Chapter 6
“Mom?” I stand perfectly still, not even breathing. That was my mom’s voice. I know it. What is she talking about? She’s not what you think. Who? The crying ghost-girl?
“Mom, are you here? Give me a sign.”
The paper on the table moves half an inch. I suck in a breath and stare down at it. Does my mom want me to do the banishing spell? Wouldn’t that make her go away too?
The bad feeling still plagues me, twisting my stomach so hard bile starts to rise up in my throat.
Yeah. I need to do that spell. Now. Only problem is Jac put out the ingredients for me yesterday and I’ve since put them away.
I rush upstairs, grabbing my phone and the notebook, and come back down.
Madly, I flip through pages until I find the banishing spell.
Moving with lightning speed, I get out what I need and grab a bowl from the cabinet.
Jac showed me how to invoke the powers of the herbs, and I do that with every one, adding it to the bowl after it’s been charged.
I mix them up and bring them over to the stove.
The last step is to burn them while saying a chant in Latin three times.
I turn on the burner, prepared to light them on fire with the stove, then change my mind.
I have a much better way of burning things.
I flick off the burner and grab the herbs from the bowl, gathering them in both my hands.
Looking down at the notebook, I read the spell in my head twice to make sure I know how to pronounce each word. Then I summon the fire around my hands, burning the herbs as I say the spell.
Almost immediately, I feel better. I leave the kitchen, going into the library while the herbs are still smoking in my hand.
The air isn’t so cold. The smell of sulfur is gone.
Albeit, it’s been replaced by what smells like moldy weed, but it’s better than the alternative, that’s for sure.
My heart stops racing and I don’t feel like I’m in immediate danger again.
Letting out a breath of relief, I go back into the kitchen to do the spell once more, taking the herbs upstairs to detoxify my bedroom of whatever sort of spirit was in there.
I wipe my hands on a towel, clearing off charred remnants of the herbs before I get more to repeat the spell. My phone dings from a text, and it startles me. Just a bit. Okay, so I’m still a little on edge. But can you blame me? My dead mother just gave me a warning about the ghost I just saw.
It’s enough to freak anyone out.
Tiffany, a crime scene photographer at work and the closest thing I have to a friend, texted me. I grab the herbs I need to repeat the spell and then pick up the phone to see what’s up. She knows I’m not working this week…I think.
Tiffany: Hey, Ace! I heard you’re being forced into a vacation this week. I’m a little jealous. No one’s ever forced me to take time off work ;-) I’m dying to get out of the house…want to go out for a drink later?
I reread her text, even though I got it the first time.
At first I don’t know how to respond, because I actually want to go out and grab a drink.
Getting out of the house sounds like a good idea for me as well.
Doing something other than worrying about murder, ghosts, and curses is good for the mind, after all.
Me: Yeah, I’d love to! Would you mind if I brought someone?
Tiffany: Someone? Like a guy?
Me: Yes, like a guy.
Tiffany: O M G PLEASE DO
She sends a heart eyes emoji next and I laugh. We’re not all that close, but Tiffany knows I’ve been single for a while now and has gently suggested I go out and date. I used work as an excuse before.
Tiffany: Sorry. Got a little excited. And yes, that’s fine with me. There’s a good chance my Hubs will tag along with me anyway. My mom has Mav this evening so we’re both free.
Me: Sounds good. When and where?
Tiffany: Eight-thirty at Patty’s downtown?
Me: I won’t make it until closer to nine. My ‘someone’ might not be home from work yet.
Really, it’s pushing it with the sunset. I want to eat with the others and tell them what happened today. And if I can get Tom and Gil to finish painting the bedroom, that’d be great.
Tiffany: That’s fine! We’ll go grab us a table around nine then. See you later! :)
I smile and put the phone down, going back to the herbs. I invoke them all, put them in the bowl, and reach inside. And then my phone rings. I don’t recognize the number, so I let it go to voicemail. I wait, and see a message pop up.
It’s the guy Robert put me in touch with to come out and fix the window the ghouls broke. He’ll be here in the morning for some measurements and then will hopefully find a piece of old glass that’ll fit inside and “keep the integrity of the old charm” this house has to offer.
I agree in a sense, though I’m more pissed that Marissa sent those fucking ghouls after us. She should be the one paying for my damaged window. Right now it’s patched up with plywood. I call the repair guy back to let him know it’s fine if he comes tomorrow and that I’ll be home.
And then it’s back to the spell.
