The next step was to talk to Lily.
Mike agreed to let Rachel talk to Lily alone in the dining room. The rest of us sat in the kitchen, within earshot if Lily felt she needed help. Tobie poured us more coffee and sat next to Mike, her face stony. Mike leaned back in his chair, his eyes almost closed, listening, but his muscles were tight, as if he was ready to spring up and dash to snatch Lily away if she grew upset.
We listened.
“Lily, I want to ask you about—the thing in your closet. Is that okay?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Your dad’s just over in the kitchen. If you want him, any time, all you have to do is say so. Is that all right?”
“Okay.”
A pause.
“Lily, I want you to know that I believe you about the thing in your closet. There is something there. I don’t know what, but I can feel things. Sometimes. I can feel something in there.”
Her voice was small, almost impossible to hear. “No one else thinks so.”
“Well, I do. How long has it been there?”
Pause. “I don’t know.”
“A week? A month?”
“It’s always been there. I think. I didn’t know what it was first. I started hearing it . . .”
“What did you hear? What did it sound like?”
A few seconds passed, as if Lily was trying to find the right words. “Breathing. First it was quiet, then it got louder. The last time I was here it started getting really loud. Like a big dog.”
“What did you do?”
“I got my dad, but then it was quiet. And my dad didn’t see anything. He said I was just having a dream.”
Mike grimaced. Tobie put a hand on his arm.
“Do you ever hear it at your mother’s house?”
“No. Just here.”
“Is it always breathing? Is there anything else?”
“It just gets louder. Then it stops.”
“Do you see anything? Does anything come out of the closet?”
“S-shadows. Sometimes. They go around the walls. They go back.”
“Are you scared when that happens? Or brave?”
“A little. Scared, I mean. But then nothing happens, and I go to sleep.”
“What happens in the morning?”
“Nothing. The sun’s up. I don’t hear anything.”
“Do you tell your dad and Tobie about it?”
No answer.
“What do they do when you tell them?”
“They look for it. Dad looks, usually. Sometimes Tobie. But they can’t find anything, and they tell me to go to sleep.”
“Why do you think they can’t find anything?”
“I don’t know. How can you hear it?”
“I’m—I have this thing. I can see and hear things other people can’t. But I’m just like everybody else. I’m just Rachel.”
Lily giggled. “You’re my sister. Sort of. Stepsister.”
“That’s right.” Rachel laughed too.
Tobie rolled her eyes. “I was thinking Aunt Rachel, but whatever . . .”
“There’s one more thing,” Rachel said. “Do you . . . have you ever seen this?” She was showing Lily the doll.
“No. What is it?”
“It was in your closet. You’ve never seen it before?”
“No. How was it in my closet?”
“Well, it used to be mine. When I was your age. My mother must have put it there when she and your dad moved in here.”
“Can I—?”
“Here. You can keep her if you want. I have a feeling she wants to be here.”
The dining room was quiet.
“Lily, thanks for talking to me. I know this was hard for you. I have to go talk to your dad now, is that okay?”
“Uh-huh. Can I watch a video?”
Rachel hesitated. “I guess so. Thanks again.”
She came into the kitchen. “Is it all right? About the video? I didn’t know—”
“It’s fine.” Mike looked up at her. “What did you find out?”
“Well, you heard. She was very calm answering my questions. She was a little scared talking about—about the thing, whatever it is. But she was very open about her feelings. I could sense that she’s scared of the thing, but not terrified. The doll—she seemed to respond to it. She was holding it very protectively when I left her in there.”
Mike sighed. “I’m sorry, but what does this all mean? Is there really a monster? Is Lily—” He lowered his voice. “Is Lily in danger? Do I need a priest? Do we have to burn the place down?”
Tobie clutched his arm. “Calm down, Mike. This is all—I don’t know if I even believe any of it. She’s just an eight-year-old girl, you know?”
“You heard that scream, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Yes, but that could have been anything. Something in the pipes. Lily’s a great kid, but she’s been through so much with Mike and her mother—maybe she needs a doctor and not a psychic?”
Rachel bit her lip, then looked to Mike. “You’re divorced from her mother, right?”
“Yeah. I mean—we were never married. But we were together for 10 years.”
“Was the breakup bad?”
His face stiffened. “We were—she—I . . .” He took a deep breath. “Okay, we cheated, all right? Both of us. Not with Tobie.” He glanced at her. “I met her afterward. But at the end we were—fighting all the time. Or just not talking to each other. It was a relief when it was over. I thought it was for Lily, too, but—”
“Kids process breakups differently,” Rachel said, trying to keep her tone professional. “They almost always think of it as their fault. They’re scared their parents don’t love them anymore. They’re insecure, and they’ll do things for attention or reassurance. Stuff like this, to be honest. Not that they lie consciously, but their emotions get bottled up and they come out in different ways.”
