98. Ryan Fairview
S eeing Cal’s totaled G-Wagon was probably one of the worst moments of my life. I was halfway out of the Aston Martin when Vox grabbed me by my vest and ripped me back down.
Feeling like I was underwater, I stared at him, my heart hammering so hard in my chest that I felt like I was going to puke the entire organ up.
He held up a finger and reached for a small pad he kept in the inner console.
Vox hadn’t written me a note since the last time Cal was in trouble, so as much as I wanted to run to the wreck, I waited for Vox to finish writing.
Vox only made the effort to communicate with actual words when the situation was dire. As much as I had improved with using a gun and was pretty confident in my boxing abilities—which had also improved since regularly sparring with Vox and Cal—I had never been in a combat situation before. I knew I needed to follow Vox’s lead if I wanted to survive whatever it was we were getting into… but it was fucking hard.
Stay here. I will check to see if they’re still in the car, but I doubt it. Whoever did this may still be watching the scene. We can’t make it easy for them to pick us off.
This, of course, made sense, but it didn’t make it any easier for me to stay in the car. Fighting against the screaming instinct to barrel full steam ahead, I forced myself to stay put while Vox got out to investigate.
I watched him approach the wreck, admiring how professional he was about all of this. He stayed low to the ground, holding his gun in a two-handed hold pointed at the ground as he moved.
He used every piece of cover he possibly could, and he was constantly scanning his surroundings.
“He reminds me of a big cat,” Theo mused from the back seat. I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. All I could do was worry.
Suddenly, I caught movement out of the corner of my eyes, and my gaze landed on the spirit of a young man standing by the side of the road.
He had soft, light brown hair and piercing blue eyes. The spirit was looking at Vox like the sight of the mercenary caused him pain. He was acting as if he wanted to reach out to Vox, but something was preventing him from approaching the wrecked car that Vox was now investigating.
I rolled down the window and called out to the spirit before I could stop myself.
“Hey!” I hissed, trying to both keep my voice down but also project at the same time.
The spirit glanced at me, then looked over his shoulder before looking back in my direction with a look of disbelief on his face.
He pointed to himself as if to say, ‘You talking to me?’ and I nodded urgently.
“Yeah. You. Come over here,” I ordered.
“Who the fuck are you talking to?” Theo hissed.
I glanced back at her, not even caring anymore about sounding like a psycho.
“There’s a spirit here. I want to find out if he saw anything.”
I expected Theo to scoff or at least look surprised, but she just looked pumped.
“Dope. I fucking knew you could see dead people.”
I didn’t have time to feel shocked that Theo had suspected my little secret all this time.
I was officially the least stealthy person on the planet. Apparently, everyone knew I was gay, and they also knew I could see ghosts.
Fuck me, I guess.
‘ Holy shit, that chick wasn’t kidding. You really can see us!’
The spirit was beaming at me through the window, his tanned skin making his teeth pop. He looked like he belonged on a beach somewhere, catching waves.
“Sorry, who told you that?”
‘One of the ghosts that’s stuck haunting Callum. Poor thing, she’s missing an eye. I think Damian shot her in the face. Anyway, she told me to come here in case you came by to find him. I know where he is! You have to tell Vox right away! He’ll save him.’
“You know where Callum is!?” I nearly screamed, and the spirit nodded urgently.
‘Yes! Damian has him, and he took his sister too. You have to hurry; he’s going to hurt them if you don’t save them soon.’
“Vox!” I was already shouting, and the mercenary hopped out of the wrecked car, dragging Naomi’s giant gnome with him. He looked furious as he stalked toward me, holding his gun in one hand and the massive stuffed gnome in the other.
The spirit’s eyes were glassy with tears as they fell on Vox, and I frowned at him.
‘Fuck. Voxy…” he whispered, reaching out to brush his fingers through Vox’s arm. “I miss you, man…’
“Vox, I know where they are!”
Vox rolled his eyes and shook his head like he was going to brush me off.
“I’m serious! Vox! Listen to me!”
The spirit glanced at me and frowned as Vox continued to ignore me in favor of shoving the gnome into the back seat of the car next to Theo.
‘Tell him you’re talking to Gavin,’ the spirit said, and I didn’t hesitate.
“Gavin’s spirit is here. He’s telling me he knows where Cal and Naomi are. Damian took them. We have to go now.”
Vox froze. I had never seen the mercenary look shocked before. His face was usually an impassive, grumpy wall. But the second Gavin’s name left my mouth, his silver eyes widened, and his lips parted in shock.
“I would listen to him if I were you. Ryan’s always had a weird thing with the dead. Don’t waste time being a non-believer,” Theo said, and Vox glanced at her before finally nodding. He looked at me with an expression that said: I’m listening.
I looked to Gavin, whose lips formed a firm line.
“They’re in the basement at Apex. You guys might need some help getting in. Do you have any friends that can help?”