Amy and Trisha got to the Manor at noon, when I had already bitten my nails up to my elbows and was pretty much pacing up and down the walls. Turned out the medium had decided to tell my friend about the Blotters and explain the whole situation before leaving Boston. She wanted to assess Trisha's reaction to be sure she was the right choice to come lend a hand.
That was why, to my utter surprise, my friend didn't storm in calling out for ghosts and demons, never minding who was around. Instead, she got out of Amy's flashy car already filming with her phone, using an SLS app to detect humanoid forms on screen. Which in Trisha's world meant she was being the queen of discretion.
Susan was still around, with the excuse of making sure our guests had everything they needed right as they needed in their rooms, so we didn't talk until she left and we sat down for a late lunch.
"Where are they?" Trisha asked Amy, a bundle of excitement fighting to stay put on her chair.
I pointed at the cat ball on the table. "Not here, Trish. They must be in their parlors. I'll introduce you to them after lunch." I turned to Amy. "I have news."
"Good news I hope?"
"Kujo says he can eat the Haunters' parasites."
Trisha was wise enough to shut up and listen, knowing that if she didn't behave, she would be back to Boston by sunset. Amy and I discussed the possibility of sparing ourselves from dealing with those nasty things and helping Kujo get stronger in the process, but she had her reservations.
"Ripping them off can tear the whole energetic tissue wide open like a bleeding wound. The node needs to be cleansed and healed at the same time, else it can hurt Price and his friend."
"And if you perform the cleansing in the basement?" said Trisha. "You can do the cleansing and healing, and the demon can have the snacks."
"Kujo," I corrected. "He's not a demon."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Don't try to come between Fran and her shadow poodle."
"Isn't it a demon?"
"He is a scavenger, most likely turned half-breed demon by Price. We shouldn't forget that."
Trisha's eyes widened.
"Now that he's in shape to talk, I should try to find out where he came from," said Amy. "We need to think where he's going from here." My sigh made her frown. "Forget it. Joseph said positive vibes choke him. He needs some obscure abandoned hospital or something like that, where he can live and thrive out of people's way."
Trisha raised a finger, still chewing, and typed on her phone. She hurried to swallow and said, "Pine Grove Cemetery, in Spencer. It's thirty minutes away."
"That's a historical cemetery and we need a place with more recent bad vibes," Amy replied. "Let me look into it. Maybe our Haunter friends can help us locate a haunted location nearby."
"There's a cemetery right south from here, at the end of the Quabbin," I said.
"Oh, how fitting. So you can go pet the poodle now and then, huh?"
Trisha giggled. "I can't believe you grew fond of that thing, Fran. Seriously. Moving here messed you up big."
"Fuck you, Trish."
"Language."
That single word from my phone made Trisha jump, while I blushed up to my ears.
"Sorry, ma'am," I mumbled, and frowned at Amy. "You should've told us Ann Marie was here."
"She just joined us," the medium replied.
"Didn't mean to scare," Ann said.
Trisha kept looking around her, eyes like grapefruits, opening and closing her mouth like a fish on dry land.
"Of course, I'm sorry," I said, smiling.
Amy rested a hand on Trisha's shoulder and pointed at the empty head of the table. "She's there, girl."
Trisha stuck out her head like a turtle, eyes still wide open, trying to see anything.
"Ann Marie, this is my friend Trisha," I said. "Good to know where to look."
"Nice to meet you, Trisha."
Trisha tried to speak but she couldn't utter a single word, so she just nodded.
"Leave you to it."
We heard the softest shuffle near the kitchen door. Trisha turned to me, astonished.
"You— You didn't even flinch!"
"I've been living with them for months, Trish. I'm used to having them around."
Now Trisha turned to Amy. "I'm not sure I can do this."
"Sure you can. You just need to get used to it. That's why we came a couple of days in advance. For me to teach Fran how to do the cleansing, and for you to get used to the dynamics of the place."
We finished lunch trying to answer the zillion questions Trisha had, that kept multiplying as we talked. When we were done eating and cleaning up, I tried to take her to the east parlor, in order to introduce her to the rest of the Blotters. But she insisted she needed to go to her room first. She joined us back in under a minute, bringing a box wrapped in bright gift paper with a children's design. She replied to my questioning frown with a wink and motioned for me to lead the way.
"Let's see if you can do this, girl," said Amy.
Trisha paused two steps before the east parlor and grabbed her phone, turning the SLS app on again.
"We should ask them if they're okay with that," I said.
"Oh, okay," Trisha muttered, lowering the phone.
The cat ball on the coffee table flashed the moment we walked in, and I laid the tablets by it, facing the couch under the window.
"Your phone can see us?" asked Joseph after the introductions.
"I'm not sure, maybe. Would you mind if I try?" Trisha behaved like a princess, all silk and honey.
"Not at all," Ann replied.
She aimed her phone cam at the couch and giggled, showing me the screen. The SLS had detected two humanoid shapes sitting on the couch, two more standing behind it and two smaller ones, standing by the left side of the couch. It was like a family portrait in stick figures.
"It can!" I cried, excited. "Lizzie, would you please raise your hand?"
