Experiment in Terror 05 On Demon Wings (37 page)

the devil once.

Dex slammed the car into park and he and Ada jumped

out of the car while I remained writhing inside. The rusty

door to the smal house banged open and a tal , slim native

man in jeans and an old, grey San Francisco Giants

sweatshirt stepped out. He was surprisingly young, you

know, for an exorcist, maybe a few years older than Dex.

Dex shook the man’s hand vigorously and then, as the man

shook Ada’s, someone else emerged from the trailer.

It was Bird. Stoic Bird from Red Fox, with his dusty

denim jacket, weather-beaten face and imitation Raybans.

Aside from a quick slap on the back, and Bird motioning to

Dex’s head wound with concern, there was no time for a

reunion. Dex pointed at the car and they al came running

for me.

I tried with al my heart to get the creature away from me,

to be able to act as myself to Bird and to tel him how much

I appreciated him for trying to help me once again, but I

couldn’t. If anything, my attempts made it push me back

even farther. A layer of film settled over my vision, like I was

looking through a thick piece of laminate, and al sound

came at me as through underwater channels.

Dex opened the door and the exorcist and Bird peered

down at me, sussing me out. I puffed in and out the piece of

duct tape instead, tried to wriggle myself free and uttered

supernatural groans.

The man, who I assumed was Roman, shook his head

defiantly and started muttering in his native tongue. Then he

began yel ing at Bird in that language, pointing at me and

frowning. Bird laid his hands on Roman and answered him

back calmly, stil in another language.

Final y, Dex asked, “Excuse me but what’s the

problem?”

Bird looked at me and then at Dex with a tight-lipped

smile. “Roman’s upset because I didn’t tel him how bad

she real y was.”

“I didn’t know,” Dex said to him, then he turned to

Roman. “I didn’t know until last night. You speak English,

right?”

“Yes, I speak English,” Roman snapped. He gestured at

me without much concern. “She’s too far gone; this is

unfixable.”

If I had a heart that stil belonged to me, it would have

been shattered wide open.

I was unfixable.

I was going to die.

Dex grabbed Roman by the front of his sweatshirt and

brought him right up to his face.

“You’re going to fix her,” he snarled, his dark eyes

sparking as they bore holes into Roman’s. “She’s a lot

stronger than she looks. She is stil in there and you’re

going to help her, or so help me God.”

“You’l need your God if you think you’re going to win this

battle,” Roman said. He exchanged a measured look with

Bird and then gave a short nod. “OK. Let’s see what we can

do. Just, please release me.”

Dex stared at him intensely for a few seconds, the dried

blood down the side of his face making him look borderline

homicidal, before he backed off and unclenched his hands

from the sweatshirt. He took a quick look at me and then

walked away, shaking his shoulders, trying to cool off.

I was foaming at the mouth, the spil age leaking out

underneath the duct tape. Roman brought his face in

deeper to mine and started muttering in his language

again. Even though he was Nez Perce, it sounded like

Navajo to my faraway ears and would explain why he and

Bird could talk to each other.

Bird nodded and replied back. Then as Roman started

to undo the duct tape, Bird’s warm face fil ed my line of

sight as he leaned close to me.

“Perry,” he said gently. “I can see past these eyes. I

know you’re in there. I know you can hear me. I know you

must be scared right now but we’l need you to listen to us.

You must do what we say. This is going to be very

complicated. But it’s not impossible. You must have faith.

You must cal on your faith. Faith in God, if you stil believe.

Faith in the universe if you don’t. Faith in love. Faith in

yourself and faith in others. Faith wil give you courage and

grant you hope. Use that.”

Roman said something else as he ripped off the duct

tape from my legs.

“What was that?” Bird asked.

This time Roman whispered it. Bird looked back at my

face and eyed it distrustful y.

“I see,” Bird said softly. His jaw set.

Neither Dex nor Ada had caught the exchange. They

were standing outside the trailer, Dex with his arms

crossed and tapping his foot nervously, Ada babbling

distressingly. They were too far away to hear. But I knew

something was going on, something that only Bird and

Roman knew. I wished I could have asked but al I did was

continue to make shuddering groans.

When Roman was done freeing me from the seat, I

thought the thing would have made me attack him and flail

wildly like an injured worm. But I was motionless. Not in

control, but quiet. Maybe waiting for them to let their guards

down. Maybe the thing inside me knew what Roman was

capable was. I sure as hel didn’t.

Roman took my legs and Bird wrapped his hands

around my shoulders and together they lifted me out of the

car and walked sideways to the house. It was sunny but

surprisingly cold, with a bitter breeze that rol ed off the far-

off hil s. Dex kept the rusted door open as they took me

inside.

From my limited view, the house was clean and

threadbare. What little furniture there was was neat but stil

gave the impression of either poverty or neglect. There was

a screen door that had holes punched through it in places

and looked out onto the rol ing, brown land outside.

They took me down a smal narrow hal way with yel ow

wal s that Bird kept hitting with his stocky shoulders. I could

see a room at the end of the hal that looked like a study

and a greenhouse combined, fil ed with plants and books. I

was put into a room comprised of a narrow bed, an

armchair and a few native artworks on the wal .

They laid me down in the middle of the bed, and as Bird

left the room, Roman reached under the bed and pul ed out

three leather straps.

