Page 60 of An Immaculate Deception

“Do it.”

He nods, a shadow crossing his face. He looks around the room. “The house will need to be purged in its entirety, of course.”

“The house…purged?”

He nods. “To clear the dark spirits that fester here.”

I shudder. “There are dark spirits here?”

“Oh, yes. There are dozens of devils festering in this house. They are attracted to your restless aura, your intense inner turmoil. Joaquina’s as well. These dark spirits feed on your destructive energy.”

I think of Joaquina, and can only imagine what he must think of me, given the things I confessed to in the letter.

“I…I tried ending the affair. I tried dismissing the girl, but she refuses to leave.”

The words sound pathetic when spoken aloud. He frowns, no doubt judging me a coward for being unable to assert myself against a girl servant. For letting her rule the house in my stead.

“She may look innocent,” I say defensively, “but her true nature is beguiling and feral. She cares not at all for what is right and proper. She lives in constant pursuit of hedonistic pleasures. She likes fancy fabrics and fashions, gemstones, gazing at her own image in the mirror, and the pleasures of the flesh.”

“Does she have many relatives? Friends?”

“She has six siblings and they live in poverty. The parents work all day and the children roam in the mud, picking through abandoned building sites and such. I suppose that explains why Joaquina behaves as she does.”

He nods, scratching his beard thoughtfully. “You feel an unbearable compulsion to sin when you see her, don’t you? Almost as if it’s coming from outside of you?”

“Yes, exactly!”

“Because it is coming from outside of you. There are devils, dark spirits, in this house, and they will lay waste to you as they already laid waste to your mother. You can feel them, can you not?”

“Yes, I can!”

“Right now they are still thought-forms, invisible to the naked eye. But in time, they will solidify and gain corporeal form, especially if Joaquina remains here.”

I swallow. “Corporeal form?”

“That means you will be able to see them. You will start hearing strange sounds at night. Flames convulsing, cold gusts of wind, erratic sounds. And if it keeps going, you will see them. When they become solid, it is almost impossible to purge them, as is the case with all manifestations of thought into matter. We must reverse course while they are still energetic.”

I shudder. Yet I feel deep down that he is right. This house and its shadowed corners, its sinking darkness that seeps into every piece of furniture, is haunted.

“The girl must be dismissed,” he pronounces. “I will take care of it, but you must promise never to seek her out again. You must not go knocking on her door later.”

“Of course not,” I say. “Never again, never.”

“You must understand, even the thought of her will attract the spirits to return. Speaking her name will send forth a powerful wave of intention that may undo my work here. After tonight, you must not think of her, you must not utter her name, and you must not acknowledge that she ever existed. Can you do that?”

It sounds excessive, but a clean break from Joaquina is perhaps what I need. I have tried it my way and it hasn’t worked.

“Yes.”

“Very good. Now tell me, where is she?”

“Asleep in her maid’s cot down in the servants’ quarters.”

He takes out an hourglass from his suitcase and plants it on the nightstand beside Mother’s bed. “Keep your mother company. The chance of success is low. Say your goodbyes if you need to. You have until the sand spills in this hourglass. After which time, you will return to your room. You will hear some troubling sounds, feel some disturbing vibrations. These are the spirits being stirred up. No matter what you hear, you will not interfere. Do you understand?”

I nod. The sand in the hourglass has already started slipping through to the bottom, which gives me the sense that it has already begun, and I feel unprepared.

“Excellent,” he says and turns away.