“Bad news,” Andrew called over as Noah and Olivia walked into the store. 

Iris looked at them, pinching a tissue over her nose while Celine stood solemnly beside her. “What’s going on?” Noah asked, his hopes that things would go smoothly from here rapidly shrinking.

“She tried to channel with Roland and it went horribly.”

“I took down the wards for a minute,” Iris said, motioning toward a shelf of broken merchandise and a scrawled sharpie drawing of a penis on the wall. “And he blew through here and wrecked it when I told him to leave.”

And apparently attacked her, not that she seemed concerned enough to mention that part. This was bad. Why were these spirits so incredibly picky about who they’d work with? Noah could see Billy’s situation, he was scared and clearly losing his grip. So was Samuel, but it wasn’t like any of them were his family members. At least, Noah sincerely hoped not. But then something else caught his attention.

“Wait, what’s that?” he asked.

He went closer to the wall, a few feet away from the penis. There was a drawing of a building and as he looked at it, the duplex came into focus. “This is our house,” he said.

“What the fuck?” Olivia demanded, turning to Iris.

Iris looked at them, wide-eyed around the tissue she was still holding to her nose. “I don’t know, I swear!” she said. “I didn’t even see that.”

“Look, there’s the cat,” Andrew said, pointing at the window of the upstairs unit from where he was now standing beside Noah. “And is that… who is that?”

It was messy and drawn in thick marker, but it was a stick figure with short black hair and… were those suspenders? It was in the window of the lower unit. 

“No, you don’t go in my house!” Olivia snapped. “Spirits aren’t allowed in there.”

Then Noah noticed with horror that the end of her ponytail was swinging, but not in a natural way as she moved. No, it was bobbing back and forth like someone was playing with it. And as he was looking at that, Liv had taken off her amulet.

“Liv!”

Had this Roland possessed her or something to get her take off the amulet? Could he do that? What was his end game here?

“Fuck,” Iris snapped, moving toward the door and throwing it open. “Get out!” 

Olivia was focused intently on something in between her and Iris. “What do you want?” she demanded, sounding completely normal as she gripped her amulet in her hand.

There was silence as she listened, and Noah could see Iris watching carefully from the doorway. “No, Iris is willing to do it. I’m not. Go to her.”

There was another long moment as they all watched Olivia’s side of the conversation. “No kidding,” Olivia said. “Yeah, she fucking sucks. But I’m not allowing you in. And I know you’re not going to force me. You’re not a bad person.”

Iris’s mouth opened in outrage and despite everything happening, it was very hard for Noah to keep a straight face. “Not Celine either, she didn’t consent. Fine, if that’s the case. No, I’m done,” Olivia said. “Goodbye.”

She slid the amulet back over her head and turned to Iris. “He’s your problem,” she snapped, then walked back out the open door.

—-

Andrew was about to go after Liv when Celine’s phone rang. She pulled it out and answered as Noah slipped out the door instead. “Hey, Charlie,” she said. “Sorry, I can’t talk right now, but I’ll be back in…”

She trailed off and Andrew could hear Charlie talking, but not what he said. Still, based on the way Celine’s face fell, Charlie clearly wasn’t giving good news. 

“No, the power is on over here,” she said. “But I know what it is. And there’s something going on that we have to deal with. Yeah, I’m still at Iris’s shop. Do you have the key?”

She winced. “Okay, I can come back and give you mine. Don’t call Roman for his, he’ll bring it. I’ll be right over.”

She hung up her phone. “I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time,” Iris said dully. “I don’t know if Noah’s coming back today.”

Andrew figured there were few things in the world that would keep Noah away from this shop right now, but Liv was for sure one of them. As Celine left, still promising to return as soon as possible, Iris redid the wards, finding the small gap she’d left when she’d sent Roland (Samuel, he had to force himself to start calling the poltergeist by his real name) out. 

“I don’t know why he’s refusing to work with me,” Iris said once the shop was cleared and it was just the two of them. “I can maybe ask him with the spirit board. But I can’t force him to answer.”

She was silent for a moment, clearly remembering Vivien’s fate just like Andrew was. “Maybe he’s mad at me for summoning him here in the first place,” she said. “Maybe he was at peace? That kind of anger is usually found in spirits that haven’t crossed over at all yet, so I just don’t think so. Something returning from rest isn’t going to be like that. So even if he wasn’t hanging around earth the same way Billy has been, he definitely wasn’t at eternal rest. And neither was Rosalind.”

A massive crash outside the front of the shop made them both jump and Andrew was heading to the door before he knew what was happening, Iris just behind him.

A tree had come down, the one between Iris’s shop and the insurance company next door. He could see electrical wires sparking where they’d been torn free from the utility pole, branches and leaves tangled in them. As he looked over toward where the top of the tree and all its now-broken branches had landed, his heart dropped as he saw Liv’s car crushed underneath it. But before he could scream, he spotted her and Noah on the sidewalk, gripping each other as they looked at the car in horror.