“So she could—” Tobie started.
Rachel held up a hand. “I wouldn’t be pushing this as anything else if that’s all I thought there was. But I did feel something up there. I don’t know how dangerous it is. But it’s not warm and cuddly. It’s evil.”
Tobie clearly didn’t want to listen to any of it. Mike looked doubtful too. I watched Rachel, working to stay professional and cool as if she was talking to a patient and not her own mother.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Lily’s scream interrupted her.
It was high-pitched and jagged, like a glass window shattering in an ice storm. Mike was up and around the table before I could move, and we followed him as he dashed into the living room.
Lily was standing on the sofa, clutching the doll in her arms, as a dark shape—a gray, ragged cloud—loomed down over the room from the ceiling. It hung in the air like a black hole, pulsating and groaning in a loud, tuneless drone.
The sound was like a dragon grunting, getting ready for a roar. The cloud billowed out like smoke from a burning furnace, then drew back, then belched out again. I smelled a foul odor, like something rotting behind a barnyard, and I rubbed my eyes as the stench and the smoke permeated the air.
Mike snatched Lily, pulling her up from the sofa, and she buried her face in his shoulder. I fumbled for my phone, coughing but hoping to get some video. Rachel was behind me, covering her mouth and nose with her arm as the cloud plunged down.
We stepped back as Mike carried Lily away, and then cloud began to dissipate. It stopped pulsing and started fading away like smoke in the wind, the droning sound dropping into a low hum before falling silent.
Now the living room was empty again. No trace of whatever we’d just witnessed.
“What the hell was that?” Tobie asked, breaking the sudden silence.
I looked at Rachel. Her face was pale.
I headed for the staircase. Upstairs I went to Lily’s room. The closet door was closed. My hands trembled as I slid it open.
A dense black fog filled the air inside. I backed away, my heart pounding. “Rachel?”
A burst of smoke shot out of the cloud. A blast of heat hit my face like a scorching desert wind. I fell and rolled away, gasping, and managed to reach my feet again as Rachel came to the door. “Tom?”
“Wait—” I held out a hand. “There’s something in there—”
The cloud bulged out from the closet like a black worm poking up through the soil, and the room felt like the inside of a volcano. Rachel grabbed my arm and I staggered against the door, trying to pull both of us out—
And then the cloud was gone.
Rachel held onto my arm as I caught my breath. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Y-yeah. I think so.” I looked at her. Her face looked shaken, as if she’d seen something that scared her. “What was it?”
“I don’t know—”
“Rachel? Are you all right?” Tobie was right behind her, shaking her shoulder. “What’s going on?”
Rachel shook her head. “Is Lily okay?”
“Mike’s with her now.” Tobie stepped back, peering into the room. “What happened? What’s going on?”
“So you believe me now.” Rachel turned. “That I can see things? Feel stuff? That’s all real? You believe me?”
Tobie stiffened. “You can’t—for Christ’s sake, Rachel, I never saw anything like this before! What do you want me to say? I’m sorry for everything that ever happened in your life? That thing—” She pointed downstairs. “What is that thing? That’s what I want to know right now!”
Rachel sighed. “Yeah. Sorry. That’s what’s important now.” She took a breath. “Let’s go talk to Lily.”
Lily sat at the kitchen table with the doll in her lap. Mike had poured himself some whiskey. He offered me some, but I declined.
We all sat. Rachel leaned forward. “Are you all right, Lily?”
She nodded silently.
“Can you tell us what happened?”
Lily swallowed. “I was just watching TV. Looking for something to watch. And then the doll said—she said . . .” She bit her lip.
“The doll?” Mike looked at it. “It talked to you?”
Lily nodded, crying. “I don’t play with dolls. I’m too big for dolls! But I liked her, and I had her sitting up on my lap for the TV, and she said—she said . . . shedom. Shedomar. And then the thing—the thing . . .” She lay her head down on the table, shaking.
“It’s all right,” Mike said quietly. “It’s gone now. Nothing’s going to—going to get you. Right?” He looked up at us.
Rachel reached out a hand. “Can I see Anastasia?”
Lily looked confused. “You mean—the doll? Her name is Amelia.”
“You named her that?”
After a moment Lily nodded. She held the doll out for Rachel to take.
Rachel held the doll with both hands, staring at it. Tobie looked at her, grimacing. Mike was patting Lily’s arm, whispering softly to her.
“Anything?” I asked. “You didn’t notice anything before.”
She shook her head. “There’s got to be something. Maybe the other thing is hiding it somehow. I don’t know.”
“Is it safe to stay here?” Tobie’s face was a cold mixture of fear and growing anger. At the monster? At Rachel? Me? Maybe all of us.
Mike looked up, waiting for our answer.
Rachel shrugged. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, if it’s part of the house. Then no. If it’s somehow fixated on . . .” She nodded toward Lily, still shaking in her chair. “It might follow.”
