Chapter Thirteen: Summoning

Sisi rocked back and forth with the screaming book close to her chest.

"Where are you? I can't see anything!" said Isabel. Sisi told her that everything was going to be alright, that she will take care of her no matter what. She stood up from the floor and walked outside into the cool midnight.

"I'm scared," said Isabel, her voice muffled through the book.

Sisi ran faster. She planned to leave everything behind and start anew in Bridgeport. Growing old and turning gray didn't scare her anymore. Not after this. She stretched her arm out and hailed for a cab. When she got in, she told the driver to head for the airport.

"No luggage?" asked the cabbie. Sisi shook her head. When the cab jumped forward, Sisi appeared in the middle of her mansion. Believing she was hallucinating, Sisi closed her eyes and forced herself awake.

"Mom? What's happening?" said Isabel.

When Sisi opened her eyes, she was still in the mansion. The indoor lights were out, but the moon glowered outside. Sisi exited through the front door and ran from the mansion. After thirteen steps, Sisi returned to the living room. She tried again, this time through the back door. She ran past the greenhouse, and after thirteen steps, she was back in the mansion. Sisi fell to her knees.

"Complete the ritual," said The Third, speaking through Sisi's mouth, "complete the ritual, and you can be free."

Her tears pelted the leather cover of Isabel's tome. Sisi begged The Third to take her soul in place of her daughter's. Grant Isabel immortality rather than herself.

"You think I want your tainted soul? Complete the ritual!"

Sisi sobbed at the inhuman tone of her voice. She stood up shaking and ambled towards the greenhouse. She knelt down next to an empty pot and planted Isabel's seed thus silencing her.

Powerless against the force inside, Sisi took all thirteen books from the bookcase and brought them all inside her mansion. The dining table was turned into a makeshift altar. While holding their book, she summoned the souls by invoking their name. At the last book, Sisi struggled to utter her daughter's name.

The souls appeared, their essence brightening the unlit room. They roamed her estate, wondering why they were summoned. Although Sisi was at the thick of it all, not one soul saw her—it was as if she was invisible.

Isabel and Cayden were finally reunited, but Isabel was still shaken after her recent death.

"Where are we?" asked Isabel, reaching out to Cayden and embracing him.

"It's your mother. Something to do with your mother,"

Isabel shook her head.

The ghosts screamed and ducked at something Sisi couldn't see. They watched the ceiling, and some huddled in the middle of the room. Something was trying to grab them. One of the ghosts flew backwards and was sucked into the walls. Another was picked from the ceiling and was gone. Cayden burst into bright red and dissipated in the air. Isabel sunk into the floor. She locked eyes with Sisi, and before she could call and reach out to her mother, she was already consumed by the house.

Stillness came. Sisi sat on the floor, pulled her knees to her chest and cried. She tried to purge all her guilt and all her regrets, but there was no end to her tears.

Morning came. No one spoke to her—not The Third, not Isis. Routine resumed, and the birds' song and the sidewalk bustle broke the silence. She was alone.

There was clarity, an ugly clarity: she finally got what she wanted. She chose this path; the burden was hers. Sisi stood from the floor and stepped out of her mansion. She sauntered away, took fourteen steps and never returned.