Chapter 13
You could hear a pin drop in the room. The three of us sit there, not speaking, not moving, not even breathing. This guy isn’t a fraud. He’s the real fucking deal.
“A knight, huh?” I say, putting on a fake smile. “That’s pretty damn cool. What about me?” I turn back to Henry. “Do you have any feelings about my past life? I hope I was something cool.”
“Like a sorceress or something,” Thomas says, raising his eyebrows. I do my best not to elbow him hard in the ribs.
“Yeah, that would be cool.”
Henry looks me up and down and shakes his head. “I don’t get any feelings from you. Which is odd, actually. Usually I can pick up on something.”
“Oh, that is odd. Do you, uh, know why?” I push my hair back over my shoulder.
“No. This isn’t an exact science,” Henry goes on. “So for that, I apologize.”
“There’s no need to apologize,” I assure him. “I didn’t expect to come here and talk to The Ghost Whisperer or something.”
Henry chuckles. “Good. And this is one of the reasons I don’t meet with many people. They tend to have high expectations and are disappointed. Mike vouched for you, though, so let’s get back on track.”
Thank God. We need to stop digging into Thomas’s “past life” before this guy sees something he shouldn’t. Though even if he did, what would he do? It’s not like he can turn us into the paranormal authorities.
“Is there a chance I really saw my mother?” I ask.
“As opposed to…?”
“A demon pretending to be her.”
Henry’s face turns sullen. “Yes, there is a chance. But there’s also a chance something was posing as her. I find it interesting you said you forgot things from that night and talking with your mother made you remember them. Do you mind sharing what she said?”
Only Jacques knows that I lost my memories from that night, and he thinks they were taken on purpose.
“I couldn’t remember anything, and I don’t mean now looking back nearly twenty years.
When the police came minutes later and questioned me, I couldn’t remember what happened before I went to bed.
Everything was blank. But she knew details no one else would… unless they were there.”
I swallow hard, the realization hitting me. What if what killed her was there, watching, taking note of everything we did? And that’s who showed up after I called for my mother to come from the spirit world?
Not telling this guy the whole truth is making things hard to explain. I’m certain my parents weren’t killed by humans. And if it was humans, they had powers greater than my own.
Henry scoots to the edge of his chair and extends his hands. “Let me try something.”
I move away from Thomas, missing his warmth and security right away, and hold out my hands. Henry’s hands are cold and clammy, and I can feel him tremble just a little. Seeing into Thomas’s past must have freaked him out. The few times I’ve had visions it took me a while to recover as well.
“Think about your mom,” he tells me. “Not about the ghost you saw, but your real memories of your mother.”
“Okay.” I imagine baking cookies with my mom, finding it harder and harder to see myself there next to her. My mind jumps to the woman I spoke to in my library. The voice I heard was hers and is easier to remember.
“I’m picking up on panic,” he says. “A dark room…a basement maybe?” He lets out a deep sigh and pulls his hands from mine. “I think I’m still picking up on your friend’s past life. I’m seeing people in gowns holding a lantern. I think they’re praying.”
“That’s definitely not my mom.”
Henry’s brow furrows. “Whoever it is really wants you. She knows you.”
I flick my eyes to Thomas. A woman in a basement surrounded by people praying…Braeya maybe? I shift my weight and my purse falls off the couch and onto the floor. Thomas and Henry reach for it at the same time, and their hands touch. Henry jerks away, eyes wide.
“I…I think that’s all for tonight,” he says, breath quickening. He stands and jerks away from Thomas. Shit. He saw something when he touched his hand.
“Right.” I stand and take my purse from Thomas. “Thanks again. For everything.”
Henry nods and motions to the door. Thomas takes the lead and opens the front door. Henry practically shoves us out, and slams the door as soon as we’re on the porch.
“I think we officially freaked him the fuck out,” I mumble, pulling my keys from my purse. “And I think he freaked us out just a bit.”
“He knew. He knew about me…about my past.”
I unlock the car and go around to the driver’s seat. “It happened long enough ago to be a past life.”
“It doesn’t feel like it,” Thomas says quietly and gets in the car.
“The whole passage of time thing is weird,” I say once I’m in the car. I fire up the engine and pull away from Henry’s house.
“Yeah, it is. Sometimes it feels like ages have passed since we were cursed. Then sometimes I remember things that happened and it feels like yesterday.”
“I’ll fix it, you know.”
