DARK SECRET OF THE OUIJA
CHAPTER 7
During the second day back to school, Jenny and Carol said little to each other. On the way home, Carol made them wait for Phoenix.
"Why is she hanging around you?" Jenny whispered as they watched her say good-bye to some of her gang. "She's got so many other friends who are more her type."
Carol looked upset. "You jealous or something? Who says I'm not her type?"
"Maybe she only likes you for your interest in the Ouija board."
"What's the difference? She likes me, okay? And you never said anything about my new hair style." Carol fluffed her short-on-top, long-in-back hair.
"It's okay, I guess."
"Just okay?"
"Shh, she's coming."
"So, the Jennifer has returned to your side," Phoenix said. "Is she coming to your house to give the Ouija another try?"
Jenny answered, "No, she's just walking with her best friend."
"Oh, I stand corrected." Phoenix bowed with a flourish.
As they made their way through the winding streets, Phoenix related tales of her experiences with the Ouija.
"Once I even used it to help me with my love life!" she said. "I asked it which guy I should go out with. After it gave me the answer, I asked it to go give him the idea to call me. And you know what? He did! That very same night!"
Jenny only half-listened. Her best friend was walking beside a girl who, before the holidays, was as likely to care about Carol as a snake would care about a bird it was about to eat. Now here she was, tightly wrapping herself around Carol's life as if she had no other friends in the world. Why?
And why did Carol put on such airs to impress her? She was beginning to look like and act like one of Phoenix's gang. This was not the Carol that Jenny had grown up with. Why was she so interested in Phoenix?
Was it because of Phoenix's knowledge of occult powers?
Jenny watched the two of them pull farther and farther ahead. They didn't notice that Jenny was lagging behind. Carol, who used to read every mood Jenny had, now seemed not to care about Jenny's deepening aloneness.
"First I lose my dad," Jenny mumbled. "Then I lose my love and respect for Dad. I've lost my mother's understanding. I've lost a sister to the enemy's side. And now I'm losing Carol?" Jenny couldn't—she wouldn't—believe it.
Jenny split toward her own house. Carol waved a quick good-bye without pausing in her conversation with Phoenix.
A little later, as Jenny tried to do her homework, she wondered what Carol and Phoenix were doing right then. It used to be Jenny that Carol got together with after school. Was Jenny losing her best friend to that intruder? Friends for life, Jenny and Carol had promised. So why didn't Carol care about Jenny's feelings any more?
She was afraid she knew the answer to that. Phoenix and the powers of the Ouija board were changing Carol.
Jenny opened a drawer and pulled out a photo album. She flipped to a picture of Jenny and Carol fooling around on a kiddie jungle gym.
"Carol," she said. "I'm not going to lose you. I'm not going to let Phoenix—or your stupid Ouija board—ruin our friendship. That's a promise."
When Carol and Phoenix entered the Astrey house, Phoenix rejected the idea of doing homework together. "Let's get out the Ouija board instead," she said.
"Will you teach me how to use its supernatural powers?" Carol asked after she had chased a sister from her room.
Phoenix carefully spread the Ouija on the floor and examined the planchette. "The power is yours if you believe in it."
"I do believe!"
"Then let's get started."
Carol took her position by the board. If only Jenny were here, she thought. They had always shared in everything before. What a pity Jenny was missing this. What had gotten into her, anyway?
"O, powers of the Ouija, come to us," Phoenix intoned after Carol placed her fingers ever-so-lightly on the planchette. "I have someone new to offer you," Phoenix continued. "Come accept her into the realm of your powers. Tell us, do you approve of her?"
The planchette immediately moved to the word yes.
Phoenix whispered to Carol with a grin, "I knew you were psychically in tune. Now ask the Ouija something."
Carol cleared her throat, trying to hold back her nervous excitement. "I want something I can use as proof to Jenny that the Ouija's powers are good. Is there some information about her father, about how he loved her, that would help her get through this rough time she's having?"
Phoenix rolled her eyes to show she was getting tired of Jenny, but she said, "O powers of the Ouija, bring Jenny Seker's father to us that we might ask him to help us."
The pointer began to move. I am here, it spelled.
Carol felt a cold wave roll past her. It seemed like an unseen presence had joined them. "If you are Jenny's father," she said, "tell us something about your love for Jenny that would make her feel better about you."
Reggie gone but always with her.
"Do you understand that?" Phoenix asked Carol.
Carol shook her head. "I never heard of a Reggie. Her father's name was William. I'll ask Jenny if she knows what it means, then I'll tell you what she says."
"Now it's my turn to help Jenny," Phoenix said, returning the planchette to the center of the board. "Where do the Ouija's powers come from?"
It answered, Spirit world.
"That's what I thought," Phoenix said with a grin. "Is there something you'd like the Ouija to help you with, Carol?"
Carol thought for a minute. The Ouija couldn't possibly give her what she wanted most—a bedroom of her own. And now that she had one of the most popular girls in school as a friend, being well-liked was already being taken care of. She could ask the Ouija to make Mark Talbot call her. Or she could ask it to help Jenny become friends with Phoenix and the Ouija board.
"Well?" Phoenix said, getting impatient.
The phone rang twice. Before Carol could answer Phoenix, a sister's voice called her to pick up the phone. Carol excused herself and went to the hall phone.
It was Jenny on the other end. She asked, "Is Phoenix still there?"
"You'll never guess what the Ouija board told us!" Carol said.
"I don't think I want to know."
"Does the name Reggie mean anything to you?"
"No."
"Well, when I asked the Ouija for proof that your father loved you, it said, 'Reggie gone but always with her.'"
Jenny said nothing.
"Does that mean anything?" Carol asked.
"I almost forgot," Jenny said slowly. "Reggie was a yellow parakeet my dad bought for me when I was five. He only lived a few months, but I really loved that bird. Daddy came home from work early the day Reggie died. He hugged me for a long time. And he kept telling me that even though Reggie was gone, he would always be with me in spirit."
"Wow! Then it must really have been your dad who spoke to us through the Ouija board."
"No, I don't think so," Jenny replied. "I still think the Ouija board is evil."
Carol shifted her feet and glanced toward her bedroom. "How can you say that after it reminded you of a good memory of your father?"
"Look what it's doing to our friendship," Jenny said.
"What it's doing?" Carol shouted. "No, it's you, Jenny. You don't care about what's important to me any more. If you did, you'd explore the powers of the Ouija board with me and you'd approve of my friendship with Phoenix."
She slammed down the phone receiver.