been the one who'd filled the house with people, although her trusted person had always been Andrés. Now things had changed, and she'd seen that the best they could do was to keep the number of people involved in this bizarre, mysterious situation to a minimum.
"Ok. Just so you're not alone, but this is the last concession I'll make."
"For fuck's sake, Elena, do you realise that we're facing an unknown being ? Are you aware that our own lives may be in danger?"
"I know all that! Do you think I'm not terrified myself?"
"No, of course not," Andrés answered, hearing the anguished tone in which Elena had just spoken.
"But we need to keep this under wraps. We need to keep it..., I don't know how to put it... let's say 'private'. I suspect that if we get a lot of people involved, Carlos's and Laura's souls will stay trapped in Hell forever."
"Then we'll need all the wisdom and experience of Father Salas."
"Yes, but we must give him a hand. For some reason he feels weak, and also needs our support and our knowledge. This recording is bound to be of interest to him."
Andrés stood up and hugged his colleague. They both felt the need of each other's warmth and understanding.
"Thanks, Elena. You know well that this is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm thrilled to be able to experience it. And yet, I can't help being a little bit scared."
"And you are quite right to be careful, Andrés," said the parapsychologist, waving a small book with a pink cover.
"What's that?"
"Laura's diary. I've brought some drawings and her diary to reinterpret them. We were confused and, from the start, we have been looking at every detail in the wrong way."
"I'm not following you..."
"I think Laura discovered that her mother was evil, that she wanted to do something terrible to her. What at first we took as evidence of Carlos's daughter's demonical possession could now mean something entirely different."
"Such as...?"
Elena gave Andrés the little diary, pointing at a particular phrase: I HAVE TO KILL MOM.
XIII
E steban had arranged to meet Father Salas at the pond, a place that, of late, he'd only visited alone or with Carlos. He knew the priest was bringing news from his short trip to Rome, and he'd rather receive them in this pleasant environment, far from the rest of humanity.
"I used to come here with my son."
"It really is a wonderful place."
"We used to play here; skimming flat stones and counting the number of times they bounced off the water. I still feel that I can see him over there, at the water's edge," Esteban mused, emotional.
Father Salas put his hand lightly on the shoulder of the father who was now suffering, gripped by his loss and melancholy.
"I bring good news from the Vatican."
"Really?" Esteban asked, thinking that he might have been saying that just to ease his sadness.
"Yes. It is possible to perform the ritual of exorcism. Although this is a dangerous procedure, and also, in the best of cases, it will only allow us to save the souls of your son and granddaughter."
"What do you mean?"
"That you will not see them again... until you meet them again in Heaven," said Father Salas, hiding the possibility that those innocent spirits could be left wandering forevermore in Limbo.
"Anything is better than knowing they are terrified, and in Hell."
"That's why it is worth trying."
"Do you need me to do anything?"
"Yes. I'll need you by my side at all times. We'll need some personal objects that belonged to Carlos and to Laura, and we are going to bless them. They'll be a sort of link to their souls."
"No problem. As I've said before, I'm entirely at your service. I'm not afraid anymore."
Father Salas looked at Esteban and saw his face withered by the endless pain he was enduring.
"It's good that you've lost all fear. But it's important that you never leave prudence aside. The Evil One and his acolytes are immensely powerful."
"But God is much more powerful, And my faith