“What will happen?”
“Happen?” I look away from the road for a moment.
“When we’re not cursed anymore.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. You’ll stay with me and have to get real jobs, I guess.”
“I’ve never had a job before, you know.”
“I figured as much. What was life like for you before you had to join the Knights?”
Thomas’s lips curve into a half-smile. “All right.”
“Just all right?”
“It was cushy, I’ll admit. Being rich back then had perks like it still does today.
But those who weren’t rich had it bad. Really bad then.
” He looks out the window. “I think deep down Gil and I always knew we’d end up cast out.
The prospects for arranged marriages were always… dismal, and that’s putting it nicely.”
“Your only options were to marry into another wealthy family or join the Knights?”
“Yeah.”
I shake my head. “I’m glad I was born in this time.”
“Things have changed a lot. For the better.”
“They have, though there are still places with old viewpoints like that. And I don’t know what it’s like to be born into a rich family, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that rich people want their kids to marry other rich people.”
“Your parents…what were they like?”
“They were great,” I say with a smile on my face. “We were close and did stuff together a lot. I was so normal back then, though I guess I really wasn’t. I didn’t know it.”
“They would have been proud of you, I’m sure.”
“I think so too.”
“Mine never would have been proud of me, no matter what I did,” he says. He’s not trying to get sympathy, merely stating a fact. “Is it terrible to admit I don’t miss them?”
“No. I’m all for cutting out toxic relationships.”
“Do you think you would have become a police officer if your parents hadn’t died?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I’ve always been a little obsessed with details and figuring things out. I was really into puzzles as a kid. Though when I was that young I wanted to be a professional ice skater.”
“You can get paid to do that?”
“Yeah, and if you’re good enough you can compete at high levels. I was never good.”
Thomas laughs. “I did recently watch Blades of Glory, you know. I think you’d look good in those sparkly, tight outfits.”
“I would rock it,” I laugh back. “Maybe for Halloween. People dress up for Halloween now,” I quickly explain, not sure if he’s seen a movie about it yet. It’s funny how helpful hours in front of the TV have been for the guys when it comes to adapting to the new world.
“We should have a Halloween party.”
“That could be fun.”
“Could be? It would be fun.”
I flick on the turn signal and silence falls between us.
My mind goes back to what Henry said. Whoever it is really wants you.
My mom would want me, but she doesn’t fit the description at all.
Does Braeya want to give me another warning?
Along with my mom and the pink dress ghost, we have the whole appearance of the thousand-year-old necklace to deal with.
I bet that thing is worth a fortune, though it’s not like I’d ever sell it. The necklace is currently inside a Ziploc baggie full of salt that’s locked inside the wooden box my grimoire came out of…which can only be opened by a drop of my blood.
“For what it’s worth,” Thomas starts, putting his hand on my thigh. Tingles of warmth travel up to my core. “I think it was your mom.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. If it was a demon, why hasn’t it attacked you?
You’ve been alone and vulnerable plenty of times since then.
You said she warned you against following the ghost who turned out to be psychotic and even told you to do a spell that banished her as well.
People only do shit like that when they really love the person, you know? ”
My eyes get a little misty. “Yeah. I do know. And I know she’d do that. She’d risk her own life with no questions asked. She was like how mothers should be.”
Thomas gives my thigh a squeeze. The car rolls to a stop at a red light, and I drop one hand off the steering wheel, resting it on top of his.
“I’m glad you came with me tonight.”
Thomas smiles. “Me too.”
My heart feels full inside my chest, despite the shit show that my life has become. I have no idea what’s going on. I take one step forward and two back when it comes to understanding the paranormal, but I have Thomas.
And Gilbert.
And Hasan.
And Jacques.
They’re all my lovers, but they’re also friends. We’re family.
“Maybe we shouldn’t mention the whole seeing into your past life thing to Jac just yet,” I say when I pull into the driveway. “He’s still freaked about the necklace even though he doesn’t act like it.”
Thomas nods. “Good thinking.”
I put the car in park and undo my seat belt, angling my body toward Tom’s. “Is it wrong not to tell him? I don’t want to lie, but…”
“But he’ll freak the fuck out over it, like he does over everything?”
“He’s not that bad.”
Thomas raises his eyebrows. “He’s ten times worse than you at having fun, and it’s been a challenge to get you to enjoy yourself.”
“I enjoy myself plenty.”