Blaire

Though Blaire knew to predict the bell that sounded as she opened the door to Cartello's Hardware, she still winced as it called attention to her presence. It was only seconds before she saw her father's curly dark hair and smiling face as he peered around a display.

"Well, hey there!" It was always a treat for him when she showed up at the store. It had been years since her employment, and months since she was able to spare a Saturday to help out.

"Good morning," Blaire smiled as she walked towards him, a cup of coffee outstretched in her hand.

"Ahh," Alex smiled and took off the plastic lid. "This is why you're my favorite."

"I won't tell Liam," Blaire smiled and took a sip from her own cup.

"Well, what can I do for ya, kiddo?" Alex walked over to the register. He placed his cup of coffee on a shelf that held knick knacks he had gathered over the years. It sat comfortably between a bowling trophy from a local league championship in 1994 and a picture of a teenage Blaire with her head under the hood of a car, oil streaked across her left cheek.

"I was just coming in for a blowtorch." Blaire attempted to make the statement sound as casual as possible.

"A blowtorch?" Her dad snorted with a smirk. "Taking up welding?"

"No," Blaire smiled. "The bolts on the latch to our shed are rusted. I couldn't get in the other day to get the snow blower. Liam and I were shoveling forever."

"Well, why don't you just knock the whole thing off and replace it?"

Blaire scrambled to gather a reply, "I'm hoping to do the least amount of damage here. Plus, I trust myself more with a blowtorch than I do a sledgehammer."

"I can swing by after I close up tonight and take a look at it if you want."

Blaire, always grateful for her father's willingness to help, was struggling to find a way to elbow him out of this project.

"It's just heating up a few bolts, dad. You've seen me do it at least ten times."

"I know, Bear. I just wanted to make sure you've got it." He looked slightly saddened by her unwillingness to let him offer up his expertise.

"Of course, I've got it." She smiled reassuringly at him. "I was taught by the best."

Alex chuckled and gestured across the room, "aisle 4. Past the charcoal, next to the propane."

When Blaire returned, Alex was nursing the half-full cup of coffee. She placed the blowtorch on the counter beside the helmet and gloves.

"I better stop teaching you all this stuff," Alex said as he started to scan each item. "You're not gonna need me anymore."

"I'm always going to need you." Blaire reassured him as she handed him cash for the tools. "Next time I need someone to use a sledgehammer, you're the one I'm gonna call."

Alex smiled and handed her back her receipt with a twenty dollar bill that Blaire knew should have been slipped into the register.

"Dad…" Blaire began to protest and Alex smiled.

"Family discount." He winked and handed her the bag. "Call me if you need my help, alright?"

"You got it." Blaire grinned, swallowing both her guilt and the burning bile it brought to her throat.

"Alright," Blaire let out a breath she had been holding. "Do you think we have everything?" She surveyed the dining room table, full of supplies that made her feel like she was the star of a very confused action film.

"I think so," Liam stepped back with her hands on her hips, her eyes scanning over each item.

Both of them had placed their maglites beside each other on the table. Liam had encouraged Blaire to grab the crowbar that had been so handy at the theater and put it with the rest of their supplies. Beside it lay the blowtorch, gloves, and helmet. Liam had provided the ring, a bag of rock salt, and two dark skullcaps.

Blaire checked the clock on the wall in the living room. It was 10:23. The cover of night they had been waiting for had arrived. She felt the weight of what they were about to do sitting in the pit of her stomach. But she couldn't ignore the simultaneous rush of excitement she was feeling in her limbs.

"Ready?" Liam asked, beginning to fill the backpack with each item carefully. Blaire watched as she pocketed the ring.

"Let's do this."

The car ride to the Witch's House was virtually silent. Blaire felt comfort in the hum of the engine and the wipers sweeping back and forth to keep the snow from sticking to the windshield. It had begun to fall in the large, messy snowflakes that fell quickly and became slush on impact.

Liam was intensely focused on the road ahead of her. Blaire found herself thinking back to the radical change her life had taken in such a short amount of time. She knew that the comfortable life she created would forever be shaken by the events at the Monte Clair. But going as far as they had, packing up a bag of makeshift weapons and taking off to bust a ghost, was never in her vision for her future. Despite that very fact, she couldn't help but feel a swell of something within her as they neared their destination. This sense of purpose was ballooning inside of her with every tick of the odometer.

