Betrayal - Fern Michaels [124]
Sophie had read somewhere that once wood was charged with an unnatural entity, it acted as a conductor. When Toots remodeled the house, they’d kept the table for the sole purpose of conducting séances. Using a purple silk sheet for a tablecloth and a drinking glass as their tool for communication should a spirit decide to join them, Sophie did what she always did before they began. She said her prayer.
“Oh, great one, bless this dump and those who inhabit it, living or dead.”
Toots kicked her on the shin beneath the table. Sophie cast a wicked eye at her best friend, as if to say, “I’ll kick your rear end later.”
Sophie took her bottle of holy water and spritzed it around the table. She flicked a few extra droplets in Toots’s face just to tick her off.
She sat back down in her chair, tucking the small bottle of holy water inside her pocket. “We are here to communicate with the other side. We are friendly. We mean no harm.” Sophie said this at the beginning of every séance she conducted. Who knew what kind of evil lurked in other dimensions?
“Let’s place our fingertips on the glass. Very gently,” Sophie instructed.
When the tips of their fingers were lightly touching the glass, Sophie scanned the others. All three had their eyes closed. Good. They were learning. She closed her own.
“If there is anyone who wishes to make contact, we are willing to allow you into our . . . realm,” she said in place of the word home. She really wanted to say home, as it sounded so much more inviting. Couldn’t have a spirit believing they weren’t welcome. “Come into our home,” she added, suddenly changing her mind.
No air circulated in the room, yet the candles she had lit earlier flickered, as though a slight breeze had passed through the room. Sophie opened her eyes, shocked at what she saw.
Hundreds of tiny white lights, orbs they were called, spun around the room so fast, it was hard to follow the movement.
“What the hell?” Toots blurted in total amazement.
“Shh,” Sophie cautioned. “I’m not sure what’s happening.”
Mavis and Ida stared at the bright dots dancing around the room. Moving, it seemed, at the speed of light, the orbs whirled around the room, then shot off to who knew where, only to have another hundred or so take their places. After several minutes of shock at what they were seeing, they heard a soft drone begin to fill the room, low, as if the sound were coming from a distance.
Bees, Sophie thought. It sounds like a swarm of bees. Seconds passed; the noise grew louder. Toots, Ida, and Mavis looked to Sophie for guidance. The noise became louder and more distinct as the small circles of light darted around the dining room.
Voices. It sounded like hundreds of people trying to talk at once. Sophie jerked to attention, trying to identify the interpreter, or whatever it called itself. Her hearing as sharp as a sword, Sophie went from her normal olive-colored skin to white in less than a second.
“Walter!” she whispered, knowing it couldn’t be, yet she’d clearly identified his voice as one among many. Maybe she was cracking up, losing touch with reality. Maybe it was time to give up the ghosts, move on to something more . . . earthbound.
The others gaped at her. “Sophie,” Toots said in a normal tone. “What did you just say?”
“Nothing.” Sophie shook her head, hoping to clear what she thought she heard. She scanned the room, still jam-packed with the translucent balls of light, trying to distinguish exactly where this so-called voice was coming from.
“Liar,” Toots said in a low tone.
“Shh,” she said. Sophie leaned closer to the table, wrenching her neck into a position so precarious that it actually made a popping sound.
“Are you okay?