James was uncharacteristically serious as Amelia and Gabriella walked into the house a few minutes later. “Are you alright?” he demanded as soon as they were in the door.

“We’re fine,” Gabriella replied, hating how shaky her voice sounded. “What the hell was that thing?”

“A mischief entity,” Amelia replied, kicking off her shoes with shaking legs. “We’re fine, it can’t get past the iron fence. It was influencing the cemetery, making it look like a horror movie for its own fun. But that explains a lot and it’ll be a hell of a thing to get rid of.”

“There are mischiefs in cultures all over the world,” James explained to Gabriella as they made their way upstairs. “Tricksters, you know? Throw a dart at a map and you’ll find some kind of mischievous being. But this particular kind of entity can sneak its way into our world by tricking humans into releasing it.”

“You’ve dealt with it before?” Gabriella asked.

“No, I haven’t,” James said. “But they come up commonly enough that I’m sure we can get someone who has. Honestly, I’m kicking myself a little for not thinking of it before.”

They walked into the living room, where Graham and Bradley were already waiting. Madelyn hurried down the hall to join them and a moment later, they were all gathered, watching James as he sat down with a grimace.

“Alright, so that solves the mystery of what Father McEnerney’s kid summoned,” James said.

“Stupid frigging kid,” Bradley muttered from the kitchen doorway where he was standing with what had to be his fifth coffee of the day.

“It’s a mischief spirit,” James continued. “They fool their way into our world, then create chaos. They thrive on it.”

“Do you think there’s a plan?” Graham asked. “Like, does it have an endgame?”

“No,” Bradley said before James could answer. “No, they’re just here to be pains in my ass.”

Gabriella watched as James looked up at Bradley in surprise. “You’ve dealt with them before?” he asked.

Bradley nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Back in the Essex County branch. We’d have one a week in October when jackoffs would try to do seances in Salem.”

“How’d you get rid of them?” Gabriella asked.

“I wasn’t out in the field at the time, so I never did the actual banishing,” Bradley replied. “I was mostly support staff. But there’s a ritual, very similar to a house cleansing. You need to keep the spirit contained so that you can do the ritual, otherwise it’ll just disappear and you’ll be back at square one.”

“They can be contained with iron,” James said. “So that explains why it’s trapped in the cemetery. It’s free to fuck things up in there, but it can’t get out.”

“So we go in and we banish it?” Amelia asked.

“That cemetery is a little too big,” James said. “If we could get it contained to a smaller space, that would work. Like, trap it in a salt circle.”

Gabriella nodded slowly. Okay, so it was weak to the same things as any other entity they might face. Iron, salt, maybe holy water? Maybe it was a bit more standard than they’d feared.

“Here’s the plan for today,” James said. “I need to call Father McEnerney and tell him. I’d love to get over there today and just get this done if we can.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the computer beeped behind him, signaling that a new case was coming through that they’d have to focus on first in order to avoid the Foundation getting suspicious. James closed his eyes and let out a long, irritated breath, then turned and opened the message.

“We’ve got a hiker in the Leominster State Forest claiming they saw Bigfoot,” he said a moment later, turning back around to face them all. “Apparently this is the third sighting in the past two months, so the Foundation wants us to take a look around and get this guy’s statement. Who wants to go?”

They all looked at each other. Bradley started to raise his hand, but James shook his head and he lowered it with a scowl. Graham shrugged and raised his own. “Yeah, sure.”

“Great! Me and Graham will go interview the guy, Madelyn, you’re talking on comms. Brad, you’re silent on comms. If you say one word to this guy, I’ll kick your ass. Understood?”

“It’s fucking Bigfoot.”

“I said, understood?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Amelia and Gabs, go take lunch. It probably doesn’t need to be said, but don’t go back to the cemetery. We’ll discuss it after this case is done and I get in touch with the Father.”

Gabriella’s stomach was grumbling, but she was still uneasy at the thought of leaving Headquarters. “Are you sure it can’t get out of the cemetery?” she asked.

“What, the mischief spirit?” James asked. “Physically, yeah. And it can’t do anything serious mentally, so we’re fine, don’t worry.”

She nodded. Gabriella trusted him, of course she did, but she was still debating waiting until after her shift to eat. James could clearly tell as he looked over at her with a smile.

