As Sarah made the drive from Chicago back to Traverse City, she filled Mazur in on the complete history of Kerry Manor, as well as the mysterious chamber in the forest behind the Northern Michigan Asylum.
“It appears you live in a hotbed of paranormal activity,” Mazur said, stroking his gray goatee until it formed a point. “Lots of water around there, you said?”
“Yes. Lake Michigan, and then a lot of smaller lakes as well.”
“Very interesting.”
“Are they aware? The person who’s possessed?” Sarah asked.
Mazur looked at her sidelong and shook his head.
“I think not, not within the possession, though I have seen cases with a sort of co-mingling. I’ve met people possessed who had memories of what occurred during possession but no autonomy. They often described it as watching a movie or being in a dream.”
Sarah nodded, a tiny bit of space forming in her clenched stomach.
Corrie didn’t know she had killed Sammy.
THEY BUMPED over the pockmarked drive that cut between the asylum cottages and led to the trailhead. In the moonlight, the buildings appeared spectral, their shattered windows watchful as the car crept forward. The chatter that had been happening since they left Sarah’s house abruptly ceased, and they drove through the grounds in eerie silence.
At last, Mazur broke the quiet. “They are magnificent,” he murmured. “I can feel them watching us.”
“Let’s not go there,” Will whispered. “My brain manages well enough without additional creepy commentary.”
“It’s all energy, young Will. Me, you, that speck of water,” he pointed at the windshield. “Your fear too - it’s all energy.”
They hustled from the car, and Sarah let out a long, shaky breath.
“If someone sees us, we’re going to get arrested,” Sarah whispered, lifting Corrie’s lifeless body from the backseat. An hour before, Sarah had given her a sedative in a cup of tea. She had intended to tell Corrie about the exorcism, but Mazur insisted it remain a secret. If Corrie, or more importantly Ethel, understood what they had planned, she would do anything to stop it.
Will took Corrie’s legs. Mazur lifted his plastic toolbox, and they started down the wooded path.
“Here, this way,” Sarah whispered. They turned and walked across a plank over a stony brook, up a hill awash in moonlight. At the top of the hill, they looked down on the strange basin of trees. Sarah saw the scrawled neon words of kids who’d visited the tree. In the darkness they looked like ancient writings, symbols and letters meant to invoke the spirits and perhaps to keep them away.
“What if he doesn’t show?” Sarah asked, feeling Corrie slipping down. She huffed and readjusted her. Her sister-in-law was not a large woman, but in her unconscious state she seemed to weigh several hundred pounds.
“Have faith,” Will said, though Sarah saw the trepidation reflected in his eyes.
After several more minutes, they heard something crashing through the brush. Sarah nearly dropped Corrie as she and Will backed toward a grove of trees, out of sight
Mazur stood firm, toolbox in hand, staring curiously into the darkness.
“Sarah?” The loud whisper found them.
“Ugh, thank God, it’s him.” She laid Corrie on the grass and hurried forward.
“Sorry to sound like an elephant pounding through the forest,” Glen told her. “I got turned around back and there and had a bit of a panic. I’m not generally prone to fear, but I haven’t been on these grounds in a long time.”
Glen held up the key. He walked forward to a wall of brush that Sarah had not noticed moments before. She saw the puzzlement in Mazur’s face as well.
The chamber door swung in. As Sarah stepped forward, Glen put a hand on her arm.
“I’ve got Corrie,” Will said, hoisting her into his arms.
“Are you sure?”
Will nodded and huffed into the dark tunnel, Mazur following and murmuring about the energetic aliveness of the place.
“I’ll stay out here until it’s over,” Glen told her. “Do you have everything you need?”
“Yeah, we’re good. And thanks for coming, Glen. Hopefully after tonight, we won’t have any reason to meet again.”
Glen reached out a hand, and she shook it, walking backwards into the tunnel and offering him a final wave.
Mazur’s eyes sparkled in the lamplight as he shuffled around the chamber. He touched the walls, took bits of pebbles off the floor and tucked them into a small plastic bag, which he added to his case.
Sarah pulled a clean blanket from her bag and laid it over the bed before she and Will hoisted Corrie on top.
Sarah lifted the leather straps and secured them to Corrie’s legs, shaking her head as she did so.
“This feels so wrong,” she murmured.
Mazur stood.
“It will be over in no time, my dear.”
He placed his case on a wooden bench and removed items.
“What’s that?” Will asked leaning over his shoulder.
“A diamond.” Mazur held it up. “But a very special diamond, indeed. If all goes according to plan, we will summon the dark energy from Corrie’s body, and we will trap it in this crystal in an endless time loop.”
“How?” Will asked, stepping to the bench where Mazur had set up a variety of other instruments.
“With this,” Mazur held up a laser, “I will jumble the atomic particles contained within this crystal at the exact moment the energy is slipping out of Corrie’s body.”
“How do we get the energy to leave Corrie’s body?” Sarah asked realizing she’d never asked the most important question.
Mazur pointed to two black paddles sitting next to the toolbox.
“Defibrillators?” Will asked.
“Wait.” Sarah held up her hand. “You’re going to stop her heart?”
“For an instant.” Mazur snapped his fingers. The moment the heart stops, the spirit will flee, the crystal will trap it. Voila.”
Sarah looked at Corrie unconscious on the bed.
CORRIE
I MOANED and rolled sideways but something held me firmly in place. Blinking my eyes open, I tried to make sense of the room. A stone ceiling hovered above me, orange light flickering strange shadows.
“Corrie,” Sarah put a hand on my arm. Her familiar brown eyes peered down at me and I saw fear in her face.
I turned my head and noticed Will, the young man I’d met days before, and an older man with a gray beard and long gray hair secured in a ponytail. He held a large diamond in his hand.
“Am I dreaming?” I asked her. The light hurt my eyes but when I closed them, the room swam, and my stomach turned. “I might be sick.”
Sarah put a cool wash cloth on my head. “If you turn your head. I’ve got a little container here to catch it if you throw up.”
“I can’t lift my arms.” I told her thickly, wondering if I was strapped down or had simply lost the use of my limbs. “Am I sick?”
“Yes,” Sarah murmured, smoothing my hair back. “We’re here to get you better. There are leather straps on your arms and legs to keep you safe.”
I gazed at her for a long time, finally craning my head down to look toward my legs. Yes, leather straps wrapped around my ankles. My head lolled to the side, and I stared at a row of funny-looking instruments on a wooden bench.
“Tell her now,” Mazur said, nodding his head. “It will draw the spirit out.”
“Corrie.” Sarah brushed my hair off my forehead. “We’re going to perform an exorcism.”
I looked at their faces, the grim set of Sarah’s mouth.
“This crystal has a unique ability, Corrie,” the older man explained, holding up a golf-ball sized diamond. “It draws energy, in particular spirit-energy.”