The Hell You Say by Josh Lanyon Read Free Book Online

is…evil.”
    “It’s annoying, anyway.”
    She shook her head, insisting, “It’s evil.”
    “What does the symbol in the center of the pentagram represent?”
    She hesitated. “Ariel,” she said softly, gazing past me.
    For a second, I thought she meant that the symbol represented Ariel. The only Ariel I knew was the spirit who served Prospero in The Tempest, and I didn’t believe that was even a real supernatural entity. There was motion behind me. Another Wiccan appeared, this one, tall, bony, freckled, clad in flowing green tie-dye. Apparently she’d been lurking amongst the dried lemongrass and sassafras.
    They reminded me of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty. I was tempted to ask where Merryweather was.
    Ariel wafted past me. She examined the photograph her soul sister held out. She blanched.
    “The Ars Goetia?” the first one inquired.
    Ariel nodded. She looked at me. “This symbol is a seal. A personal signature representing a demon. A high-ranking demon.”

    30 Josh Lanyon
    I certainly didn’t want any low-ranked demons loitering about the place. “So…what does that mean? I’ve been cursed?”
    They both made these quick, almost imperceptible hand gestures. Were they averting the Evil Eye or giving me a witchy high five?
    “This is your home?” Ariel inquired gravely.
    What did I have to lose by telling the truth?
    “I own the property,” I compromised.
    “Not good,” Ariel said to the other one. “Cassandra?”
    Cassandra shook her head.
    “This is out of our realm,” she told me apologetically. “The Howling Art is not one of ours.”
    “That makes three of us.”
    Ariel said tentatively, “We could…refer you to someone.”
    “Okay.” A specialist. I knew how that worked.
    The Wiccans looked at each other, seemed to exchange info via the Psychic Network.
    Cassandra disappeared into the back room, which had formerly served as the kitchen at Café Noir.
    She reappeared a moment later and handed me a business card. I glanced at it. There was a phone number in silver script. That was it.
    “An’ it harm none, do what ye will,” said Ariel.
    “Words to live by,” I agreed.

    * * * * *
I left a message for Professor Snowden with the history department secretary. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Maybe he hadn’t had a chance to talk to the Wild Bunch yet. Maybe he had no intention of talking to them. Or maybe I had miscalculated, and talking to them had made them more aggressive.
    In any case, further sleuthing on my part had to wait until I’d solved the case of getting coverage at the store.
    Mrs. T did not seem any happier with the streaky results of my efforts to clean the front stoop than she had been with the original pentagram. She kept looking at me and shaking her head sadly as though she could already foresee my unfortunate end. But what settled the matter was the fact that every time a customer neared the cash register, she came haring after me, frantically flapping her tiny hands over her tiny head in the universally recognized gesture for The sky is falling!

    The Hell You Say

    31
    We waved good-bye to each other at the end of the day. I called the agency asking for a replacement. While I microwaved a frozen dinner, I thumbed through the Los Angeles Times.

    MISSING TEENAGER MAY HAVE BEEN VICTIM OF CULT
    Investigators digging in Eaton Canyon Park late Saturday night unearthed what they believe are the remains of a teenager who disappeared two years ago.
    The badly decomposed body of a young white male was discovered in a shallow grave beneath a tree carved with symbols believed to have occult significance. Similar symbols were found r
    on the victim’s body. A sou ce close to the investigation confirmed that the heart of the victim had been removed.
    Detective James Riordan of the Pasadena Police Department refused to speculate on a possible link between this death and the discovery of a woman’s similarly mutilated body in the Hollywood Hills last