Teri Brown: Born of Deception

Calypso frowns. “No. You don’t know anything. You think you do, but you don’t. For instance, you don’t know why I chose you in particular.”

Her gaze is unfocused as if she’s been smoking hashish. I move forward, willing her to do the same. She takes a step and my pulse speeds up. Just a bit more . . . “You chose me for my good taste in hats, didn’t you?” I say.

Calypso stops and laughs, a lilting girlish sound that sounds freakishly innocent. “No, silly. I was going to use Cole until I met you. But you had such interesting abilities and so much power. I felt it the moment I met you. Everyone was talking about it. So I chose you!”

I take another step toward her, but my toes are at the salt and I don’t want to get into the circle with her. “You chose me for what?”

The spirit being is still undulating around me as if sniffing for a way in. I shiver as the coldness brushes my skin.

“I chose you because I want your abilities. I discovered an incantation, you see. One that will allow me to claim your powers for my own.”

I have one hand on my balisong in my pocket, but I don’t want to pull it. For some reason giving Calypso a knife seems like a bad idea. “That’s why you killed Pratik?”

She nods. “I needed the blood. Dr. Boyle was angry because he wanted Pratik alive. Pratik’s ability to see people’s auras would have come in very handy in Dr. Boyle’s quest for fortune. He would have been able to tell Dr. Boyle exactly who was corruptible and who was not. But I decided I didn’t need Dr. Boyle’s money anymore. If I could combine my abilities and your abilities, I could make all the money I needed.”

She moves to a table and picks up a small urn. My heart sinks as she steps farther from the circle. Dipping her fingers into the urn, she touches her forehead and her nose and chin. I gag when I realize what it is.

Blood.

Aiwass leaves my side as if attracted to the scent of blood. Again, Calypso tilts her head to one side as if listening, and then her eyes turn to me. “What do you have? What are you wearing?”

I glance down at myself before I realize what she means.

The pendant.

“Take it off!” she commands.

I cover it with one hand, protecting it. “No, thank you. I think I’ll keep it.” I must get her to step forward. “How did you use Cole to get to me? I thought you couldn’t influence Sensitives?”

She smiles and I shiver at the craftiness that comes over her face. “I can if they wish to be influenced. Pratik wanted to believe that I was in love with him. Cole was more difficult because he’s in love with you, but even he was flattered by my attentions. Men are so very, very easy.”

“If men are so easy, why can’t you influence your father?” I taunt, trying to push her over the edge. I’ll never gain the upper hand as long as she is in control of herself. Not with Aiwass by her side.

Calypso’s mouth tightens at my words and she slaps her hand against her thigh repeatedly. “My father is the most powerful man in the world! Don’t talk about my father! Your father won’t even acknowledge your existence.”

My stomach knots. In spite of the situation, her words still sting. “How do you know that?” I demand, even though I know I shouldn’t let her sidetrack me.

A triumphant smile curves her lips as if she knows that she got to me. “Aiwass told me. He tells me everything.”

I shake off her words and focus. “My father cares about me in his way. Does yours? I’m not so sure. He and I had a long visit today, you know.”

“You’re lying!” she says through gritted teeth, but I sense her uncertainty.

I feel Aiwass whipping back to me as if frustrated. Bless Harry Price, I think reverently. The tension in the room presses in on me from all sides, making it difficult to breathe. “No, I’m not. He wants you to come see him. He sent me to bring you home.”

Her face contorts. “Liar!”

The door opens with a bang and both Calypso and I jump.

It’s Billy, holding Mr. Casperson around the neck with one arm.

“You didn’t tell me what to do if someone was going in, so I improvised.”

Billy takes in the situation with a glance but doesn’t comprehend what’s going on or where the danger is. All he sees is two young women arguing.

Mr. Casperson slumps, and Billy is momentarily thrown off balance. He regains it quickly, but doesn’t loosen his hold. Then he moves to my side, dragging the now inert man with him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Calypso’s lips curving up into a smile. “Let the man fall to the ground,” she says.

Her intent hits me as Billy’s eyes glaze over.

What have I done?

“Billy, run!” I scream.

But it’s too late.

“Let the man drop!” Calypso commands.

As if puzzled by his own behavior, Billy lets Mr. Casperson go. The man drops to the floor, apparently unconscious. Calypso turns to me, triumph written on her face. “Get Anna’s necklace.”

I whisk my balisong out of my pocket and flick it open, but Billy is too fast for me and the chain is broken off my neck before I can get my knife up to his arm. The pendant clatters to the floor and I hear a hiss as the spirit makes a beeline for me. I shove Billy out of the way and bend to try to grab the necklace.

“No,” Calypso cries before running toward me. I glance up when she screams out in frustration.

She’s in the salt circle.

The spirit hits me and I can feel an excruciatingly cold mist penetrating my chest. I want to cry out, to scream for help, but there is no one here who can help me. My ribs feel as if they are being pried apart as the spirit forces its way inside me. I drop to my knees as my body convulses in protest. Instinctively, I know that if this spirit possesses me, I will never be the same. Even now I feel the insanity eating away at the edges of my mind. Cole! I reach for him with everything I have but feel no answering spark, no warmth of connection. I am alone and for the first time I feel complete and utter despair. Then I remember.

“Walter!” I cry out with every bit of fight I have left.

Suddenly, the spirit is violently torn away from me and I whimper. With effort, I raise my head, blinking as my sight clears.

Calypso is still screaming, charging about the circle like a caged animal. The salt circle worked! I nearly sob in relief until my eyes take in the horror happening in the air over her head.

Two separate entities are clashing in the air so violently that I almost imagine I hear the crashing of thunder, though in reality, their fight is eerily silent and the only sound in the room is Calypso’s howling madness.

Billy slumps back against the wall, watching, horror written all over his face, as the mists momentarily become one, part, and then come together again. Slowly, one of them takes on the form of a slightly built young man in uniform.

Walter!

Calypso rushes toward the edge of the salt circle. I snatch up my pendant and scramble back at the fury on her face. She turns toward Billy. “Break the circle,” she shrieks. “Break it! Break it!”

Billy stands to do her bidding but doesn’t understand the command.

“Billy, don’t listen to her. She’s evil!” I try to reach him, but he just looks confused at my words.

Walter and Aiwass come together, and I feel rather than hear Walter’s soft cry. My heart breaks as I watch him start to crumble. He’s no match for Aiwass’s power. Like Billy, he came to protect me and, like Billy, is in danger for his trouble.

As if sensing her spirit guide’s imminent victory, Calypso regains control of herself. “On the floor, Billy, clean up the salt on the floor.”