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Shelet herself into her apartment and closed the door with a relieved sigh.Aloneat last…well,mostly.
Therewas only one spirit inhabiting the cruddy little studio, but it was a benign one—the ghost of a littleSpanishgrandmother who had lived there nearly fifty years ago, back whenTheCarltonArmswas actually a nice place to live.
Hannasaw her shade, puttering around the little corner of the apartment she thought of as the “kitchen nook”—just a single countertop with a two-burner stove, a microwave, and a tiny oven.Sometimesshe could smell the ghost of spicyenchiladasor the sweet, creamy scent ofdulce de leche.Abuelita, asHannathought of her, was almost always cooking or baking something.
Shedidn’t mind sharing her living space with a ghost likeAbuelita.She’dlived a happy life and the echoes of her contentment still lingered here.Thoughthey never talked to one another, sometimes the little old woman would nod at her, before going back to her endless baking.
Unfortunately, she was no help at all when it came to theDarkEntity.Hannahad to deal with him herself—which she did as well as she could.Astired as she was, she knew her wards had to be renewed before she could dare to sleep on the lumpy, fold-out couch bed in the center of the room.
Shestarted by washing the few windows she had with water she’d collected during the last full moon night.Waterthat had been blessed by the light of the full moon had special warding and cleansing properties.Thenshe swept up the salt from her last ward and threw it away.Itwas time for something new—something more powerful to keep theDarkEntityout.
Takinga stick ofSageincense that herAuntLunahad given her,Hannalit it and began walking around the interior perimeter of her cramped apartment.Asshe walked, she waved the burning incense around and murmured over and over,
“Bythe power of fire,Iward thee.Cleansethis space from all unclean spirits and ward it from those who wish me harm.Bythe power of fireIward thee…”
Itdidn’t take long to walk the whole apartment.—it was barely five hundred square feet.Bythe time she was finished, the incense stick was only half gone.Hannaset it in a holder where it could continue to smolder and opened the new box ofKoshersalt.Crouchinglow, she poured a thick line of salt all around her fold-out couch bed, murmuring as she did,
“Bythe cleansing saltIward thee.Letthis be a barrier to any who would wish me ill.”
HerAuntLunahad taught her these wards when she began seeingImpsand other dark spirits as a teen.Upuntil then, she’d mostly just seen dead people and the spirits of the lost.
Manypeople can see spirits when they’re young children—it’s one reason you hear so many stories of three and four year olds talking about how their dead grandparents came to visit them and watch over them.However, after the age of four—five at the latest—most people lose theGift.Thosewho are able to seeBeyondtheVeilpast that age are often labeled crazy or insane.
Thathad nearly happened toHanna.Herparents had seriously thought about institutionalizing her because they thought she was schizophrenic.Ithad been herAuntLunawho saved her, giving up a lucrative practice as aMediuminCaliforniato move back toTampaand be close to her troubled andGiftedniece.
Hannawould forever be grateful to her aunt—who was rather eccentric but also sweet and caring.Shehad becomeHannaand her sisterSamantha’sguardian after their parents were killed in a car accident whenHannawas thirteen andSamwas sixteen.Andher wards had always worked to keepHannasafe…until theDarkEntity, that was.
Pushingthat thought aside,Hannafinished the salt circle and decided she couldfinallytake a shower and go to bed.Shescrubbed her body with the harsh bar soap which was all she could afford and washed her long hair with cheap shampoo she’d gotten at theDollarStore.Thenshe dried herself and dragged on a raggedy old sleep shirt—holey but clean and comfortable—and went back to the main room of her studio apartment.
Dawnwas only half an hour away when she finally collapsed, exhausted, onto the lumpy fold-out couch mattress.Shethought about trying to stay up until the light started peeking in the windows—theDarkEntityhad only ever come to her at night and she was more vulnerable when she was sleeping because her guard was down.Butshe felt like she justcouldn’thold her eyelids open one more second.
Witha little moan of pure weariness, she crawled under the scratchy bargain sheets she’d found on clearance and laid her head on the lumpy pillow.Inthe kitchen nook,Abuelitawas humming faintly to herself and making something that smelled like vanilla caramel flan.Thesoothing scents mixed with the sage incense lulledHannainto a state of calm.
Witha sigh, she let her eyes drift closed and fell into a dreamless sleep…only to be woken a few minutes later by a cold voice speaking in her ear.
3
HANNA
“Whyhello,Hanna…how are you tonight?Areyou hungry for my touch?”
Hanna’seyes flew open and she saw what she had been dreading—the burning red eyes were staring at her from just outside her window.
“No!”Hervoice was a low croak filled with fear. “Youcan’t come in!Iwarded the apartment against you!Iwashed the windows with full moon water and used sage incense in my warding!Youcan’tcome in!”
“Oh, can’tI?”
Theburning red eyes floated through the glass as though there was nothing in the way at all.Theyseemed to leer at her from the foot of the bed and she could feel the hungry lust of theDarkEntityas he stared at her.
Hanna’sheart was pounding but she still had the unbroken line of salt around her bed.Thathad kept theDarkEntityout so far.Mostlyhe came to hover just outside the salt ring and leer at her.
“I…I’mnot afraid of you,” she told him, trying to believe it was true. “Youcan’t cross my warded circle!Justleave me alone!”
“Isthat what you truly think?”Suddenlythe burning red eyes were floating towards her.Thenthey were hovering right over her—right over the bed!
Hanna’sskin broke out in goose-bumps as the temperature plummeted.Whena terrified gasp escaped her, she could see a plume of her own breath in the frigid air.
“N-n-no!”Herteeth were chattering, though she couldn’t tell if it was with fear or cold. “N-no—leave me al-lone!”
