidestepping at the last minute to avoid another pass by the ghost. "Cwn Annwn, take this soul to your dark realm, let her go in peace..." Deep breaths, dodging the ghost, clutching the totem so hard it dug a pattern into her hand. "Cwn Annwn, take your child..."
The ghost screamed, but this time the hideously mind-breaking sound was mingled with the sound of the ratchet hounds. Familiar as it was, it send a chill down Merry's spine, and gave her the lingering feeling that some day, some day soon, it would be her blood they were baying for. But not today.
Merry dropped the raven's wing and reached into her backpack, again grabbing the salt and holy water. She rubbed salt over her bloody elbow, threw at the ghost. It passed right through, but that didn't matter. "With salt and blood I bind you to your grave," she yelled. Popped open the small vial and flung the last of it. "With water of the moon I bind you to your death. Pass into the lands of the dead and trouble the living no more."
The ratchets were nearing.
"Annwn, take your child..." she screamed as the wind of their passing whipped her hair all around her head, preventing her from seeing anything. Childlike, she sank down into a crouch and grabbed her pendant, hoping they would pass her by. "Morrighan, goddess, protect me..." she murmured, more out of instinct than anything else. "Help me..."
The wind and howling and screaming seemed to last forever. When it finally subsided and she could brush her hair out of her eyes and see again, everything was gone. The faint blue glow of her circle had been dissipated by the sheer force of the ratchet hounds' presence. There was a paw print scorched into the earth as if to remind her of their passing, of their power. She shivered and almost touched it, pulling back at the last minute and stuffing everything she'd dropped into her bag again.
"Bloody ghosts," she muttered. "Bloody magicians who can't keep their own damn experiments to themselves." Merry sighed, glanced skyward with a scowl, and shouldered her backpack again. "I swear, Cyrus, if you weren't already dead, I'd kill you."
It might have been her imagination, but she thought she could hear the old man laugh in response.
Merry shivered again. She clutched her pendant tight in her hand and glanced around to make sure no one had seen the strange display. The field was relatively empty, and she thanked her goddess for small favors; probably everyone had been driven off by the rumors of the ghost. Taking deep breaths, she decided to walk around the field a little longer. She was feeling too shaky to drive anyway.