“Ace?”
“Up here,” I shout over my shoulder. I use the back of my hand to push my hair out of my face.
I’m almost done painting the master bedroom, and I’m a mess.
I’m not clumsy, I’m naturally athletic and have great reflexes.
Yet I still managed to put my hand on a freshly painted wall and drop the paint brush not once but twice, resulting in paint splattering all over me.
“What are you doing?” Gilbert asks as he walks into the room.
“Painting,” I say, widening my eyes. “Duh.”
Gil chuckles. “I know, but, uh, why?”
“I didn’t like the color before. And because I have the next seven days off of work and need something to do during the day.”
“You don’t have to work?”
“Nope.” I carefully slide the paintbrush along the crown molding and step down the ladder. “I haven’t taken a vacation in a few years and HR isn’t happy about that.”
Gil tips his head. “I don’t get it.”
“I don’t either,” I say with a wry smile. “You’d think they’d be happy to have a dedicated employee, but nope.” Rolling my eyes, I set the paint brush down and look at my work. “Though I guess I get it. It’s a stressful job.”
“Which makes it even more important you take our advice and go out and relax.”
“I am taking your advice. I’m going out with a friend tonight.”
“A friend?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Don’t act too shocked.”
“You’ve never mentioned any friends before.”
“She works with me.”
Gil carefully steps over the tarp and looks around the room. “I like this color. It’s calming, which is weird.”
“It’s not weird. There’s been research done on the subject, and color can impact your mood.
” I move the ladder, dip my paintbrush, and climb back up.
The others shuffle in, crowding around Gilbert.
I get the last bit of paint down and get off the ladder, realizing this is the first time all my guys are in my bedroom.
Too bad I piled shit on the bed in order to paint this damn wall.
“Hasan,” I start. “Want to go out on the town tonight?”
He’s a little taken aback, crossing his big arms over his muscular chest. “If you want me to, I will.”
I frown. “If you don’t want to go out, then don’t.”
“No, I do want to. I just…” He trails off, shaking his head. “I have to act human.”
I let out a laugh. “You do, and you’ll be great at it.” I give him a smile. “A friend from work wants to go out for drinks. We’ll have fun.”
He returns my smile. “As long as I’m with you, I will.”
I wipe my hands on my pants—they’re stained anyway—and put the lid on the can of paint. Picking up the paint tray and the brushes, I carry them downstairs, putting them in the kitchen sink. I turn on the faucet to rinse things out, and look over my shoulder as I clean.
“I have stuff ready for dinner. I just have to heat it up.” I look past Thomas, finding Jacques standing by the kitchen table, looking down at the bowl I used for the banishing spell. He can tell I did the spell, and is probably wondering why now.
Once the paint is cleaned up, I try to scrape as much as I can off my hands, preheat the oven, and go onto the porch where Jacques is.
“Hey,” I say, clicking the door shut behind me.
“Hey,” he says back, smiling. My heart does a weird lurch thing in my chest, and my entire body longs to go to him, to have his arms wrap around me.
“How’d you sleep? Have any more sex dreams about me?”
He chuckles. “I wish I did. How was your day?”
“Interesting,” I start, tucking my hair behind my ear.
We sit together on the stone steps, and he wraps one arm around me, bringing me in.
The moment my body touches his, I can’t resist him anymore, and I turn my head up, putting my lips to his.
The kiss quenches my soul, and I lean back, resting my head on his shoulder.
“I think I saw a ghost again.”
“Tell me everything.”
“I was upstairs and heard something in the library. Then I went down and heard crying, and this girl appeared. She floated through the house and it gave me a really bad feeling. I’ve never wanted to run away from danger before but that’s all I wanted to do, only I don’t know what I’d be running from. ”
Jac tightens his hold on me.
“I followed her outside and she disappeared. And then…then…”
He brings his head down to mine, lips against my forehead. “It’s okay, Ace.”
I close my eyes. “I heard my mother give me a warning.”
“A warning?”
I nod. “She said, ‘She’s not what you think. Stay away.’ And then when I went inside, the note you wrote about doing the banishing spell was on the table. I know I hadn’t left it there. So I did the spell and the bad feeling went away almost immediately.”
Jac is silent for a solid minute, thinking everything over.
“I don’t know why a spirit would want you to do a banishing spell,” he starts, speaking slowly. “Unless they were genuinely concerned about you. And I don’t see why one would be concerned unless…”
“Unless it was really my mother?”