The girl gave a sharp, mocking smile and began to clap.

  “Well done, Madame Eugenia,” she said, spitting out each word with surgical precision. “Bravo on the acting.”

  That wasn’t criticism. It was an explosion. A deafening, feral screeching, like a troop of monkeys losing their bananas. For a second, it looked like they might actually lynch her right there in that tiny apartment. If not for Eugenia.

  “You will face severe punishment for mocking the spirit world,” she said, lifting her chin high.

  Alice settled comfortably into her chair, folded her hands over her chest, and said:

  “That's right. You will face punishment, Eugenia, a punishment as severe as the one you claim to represent. The souls have had enough of being ignored, enough of you putting lies in their mouths that they never uttered.” The farce of the psychic had infected Alice, even inspiring her to put on her own little performance. “I was brought here today by their roar of hatred. I came to speak on their behalf, but when I saw what you were doing, I realized that wasn’t enough.”

  Eugenia’s face turned purple. She nearly choked on her own indignation, then strode purposefully to the door, flung it wide open, and ordered the girl to get out. All the faithful followers echoed her, but Alice had no intention of letting them have the last word so easily. She directed a stream of her energy at the door and forced it shut. Silence fell over the room.

  “No one leaves until I allow it. You will listen to them, because they are tired of being used.”

  Right after these words, the window, which someone had opened after the séance, slammed shut. The candles in the corners and the smoldering incense sticks went dark. Instead, the overhead light flickered on, along with all the side lamps.

  “What kind of cheap tricks are these?” Eugenia asked, genuinely terrified.

  “These aren’t tricks,” Alice replied, smiling widely. “These are the souls of those you’ve exploited. Let’s begin, one by one.”

  Alice’s gaze fell on the cat lady. At first, she simply wanted to tell her what she saw, but that would be too easy. Words can be denied, disbelieved, but your own eyes? So she transferred a portion of her energy to the spirit of the little girl, allowing her to materialize. When it happened, the room was silent for a heartbeat, then erupted into wild screams. People scrambled to escape, but the door was locked shut. They had no choice but to cower against the walls and pray for the nightmare to end. The cat lady stood paralyzed in the center. She couldn’t make a sound. The girl looked at her with eyes full of love and confusion. “Mommy,” she said quietly, tugging at the woman’s hand. The woman jerked her hand away violently and tried to flee, but there was nowhere to go. “Why are you scared of me?” The spirit of the girl began to cry, bowing her head. The movement revealed even more clearly the extent of the injuries that had caused her death.

  “What kind of mother rejects her own daughter?” Alice asked, smiling cruelly. “You come to séances to ask about the souls of animals, but you want nothing to do with your own child?”

  “No…” the cat lady moaned. “No! She’s in heaven. She’s playing with the little angels. She told me. She’s in heaven. Happy. Not here, not like this.”

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  “Mommy…” The spirit tried to approach, but the woman recoiled again.

  “You’re not my daughter, you devil!”

  The little girl’s soul began to sob, but she didn’t come any closer. The fear saturating the room became the perfect fuel for Alice, but this time she was gathering energy for a truly noble purpose.

  “A rejected child deserves more than eternal wandering,” the young witch said, her smile unwavering. “A mother is responsible for bringing her offspring into this vale of tears, so you will bear her burden. I release you, child.”

  A tunnel opened. The lights dimmed for a moment, and the child stepped into a pillar of light. In the last fraction of a second, her wounds vanished, but the pain in her eyes remained. Then she was gone, leaving her suffering scorched into her mother’s soul. The curse had been cast. Alice turned to the man who had asked about his deceased wife. When their eyes met, he paled and nearly fainted.

  “Stay conscious, widower. You wanted to know what your wife has to say to you.”

  Another wave of energy flowed from Alice’s body, this time reaching the woman’s soul. She materialized easily and, full of fury, faced her husband.

  “I killed myself because of you. You have blood on your hands, you bastard,” she said quietly but emphatically. “Your mistress called to remind you about the child support for the twins. We could barely make ends meet, and you were squandering our money on other women. I worked three jobs, believing you were my support, and you were fucking around and making babies with everyone else. You didn’t want children with me. Was I not good enough?”

  The man remained silent, pale as a ghost. He didn’t try to justify himself. He didn’t ask for forgiveness. He just stood there, as if ready to be struck down by his dead wife. Alice sensed he had accepted that this was punishment for his sins, but she couldn’t let that happen. That would be too easy.

  “Life is the sum of our decisions,” Alice said, preparing to open the channel. “We pay for the paths we choose.”

  “Don’t send me back, witch,” the woman said to her. “I’m not finished yet.”

  Alice nodded. She asked nothing, said nothing. The decisions were theirs, not hers. The apparition felt the energy she’d received dwindling, so she turned to her husband again:

  “I am always right beside you, and I will be until your death. I will wait for you and I won’t let you enter the light when your end comes. You will suffer with me forever, until the world ends and God himself calls us to the Final Judgment. And all your bastards will join you. I’ll kill them all, just like I killed your twins.”

  Then the spirit dissolved, though Alice could still see her clearly, hovering beside the man.

  “Good God, good God…” the widower repeated, tearing at his remaining hair.

  “He won’t get involved, old man,” Alice said, shifting her gaze to another woman. “Your husband left you because you were a selfish idiot. There was no pregnancy. There is no soul of an unborn child near you. It’s just you, so twisted that I can see it even in your aura.”

  It was at that exact moment that Eugenia pissed herself from fear. The stench filled the sealed room, but Alice paid it no mind. Her eyes were fixed on a woman trying to hide in the farthest corner. The young witch didn’t speak. She simply allowed the soul of a young girl to materialize. That one didn’t speak either. She only pointed an accusatory finger at her victim, then vanished into a tunnel of light. Alice sighed, feeling fatigue creep in.

  “I didn’t find any more spirits,” she said, rubbing her forehead lightly and closing her eyes. “For all of this, I sincerely thank you, and I vow to do better. And I ask You, Father, for absolution, since I won’t perform any penance anyway. Amen.”

  The doors and windows opened by themselves, or so it seemed, as a stream of energy flowed from Alice’s body and pushed them open in a spectacular fashion. Most people scrambled to escape, leaving behind a vast amount of life force, which the girl promptly and skillfully absorbed. After a few deep breaths, after gathering and organizing the power inside her, Alice stood and headed for the exit. Only she and the fake medium remained.

  “Souls are coming for you,” she said to Eugenia with a malicious smirk, knowing perfectly well that nothing of the sort would happen unless she phrased it as a curse.

  Alice stepped out into the fresh air and savored the chill of the night. Silence, peace, and the smell of exhaust fumes instead of shit mixed with incense. Maybe she still hadn’t found what she was looking for, but at least it had been fun. Very fun. Who would have thought that everything would suddenly become so easy…