Free The Raven Mocker by Aiden James Page B

you thinking!!” David’s fury rose quickly and the flames in the fireplace behind him grew strong again, as if responding to his ire. “Some pretty weird shit’s going on here, and it’s not like we’ve got all night to wait for an appropriate time to talk to Sara about it! Hell, even she stated the entity is a male—and you didn’t blow a gasket over that, did you?”
    Miriam had no immediate answer. Once Christopher allowed her to gather him in her arms, she stroked his hair. Perhaps the thing she needed for a better perspective. She looked back at David, nodding her agreement with his point. He sullenly returned his attention to the fire.
    Their parents’ tiff for the most part over, Jillian and Tyler sighed in relief, as did Janice. Ruth looked on, thoughtful. As for Sara, her attention remained riveted to the light fixture and its slow-turning fan. She rose from her seat next to Janice, approaching the room’s center.
    When she stood directly below the circling fan blades a strange noise began to emanate. The warbling sound vacillated between high and low pitches. She stared upward in silence, as if enchanted. The warbling increased in speed and shrillness, causing Sadie to launch a series of angry barks while Jillian and Christopher implored their dad to make the noise stop.
    Sara suddenly fainted, and David ran to catch her before she collapsed. Meanwhile, the warbling ceased, abrupt. The floor above creaked, and as he paused to listen, heavy shuffling footsteps moved across the upstairs landing.
    “ I’ll be right back—everyone stay here,” he said, quietly, right after bringing Sara over to the loveseat, where he gently set her down. Her face ghastly pale, she awoke, whispering for him to wait for her. But the heavy creaks across the upstairs’ floorboards urged him to act now. “Who in the hell’s up there?!” he demanded.
    No verbal reply, but the footsteps paused. Cautious, he crept up the staircase, grimacing when several stairs announced his progress. He peered guardedly down either side of the long hallway when he reached the second floor. Aside from the distinct feeling of being studied intently, the floor was empty. He briefly considered grabbing the jewels from Ruth’s room, but decided to wait for Sara to join him.
    “ I feel better now,” she assured him once he returned to the living room. She had the loveseat to herself, as Janice joined Miriam on the floor in front of the hearth. He and his wife exchanged forgiving looks. “I brought some new toys with me tonight, including an infrared camera that should help us obtain some better evidence to work with. I also have my personal ritual book with me.... But after what everyone has told me, and what just happened, it seems prudent to wait on any spells for now.”
    “ Well, can we help you set your equipment up?” offered Janice, glancing around the living room for potential placement spots.
    “ Perhaps,” she said, following Janice’s gaze. “However, I’d rather start my investigation upstairs.”
    “ Did you want us to come along?” asked Miriam, reaching for her shoes next to the fireplace.
    “ Only David...I’d like just him to join me for now,” she advised. “There’s something up there that the spirit is highly interested in…something related to him.”
    Sara removed her new infrared device from the leather carrier, along with the digital voice recorder David recognized from her earlier visit to the house. After removing a small EMF detector he also remembered seeing before, she handed the recorder to him and motioned for him to follow her upstairs.
    Other than the unfriendly chilliness, their ascent to the second floor was uneventful. But a deep resonating moan greeted them once they reached the landing. They stood at the top of the stairs, listening, and neither one willing to venture further. The moan rhythmic, David imagined something very large made the sound, strong enough to travel through the