Chapter 12
I was really starting to hate Black Rock.
This place drained me of energy. I couldn’t seem to turn without needing to battle something, and every fight took more out of me.
Part of it was worry wearing me down. I was doing my best to protect Gwyn from the brunt of the impact, and I think I managed, but she was already nervous.
This place wasn’t peaceful for any of us, but particularly her, who had so much bad history here.
I had a feeling I’d need to sleep a week and take a vacation on a beach somewhere after this damn case.
I now better appreciated Beau and Hannah, too, as it was damn hard working a case and keeping my apprentice safe at the same time. Double the work. I owed those two hugs and maybe my firstborn.
At least the next place should be more paperwork heavy than ghost heavy. I could take a breather.
Gwyn directed us to the school, and I was A-okay going right up until we got the school within line of sight. Then I just wanted to cry.
“Ma petite chère, how badly haunted is this place? Because it don’t look good from here.”
Gwyn gustily sighed from the back seat of the SUV. “Very.”
Fuck my life. I immediately turned to Brandon. “Morenci isn’t part of the case, but I can’t leave the school in this state. It’s too dangerous. The kids are probably getting it from all sides.”
Brandon shot me a glance as he made the turn into the parking lot. “How many bad trails?”
“I’m seeing a lot of yellow. Too much yellow. I’ll have to call Eli. There’s just too damn many.”
“And you’ve already exorcised two today, so you’re done.” Brandon growled a little, the sound much like a fed-up Doberman. “This is not a case where you can justify overdoing it.”
“Trust me, I don’t want to overdo it.” I never did, but sometimes circumstances demanded it. I called up Eli immediately because fuck doing this by myself. Fortunately, she picked up fast. “Eli. I’m at Gwyn’s school. Can you join me here?”
“I can. How bad is it?”
“One look at this place and my soul made the Windows shutdown noise.”
She laughed like I was being funny. “That bad, huh?”
“Plus, I had to exorcise two ghosts about thirty minutes ago, so I’m kind of tapped out for today.”
“Well, shit, that’s not good. All right, text me the address. We’re on the way.”
“Merci.” I disconnected and scanned the area some more as Brandon searched for a parking spot near the school’s front doors.
Like most schools, it had interesting architecture, almost like the designer had tried for modern and edgy but kind of missed.
The roofline especially was weird, with these trapezoid shapes jutting upward in a dark maroon.
Most of the school was a dusty sandstone, or adobe of the same color.
Made sense, being in the desert. It was a windy day, both the American and Arizona flags flapping in the breeze, and it took some of the heat off.
I was grateful, as apparently I’d be working in and out of here today.
Brandon parked before turning to me. “Do you want to wait on Eli?”
“I think we can get the paperwork started while waiting on her. I’ll handle anything that comes near.”
“Okay.” Turning to Gwyn, he asked, “Anything you want out of your locker?”
“Yeah, a few things.”
I’d forgotten about her locker, but she would have one. This was another reason I was grateful for Brandon. He thought of the things I missed. Actually, come to think of it—“Any friends you want to say goodbye to?”
Gwyn hesitated before shaking her head, eyes falling. “I’ve always been the weird kid. And danger stalked me because of the damn ghosts. I can’t really keep friends.”
I unfortunately knew this all too well, having lived it myself. It wasn’t until I was fully trained, really, that I was able to make and keep friends. It was part of why, when Eli, Quinn, and Booker had made friendly overtures, I’d latched on. I loved having them as friends.
“That’ll change now,” I promised her. “Where you’re going after this, everyone understands your talent, so you’ll be able to make good friends.”
She lifted her head and grinned shyly. “Looking forward to it.”
We clambered out and Gwyn stuck very close.
She was visibly nervous, eyes darting all over the place, and stayed right in my shadow.
I remembered being like her as a teen. Scared, no matter where I went, as I had no safe harbor.
Exhausted from constantly being on my guard.
God, I remembered those feelings all too well and I hated seeing her expression.
I paused right in the middle of the sidewalk and looked at her. “Gwyn. Nothing will touch you.”
She turned her eyes up to mine and something softened in her. “I know.”
“Then don’t be scared, ma petite chère.”
She nodded. “It’s habit, I think. Being here has never been good.”
“I understand. Still, today is the last day you’ll be here.” Leaning in a little, I made my tone go wicked. “Which means it’s the perfect day for revenge.”
A fire lit in her eyes. Her grin was unholy too. “Bet.”
