My cousin leaned against the fence. The awful shade of grey had left his
face, but he still looked pale. “I felt sick.”
“Yes, that’s what she can do to you. It will get worse if you stay here
longer.” Nick took a deep breath, blew it out, then turned to Ruby. “I’m
going to be honest with you. The cleansing wasn’t working. And I don’t think
I can continue business in your house any longer. In my professional opinion,
the ghost is highly volatile, and engaging it further will only exacerbate the
problem.”
Ruby rubbed at her forearms. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t believe any ghost is evil, any more than a human has the capacity
for both good and bad. But a great deal of bitterness went into shaping Shreya
Marwick’s spirit. I felt resentment, regret, and a lot of anger. As you saw, she
is especially mistrustful towards men. If I try to cleanse her from this house
again, she will fight back. I believe it would be a dangerous—and potentially
counterproductive—measure.” He replaced his glasses and tugged at his
sweat-soaked collar. “My advice, at this time, would be to give her as little
attention as possible. She is feeding off your energy and your fear. It is likely
that her manifestations will lessen, and perhaps even cease entirely, if you
don’t react to them.”
Lucky and I glanced at each other. We were the responsible parties for alot of the recent attention directed towards Shreya.
“Don’t try to communicate with her,” Nick continued. “Don’t look for
her. Don’t react if she shows herself. I believe that will be your safest course
of action. Eventually, she may subside into a passive, unnoticeable spirit. At
that point, we can consider trying to cleanse the house again. But I wouldn’t
want to do so before.”
“Okay.” Ruby didn’t look anywhere near as disturbed as I felt. “We’ll
take the cameras down. Will that help?”
“Yes, do that immediately. And if you’ll excuse me, I think I’d prefer to
put some distance between myself and this building.” He chuckled weakly,
still leaning against the fence. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help more. I’ll bill you
for a consultation only.”
Ruby held out the suitcase. “The salt and herbs are still inside. I’ll go and
get them.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have plenty more back at the office. Have a good
day, and good luck.” Nick took his briefcase from Ruby.
We all watched as he got into his car, started the engine, and drove away
in a screech of tyres. The urgency of his departure reminded me of the
previous family fleeing in the middle of the night. It wasn’t an encouraging
parallel.
I hoped his advice to ignore the spirit would help. I was frightened of
what would happen if it didn’t.
I HELPED Lucky disassemble the cameras and monitoring setup. He seemed
subdued, and I couldn’t get any responses out of him beyond monosyllables.
He put the broken camera in a separate box to see if it could be repaired and
loaded everything into his van. When he closed the door, I said, “It’s getting
late. Did you want to crash at my place again?”
“Thanks.” He slapped my shoulder on the way past. “But I think it’s time
for me to get home. My mum’s been texting me incessantly; she’s getting
worried.”
“Sure.”
Lucky retraced his steps to the house’s front door, where Ruby waited. He
thrust his hands into his pockets and rolled his feet. “Thanks for letting me
turn your house into a science experiment these last few days. And I’m sorry
if anything I’ve done has made it worse.”
She shrugged, her fingers playing with the hem of her cardigan. “It was
nice to have you here. And thanks for helping. Did you want to stay for
dinner?”
He glanced towards the horizon, where the sun was steadily dropping.
“Nah. It’s a long drive back. I’d better start early.”
“All right. I hope I’ll get to see you again soon.”
“Sure. I call in on Jo every few months. We can get together for lunch or
something.” He backed down the steps then raised a hand in farewell. “Take
care, Ruby. Later, Jo.”