The pentagram with its lettering
freaked me out. What had started as a prank by bored teens turned into a
legitimate case with real danger.
Gun’s back
home, so’s the holy water. Even with them I wouldn’t want to be here. Need to
get Rich and maybe a few others, perform an exorcism. Would that even work,
though? I don’t know what these kids believe, if anything. Jewish ceremony
might work. Wish Max was here, he might be able to tell me.
I crept closer, sidling close the
hall wall while I kept my ears peeled. The voices became more distinct, and I
started to recognize the cadence and pronunciation of the words as Hebrew.
Maybe. If it was, it was an older form or some kind of dialect. I had no way to
tell which.
I got as close as I dared, not quite peeking
around the corner. I couldn’t risk that one of them might see me, and all hell
would break loose, maybe literally.
“Incidentally,”
I said, “if either of you are looking to get me a Christmas present, I could
really use one of those tiny periscopes. You know, the kind for looking around
corners. I saw it in a catalog.”
“The Spy
Emporium Catalog?” Jessie asked.
“That’s the
one,” I smiled.
“Done,”
Nikki said tersely. “Get back to the story, Matthew. My life might be infinite,
but my patience is not.”
“I’m just
saying, if you were looking for a last-minute gift idea—”
“Matthew!”