CHAPTER 6
"So what is the thing in your jacket?" Wallace
asked Bart when everyone had quieted and caught their breath.
Bart's hand went to his pocket, but he didn't answer. It was
Abel who filled them in.
"It's an amulet of some sort. It looks like a pocket
watch without the watch."
"What's its purpose?" Nessy asked. "Simple
decoration?"
"We don't know," Molly said. "It has power of
some sort, that's easy enough to tell when you hold it, but we haven't figured
out its actual use."
"That's enough, both of you," Rachel snapped.
Joshua put his hand out to silence Rachel, while he made eye
contact with Bart to keep him quiet, too. "We need to hear this. Your
souls are at stake. You not only saw the thing, but felt it, too. The spirit
isn't bluffing."
The two elder Fergusons clenched their jaws, but both
nodded. It was obvious, however, they would leave the tale-telling to their
children. Wallace also couldn't help but notice Bart kept the artifact hidden.
"The guy came in one afternoon needing a good deal of
supplies -- food, tools, tarps, and other miscellanies. We figured he was
trying his luck prospecting off the Prosperity claim, but we never did learn
for certain. He couldn't pay, but promised he would get the money soon if we'd
only let him have everything on credit. I'd been the one helping him at that
point, but at that age I couldn't make the decision about credit on my own, so
I passed him over to Father."
All eyes turned to Bart, who sighed and grudgingly took up
the narrative. "Ronald Hart. That was his name. I don't often, if ever,
remember names of those we offer credit to after they are all paid up, but he's
the exception."
Wallace heard
"because of the artifact" in his tone of voice, and saw him twitch
towards it in his pocket, but he left it hidden.
"He offered a family heirloom as collateral. I balked
at first, but when he handed it over, I accepted at once. I didn't even draw up
a contract like I normally would. Something about the amulet made me realize it
wouldn't be necessary."
He paused for a second as a wistful look passed over his
eyes, and then, just as quickly, continued.
"Hart came back a month later, to the day, with the
full amount, plus a bit extra in interest, though we never discussed that. I
sent him away without accepting any of it, telling him he'd already paid in
full. He insisted, but I insisted right back. Who do you think won that
argument?" Bart smiled an unpleasant grin. The true look of a man-eating
business shark.
"Did he ever come back?" Joshua asked.
"Never when Bart was in the store," Rachel said.
"He badgered me and Molly rotten one day until I finally sent her to fetch
Sheriff Donovan. After that, whenever I saw him, I'd simply mention the good
sheriff, and he'd scurry away."
"How did he die?" Joshua asked.
"Don't know," Bart said. "At one point we
noticed he hadn't shown his face in a few months, and after that we never gave
him any more thought."
"So what does it do?" Nessy said, no doubt hoping
her sudden question would this time catch one of them off-guard enough to spill
the beans.
"As I said before," Bart said, "we don't
know. It gives off a feel of power, but we've yet to discover what that power
is." He again declined to pull it out. Wallace decided not to push for it
yet, though at some point it would prove necessary.
"At least now we know why the spirit is so
agitated," Wallace said.
"We paid for it fair and square," Rachel said.
"The spirit doesn't see it that way," Wallace
said.
Rachel firmed up her jaw and looked ready for a fight.
"Fair and square."
Wallace put his hands out in front of him in surrender.
"We're here to help, not argue. I'm simply telling you that the spirit,
this Ronald Hart, doesn't see it as a fair business deal, and he's willing to
eradicate all four of your souls to get that artifact back."
"I have a pretty good idea where to look to figure out
how to banish this demon," Joshua said. "But think about this. Is
that thing that you don't even know what it does worth not just dying for, but
not even existing any longer?"
Wallace nodded at Joshua's words, and he saw Nessy do the
same. The Ferguson parents puffed up in a stubborn pride, unwilling to listen
to the advice, but their two offspring shared a look that proved the words hit
home for them. Not for the first time, Wallace realized Abel and Molly were
their allies here, the best bet to get everyone through this unscathed. He did
feel it necessary to add something, though. "At least promise you'll
discuss it when we've left for the night."
"We will," Abel said, while Molly nodded. Both
parents frowned even deeper, but didn't say anything.
With that, the Spirit Wranglers moved to begin packing up
their equipment. It would stay in the Fergusons' great room overnight and
through most of tomorrow, but Nessy needed it packed in boxes to keep wandering
hands off while she wasn't there. Most of the time she wasn't even fond of
Wallace of Joshua touching her contraptions.
As he and Joshua discussed the best ways to research the
demon, Wallace noticed Rachel Ferguson taking an interest in Nessy's
inventions. Though he couldn't hear, it looked as if she were asking pointed
questions mostly about the capture and banishing devices. Since she wasn't
trying to touch anything, she had Nessy happily gabbing all about them and more.
Wallace smiled at his sister's enthusiasm, and then put all his concentration
back on Joshua and their conversation.
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