Such a good little hellion in the making. I nodded. “All right, let’s get this started and over with.”
Brandon held open the door for us as we came on through.
The front office was immediately to our right, and we trooped in there.
It had the usual setup of a long counter, a few chairs to wait in, and four ladies behind the counter at their desks, doing various tasks.
I saw the principal’s and vice-principal’s offices farther down, the signs jutting off the walls to give you an idea of where to go.
It was always a little funny when people first met Brandon. They instinctively tilted their heads back, back, and back some more, the realization spreading over their face of oh, he’s a big boy. Brandon was used to it, but it still tickled my funny bone every time.
The office lady pushed her glasses back on her nose and cleared her throat a little. “May I help you?”
Brandon gave her the charming smile every Havili had mastered. “I believe you can. Not to alarm you—no one’s in trouble—but we’re FBI. Special Agent Brandon Havili, and this is my partner, Special Agent Mackenzie Lafayette. We’re here to pull Gwyn out of school.”
Could I take a picture of this woman’s face? She was the perfect meme for shock right now. I had to bite the inside of my lip to cage a laugh. “Gwyn’s a Medium. We’re taking her on as my apprentice, you see.”
“Oh!” Half of her alarm was shelved. “Gwyn, that’s amazing for you! I bet you’re excited.”
“Very.” Gwyn nodded fervently. “I’ll be moving with them, so…”
“Right, there’s some paperwork we need to do there. Do you have custody papers?”
“Yes, ma’am. My boss does, to be precise. She’s waiting on a point of contact to send them to.”
“Perfect. I think the principal will need to speak with you too. Hold on just one second.”
While she bustled to the principal’s office, I rehearsed a few things in my head. Always went better if I had a prepared line or three.
The principal turned out to be an elderly lady with greying brown hair, nicely dressed in a shin-length black dress and brown leather boots. She zeroed in on Gwyn first, coming straight to her.
“Gwyn, are you really a Medium?”
“Yes, I am,” Gwyn answered patiently. Almost as if she’d answered this question many times?
Was I missing some history here?
The principal’s bright pink lips pursed. “I had a feeling something was very off with you. Your parents swore you weren’t.”
“They’re wrong.” I stepped forward with my hand outstretched. “Special Agent Mackenzie Lafayette, FBI Paranormal Activity Division.”
She took my hand and sized me up with a sweep of her eyes. “Nice to meet you, Agent. I’m Principal Holland. You’re to be her mentor, correct?”
“Yes, ma’am. This is authorized by my department, and we do have custody of Gwyn. I can show you the papers.”
“Ah. You answered my next question. Well, come in, let’s do some paperwork.”
Seemed straightforward enough, so we followed her into a somewhat small office. Really, aside from three visitor chairs, the principal’s desk, and a single bookcase filled with books, there wasn’t much furniture in here. Or room for more.
Principal Holland sat behind her desk, pulling up something on her computer. “I just need some information and signatures. Also, I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name?”
“Brandon Havili,” my fiancé answered steadily as he took the last seat, bookending Gwyn. “I’m Mack’s anchor and work partner. Really, Gwyn will be in our custody.”
“Ah, I see. I’ll make a note. Will she be transferring to a local school?”
“Likely not, as we’re constantly running all over the country. But we’ll figure out school for her, don’t worry.”
“Then I won’t worry about forwarding her records anywhere. Just let me know if you need them.” She focused on the screen some more. “I need a copy of the custody papers first.”
I pulled those up on my phone and forwarded them to her, signed where she asked me to, reviewed a few records with her, but it was fairly straightforward. We were all wrapped up in a few minutes, which only left me with one question for her.
“Principal Holland, are you aware this school is haunted as hell? In fact, I think hell would be less busy.”
She let out a long sigh. “I am. I can’t see anything myself, but the number of incidents in this area is…well, ridiculous. Gwyn’s attack was the worst we’ve seen in recent history but not isolated.”
“We’d like to clear this area of ghosts, if you don’t mind?”
Her eyes lit up and she eagerly asked, “Can you do that?”
“Of course. It’ll just take some time. I’ve an Exorcist friend on the way now, due any minute in fact, and between the three of us, we can clear out all the bad ghosts, at least.”
“Then please do. I’ll pass the message along to all my staff who you are and what you’re doing. Whatever you can do today, I’m more than thankful for.”
“Then we’ll get started.” I stood and shook hands with her. “Thank you.”