knickknacks could be replaced. Well, most of them anyway. We’d have to hope for the best.
“Are you ready, Larue?” Karyn asked.
“It won’t work. I’ll fight the spell. You won’t be able to get rid of me,” Jane said.
We didn’t respond. We couldn’t give her the satisfaction.
“I’m more powerful than you ever dreamed possible. The longer I’m around you the more I can feed off your energy. You’re helping me destroy you. How ironic is that? It really sucks being you.” She snorted.
“Come on, ladies, let’s form a circle.” Karyn held out her hands.
Jane’s face grew red as we began to chant. I’d never seen that shade of red on anyone’s face before, but we kept going. Nothing could stop us now. We had formed a circle and we weren’t going to let it be broken. Mindy looked a pale shade of green, a stark contrast to Jane’s crimson shade.
Jane ran around the circle yelling at us, but we kept chanting. Karyn’s eyes were determined. And that was exactly what Jane hated to see. It was making her furious. Her eyes flamed, her mouth twisted into an evil grin. She was turning into a demon. Maybe not literally, but she was pretty darn close. The closest I’d ever seen any living person and I’d seen quite a few exorcisms.
When Jane lunged into the circle, Karyn jumped on top of her. Karyn had warned us that Jane would try to fight us off and she had been right. It wasn’t even necessary to perform the magic spell at this moment. Just the act would make Jane so furious that she’d lose her cool. Now if Karyn could just get the necklace from her.
The women rolled around on the floor. Mindy and I exchanged a glance. I nodded and Mindy agreed. We moved forward and climbed on top of Jane. She had Karyn on the ground.
From over my shoulder, Mrs. Ragland said, “Oh my. This is awful. What are you girls doing?”
Furniture was being turned over and I heard glass break somewhere in the room. We’d have to pay Mrs. Ragland back for all that. I knew it was going to be a bad day for Mrs. Ragland but if couldn’t be avoided. With one big pull, Karyn yanked at the chain around Jane’s neck. Karyn fell backward, but the necklace was in her hand. Success.
“Give that back,” Jane panted.
Already Jane’s power was diminishing. Now that we had the necklace, we could perform the spell that would banish the demon back to hell forever. I couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief yet, but at least I was one step closer than I had been just a few minutes ago.
Karyn jumped to her feet. “Come. Let’s join hands,” she said as she placed the necklace around her neck.
I was glad that she’d kept it. I didn’t want anything else to do it with it. The necklace had caused nothing but problems for me. It certainly hadn’t helped. We stepped into the circle again. Jane was still on the floor. She didn’t look as if she had the energy to fight. We joined hands and began the chant again. After several seconds, the wind picked up, whipping wildly around the room. What hadn’t been destroyed during the fight with Jane sure would be now. I wasn’t sure where Mrs. Ragland had vanished to. Probably to call the cops.
Just when the wind had reached what I thought would be its peak, a voice sounded over the roar of the wind.
“I want you all to stop and stop right now.”
When I looked up, I knew where Mrs. Ragland had disappeared to. She was pointing a gun in our direction. Well, if that didn’t beat all. Just when you thought things were looking up, a little old lady drags out a firearm and points it at your head. We couldn’t win for losing.
We slowly released our hands and shoved them above our heads, breaking the circle, and with it, the spell. What would we do now? This would give Jane the opportunity to get the necklace back. Was Mrs. Ragland in cahoots with Jane? She did have that strange glow in her eyes. Or was she just a little old lady scared for her life? I couldn’t say that I blamed her for the latter. A bunch of crazy women fighting and chanting in her living room was enough to scare the heck out of anyone.
“I want you all to get out of my home right this moment.”