Chapter 16
I didn’t always plan to build a team. But when I first met that boy, covered in blood with nowhere to go, I couldn’t leave him behind.
Bob’s getting bored from being on bed rest, so I grab the frozen peanut butter KONG toy I made for him and bring him with me to the gym. Griffin cranks up the incline on the treadmill, which leads to a lot more complaining, but the pain gives me something to focus on.
Last night wasn’t the first time I heard a ghost talking to me. The one in my car spoke to me, too. I just didn’t realize what was happening at the time.
I will get answers today.
And I should probably stop saying hello to every voice that whispers to me in the dark.
By the time I finish, I’m dripping sweat, and my lungs are burning, but at least I managed the full thirty minutes without collapsing.
I drag my feet into the kitchen to find Zoey reaching into the fridge.
She stops when she sees me, hand paused on DJ’s labeled yogurt container, but she takes the yogurt anyway before brushing past me and slipping out of the door.
I give Bob his breakfast in the kitchen, adding a little warm water to his kibble to make it easier on his stomach.
The gauze in his bandage has turned gray under the hard casing, so I leave a message with a local vet to make an appointment to get it changed, making sure my ringer is on for when they call me back.
I pour coffee into a mug with a hot dog on it and the caption ‘I swallow juicy wieners’ because I laughed when I saw it in the cabinet, then sit on the floor next to Bob as he eats, sipping the hot liquid and watching him crunch each individual piece.
I’m halfway through my cup when Donny appears.
“Eden,” he says, his face grim. “I need to see you in my office.”
I lower the mug onto my lap, nodding. He retreats down the hallway, and I drain the rest of my coffee way too fast, wash the cup, and leave Bob to finish eating.
I come to an awkward stop in Donny’s doorway when I see Nico standing by the window.
He has rolled the sleeves of his hoodie up to his elbows, and I must’ve never seen him with his sleeves pushed up before, because the sheer number of tattoos has me staring.
The bones on the tops of his hands reach up his arms and disappear under the fabric.
There’s shading between them, filling in the gaps in the bone, but even with that, I can see the lean muscle cording his arms.
Donny gestures to the chair. “Eden, will you sit?”
I perch on the edge of the seat. “Am I in trouble?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you used the scary principal voice.”
Donny sighs, lowering himself into his chair with a soft grunt. “Nico told me what happened last night.”
I glance at Nico, who’s doing his best impression of a marble statue.
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to go snooping around, but I was in a trance. The door was open, and—”
“The door was open?” Donny’s voice sharpens as he glances at Nico, who drops his eyes. “It certainly should not have been open, but that is a discussion for later.” He returns his attention to me. “Nico tells me you heard Billy speaking to you.”
“Yes,” I say.
“Given your ability to sense residual energy at the crime scene, combined with this incident, you appear to be a Type One seer,” Donny says. “Perhaps the most powerful Type One I have ever encountered.”
“More powerful than Nico?” The words are out before I can stop them, and I immediately want to kick myself.
It sounds like I’m trying to compete with him, which I’m not.
Obviously. He saved my life last night while I was stumbling around like a newborn giraffe with a head injury.
There’s no universe where I could replace him.
“You’re gifted, but it’s a gift that comes with vulnerabilities if not controlled,” Donny says.
“What happened with Billy could have been catastrophic. He’d already put you into a trance and influenced your motor functions, but the intensity of the connection he established could have blinded you permanently, or worse. It could have been—”
“Fatal,” Nico finishes, his eyes pinning me in place.
I figured that was the case. Another horrible thought surfaces. “Could he have possessed me?”
“No, as he was contained,” Donny says. “But there are other ways that entities can influence the mind and enter the consciousness that do not involve possession.”
I shudder and instinctively rub my eyes. I can still see. I’m fine.
“We should count ourselves lucky that Nico broke the connection before Billy could get far enough into your head to cause irreparable damage,” Donny says.
Nico has turned back to the window as if this conversation is happening to someone else.
“The ability to communicate with entities is invaluable to our work,” Donny says.