“I was about to get in,” Olivia said as Andrew hurried over to them.

The familiar sound of breaking glass cut through the lingering terror. Windows shattered in the building next door, then the upstairs windows of Iris’s apartment and the one front window, the last remaining glass in the building, exploded outward. “Roland!” Iris yelled from behind Andrew. “Samuel, this is too much!”

Andrew could feel something in the air, heavy and boiling with rage. He wasn’t very sensitive either, but it was hard to miss this. “Samuel!” Olivia yelled over the wind that was now swirling through downtown, bending the branches of the remaining trees in the neighborhood ominously. She held her amulet in her hand as she spoke, leaning back to yell into the sky. “Something horrible happened to you and I’m so sorry, but this isn’t going to make it right! What do you need from us to do that?”

Andrew looked down the thankfully empty main road of New Winslow. New Winslow House of Pizza was at the other end of the street and he could see Celine sprinting back toward them, moving in long strides as windows continued to shatter in the insurance building next door, then in the next building beyond that. 

“Get him inside!” Celine yelled, her voice barely audible over the wind that was now slowing her down. “He’s trying to get in and you have to let him into the shop, Iris! Otherwise he’s going to destroy the whole town.”

Of course, this was going to put Iris’s home and shop at risk, but Iris moved without hesitating, swiping away the protective shield over the door. Immediately, there was a rush of air, that same wind shrinking and brushing past them all, funneling into the front door of the shop and leaving downtown New Winslow in thick silence. The last thing Andrew wanted to do was go inside and do anymore of this, but it had to get done. And now, before either spirit lost too much more control.

Noah’s hand on his shoulder made him jump, and he turned to see Noah give him an attempt at a comforting smile. “It’ll be fine,” he said. “Come on.”

The shop was a wreck as they went inside, but it was eerily quiet. Iris lit candles and laid out a protective circle, leaving plenty of space for a second one further down on the shop floor. “I’m going to try to talk to Roland again,” she said to Celine. “See if he’ll talk to Billy through me. You two do what you need to, I’ll be here.”

“Are you going to be alright?” Celine asked her.

Iris smiled grimly. “This is actually the part I’m used to,” she said. “Just… if I catch fire, please put it out.”

Like she hadn’t caught fire doing almost exactly this before. Andrew’s jacket was still scorched. Iris held Celine’s eye for a long moment and finally, Celine nodded grimly. With a glance at Andrew, Iris went further back in the shop and quickly set up her own circle. She went inside and sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed and breathing slowly. Andrew saw her whisper in between breaths, the words too quiet to hear.

“Noah,” Celine said. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

He nodded too quickly and Andrew waited for that same rush of dread he’d felt last time, as Noah pushed himself too far yet again. But the support around them was helping with that as he took Olivia’s shaking hand. 

“You can tell him to leave,” Celine said quietly as she turned to Olivia, then back to Noah. “You can invite him in and tell him to go. Once he’s there, he’s only welcome as long as you want him to be there. The minute you don’t, he needs to leave.”

Olivia looked almost as scared as Andrew had ever seen her. “Will he leave?” she asked Celine.

Celine looked at her with a compassionate smile. “He will,” she said. “We have a deal and he knows the alternative.”

Billy was just a kid. He wasn’t the man who took control of her, he was a scared kid helping them to contact another scared kid. Andrew watched as Noah and Olivia locked eyes. He smiled at her and she forced a smile back. She sat down on the floor beside Andrew, who wrapped an arm tightly around her.

“Alright,” Celine said. “Sit down and just keep breathing. This might hurt a little.”

Noah sat down in the metal chair, now almost eye level with Celine. “Look in my eyes,” she said, taking his hands. “Here’s how we’re going to do it, we’re going to use the door imagery. Focus on a door. Think of that door as you look in my eyes and make it real, as real as you possibly can. And when you have it, invite me through it. I need to pull a few stitches to make the cut, so this might hurt.”

Noah stared at her, unblinking as she looked back. Her fingers moved slightly at her side, a faint, repeat performance of her original repairs. To Andrew, it didn’t look like anything was happening beyond a grade school staring contest. But then Noah took a sharp, pained breath, his eyes glassy.

“It’s alright,” Celine said. “You’re fine, I’m almost done.”

Andrew tore his gaze from them to look at Iris, who was in the other circle with her eyes closed, still deep in concentration. He could see a concerned, annoyed furrow in her brow and knew things weren’t going well with Samuel this time either.

“Alright, great, you have it,” Celine said, and Andrew turned back to see Noah, who had his eyes tightly shut but was looking less pained than Iris currently did. “Billy is right in front of you. I can’t see him, but can you?”

Noah opened his eyes, looking with wonder at something Andrew couldn’t see. Olivia was looking that way as well and he felt a wholly unnecessary pang of being outside of their experience. Noah nodded.

“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Hey Billy. You’re the one making me trip over coffee tables in my sleep, huh?”

Whatever the spirit said in response had Liv smiling, just a little. “Yeah, you have my permission,” Noah said. “Until I say to stop.”

