(This chapter and the nexthave a shameless cameo of a well-known landmark in the wide world of groundbreaking TV shows. Props and a chocolate-chip cookie to whomever can name where it's from!)

She was still musing over how to get rid of him when she entered the library for her study hall. As she stared into space, thinking up reasonless plans, her eyes fell upon the "New Age" section of the nonfiction rows and she had an epiphany.

If ghosts existed, as she now knew they did, and they were considered "magic" or "occult", then wouldn't it stand to reason that the rest of the occult was real? Perhaps, if she looked hard enough, she could find some magic spell that could banish him!

In an instant, she was searching the shelves for a wicca's guide or a Magic For Dummies volume. But a minute later, she reproached herself. Like a public school was going to be promoting witchcraft by having a spell-book on the shelf! So she secured a seat at a computer workstation off in a forgotten corner of the media center and logged onto the internet.

Well, there were thousands of magic spells online, but she wanted to be sure she had it from a semi-reliable source. So she narrowed her search to "ghost exorcism spells" and came up with only a few in-country sites that supplied not only the books with instructions but ingredients and other supplies as well. The first two sites were horrendously expensive, but the third-…

"What on earth are you doing?"

The voice made Claudia jump a foot out of her seat. She looked warily over her shoulder at Mrs. Barnes, the head librarian, who was inspecting the site hits over Claudia's shoulder. "You're not actually planning on practicing this voodoo, are you?" she demanded.

"Oh, no! It's…um…for an essay topic. Just looking up the history of practiced witchcraft." Claudia smiled innocently.

The middle-aged woman nodded in acceptance and left. Claudia took a deep breath and went back to inspecting the third site.

Its store was located in California, but for a small additional shipping fee, they could deliver anywhere in the world. And their prices were a hell of a lot cheaper than anyone else's, that was for sure.

Claudia scribbled down the number and hid the paper in her pocket. She'd call as soon as she got home.


"I'm home and I've gotta use the phone!" Claudia called as soon as she'd walked in. Taking the cordless handset upstairs to her room, she locked the door, stuffed a towel under the bottom crack, locked her window, drew the shade, and dialed.

The long-distance was free with the Lowe's plan, so Claudia didn't worry about her mother caring over a strange area code. The other line connected and rang three times before someone picked up.

"Thanks for calling the Magic Box. This is Anya speaking. How can I assist you today, o valued customer?"

"Hi," Claudia began, ignoring the rather strange opening speech. "I'm interested in a ghost exorcism. Can you make any suggestions for a do-it-yourself kit?"

"Well, sure! You'll need the basic elements: a Bible, some holy water, a crucifix, a bag of ground demon bones and a copy of The Scrolls of Demonica. We offer all of those items here at the store."

Claudia gulped. Ground demon bones? Scrolls of Demonica? "Are those last two items absolutely necessary?"

"Only if you want to be sure you don't get dragged into the ninth level of Hell along with the ghost. But if you're a twice-sainted priest, you don't have to worry about that."

"Um, ok. How much would the bones and Scrolls be if you were to ship them to Winter River, Connecticut?"

"Oh, ok! Let's see…" A moment passed. "Thirty-seven ninety-five. Cash on delivery?"

"Yeah, that sounds great. Let me give you my information…"