Dex’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

Roman ignored him and went around to the other side,

pul ing out three more straps. Then he leaned over me and

started strapping me in, one across my chest, one across

my hips and one across my legs.

“Is that real y necessary?” Dex exclaimed, making a

move for him.

Ada reached out and grabbed his arm, pul ing him back.

“You know it is,” she said quietly, her eyes warning him

to stay put.

Dex eyed her hand and then relented. They watched

from the back of the room as Roman finished up. He fished

a pocket knife out of his back pocket and flipped open the

blade. He held the blade above me and I heard Ada gasp.

But he merely stuck the edge of the blade underneath

the duct tape and freed me down the middle, tearing me

open like sausage casing.

“I won’t rip it off,” he said to me. “I know it would hurt you,

stil .”

“I hope you’re talking to Perry,” Dex said.

Roman gave Dex a grave look. “I am. I can see she’s

there, too. But you both must understand that I may have to

hurt Perry at some point.”

“What? No!” Ada protested. “You don’t hurt her. You hurt

what’s
in
her.”

Roman straightened up and flipped his knife back in his

pocket like it was second nature. Just what kind of a

shaman was he?

“Sometimes you don’t have a choice,” he said matter-of-

factly.

“Is that what happened with the last boy, the one who

died?” Dex asked snidely. He immediately regretted it.

Roman’s eyes turned to steel.

“I barely touched the boy. He would have died anyway. I

did get the demon out and that’s what counts. Do you think

it’s easy to see that happen? He was only four. I had to

move towns; everyone was saying I did something wrong.

But I didn’t. The damage was already done when he came

to me. It was too late.”

The room grew silent. Dex looked down at the floor and

Ada shifted uncomfortably.

Bird came back in the room holding a heavy box and

placed it in front of Roman. He gave Dex and Ada a stern

look. “If Roman seems cold, it’s because he has to be. The

medicine man can have no emotional attachments to the

person in question. He can have no fear. Evil preys on fear.

It feeds on emotions. Even love.”

Roman started lifting things out of the box. I raised my

head to look and was struck by the fact that I could. Was I in

control?

I tried to talk but nothing came out. My throat wouldn’t

work, my mouth wouldn’t move. Just my head moved and it

was probably the
thing
, trying to take stock of what was

going on.

But Dex, he took his attention off the boxes and looked

right at me. I held his gaze, wondering if he could see my

real eyes or if they were just swirling black pools. His own

eyes were magnetic, his brows furrowed grimly. It was like

he was trying to tel me something, hoping I’d hear it. I didn’t

know what it was, but it helped knowing he was there and

watching me, trying to establish a connection.

Bird and Roman brought out a smal native drum,

something that looked like incense holders, matches, little

wooden bowls and baggies of earth-colored herbs and

plants. Roman looked up at Dex and Ada and said, “We

have to set up for the ceremony. You wil have to leave the

room.”

Dex tore his eyes away from mine with effort and shook

his head. “I don’t think so.”

Bird got up, one leg at a time, and placed his hand on

Dex’s shoulder. “I know you care about her. But she’s not

going anywhere for now. We have to cleanse the room.

Then you can come back in.”

Roman said something to Bird in the native language

and Bird nodded sharply. He looked back at Dex with

imploring eyes. “Please? We must hurry.”

Dex and Ada sighed and left the room, both of them

throwing a glance at me over their shoulders before they

went out the door. Bird went over and closed it after them. It

felt so final. I know he said they could come back in after,

but I had no idea what was in store.

With Ada and Dex gone, Bird lit up some sage and started

waving it around in al corners of the room. It reminded me

a lot of the ceremony we did in the sweat-lodge with Rudy.

Rudy, the last shaman I had come in contact with. He had

gone missing during that ceremony, presumably kil ed by

the skinwalkers. I wondered if Roman knew how dangerous

I seemed to be. I wondered if he was ready. Though the

thought of him using physical force on me was scary, I was

become desensitized to the way my body was treated, and

if he had to hurt me to free me, then he could hurt me al he

wanted. I’d welcome it.

Roman lit a few candles around the room, then pul ed

shut the thick curtains so the room was dark except for a

bare lamp in the corner that created haunting shadows on

the wal . Bird continued to wave the sage, then he lit

another sweet-smel ing herb and started al over again, this

time chanting. At first to himself, but Roman would join in at

odd times while he burned something in a wooden smudge

pot.

After the last herb died to smoldering ashes and the

room was thick with blue haze, Roman gestured to the

drum. Bird eased himself cross-legged on the floor and

brought the drum to his lap while Roman went to the door

and stuck his head out, cal ing down the hal way.

Dex and Ada appeared in the doorframe, coughing and

waving at the air.

“No,” Roman said, firmly grabbing Ada’s hand in mid-

wave. “Don’t move it. It is to help us. Breathe it in. It wil help

purify you both.”

He shut the door behind them and told them to stand at

the foot of the bed; then he came around the other side and

stood beside me.

“Tel me how this al started,” he said.

Ada and Dex looked at each other. Ada stepped a bit

forward and started rehashing everything that had

happened, leaving out a few things like the miscarriage and

Abby.

“And where do you come in?” Roman asked Dex.

Dex coughed and cleared his throat, looking strangely