"Why do you get to go in first?" Blaire asked, stopping Liam in her tracks as she stepped forward to reach for the knob.

"I just assumed that you wanted me to…" Liam began, watching as Blaire's face fell.

"Well, do you want to?"

"Yeah, but you want to."

Blaire sighed and held out a fist. Liam didn't skip a beat. She immediately returned the gesture. The two locked eyes and supported their fists with the palms of their opposite hands.

Simultaneously, they began, "rock, paper, scissors, shoot."

Both rolled their eyes as they realized they threw the same gesture: scissors.

Second round both of their hands formed the same gesture. In the third, Liam threw paper when Blaire threw rock.

"Stupid rock," Blaire groaned, stepping out of the way as Liam moved back towards the door once more.

Liam

Even though she had known that Blaire entered this house before, Liam was surprised when the knob turned easily in her hand and granted them access. She stepped inside, clutching her iron rod, and gestured for Blaire to follow.

"I think the living room's over there," Blaire whispered, nodding ahead to a room that held what appeared to be a covered dining room table. They stepped carefully through the dining room, eyes roving in every direction for any sign of movement. When they reached the living room, Liam nodded to the fireplace and reached into her pocket, pulling out the ring. Blaire took it from her and hurried over to crouch near the fireplace, pulling the blowtorch and accompanying equipment from her bag. Liam came to stand behind her, turning to face the room so that nothing could surprise them. In any normal situation, she'd be waiting for a squatter or other trespasser to appear, and she almost wished that was the biggest danger in this case. She continued to hear shuffling behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see Blaire sporting gloves and a welding helmet.

"You ready?" She asked Liam, looking up at her, "Because I don't think she's gonna like this."

Liam swallowed hard and wrung her hands at the base of the iron rod. "Do it."

Blaire nodded. "Don't look at the flame, okay?"

Liam turned back to face the dusty, abandoned room and saw the walls around her light up blue as the blowtorch fired up behind her. She felt the warmth growing as it filled the fireplace cavity and reverberated back into the room. A few seconds that felt like minutes passed, and she resisted the urge to turn and check Blaire's progress.

Then the warmth, as quickly as it had come, was gone and replaced by icy tendrils that crawled up Liam's spine to the base of her neck, where her hair stood on end.

"Blaire…" She called over the sound of the blowtorch. Before she could provide any more warning, a woman was standing on the other side of the room, directly across from her like an opponent in an old western standoff. Her blonde hair hung limp around her shoulders and her eyes looked puffy, as if she had spent an eternity crying. The look in her eyes, however, didn't speak of sadness as much as it spoke murder. In the next moment, she had dissolved and reappeared a mere foot away. Liam swung the iron rod hard, swiping right through the woman's midsection. She dissolved again with a hiss and reappeared on her left, clearly gunning for Blaire. Liam swung again, this time drawing a streak through the woman's head. The room was still as Liam's head whipped back and forth, preparing to face her again at any moment.

"How's it coming back there?" She called over her shoulder, tension lacing her voice.

"Almost there," Blaire replied, her voice muffled by the welding mask.

"What if it doesn't work?" Liam called, her voice raising at the end as the woman appeared to her right. She swung again and managed to buy a few more seconds.

"I don't think she'd be bothering us right now if it wasn't the ring," Blaire said. Liam continued to lunge back and forth, keeping a perimeter around her friend as she worked.

"I didn't picture this feeling so much like whack-a-mole," she said, her chest heaving from the exertion. The moment of levity was broken when she dove left and the spirit apperated to the right, reaching a hand out to grab her throat. The icy glow of her hand had only just touched Liam's throat when it suddenly reared back and the apparition burst into flames. Liam stumbled back, knocking into Blaire and bracing herself with a hand on the mantel.

"Are you okay?" Blaire asked, standing back to her full height and pulling her helmet off. The blowtorch had been discarded on the floor next to a tiny pool of molten metal. Liam nodded, her breathing still labored.

"We did it." She said in disbelief, staring at the spot where the spirit had disappeared. "She won't come back?"

She turned to see that Blaire was beaming. "We did it. She won't come back."