Chapter Eight #2
Shay stifled a laugh. “Okay, sure, whatever. I just need someone to tell me what the fuck to do about. . .” He gestured to his mouth. “I mean, what if. . . What if this is temporary, you know? What if?—”
“It’s not temporary,” Aiden said, cutting him off. “You’re here. You’re staying here. I just hope we don’t have to deal with you going feral every full moon to keep it that way.”
“Every full moon. . . ?”
Aiden heaved a sigh. “I’m speaking figuratively.
Is this. . . ?” He peered over the edge of his sunglasses as Shay turned onto a curved, cobblestone driveway.
The house—mansion, definitely mansion—at the end of the road was architecturally modern.
Gray, white, trimmed in charcoal, and shaped like a fancy shoebox.
“You’re kidding, right? This is where she lives? ”
Shay put the car in park. “She’s well known, I guess.”
“ Scam ,” he whispered, wrinkling his nose. He dodged a quick swat from Shay and got out of the car.
Aiden rang the doorbell. Shrill barking echoed from inside. He gave Shay a once over and noticed that he actually, seriously, might’ve ironed his t-shirt. Laughter bubbled in Aiden’s throat, but the moment Shay swung toward him, snapping— what? —the door floated open.
“Sweet baby Jesus,” Aiden whispered.
Kelly Angelica Crawford wore a floor-length rosé gown.
A clear crystal pendant dangled around her neck, and yellow bangles circled her wrists.
Her blonde hair was roped into a braid, fingers tipped in coffin-shaped acrylic nails, dainty hands covered in poorly executed henna.
She smiled with her entire face and cradled a fluffy, caramel Pomerania under her arm.
“I knew you’d be early,” she said, voice particularly windy. “Come in, Shay. Come in. The drive wasn’t too bad, was it?”
“N-no, it was fine, thanks. This is Aiden, my bandmate,” Shay said.
Aiden lifted his chin, scanning the high ceilings in the foyer and the warm, cream-colored walls.
Framed sacred geometry and intricate mandalas lined the hallway, and in the living room, a petal pink fainting couch accompanied two oversized beige chairs draped with knitted blankets.
A cheeky Live, Laugh, Love barnwood art piece was nailed above the fireplace, and white prayer candles lined the mantle.
He touched a leaf on a potted monstera in the corner and snared Shay in a playful, teasing look— told you so.
Kelly spun to face him. Her smile hadn’t waned. “Aiden Moore,” she said, and nodded as if she’d found a clue. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for accompanying Shay on his spiritual journey.”
Laughter filled his throat again, but he pressed his lips together, muting the sound. “Sure, yeah. Wouldn’t miss it.”
Aiden immediately pulled out his phone.
Aiden Moore: SPIRITUAL
Aiden Moore: JOURNEY
Standing awkwardly in the open space between the kitchen and the living room, Shay glanced at his phone. He typed furiously.
Shay Bennett: I will strangle you I swear to god
“Would you care for some tea before we start?” Kelly asked. Her hand swept toward the electric kettle on the sparse kitchen counter. “A good, strong green always helps clear the throat chakra.”
Aiden Moore: THROAT! CHAKRA!
Shay shoved his phone into his pocket and smiled awkwardly. “No thank you, I was actually wondering how this works? I found you through the Ramírez Botanica website, but I didn’t see any, I don’t know, explanations. Do you usually help people who… Well, it’s complicated, but?—”
“Ah, yes. Camila,” Kelly said, and shifted her eyes briefly to Aiden.
“She’s a lovely girl. To be frank, I go where Spirit directs me.
” She placed her purse-dog on the wood floor.
Shay’s eyes flicked sideways. Aiden mouthed Spirit .
“We’ll be seated at the table and I’ll begin by reading your energy.
If Spirit arrives with guidance, I’ll relay.
Otherwise, we’ll call to your ancestors.
Is there anything specific you’re looking for? ”
“Answers, I guess. I need to know what I am, if that makes sense,” Shay said.
“It does. You’re nervous, aren’t you?” She grinned and took his hand, extending the other. Aiden muffled another chuckle and gingerly clasped her palm. She continued, sighing gently. “We’re in this together, Shay. We’re here for you.”
“Yeah, man, we’re here for you,” Aiden cooed.
Shay sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and nodded tightly. “Mmhm, okay. Is there anything I should do…?”
“Just relax, sweetie. Let Spirit do the work,” Kelly said, and released their hands, gesturing to a square table in front of the sliding glass door. She closed the curtains and struck a match, holding the flame to six clean candlewicks.
Aiden sat closest to the door. Kelly and Shay faced each other, Shay with his hands wringing in his lap, and the pretty, lily white psychic murmuring words in a language Aiden didn’t know. Hindi, he thought. The candles flickered calmly.