Iris opened her own eyes. “This isn’t working,” she said, and Andrew noticed a slight trickle of blood from her nose again. She dabbed at it, then took a deep breath. “Let me try again. He’s refusing. He’s, um, he’s really angry with me but he won’t say why.”

“I can’t do it,” Celine said abruptly. “I promised Roman. There was an incident, a few years back, and-”

Iris hadn’t seemed like she was about to ask that question, but Celine seemed like she felt the need to explain. “She cast a spirit into me, then pulled it out, just to prove she could,” Celine said, her gaze distant and painful for a moment. “I’ve been told if I try again, it could kill me.”

“Then of course you’re not doing it,” Iris said, and Andrew was impressed as she gave Celine an actually comforting smile. “I’ll make it work, just let me-”

“Hang on.”

Olivia took off the amulet again with a shaking hand. “Let me try,” she said.

No. no, no, no. But Iris smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”

Olivia glared at her, then looked over at Celine, who looked surprised. “You’re sure?” she asked.

“He can’t stay?” Olivia confirmed as Andrew forced himself not to beg her to reconsider.

Celine didn’t answer as quickly this time, and Andrew could tell Olivia was not quite regretting her offer, but was pushing herself to her limit. “He can’t stay,” Celine said, after what was probably only a second, but felt like ten minutes. “He won’t have a choice.”

Olivia slid the amulet off of her neck, but held up a hand. “I’ll do it,” she said in a shockingly level voice to an empty space nearby. “But I’m a parent, I have a baby to take care of. She’s my responsibility and I need to be here for her. You-” She cleared her throat. “You leave when we say you leave.”

Celine was looking in the same direction, but Andrew wasn’t sure if she could actually see what Liv was seeing. But Liv nodded shakily, then turned to her.

“I want to do it.”

Then she stepped into the protective circle with Noah, who was breathing deeply, focusing on something beyond Andrew. Olivia took a deep breath as well, then nodded. “You have my permission. But when I say leave, you get the fuck out.”

It took less than a second for her posture to change. Olivia looked around the room, wild and terrified. She backed up into the barrier created by the protective circle, bumping into it with a sharp gasp. Then her eyes settled on Noah.

“Bill?” she asked, voice small.

Noah gave her a trembling smile. “Hi there, Sam,” he said, his voice that of a boy trying desperately to be a man.

“What’s happening to me? I died, I- you. I saw you when I died. Is this? Wh-”

Billy took his shaking hand. “It’s alright,” he said, with a smile now that took decades off of Noah’s face. “We’re home. They’re going to help us go home.”

He motioned jerkily toward Andrew and Iris. Andrew smiled awkwardly, unsure exactly what the etiquette was here. 

“I’m scared.”

“Me too.”

Celine was watching them intently, one shoe next to the salt circle so she could step in if necessary. There was nothing of either Noah or Liv in their bodies right now and that terrified Andrew in a way that made him want to call the whole thing off and stay here forever.

 “It’s too much. It’s everything and I can’t- I can’t-”

Olivia’s body was shaking and Andrew couldn’t help thinking of all the ways Roland had lashed out at this whole town over the past few years. Her eyes weren’t rolling the way they had when she’d gotten possessed last winter, but they were filled with a strange fear and rage as she looked, unseeing, around the shop. 

“Do you remember what happened?” Billy asked him.

“No.”

“The fire. You were older. You were an actual adult, and you died. Did you get to go to divinity school?”

Iris choked beside Andrew as Olivia nodded. “I missed you,” she said in a tiny voice.

“You need to stop,” Billy said. “I need to go home. I’m so tired and you need to go to your mom. I’m going home after this. I need to go home.”

Andrew saw Iris note the familiar repetition as soon as he did. She moved closer to the salt circle too as Olivia spun back toward Noah.

“My mom? Where’s my mom?”

There were tears streaming down Olivia’s face and he still couldn’t see anything of her there. Same with Noah. But the connection between them felt almost unchanged.

“You have to find her,” Billy said. “She’s hurting people. She’s…she’s why you’re trapped here. Please let me go home.”

“I need my mom. WHERE’S MY MOM?”

Samuel’s scream tore through Olivia’s throat, a devastating roar that Andrew felt in his soul. The lights flickered as Samuel screamed wordlessly, crystals shattering on the shelves around them. Billy embraced Samuel, who screamed again, punching at his chest with uncoordinated fists. Then Liv dropped, taking Noah down with her. 

Andrew was by her side in a second, stepping over the salt. “Shit, is she alright?” he demanded, feeling the side of her neck for a pulse.

“He left,” Billy said through Noah. “I want to go home.”

Andrew took off his sweater and slid it under Liv’s head, then gently placed the amulet back around her neck. When he turned, it was Noah looking at him through his own eyes again.

“She’s alright?” he asked hoarsely.

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Then his eyes rolled back, and he fell to the floor beside her.

—————

CONTINUE TO EPISODE 33

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