Auld Lang Syne by J. A. Ironside

Author:J. A. Ironside [Ironside, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-27T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six – Except Each Other

Stephen’s idea to keep the imp at bay, was to cast a circle. I was not wild about the idea – I hate magic – but it wasn’t as if I had any imp repellent lying around, even if there is such a thing. Creating a circle consisted of him walking clockwise around the main parts of the living room coupled with the scattering of some sort of dried herbs along the carpet, sprinkling water on another lap and finally waving around a somewhat moth eaten incense stick.

I was fairly certain he was using tap water and had raided the ancient spice rack in the kitchen for herbs, which hadn’t actually been touched since long before I moved into the flat. I was drawing a blank as to where he got the incense. It was a cut budget version of the circle Fiona had cast on the eve of the midwinter solstice. A quick glance at Amy told me she was remembering the same occasion. Although perhaps with more mixed feelings, since her gaze.slid sideways to Stephen, while colour climbed in her cheeks. No sooner had my cousin completed the circle – which momentarily felt like a plane ascending and the change in air pressure pulling on your eardrums – than the lights came back on, rendering all our lit candles redundant.

I’d had time, while Stephen was setting up barrier, to look through Aubrey Harker’s journal, which Amy had miraculously held onto. What struck me, was that it was less a record of investigations and notes on strange creatures as so many of the other Harker and Blackthorn files were, and more of a personal diary. Somewhere he went to pour out his thoughts and work out his feelings. Amy had found the passage that Stephen had book marked. An imp of perverse. It was a fitting name for the creature which had somehow escaped from the box. Stephen flopped down onto the sofa next to me, shaken and fatigued.

“Any ideas what to do next?” Amy said.

“We need to get that creature back in its container,” I said. “I don’t think any of us should leave until it’s done. We can’t take the risk of it getting out into the wider world.”

Stephen gave me a sardonic look. “You just had to open the box, didn’t you?”

“We’ve moved on from assigning blame to solving the problem, cousin,” I said. “Perhaps you would care to put your considerable intellect towards that end.” I am not a person who wallows in guilt. Having accepted responsibility, I was far more interested in solutions.

Stephen opened his mouth as if to argue with me, but Amy rested a hand on his arm.

The sudden change in atmosphere was electrifying. Stephen went absolutely rigid. Amy snatched her hand away as if she’d been holding it against a hot stove. Both of them looked anywhere except at each other. I would have felt more irritated by the situation, which was clearly going to impinge

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