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He declared all negative entities to be drawn to the bottle, where they would remain forever trapped, unable to do any har ended his speech with "As I wil , so an to ring it fro noise, not at all like the ht

I kept it ringing continuously as ent through the house yet again and through ragged, tired breath, I kept repeating, "As the sound of this bel rings through the house, let it be fil ed with light Evil and darkness be banished, le room once row a bit lighter, like the bulbs were suddenly swiped clean of all obstructing grime and dust

After every room was cleared, we came back to the kitchen, where Maximus said his final words

He looked at us in the eyes, then around him at the wal s, his steady expression of deter

"This house has been cleansed and purified Negativity is banished Light and goodness fil this place This house is now a hoh the back door, careful not to disturb the trail of salt across the threshold, and went into the darkness of the back yard to bury the Witch Bottle I knelt on the cold grass before the s earlier with a spoon, which stil lay beside it I picked this spot, near the back of the yard, because it wasn’t as attended by my mother’s black thumb or my father’s laer on the weekends It was rocky and patchy and no one would ever suspect that so that supposedly contained all the negative energy the house had ever seen Withup there, I could tel you that was a lot

"Maybe I should have dug a deeper hole," I said, worried now that it wouldn’t be enough

Maxiely in my hands "It wil do"

"I hope so" I careful y placed the bottle in its shal ow grave and looked up at Maxiht fro their backs and they towered over id breezethe strands to float delicately around their heads like glowing silk threads

With rass and rocks on top until it was fil ed and level and patted it doithharder and harder, like the force of my hands would keep it buried for eternity

"Careful, don’t break it," Maxireeable smile when a movement at the French doors behind him made me pause

I could barely see what it was because the harsh glare of the patio lights created a reflective quality to the glass But against the light froe, wide silhouette, just standing there It was at least eight feet tal and built larger than Maximus

There was no detail to the blackred eyes near the top They flickered like the ruby-orange e us

I wanted to screaape back but I was frozen in absolute terror that sucked awayme immobile

Maximus and Ada noted the look on my face They turned their heads to look

And they saw too

"What the fuck is that?!"

"Oh shit" Maxiroped for mine

We watched in horror as the creature at the doors slowly grew s backward into the hal

And then the eyes blinked black and we could see it no et up I wanted to stay crouched in the yard, low to ground And then I wanted to run very, very far away

"Youe did all that," Ada said in a tiny, shaking voice "Maximus, you said…you said we should be safe in there Oh God, Perry as that?"

I found the strength to ue but could only say, "I don’t know"

Maxi hands came underneath my arms and he effortlessly lifted ht Ada was shivering and white

"It’s all right," he said

"Al right?" I squeaked I was speechless,open to latch onto some sort of word or sentence but that’s all I could say

"Yes," he said in his sharp tone again He grabbed Ada and steered her beside me and with one hand on each of our outer shoulders he leaned in "That was only the first step that we did We’ve got the powders, the dragon’s blood We have another cleanse to do This one is the banish us"

"He?" Ada asked "I thought it was that Abby girl?"

"Ladies, soht wildly In my dream Abby had insinuated she wasn’t alone That there was a he, or an it I stil didn’t know if e frorave, but I couldn’t dismiss it Whateverinside the house wasn’t Abby

Though, perhaps it had never been Abby And then I understood what Maximus meant It could have been anyone but it was dead and we needed to keep going to get rid of it Even if itback in the house knowing that thing was in there

"OK," I ed to say "I’th from pockets I didn’t even know I had

Maximus smiled at me with fierce adhtly