One of the stick figures sitting on the couch raised a hand and I joined Trisha's giggles. One by one, the Blotters said their names through the apps and raised their hands.
"It's awesome! Wanna see?"
Joseph came to our side. "It's amazing," he said, right away. "Technology these days."
Trisha handed me the phone and I went to sit in the armchair on Ann's right, to show them what Joseph looked like, standing at the doorway. Meanwhile, Trisha placed the gift box on the table and turned to where the twins were.
"Who wants to try a drawing?" she asked, ripping the present open. It was a set of two magnetic drawing boards for children, one in light blue and the other in pink.
"Show us how it works!"
Trisha drew a sun with the pencil. "I don't think you kids need this. Wanna try? Let's see if you can use it with your fingers."
The adult Blotters and I turned to watch Trisha, sitting on the rug between the boards, where shy hesitating lines started appearing.
"She's nice," said Ann.
I nodded with an affectionate smile, and then frowned. "I'm an ass. I mean the farm animal, Ann, before you scold me. How come I didn't think about it before? I have to show you how to use the tablets to read books you don't have here!"
"On the device?" asked Joseph.
"Yeah! You can access books from all over the world. Zillions of them! I'm so sorry! We're doing it right tonight."
Edward took a moment to type and reply, "You have more important things to do."
"Yeah, but not like we're gonna be at it around the clock. Would the ladies of the house want reading devices too? I can order them on my phone, and we would have them here by Monday."
"Show Edward first," said Ann, sticking to protocol. If the men approved, the women would accept.
Amy was sitting at the other armchair, opposite me across the coffee table, where Trisha wowed and congratulated the twins for their first drawings. I glanced up at her and found her watching us with a warm smile.
"I'd need to go downstairs," she said softly a while later, deploring to disturb that nice family moment.
"Let's go," Joseph replied right away.
Trisha looked up. "Can I go too?"
Amy nodded to me, raising her eyebrows. "You tell us, Fran. It's your pet demon."
"Amy!" I protested. "Yeah, of course she can go. You know he's not a monster, and Joseph—"
"You should come, Fran," he said.
"You go too, son," Ann added.
I stood up with a quick smile at the couch. "See you later, ladies."
We headed to the kitchen, the three visible girls and the two invisible gents. Amy stopped me when I opened the basement door and started down the stairs.
"Wait, Fran. The light."
"Oh, no need anymore," I replied. "Just in case, wait here until I call you."
I went ahead down the stone steps and crossed the basement toward the left corner, phone in hand.
"Hey, Kujo. How are you today?"
"Hi Fran. Good."
It amazed me every time, how far we've come from the growling shadow weakling only weeks earlier.
"I brought two friends to see you. Should I call them?"
"Amy."
"Yes, Amy. And the other one is my friend Trisha. Would you like to meet her?"
"Here."
I turned around and found Trisha was already at the last step, her phone cam aimed at the corner. Amy was right behind her, looking my way with a smile.
"It's huge!" Trisha whispered, trying to control her instinctive fear.
"And ugly," Amy agreed, walking past her toward me. "Hello again, Kujo! I'm so happy to hear you speak!"
"Fran."
"Yeah, I've heard she's been feeding you. I'm afraid she's fattening you for Thanksgiving."
I heard a faint hiss and Amy stopped in her tracks.
"What is it?" I asked her.
Amy shook her head, getting by my side with her eyes on the corner. "He's laughing."
I faced what to me still looked like an empty corner and grinned. That seemed enough to encourage Trisha to reach the central pillar.
"Are you in the mood for a little conversation with me?" Amy asked Kujo.
"Alone."
I frowned. "Look at you! The moment another girl shows up, you forget about me!" Just in case, I smiled again. "I'm kidding. We'll let you two talk." I raised my hand to my head's height and reached out to the shadows.
Amy and Trisha gasped when my hand turned a little blurry and a little darker. I felt the heat brush my palm.
"It's okay, guys," I said with one last smile. "Later, my boy."
"Later Fran."
I joined Trisha and tugged at her sleeve to make her follow me upstairs. The first thing she did when we were back to the kitchen was show me a screenshot of her SLS app. The image left me speechless. I could see the sticks tracing my figure on the left. The other stick figure took up the two thirds left of the screen. The sticks traced what looked like an eight-foot-tall figure bending over towards me, our hands touching. I pointed out what looked like two extra arms coming out of Kujo's back and stretching straight up to brush the ceiling.
"Look. Could those be wings?" I murmured, surprised.
"Search me. But that thing is huge, Fran. I don't know how you dare to get so close to it, and touch it!"
"Because I don't try to see him. Amy showed me a picture of an awful skeleton hellhound and said he looks like that, but I honestly don't give a damn. And be careful when you're around him, cause he reads minds and emotions. The last thing we need is pissing him off cause you guys think he's an ugly beast."
"Are we alone?"
I glanced at the cat ball, that remained dark, and nodded. "Surely Joseph and Edward stayed with Amy. Joseph knows Kujo won't harm me, but nobody trusts him, especially around other living humans."
"Because you're the only one who does."