“Yes, yes, I hear you,” she said, eyes closed, fists hovering above the table.
“Spirit is here, Shay. I’m looking into the light, into your future, and I see.
. .” Her brows knitted. “Blood,” she said, suddenly.
Her head twitched, lips slackening. “I see blood. I feel. . . Transcendent, almost. As if I’ve…
I’ve lost consciousness. Do you. . .” Her voice gave out.
She opened her eyes like a startled deer. “Thomas Manko,” she whispered.
Brittle ice spread through Aiden’s body. He shifted his wide eyes to Shay. Everything slowed. Aiden watched Shay’s knuckles clench. Noticed his throat flex, working around a swallow. When Kelly scooted her chair backward, Shay said, dangerously quiet, “Don’t.”
Terror crossed Kelly’s pretty face. Her shoulders lifted toward her ears, hands trembling. Pale, gray eyes welled. “I need you to leave.”
“You know we can’t do that,” Shay said.
Aiden blinked, confused. Suddenly terrified, too. The last thing they needed was another body in a sleeping bad. “Shay, we?—”
“I can see it in your eyes,” Shay said. He placed his palms on the table and stood, leaning toward the unfortunately genuine psychic. “You’re afraid. You should be. Now, ask Spirit —or whatever the hell you’re communing with—what, exactly, I am.”
“I c-can’t see anything, I swear. I caught glimpses of your past. Nothing solid, nothing. . . Nothing concrete. I know you died, but I can’t feel anything else—I don’t know anything else, I won’t say anything, I?—”
Shay sighed. “You’re lying, Kelly.”
Aiden reached for Shay, and said, “Let’s just go.”
Black leaked from Shay’s eyelashes, webbing along his skin like collapsed veins. His voice deepened, rough and unknown. “We can’t.”
“Shay,” Aiden warned.
“There’s something festering inside you,” Kelly said, gasping.
A tear curved along her cheek. “I have never seen my own future until today. We can change it, though. Together. Me and you.” She locked eyes with Shay, inching away from the table, hand creeping toward the kitchen island.
“Whatever you are, we’ll figure it out. I can make a call. I can?—”
“ Shay ,” Aiden said again, desperately.
Kelly startled. Lunged. Screamed as her fingertips clipped the edge of the iPhone seated on expensive marble.
The same moment Shay’s hand met her throat.
Things unraveled after that. Shay held her the same way he’d hold a rag.
Carelessly. He lifted her toward the ceiling with his fangs bared, and ignored her frantic, animal movements, swatting and flailing and sucking in air.
“You’re unmade,” she choked out, digging her acrylics into his knuckles. “Dead energy forced to occupy a living vessel, forced to consume vitality. I don’t know a-anything else. I can’t see anything else. It’s all feelings—just feelings. Please, you can’t?—”
“What feelings?” Shay snarled.
“Anguish, loneliness, hatred, love. Someone loved you, someone loves you enough to. . .” Her voice broke over a cough. She kicked her feet, bulged eyes searching the room, landing on Aiden. “You didn’t want this—you don’t want this!”
“No one will believe her, Shay. She’ll sound fucking insane. Let her go,” Aiden hollered. “We need to get out of here. Now! ”
“Tell me how to undo this,” Shay snapped, black eyes scaling her face.
“I don’t know. Please, just. . . I don’t—I don’t know, I don’t know,” she sputtered, pushing at the floor with her tip-toes. “I’m a lightworker! I can’t fix you. I don’t know how to fix you. I re-align chakras for fuck’s sake!”
Shay gripped until her breath halted. “If you make a sound about this to anyone , I’ll find you and I’ll tear your throat out. Do you understand?”
Kelly nodded. Her cheeks were damp, face reddened, body wracked with tremors.
When Shay let her go, she crumbled to the floor and shuffled away, gathering her yapping dog into her arms. Her back banged the cabinets and she knocked over a silver water dish with her foot, but her eyes never left him. She stared, coughing and heaving.
“I won’t tell anyone. I’ll—I’ll refund you,” she rasped.
“Keep the money.” Shay turned and strode into the foyer .
Aiden couldn’t convince his legs to move.
He waited, stuck with his hand still glued to the table, and listened to Kelly cry.
He remembered the night Shay had killed Thomas.
The fear that’d grown inside him, the unfair sense of awe and relief at the sight of Shay, powerful and grotesque and alive.
He and Kelly had that in common now. Seeing nightmares come to life, thinking I am going to die .
Except Kelly had witnessed something unique—her own death, maybe—and Aiden had been graced with an unknown future.
“Did we change it?” he asked.
Kelly stared at him, slack jawed. “What. . . ?”
“Your future. Did we change it?”
Shay’s footsteps halted.
She gave him a long, hard look. Judgment twisted her mouth. “You’re foolish to think your love brought him back,” she whispered.