Tobie slammed a fist on the table, startling us. Lily started to cry again.
“What is it?” Tobie demanded. “Are we all of a sudden in some kind of horror movie? What the hell is it, Rachel?”
She glanced at me. I nodded and pulled my phone out.
I have links to lots of different kinds of databases. Some are strictly P.I.-related—property records can tell you a lot, for example, along with different kinds of demographic maps. Of course, some are for games and my favorite actresses.
Others are a little more esoteric. Like the one for demons. My job veers toward the supernatural so often that I need stuff like that. I’ve gotten used to it. Sort of.
Mike stood up. “Ice cream, anyone?” He patted Lily’s arm, and she nodded, sniffling. Tobie frowned, then reached over to squeeze Lily’s hand.
“It’ll be all right,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.” She avoided Rachel’s eyes.
I showed Rachel my phone. She squinted to skim the brief text, stifling a groan.
“What is it?” Tobie asked.
Rachel hesitated. “Maybe later.”
Mike came back with chocolate ice cream and bowls. We all had some. Lily started feeling better, giggling when Mike licked a dab of ice cream from her nose. Then Tobie cleaned up, and Lily got her iPad to play a game.
She stayed in the kitchen while we moved to the dining room. Tobie crossed her arms, her eyes flicking between Rachel and me as if deciding which one of us to be mad at.
I read from my phone. “Shedomar is an Egyptian demon who was known to attack families. Starting with the youngest. He, or it, would infiltrate a family through a toy or a doll—” I glanced at Anastasia. Amelia? “And then slowly corrupt the other children and ultimately the parents.”
“Corrupt?” Mike’s frown was deep and angry. “How?”
“It doesn’t say here. I could dig deeper.” Usually Rachel does this kind of research, but I couldn’t put that on her now. “These days it might be diagnosed as schizophrenia or—”
Rachel kicked me under the table. I shut up.
Mike and Tobie looked at each other. They said nothing, but you could see confusion and fear in their eyes. At least they weren’t glaring at us.
“What—” Mike coughed. “Okay, what do we do?”
“I need to research it.” I said. “Rachel brought her laptop. And she knows people to call about stuff like this. But to be safe, I think you and Lily should get out of here. Spend the night at friends, or in a motel.”
“What about you?” Tobie asked.
Before I could answer, Rachel said, “We’ll stay here and figure out some way to deal with it.”
Tobie tilted her chair back, worried. “Just you two? Alone?”
Mike leaned forward. “What if it follows us?”
“She’ll leave the doll here,” I said. “Hopefully this thing is focused on it, not the three of you.” Or just Lily, I didn’t add.
Mike nodded. “Okay. Let’s pack a bag.” He stood up.
Tobie hesitated, but then she pushed her chair back and stood up too. “A motel. One with a swimming pool. She’ll like that. And I don’t want to take a chance on bringing this—this thing along to any of our friends.”
“Right,” Mike muttered, already halfway to the living room. “Hey, Lily!”
Tobie sighed. “You guys want more coffee?”
I nodded. Rachel stood up. “Get my laptop from the car,” she told me. “You can use it while I call Carrie and some other people. Just don’t look at the file named ‘Porn.’ It’s got all my recipes.”
“So what’s in your ‘Recipes’ folder?”
She glanced at her mother. “Nothing.”
Tobie snorted. I went out to the car.
I spent the afternoon researching demons online, which led to some disturbing and deranged websites. Much of what I found wasn’t worth anything—bad translations of plagiarized texts, legends that had been embellished beyond all recognition, and, of course, a certain amount of demon porn. Which I slipped into Rachel’s “Recipes” folder.
Rachel was on the phone, first with her friend Carrie, who doesn’t like me—although Rachel says she’s mellowing now that we’re engaged—but who knows a lot of people in the supernatural community in and around Chicago. Mediums, tarot readers, psychics, amateur demonologists, non-Catholic exorcists, and a few college professors with open minds.
Mike stayed with Lily, playing games and watching TV. Lily kept the doll with her all afternoon, even when she got snacks or went to the bathroom. The monster didn’t return, but we all stayed out of Lily’s bedroom.
Tobie paced the house, glaring at us as she passed, but she offered coffee and sandwiches throughout the day, and one time she stood behind Rachel and rubbed her shoulders as she scribbled notes in my notebook. Rachel leaned back, closing her eyes, then squeezed Tobie’s hand. Tobie smiled and went to check on Mike and Lily.
At five, Mike came downstairs with two suitcases, a big one for the two of them and a small pink one with unicorns for Lily. “I got us a room at the Marriot,” he said, sitting down at the table. “We can leave anytime.” He seemed eager to get out. “What’s going on?”