“Gabs,” he said softly, so that he didn’t draw attention to them. “I promise it’s fine.”

“Isn’t it getting into that kid’s dreams?” she asked.

“Yeah, but you can’t hurt someone in their dreams, it’s an illusion that they’re there. Like a spiritual phone call. And it can’t contact you when you’re awake unless it’s actually near you. Go eat. Seriously. Go get Panera or whatever.”

She nodded again. Satisfied, James went to get ready to go. Gabriella waited a moment, then went to get her coat.

She’d go get lunch, but she was coming straight back here to eat it afterward.

---

They weren’t able to meet with Father McEnerney until the next morning, when the priest arrived at Headquarters with two trays of coffees and a box of donuts. He looked slightly ridiculous with his black hair blowing everywhere in the wind and a white and purple windbreaker jacket open just enough to show his Roman collar. But as he stepped inside and handed off the coffees and pastries, Gabriella could see the serious look in his eye.

“I really should have guessed it,” Father McEnerney said as they were all seated in the living room a few minutes later. “A mischief spirit fits everything I’ve heard from Sadie and her son.”

“Have they had any contact with it?” James asked.

“Not outside of the ongoing nightmares,” Father McEnerney replied. “We got lucky that these kids decided to pull this boneheaded move in the cemetery that’s completely fenced in. If they’d done it in Evergreen or one of the others…”

He trailed off, but Gabriella got a bit of a shiver down her spine at the implications. Like Bradley and James had said last night, the mischief spirit fed off of chaos. And it probably wasn’t too choosy about its targets. So if it could get out of the cemetery and have free rein over the city, things could get nightmarish quickly.

“So it can’t get out,” Gabriella said slowly as she held the hot paper cup with her coffee in it between her hands. “But what about people who go in? I’m sure that there are enough people going in and out of there every day that someone’s noticed weird things.”

“You’re right,” Father McEnerney admitted. “I’ve been keeping an ear out for any reports and haven’t heard anything so far. But that is a risk.”

“What about when the gates open?” Graham asked. “Couldn’t it get out then?”

“Not necessarily,” James said. “There’s probably some iron framework in the ground right there. Or the iron has flecked off into the ground. Either way, I figure if it could get out, it already would have.”

“I stopped by there on my way here,” Father McEnerney said. “I didn’t go inside without backup, so don’t glare at me like that, James.”

James didn’t stop glaring at the priest. “You couldn’t have waited until one of us could go with you?” he demanded. “Or called to have us help?”

Father McEnerney held up a hand. “I appreciate everything you’re doing, I really do,” he started with an edge in his voice. “But I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t talk to me like that. I don’t answer to you.”

James still looked irritated, but he nodded. “Understood,” he said, voice tight.

“Anyway, I went to the cemetery and stood outside the gates,” Father McEnerney continued. “And put some holy water and salt down across the entrance. So even if there was a way out, it’s sealed in now. But I agree with your conclusion that it’s too big of a space to accurately aim the ritual at it. So we’ll need to get it into an even smaller trap before banishing it.”

“My team would use salt sometimes,” Bradley said. “But it was messy. You kick the line and that’s the rest of your day shot to shit.”

“Agreed,” Father McEnerney said.

“What about iron?” Madelyn asked. “Like a smaller iron trap inside of the larger one. I imagine using a bracelet or cuffs wouldn’t work because it doesn’t have a consistent body. But something else maybe.”

“Some kind of a trap,” Amelia added.

“I have some contacts that work alongside the Foundation that I could talk to,” Father McEnerney said. “A few that deal in magical artifacts. I could ask around and see if anyone has something that would fit the bill.”

“And in the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on things and make sure that nothing serious happens at that cemetery,” James said. “If it’s just getting pissy in its cage and trying to scare people, then that’s fine. But if it’s hurting anyone, then we might need to discuss alternatives.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Father McEnerney said, reaching over for a chocolate frosted donut. “I’m working on cases this afternoon all around the state. But in between those I can make some calls and get back to you tomorrow.”

He took a bite of his donut, then nudged the box toward Madelyn and Amelia, who were sitting on the couch. “Take one,” he urged. “I don’t want to be the only one eating these.”

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 12