“These entities can retain memories from their murders, details about their anchors, and even information about other entities they may have encountered. If you learn to speak with them safely, you will become a big asset for gathering intelligence. But you must learn how to control it. You need training. To develop mental barriers strong enough to keep entities out while still maintaining your ability to perceive them.”
“Okay,” I say. “Who’s going to train me? You?”
Donny slumps into his chair with a satisfied look on his face. “Nico will train you.”
“Really?”
At exactly the same moment, Nico jerks around from the window, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so furious while standing perfectly still. “What?”
“Nico is the only Type One on the team, and he has learned to control his ability through years of discipline and practice,” Donny says. “He’s the logical choice.”
“All due respect,” Nico says, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I’ve considered the alternatives,” Donny replies. “There are none.”
“We just discussed one,” Nico says. “She could leave.”
Is he serious? “I’m going to die if you send me out there alone.”
I hate how pathetic the words make me sound, but it’s true. Billy almost got into my head deep enough to do permanent damage, and I had zero idea how to stop him.
“That’s dramatic,” Nico says.
I study his face, trying to find some crack in that cold mask, but there’s nothing. He’s looking at me like I’m a problem he needs to solve, and apparently, the way he’s going to do it is by making me disappear.
“You’d really rather send me out there to die than have to look at me every day?” I ask.
“You aren’t going to die.” He leans against the wall, arms still crossed as he looks me up and down. “You’re capable of taking care of yourself with the right tools. I can rig up your car. Give you protective sigils. Anything you need. You just have to leave.”
I want to tell him exactly where he can shove his protective sigils, but I can barely think around the hot indignation rising through me.
“Enough.” Donny isn’t loud but carries enough quiet authority that both Nico and I snap our attention to him. “Nico, your recommendation was noted and rejected. You will train Eden, and she will remain on the team.”
“This is ridiculous.” Nico steps closer to Donny, positioning himself squarely between the desk and me so I can’t even see Donny. “We barely know anything about her—”
“I have nothing to hide.” I stand up and step out from behind Nico, so I’m standing next to him, only looking at Donny because he’s the one calling the shots here. “I can tell you anything you want.
“We know nothing about her mental stability.”
Mental stability? I’d hardly argue I’m the picture of mental health, but who does he think he is, saying that in front of Donny?
He may be the team leader, but with great power comes great responsibility to not be a complete and total dick.
“Says the guy who was having secret midnight chats with Billy Lundby,” I snap. “What exactly were you guys talking about, by the way?”
“I was conducting an interview,” he tosses out, keeping his focus on Donny. “Working through a standard questionnaire.”
“Is it standard, during questionnaires, for you to leave the door wide open for anyone to come down there and find you?”
“I didn’t—” He stops. “That door was closed.”
“It wasn’t when I got there.”
Nico is so tense that if someone strong enough managed to push him over, he might shatter into pieces.
I’ve spent enough of my life having people lie to me that I can smell bullshit when someone gives it to me, and right now?
Nico’s lying. Or at least not telling the whole truth.
He knows exactly why that door was left open.
Maybe it’s just me, but if I had a bunch of monsters in the basement and the creepy door was open when it wasn’t supposed to be, I’d want to find out why.
At the very least, I’d tell my boss. I’m curious what bullshit Nico spewed when he told Donny how I ended up in the containment room if the door was closed in his fairytale retelling.
Donny clears his throat. “Eden has a connection to these entities that we cannot ignore or dismiss. It would be irresponsible, both to her and to us, to send her away untrained.”
“I’m not qualified to be anyone’s teacher,” Nico grumbles.
“You underestimate yourself. Don’t forget, you were once as Eden is now.
Eden will benefit from your experience, and you’ll begin this morning.
” Donny puts his glasses back on, sinking deeper into his chair.
“Unless, of course, there’s some other reason you don’t want to train her that you’d like to share. ”
The challenge hangs in the air between them. Each second that passes is painfully long, and I’m unable to read Nico, but then he gives Donny a curt nod.
“Fine,” Nico says. “But I want it on record that I objected.”