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CHAPTER 5
Everyone stood in the main great room of the Fergusons'
mansion. Nessy figured this would work best for her contraptions, as Wallace
wanted everyone together. The entry hall was too cramped. Here all had plenty
of room to wander while staying in the same place. Most of the mansions the
Wranglers had visited in Phoenix had similar spaces, and Wallace found they
always worked well, even if all they did was debunk the various claims in the
capital city.
Nessy had a large gadget which would force the spirit to
show itself without the need for aetherial devices, and another which would
make it possible for them to communicate with it. Both ran on steam, and she
had already made sure they were filled with water for continuous use. The
contraptions had proved valuable in past investigations when they dealt with
actual spirits, and no doubt it would be the same this time. Wallace hoped so,
anyway, while Nessy was positive.
"What do we do?" Bart asked. The rest of his
family also threw questioning glances towards the Wranglers.
Joshua took up the explanation. "We wait for Wallace to
sense that the spirit is with us, and then we let the devices take over."
Nessy let out a big smile, smacked the side of one of her
contraptions, and stared explaining how they worked. Before she could build up
much of a head of steam, Wallace sensed the spirit. He didn't see it in the
room with them, but it was close.
"Time to bring it forth, Nessy," he said.
She rolled her eyes at the interruption, but didn't miss a
beat in tossing down a small device, no bigger than a snuffbox. It would draw
the spirit to it, and then the bigger contraption would take over to get it to
reveal itself. Wallace felt it working right away, and a second or two later,
he alone could see the spirit in the room, fixated on the tiny device. He
motioned for Nessy to expose it, and after a loud clank of the thing powering
on, everyone saw the ghost.
"It is him," Bart whispered, and the spirit turned
towards him and said something, though none of them could hear it.
Nessy stepped over to the other steam-powered contraption
and started it up. Since she'd primed it while they'd initially set up, like
the other one, it didn't take long. The first sound they heard, besides the
contraption's rumblings itself, was a ghostly laughter.
"That laugh is definitely his," Rachel said, awe
in her voice. Next to her, Bart nodded.
"Indeed it is, Madam Shop Keeper," the spirit
said. His mouth movements didn't match the words, but there was no doubt they
came from it.
Wallace and Joshua shared a look. This was the best voice
quality they'd ever received. Nessy would have joined them in their look, but
she was transfixed with her gadget.
"Since you remember me, you'll also remember that you
possess something of mine," the spirit said.
"We have nothing of yours," Bart said.
"Not even in your coat?" the spirit answered.
Wallace's eyes flickered over to Bart at once, and the man
blanched and put his hand over a pocket inside his suit jacket.
"We paid you for it," Rachel said. "It was a
legitimate business deal."
The spirit again bellowed out its otherworldly laugh.
"It seems we have a different definition of business. But that matters not
anymore. What you now need to understand is that I am currently in control of a
demon. It wants nothing more than to break free of my restraints, but I can
keep hold of it for the time being. Give me my artifact, and I'll banish it
back to whence it came. If not, I shall soon lose control, and it will be able
to carry out the reason I called it -- to devour the souls of your
family."
"We did nothing wrong," Bart barked at the spirit.
He turned to Wallace. "Banish it now."
Wallace shook his head. "If we do that, the demon will
be free, and we don't yet know how to combat it. That means it'll be free to
suck out your souls."
Rachel let out an unladylike curse, one even Nessy rarely
uttered.
"Keep your lie, and the four of you will cease to
exist," the spirit said.
With that, it disappeared, but Wallace could still sense danger
in the room. An explosion of energy erupted from where the spirit had stood,
and a monstrous head, easily the size of the machine horse that pulled their
cart from the zephyr drift station to the house, hovered before them. It made no
move, but it didn't need to. Wallace had seen plenty in his time of hunting
spirits, but nothing compared to this … thing, this demon.
The room had been unseasonably cold with the spirit in it,
but now it went downright icy. Silence assaulted the great room as everyone
lost their ability to breathe. Almost as quick as it appeared, the demon was
gone, and when it was, Wallace couldn't remember a specific detail about it
other than its huge and horrifying appearance. He supposed that was his mind at
work keeping him sane.
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