Page 88 of The Curse of Redwood
“Come on.” I put an arm around him and helped him back to his feet. “I’ll help you get to the couch. Do you want me to make some tea?”
“That would be excellent,” Callum said, leaning against me as we walked from the room. “How do you feel?”
“Better,” I answered, relieved that I no longer felt like someone else was poking around in my skull. My headache had completely gone away as well. “All thanks to you.”
After I placed him on the couch, I went back into the room for my shirt and hoodie. That’s when I glanced down at the mark on my chest. It looked like a tattoo. A half circle had two lines slashing through it, reminding me of a shield. I ran my fingers over it, surprised that it felt so smooth.
I put my clothes back on and left the room, closing the door on my way out. A gut feeling told me to do so. There was a lot of magic in that room. Best to keep it contained.
“Do you know how to make tea?” Callum asked, lying on the couch with an arm across his eyes.
“Yep. My granny taught me.” I filled the kettle with water and placed it on the stove. “We used to sit and talk as we drank tea and ate cookies. I know that might sound girly or childish or whatever, but it’s a time with her I’ll always cherish. She was a great woman.”
“She’s proud of you, you know.”
I flipped around, confused.
Callum moved his arm from his face and looked over at me. “I can speak with spirits. Sometimes I can only reach them through a séance or Ouija board, but when they want me to speak for them, they come directly to me.”
“Has she said anything else?” I asked, walking into the living room and sitting in the high back chair beside the couch.
“She wants me to tell you she’s not in pain anymore and that she’s happy.” Callum sat up a little and shoved a few pillows behind him. He then chuckled. “She also says to, and I quote, ‘Remove my goddamn yarn from the living room.’ I didn’t know she had a mouth on her.”
I choked on a laugh. “That’s my grandma for you.”
Even from beyond the grave, she was giving me her life lessons. I needed to let go of a lot of things. It wasn’t healthy to hold on to them and pretend everything was as it used to be because it wasn’t.
“Do you have anything to clean your wound with?” I asked, standing from the chair. “It doesn’t need to get infected.”
“The bottom shelf in the bathroom,” he answered, looking at the wrapping on his hand. Blood had started to seep through the cloth. “You really don’t have to. I can do it later.”
“After what you did for me, I owe you big time.”
Once getting the stuff from the bathroom, I doctored his hand and put a fresh cloth around it before taking the kettle off the burner and steeping some tea bags. He told me several times I could go home, but I didn’t feel right leaving him alone in that state. Plus, it was because of me he was even in that situation to begin with.
“Can you tell me more about the other ritual?” I asked, gathering the tea cups, cream, and sugar onto a tray. “How do I need to prepare?”
“To banish the spirit, I’ll need something of his. Preferably his bones.”
I jolted, nearly knocking a cup into the floor. “Um, like digging up his body?”
“Yes, Carter, that is where bones come from.”
I brought the tray over and placed it in front of him on the coffee table. “I don’t know where he’s buried. Hell, I still don’t know how he died.”
“If you can’t find his bones, an item of his from when he was alive will suffice, but it won’t be nearly as strong.” Callum looked to have regained more of his strength as he poured tea into his cup and added just a dash of cream. “The ritual will need to be performed at Redwood.”
“I thought you couldn’t go back.”
“Ican. I’ve just chosen not to.” Callum stirred his tea before taking a sip. “But it’s the only way. I’ll be sure to protect myself, perhaps with an amulet to ward off negative energy. Don’t worry about me. Just worry about taking care of yourself in the meantime.”
It was after midnight when I finally left. I debated on going to Redwood, but the ghosts would be too active at that late hour. Zeke said he locked away the dangerous ones on the third floor, so I should’ve been safe, but I was also drained—both emotionally and physically. I needed a good night’s sleep.
When I pulled into my driveway, I saw lights on in the house. I sometimes forgot to lock my door, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. I got out of my car and went inside. Ben and Taylor sat on the couch, playing cards. They looked up as I walked through the door and rushed over to me.
“How did it go?” Ben asked.
“Did Callum get rid of the ghost?” Taylor added.