Rachel grimaced. “I don’t know. We’ve got a couple of spells we can try. And I’ve got a recipe for some kind of brew—it’s more like a soup, but some of the ingredients have to come from Egypt and we don’t have time to get them online.”
“I could go look at World Market.” Tobie was next to her husband. “I think I’ve got everything else on that list. Rosemary, honey, oil—”
“It also needs a nine-year-old snakeskin. I don’t suppose you’ve got any of those lying around the house?” Rachel sighed. “We’ll be fine. We’ve done this sort of thing before.”
Several times before. We’d almost gotten killed, or worse, doing it, but that wouldn’t calm anybody’s nerves, particularly mine.
I cleared my throat. “We’ll need the doll. Anastasia, or Amelia, or whatever.”
Mike looked uncomfortable. “That might be a problem.”
“Why?” Tobie asked. “Keeping the doll, I mean.”
“They’re linked.” I’d spent an hour just on this. “The doll is a sort of protector. As long as it was in the closet, it kept the monster in the closet. When we took it out—” I glanced at Rachel. “Well, that may have been a mistake. It let the monster out. If the doll gets further away, the monster has more freedom of movement. It’s got stay here.”
Mike shook his head. “Lily won’t let go of it.”
“Well, she has to,” Tobie said. “We can just tell her—”
“It won’t work!” Mike kept his voice down, but his tone was tense. Frustrated. “She’s been holding it all afternoon. I tried to get her to put it down, I even tried to take it away from her, and she freezes up and turns red and pulls away from me. She kicked me once—not hard, but angry. We’d have to wrestle it from her. I’m not sure I can do that. Or watch any of you do that.”
Tobie frowned, as if she wanted to argue. Then she looked at us. Mostly at Rachel. “What do you think, Rachel?”
Rachel bit her lip. “It means keeping her here so the monster can’t get out. Maybe if we talk to her—”
“What are you guys talking about?” Lily was standing in the doorway. With the doll under her arm.
Mike sighed. “Come here, Liliana.”
She walked across the room and stood next to the table.
“You know we were going to go to the Marriott, and you could go swimming, and order room service? Remember?” He smiled.
Lily nodded.
“It’s so it’ll be safe for Rachel and Tom to take care of the monster. So it can’t hurt you.”
“It won’t hurt me as long as I’ve got Amelia.” She squeezed the doll.
“It’ll be safer for Tom and Rachel if we leave her here—”
“NO!” Lily shouted and pulled away from her father. “She’s coming with me!”
“Lily, honey,” Nadiune started.
“NO!” Lily’s voice turned into a shriek. She leaned her head back, and like Mike had said, her face turned red. Then her eyes rolled back as she kept screaming, and her whole body shuddered as if she was having a seizure. “NO!”
Mike grabbed her, held her tight. Tobie came in too. She tried to pull the doll away, but Lily lashed out with a fist to her face, and she staggered back, more from shock than pain.
Rachel knelt next to her and reached out, placing a hand on Lily’s shoulder as the girl kept shrieking. “Shh, shh,” Rachel whispered, although we could barely hear her. “It’s all right, it’s all right. Shh . . .”
Slowly Lily stopped shaking, and suddenly she was gasping instead of screaming, crying, leaning into her father’s arms. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she moaned. “I’m sorry, daddy . . .”
“It’s all right, Lily, it’s all right.” Mike held her tightly, looking over her head at Rachel.
Rachel quickly moved her arm to touch the doll. Just for a moment. Then she put a hand on Lily’s arm, but jerked it away almost instantly.
She stood up. I started to ask a question, but she shook her head.
Lily calmed down quickly, and Tobie brought her a juice box. Mike took her back to the living room, looking his shoulder at us as he walked away.
“What now?” Tobie asked.
Rachel sat down and sighed. “The doll—I should have left it there. It’s—it’s inside Lily’s head now. Damn it!” She pounded her fist on the table.
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
Tobie put a hand on Rachel’s fist. “Tom’s right. You’re trying to help. Nothing is your fault.”
Rachel looked up, surprised.
Mike came back. “What do we do now?”
I didn’t know what to say. Try to wrestle the doll away from Lily? Would that harm her? More than staying in the house with a monster? “I hate to say this, but I think we all have to stay. Unless you want to try taking the doll away again.”
He shuddered. “I don’t think I can do that. You saw what happened to her. It’s like The Exorcist or something.” He walked over to the liquor cabinet and got out the whiskey. “You?”
I nodded. Even Rachel took half a shot. She drank it, shivered, and said, “Tom’s right. But it’s going to be hard. And scary.”
Mike swallowed his whiskey and poured some more. He looked at Tobie. “You don’t have to stay. You could go somewhere safe. Lily’s my daughter.”
She stared at him. “Rachel’s my daughter. I’m staying with her.” She looked at me and smiled. “And Tom.”
Rachel sighed. “All right. Let’s order pizza and start building a blanket fort.”
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