A thin outline of her body began to push into the circle and, fearing that she would somehow break through to them, Ernie rounded on the cowering priest, saying, “For God’s sake get on with the ritual!”

Father Benedict looked toward Ernie, his eyes wide, staring, seeming to look right through Ernie, his lips pursed in a question mark as though unable to comprehend what he was saying.

Ernie started to repeat the warning, however, the message finally filtered through to the priest, who buried his face in the book as though afraid to look up for fear of seeing the ghoul again and began reciting the exorcism ritual again.   At first hesitantly, then with slowly mounting confidence.

The instant that the priest began reciting the exorcism again Agnetha Chambers’ shrieks took on a shrill note and a blinding flash from the protective circle sent her flying backward, head over heels to the ground.

Despite the pain that she had already had inflicted upon her, the monster picked herself up and started forward again, still hoping to somehow force her way through the circle “wall”.   Again there was a blinding flash the moment she touched the space around the circle and again she was thrown backward.   Although this time, with difficulty, she managed to retain her footing.

Failing to break through into the circle and unable to move more than a metre or so away from it, she began to creep round the circle until she was standing as close as possible to the chanting priest.   Apart from the invisible wall above the circle, she was within reach of the priest.   Shrieking loudly in a bid to attract his attention away from the book again, the ghoul began to swing her talon-like hands against the protective circle, knowing she was unable to reach him, but desperately hoping to attract his attention and possibly even frighten him into dropping the book outside the circle to prevent him from chanting — and also in the hope that he would be foolish enough to step out of the circle to try to pick up the book again.

Ernie watched the performance in horror, afraid that somehow the ghoul might succeed in luring the priest out of the circle to his death.   However, Father Benedict wisely kept his head well down in the book, refusing to be distracted by the hellish creature, and as the exorcism continued the monster’s shrieks went up a pitch until Ernie had to cover his ears for fear that his eardrums might burst.