“It really is here!” Charlie was startled for only a moment before excitement replaced his surprise.
After searching across Alpena County and tracing Heather from the grave to her abandoned home, they had finally found the true source of the curse.
He immediately turned toward Madison.
“Get ready.”
“Got it.” Madison understood what he meant without further explanation.
She quickly recalled the exorcism spell Fiona had taught her and prepared to cast it the moment Heather revealed herself.
“My…
Golden Arm…” Heather’s rasping voice drifted through the abandoned house as the sound of heavy footsteps drew closer.
Charlie tightened his grip near the Glock at his waist and tried to determine which direction the sound was coming from, but the floor beneath them suddenly cracked.
His pupils contracted.
Charlie reacted faster than he ever had before, grabbing Madison around the waist and throwing both of them forward.
A sharp crash erupted behind them.
The wooden floor where they had been standing split apart as something struck upward with tremendous force.
If Charlie had reacted even a second later, both of them might have lost their legs.
More violent impacts followed.
The crack widened with every blow until broken boards finally burst upward and scattered across the room.
Heather crawled through the opening.
Charlie and Madison recognized the rotting female corpse immediately, but this manifestation was different from the ones created by the curse.
Heather gripped a long-handled axe in her remaining hand, and dried blood stained the heavy blade.
“Give…
my Golden Arm…
back to me!”
Her blood-red eyes locked onto Charlie.
More accurately, they were fixed on the backpack containing the Golden Arm.
Heather charged.
Charlie drew the Glock and opened fire without hesitation.
Gunshots thundered through the abandoned house while brass casings bounced across the dusty floor.
The bullets could not destroy Heather, but they still struck with enough force to interrupt her advance.
Her rotten body jerked backward again and again as Charlie kept firing into her chest and shoulders.
Madison immediately took advantage of the opening.
She raised both hands and began chanting Fiona’s exorcism spell.
Charlie could now vaguely sense the supernatural changes taking place.
With every word Madison spoke, her Spirituality surged around her in waves that would have been completely invisible to an ordinary person.
Heather suddenly shuddered.
The corpse that had ignored bullets and telekinetic impacts now reacted as though an unseen force had wrapped around her soul.
Her body bent backward while a roar filled with rage and genuine fear tore from her ruined throat.
Madison continued chanting.
The farther she progressed into the spell, the more resistance she encountered.
Sweat formed across her forehead while invisible pressure pushed back against her body, but she forced herself to continue.
The room descended into chaos.
Heather’s shrieks mixed with Madison’s incantation while shadowy distortions flickered through the air.
Invisible shock waves spread through the house and rattled the old furniture against the walls.
Charlie’s awakened Spirituality allowed him to remain conscious beneath the supernatural pressure.
Without it, the clash between witchcraft and the evil spirit might have overwhelmed him before the real fight even began.
He spotted an old baseball bat lying among the abandoned furniture.
Most of its paint had peeled away, but the wood still looked solid enough to use. This story is hosted at g.com.
Charlie grabbed it and rushed toward Heather.
The corpse had focused all her strength on resisting Madison’s exorcism, leaving her unable to react properly when Charlie reached her.
He swung the bat into her shoulder with everything he had.
Rotten flesh scattered across the floor.
The blow barely affected her.
Charlie attacked again and quickly realized that hitting Heather’s torso was accomplishing almost nothing.
Her supernatural body absorbed the damage too easily.
He changed targets.
The baseball bat slammed directly into Heather’s knee.
A brittle crack sounded through the room.
Charlie struck the same leg again.
Heather had been concentrating entirely on fighting the exorcism spell, and the sudden damage ruined her balance.
Her knee buckled.
The corpse dropped heavily onto one leg before collapsing to both knees.
The balance of the confrontation immediately shifted.
Madison sensed the opportunity and raised her voice.
The words of the exorcism spell became clearer and stronger while Heather’s movements grew increasingly desperate.
Charlie raised the bat again.
Before he could strike, Heather released a piercing scream and made a desperate gamble.
She swung her remaining arm with all her strength.
The long-handled axe left her hand.
It tore through the room toward Madison with terrifying speed.
The blade cut through the air with a sharp whistle.
Madison saw it coming and froze for a fraction of a second.
If the axe struck her directly, no amount of witch blood would stop it from splitting her body open.
She immediately abandoned the exorcism spell.
Madison thrust out one hand and seized the flying axe with telekinesis at the final possible moment.
The weapon twisted sideways and passed close enough for the wind from its blade to brush her clothes before crashing into the wall.
Cold sweat covered Madison’s face.
Heather was free.
The corpse raised her head and released a furious roar.
Charlie swung the baseball bat again, but Heather caught it with her left hand.
He tried to wrench it free.
The bat did not move.
Charlie had already increased his Physical Body to 1.2, yet Heather’s real corpse possessed far greater strength than the manifestations created by her curse.
The difference became obvious immediately.
Heather pulled the bat toward herself inch by inch.
Charlie clenched his teeth and fought her for several seconds before realizing he would lose.
Instead of allowing her to control the struggle, he suddenly released the weapon.
Heather staggered backward from the unexpected loss of resistance.
Charlie drew the Glock again.
He fired several rounds into her torso before she could recover, forcing the corpse farther away.
“Madison—”
Heather threw the baseball bat.
Charlie reacted on instinct and rolled across the dusty floor.
The bat passed through the space where his head had been and smashed into the wall behind him.
Heather stopped paying attention to Charlie.
For the first time since the Golden Arm had been stolen, her obsession with the object became secondary.
She turned toward Madison.
The exorcism spell represented a genuine threat to her existence, and Heather understood that the witch had to die first.
Her footsteps pounded against the floor.
The damage to her knees no longer appeared to matter.
Heather crossed the room with inhuman speed and charged directly toward Madison.
There was no time for Madison to restart the exorcism spell.
Her heart hammered as she thrust one palm forward.
A massive wave of telekinetic force exploded through the room.
Heather was lifted from the floor and thrown backward like she had been caught inside a tornado.
Her body flew directly over the opening she had created earlier.
She disappeared into the darkness below.
A heavy impact sounded beneath the floor.
Silence returned.
Madison remained motionless while trying to catch her breath.
Her eyes moved across every section of damaged flooring as she waited for another rotten hand to break through.
Charlie pushed himself upright.
“Be careful.
I think you’re her main target now.”
Madison glanced toward him.
“Get onto the couch,” Charlie continued.
“If she comes through the floor again, it’ll give you a little warning.”
Madison immediately followed his suggestion.
She lifted one foot toward the couch.
A blackened hand exploded through the floor beneath her.
Rotten fingers wrapped around Madison’s ankle.
Her eyes widened.
“Charlie!”
Heather yanked downward.
The floor shattered beneath Madison, and she disappeared with a scream.
“Shit!”
Charlie rushed toward the opening.
He dropped onto one knee and was about to look into the darkness when a burst of flame suddenly erupted from beneath the floor.
Charlie recoiled before the fire could scorch his face.
Instead of panicking, relief immediately flooded through him.
The flames meant Madison was still fighting.
Once the fire faded, Charlie hurried back to the opening and reached down.
“Madison!”
A slender hand emerged from the darkness and caught his wrist.
Charlie grabbed it with both hands and pulled.
A moment later, Madison climbed back through the broken floor.
Her clothes were dirty and her hair was disheveled, but otherwise she appeared completely unharmed.