I frowned and followed her gaze. Just beyond the iron gate was darkness. There were no lights in the fenced off area and the large trees blocked most of the lights coming from the surrounding streets. We were right in the heart of town. Essex Street was one street over. If it hadn’t been two in the morning, there would have been a ton of people walking around. As it was, the streets were a ghost town.
Ghosts. I shuddered. No pun intended.
Why are we doing this?
“We don’t have to, Saffie,” Gigi said softly from beside me, answering the question I hadn’t meant to say out loud. “But I think it’s worth a shot.”
Savannah spun to face us. “Ma’am, you’re something special. The supernatural world seems drawn to you. Hell, one spirit already spoke to you. We’re doing this because I’m hoping there is a single spirit in Salem that knows you and may be able to answer your questions.”
I bit my bottom lip and eyed the sign over her head. “But a cemetery? Why?”
Gigi shrugged. “Most seances happen in cemeteries. It’s just kind of how it goes. Savannah and I have done many seances before.”
“And we chose this one because Gigi and I have done a séance here before, so we know what kind of energy to expect.”
“But this sign says 1637…how will any of these spirits help me?”
Savannah gestured around us. “Because it’s centrally located, spirits who weren’t buried here may be close enough to still hear our call. Its popularity among tourists actually makes it safer for us. Other more private cemeteries…we could get into all kinds of trouble.”
“Okay.” I blinked and hoped my face didn’t convey the fear rolling beneath the surface. “And you’ve done this before?”
“Yup,” they both said at the same time.
A part of me, a big part, was scared out of my mind and did not want to do this. But the bigger part of me refused to bow down to that fear. I was desperate for anything I could get about my memory - about who I was before a few days ago. So if that meant I had to do a séance and summon the dead to talk to me…then so be it.
I pushed my shoulders back and held my chin high. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Savannah squealed then jumped up and over the iron fence.
My jaw dropped. “Wait, we’re breaking in?”
“I know, right?” Gigi wagged her eyebrows. “We’re so rebellious. Come on.”
Later, if I ever told anyone about this night, I was going to lie and pretend I really considered not breaking in. But in reality, I didn’t hesitate one second to climb over the gate after them. It wasn’t peer pressure, I knew it was my choice…and I chose to be brave and go for it. Because I needed answers and so far none of the living had been any help.
The cemetery was dark, the only light came from the moon over our heads and the soft shimmer of city lights around us. Savannah led us straight into the middle of the cemetery, to the deepest, darkest section nestled under the low hanging branches of some trees. It may have been winter, but these trees had clung to their leaves enough for them to block out all of the moon’s glow. The city lights shimmered in the distance. The only way I saw my friends was by the glow of Gigi’s phone that she held up.
“Okay, this is the spot,” Savannah said suddenly then turned to face us. She pulled a flannel blanket out of her satchel bag and laid it out on the ground. “On your knees, ladies.”
I dropped to my knees on the blanket, thankful there wasn’t an ounce of snow or ice on the ground. Despite the lack of snow, the air held a bitter chill to it that made me glad I’d put on my Ugg boots and my jeans without holes in them. My cashmere sweater was more delicate than I was comfortable with but it kept me surprisingly warm under my wool coat.
It was actually a calm, crystal clear evening. The sky had never looked more black and it made the dusting of stars twinkle like – wait. Those aren’t the stars. Fairyflies glittered bright gold in the sky above our heads, floating up around the branches like they wanted front row seats to the show. I smiled and looked back down to get my friends’ attention and my jaw dropped. In those few moments I’d been distracted, Gigi had set up five white candles in a small circle between us. As she bent down and lit them, Savannah sat the burning piece of sage in the center.
“Okay, let’s do the damn thing.” Savannah pulled a black leather-bound book out of her bag, the same notebook she always carried. “Ready?”
I narrowed my eyes at Savannah’s book. “What is that anyway? You always have it.”
Savannah grinned down at it and the flickering orange flames made her expression downright mischievous. “My poems.”
I frowned. “Your poems?”
Gigi smirked. “Her poems are like…magic to her.”
Savannah sighed and ran her hands over it. “Think of this as my spell book of sorts.”
My eyes widened. Wow. She’s really into this stuff. “May I see it?”
She held it out to me so I took it. The leather was surprisingly soft. The pages were made of parchment that looked ancient and smelled like the forest. I flipped through a few pages, finding elegant passages written in black scroll. There were a few smudges, stains, and drawings on them but they just enhanced the energy in it.
“This is cool.” I handed it back to her. “So you have a poem for this?”
“She has a poem for everything.” Gigi zipped her jacket up higher. “You’ll see. Savannah, get us started before we get caught in here.”
I leaned toward Gigi. “What do I do?”
She held her hands out, one to me and the other to Savannah. “Hold on. Savannah will guide us through it.”
“Okay.” I reached out and grabbed Gigi’s hand then held mine out to Savannah.
Savannah nodded and cleared her throat. She sat her notebook down on the ground and flipped through the pages. Then she leaned back on her heels and rubbed her palms together. She took a deep breath, placing her hands in mine and Gigi’s. She winked to me and then looked down at her open book and licked her lips.
Energy tickled the nape of my neck, slithering down my spine like someone had dragged their fingers across my skin. I shivered and glanced over my shoulders to scan the cemetery…but we were alone. We hadn’t even summoned the spirits yet and I already felt eyes on my back. That couldn’t have been a good sign. I did another scan but it was just too dark. I could only barely make out the tops of the tombstones near us, everything else was drenched in darkness. Even the tombstones we were nestled between were too hard to see. If someone was out there, we wouldn’t have known.
“I come to you on bended knee, On hallowed ground beneath silver light, I beseech you, hear my Plea! To carry forth through the black of night.” Savannah’s voice was low and soft but it carried through the cemetery like somber church bells. “Knowledge once known does now ensnare. Mind clouded by shadow, ties broken. I search for the one who is aware, The one that has now awoken.”
The flames on the candles shot up, flickering a few inches in the air. The fairyflies flew in a circle over our heads then shot down to coil around my body like my own personal tornado. I gasped and my body locked in place. Gigi’s grip on my hand tightened.