The Ghoul Next Door by Victoria Laurie Page A

fall asleep quickly so we could see what happened. Judging by his slumped shoulders and exhausted expression, he’d followed instructions. “That’s exactly what we’d like you to do. Go home, make yourself comfortable, and try to sleep. We’ll be watching you the whole time, Luke, and we’re just a few blocks away. If things start to get weird, we can be at your house in a flash with one of these.” I pointed to the stack of magnetic spikes I’d put on the table, which was totally for Luke and Courtney’s benefit. I wanted to show them that we meant business, and that they could take us seriously.
    Luke picked up one of the spikes. “It’s heavy.”
    I lifted my spoon and held it close to the spike in his hand. It flew out of my fingers and attached itself to the spike. “It’s magnetized.”
    Luke took the spoon away from the spike before letting them clink together again. “So, what? If this thing shows up, you’re going to come stab it?”
    “In a manner of speaking,” Heath said. “But it’ll probably get the hell out of there when it sees us coming with one of these. Spooks can’t stand to be around magnets. It causes them major discomfort and most can’t tolerate them. If this spook runs, though, we’ll give chase.”
    “You’ll give chase?” Courtney asked.
    Heath nodded. “We need to know where this thing comes from. If it’s sinister, then it’ll have a link to the lower realms, and to float between this plane and that one, it’ll need a portal.”
    Courtney blinked. Then she blinked a second time. “Come again?”
    I smiled. To Courtney’s ears, Heath probably sounded like he was speaking in code. I decided to step in and explain. “On the spirit plane there are essentially three realms. There’s our realm, where our souls are carried around inside our bodies and we can interact easily with each other. Then there’s the higher realm, or what most people think of as heaven or the other side, and then there’s the lower realm, which is where lots of negative energy lurks. Grounded spirits—like the one we think is currently haunting your brother—for a variety of reasons can become trapped here in our realm. Some become trapped because they don’t realize they’re dead, and they keep trying to interact with us as if they still had a body. The way they see this realm can remain fixed, and they aren’t aware of time. These are your more traditional ghosts, and, usually, they’re harmless.
    “Other grounded spirits, however, can become trapped because they don’t want to cross over into heaven out of fear of what kind of judgment might await them on the other side. They literally carry the fear of God within them, and if they were bad people here, they might feel that God will be harsh on them when they cross. They’re here because they’re stalling, so to speak. They think God will come down hard on them.”
    “If they were bad people, wouldn’t He?” Courtney asked.
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. From my experience as a medium I can tell you that most of the souls I’ve connected with all suggest that the only judgment we face when we cross over is one of our own creation. We judge ourselves and we aren’t able to take with us the veil of denial, so we see ourselves as we truly are, warts and all. It can be quite painful for a soul who led a corrupt or selfish life to be stripped bare and really take a good hard look at themselves.”
    “So is that what this spook is?” Luke asked. “That kind?”
    I sighed. “I don’t think so, Luke,” I whispered.
    His brow furrowed. “Then what kind is he?”
    “I don’t know, but I suspect he may be a third kind of spook. The kind that wouldn’t be allowed to cross over even if he were willing.”
    Luke’s mouth fell open. “You mean, the kind that would be sent to hell?”
    I nodded again. “And may already have been. That’s the lower realm I’m talking about. Some spooks like to float back and forth between the