Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
It was sunrise when a bing from Natalie’s cell phone announced a text. It was still lying on the bed next to her where she’d left it when she’d fallen asleep, or possibly passed out from wine and exhaustion last night.
Liam.
That thought chased away the remains of sleep. She grabbed her cell and squinted at the screen, trying to focus bleary eyes on the text.
Hot Doc
Brain officially handed off to Dean.
Natalie
Are you OK
Hot Doc
Better than you are I’m sure. Are you recovered from yesterday’s bad decision to tempt an evil spirit into attacking you?
Forget about texting. It was too early for typing and Liam was writing too much for her to try and read it all, never mind reply coherently to. She tapped the screen to call him.
“Yes?” Liam said after one ring.
“Tell me everything.”
“Not much to tell. I drove straight through then parked and waited. Dean met me there.”
“And you just handed it to him?”
“Yup.”
“And he didn’t ask any more questions?”
“I got a strange look from him when I told him not to open the box, or the bag inside, or the vessel inside that under any circumstances, but that was it. We really couldn’t get into it.
There were a couple of hundred sailors there.
Some of them had family members with them.
We had to be quick. He had to get on the ship. ”
“And he was… okay? I mean there had to be hundreds of cell phone batteries there too, all charged up and ripe to be drained.”
“He looked fine when he left me. I think by doubling up on the faraday bags and then putting it inside that lead-lined box helped. And, I hate to say it and encourage your bad behavior, but I do think you drained it of power. It might not even have the strength to draw energy from its surroundings right now.”
She allowed herself to exhale in relief. “So it’s really gone.”
“Gone. On its way out to sea. I even stayed to watch the ship pull out to make sure.”
“And you’re fine?”
“I’m great. I just fueled up the Jeep and grabbed an egg sandwich and a cup of coffee for myself. I’m about to start the drive home… if you let me get off the phone.”
“Are you sure you should drive? You’ve been up all night. All you did was take a couple of hour nap yesterday.”
“Babe, I went from the military straight into med school. I’ve had the best training in sleep deprivation a person can get. I’m good.”
“All right. But I’m going to worry until you’re home.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said, and there was a smile in his voice. “Love you. See you soon.”
“Love you,” she said before she heard him disconnect the call.
She lowered the cell. It was good news all around… The brain ghost was gone. Liam was on his way back to her. So why did her heart hurt?
As she moved toward the coffee maker, which, thankfully, would work since the power had been restored the night before, she knew what was still wrong. What wasn’t normal.
Her ghost blindness.
She’d get used to it, eventually. In fact, she should be grateful. She could live a life free from seeing spirits around every corner wherever she went. Yup, she’d live a nice boring normal life. Like everybody else did.
Yeah. The pep talk wasn’t working. She still wasn’t happy. But at least there was coffee in her future… as soon as she made it.
Still bleary-eyed, muscle memory had her shuffling to the kitchen and reaching for the ground coffee on the shelf.
She was trying to remember how many scoops she should put in the pot when she heard, “Nat.”
Gabe’s familiar voice behind her caused as much relief as it did heartbreak. At least she could still hear her friend, even if she couldn’t see him.
“Any updates on the evil one?” he asked.
Still facing the counter, she measured out the grounds, guessing how many scoops to add as she said, “Yes. I just talked to Liam. The brain is on the ship heading out to sea.”
“That is good news.” Gabe moved farther into the room, pausing next to her to sniff the container of coffee she’d left on the counter. Something he often did, saying if he couldn’t drink it at least he could smell it… and Natalie watched him do it, like she had a thousand times before.
Then it hit her. She could see him.
She saw him!
“I see you,” she whispered.
“What?” He turned toward her, frowning.
“I can see you,” she repeated.
“And Millie too?”
Natalie leaned back to see Millie standing on the other side of Gabe.
“Millie too!” she cried, while jumping up and down as it finally sunk in.
Gabe joined in, dropping Millie’s hand and jumping with her. “That’s amazing! Letisha was right. It was only temporary. Or the evil brain ghost being five hundred miles away helped. Either way, I don’t care, you can see me!”
“I can see you!”
Millie clapped her hands, grinning from ear to ear. “I am so happy for you, Natalie. And we have even more good news. Gabe, tell her.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. So late last night, after I left you and Harper here, Pompous Doug came to get me. He wanted to communicate to his widow, through me and Millie. He told her that he wants her to drop the lawsuit against Harper. He said he’ll answer any questions about that night.
And he admits now the brain ghost did attack him.
It had nothing to do with Harper. I guess seeing the whole town come together to fight this thing made him want to step up and do the right thing. ”
“Oh my God. That is amazing news. Does Harper know?”
“Not yet. She doesn’t take well to being woken up early. Especially after sitting up with you until after midnight drinking that bottle and a half of red wine last night.”
“Hey, there were special circumstances,” Natalie said in her own defense, although she was feeling a little bit hungover herself.
Gabe nodded. “There were. And let’s hope there won’t be any more special circumstances like this one again.”
“Amen to that,” Natalie agreed.
Gabe tipped his chin toward the coffee maker. “Now push that brew button, please. It’s been a long night for all of us and I can use some fresh brewed coffee to sniff.”
“You got it.” Natalie smiled.
Things truly were going to be completely normal again—at least normal for her and this whole ghost conduit life that had been thrust upon her—and she couldn’t be happier.