Chapter One #2
Everyone there was feeling either sadness or rage. Some of them were feeling both.
How did he know?
He was normally calm, but now, he was anything but. Watching Ridge, a man he loved, fall apart over losing his wife was about to put him over the edge.
Yes, Lucian was ready to blow, and if that happened, the bedlam would ensue. Calm heads prevailed, but he wasn’t quite sure how to get back to that.
He was scared.
Now, he was sidelined, and ineffective, as he was forced to have to help on this plane, not the one where he was powerful.
And he didn’t like that idea.
Not.
At.
All.
Because she had to let him do this, since this was his family—not hers, Avi acquiesced.
“Go ahead, Lucian,” she said, linking her fingers with Nate’s so that she could see their faces. He was her eyes, and she needed them now.
While she knew all of the psychics from her work in the static, it would be nice to put faces to their names. In the static, they were faceless to her.
They were just voices.
“These are the Littlemoons,” he said. “Julian and Tori are both psychic. They own Littlemoon Investigations, the agency we partner and work with,” he said, meaning him and Bishop.
Basically, his family.
As he was talking, Avalon stayed beside Nate, trusting that he would keep her safe. No one had more skin in the game than her husband.
While she trusted what she knew about all of these people, she knew that anger was running high, and someone would have to carry the blame of what happened.
That would be her.
Why?
She’d not gotten here fast enough.
Lucian continued, feeling the hostile energy in the room, and it was expected. Thankfully, Avalon was sturdy and could hold her own.
He hoped.
Because this had the potential to get ugly, and that put him and Bishop in the middle.
“This is Avalon Carter,” he stated. “Oracle to those of us who are psychic. She is the keeper of the static, so to speak,” he added.
Neither Littlemoon held out a hand to touch her or be near the woman.
Why?
Julian was feeling uneasy. There was an energy in the room surrounding them, and he didn’t like how it felt. Oh, it wasn’t a bad energy, per se.
It was difficult to describe.
To him, it felt like there were a million ghosts circulating around her, just waiting to overtake them. There was that vibe that it was as if they were NOT alone there.
Yeah, and it was rare he felt that way.
Truthfully, this reminded him of when his doors were closed, and he was being crowded by the dead to get his attention.
Only now, his doors were open, and he knew there were no dead there.
Not.
One.
This office was a ghost-free space with Raven’s protections in place. The dead-zone was no longer a parking lot of free-loading spirits until he took that spell down.
Instead, it would stay a vacant wasteland of silence, and now, he didn’t like it.
Not.
One.
Bit.
Lucian continued, going through the whole family, making sure that everyone there, psychic and non-psychic, had been introduced to them.
When he was finished, he and Bishop kept their distance, only because this was a difficult situation for them. The Littlemoons were their new family, who welcomed them with open arms, and gave them a place to call their own.
And Avalon was their old family, who also did the same.
God.
This sucked.
When he was finished, Avalon took that moment to be one hundred percent honest.
“I wish we were all meeting under different circumstances,” she said, watching the family mourn for their dead sister. “From being near Ridge and Lucian in the static, I know about all of you.”
Tori went there, not wanting to offend the woman, but this was all hitting like a ton of bricks.
It came out of nowhere.
And she hated it.
“We can’t say the same about you,” she said, holding a handful of balled up tissues from the on and off crying jag that hit her every time she thought about Wynter, and how she was gone.
Oracle did her thing.
It was time to help these people understand what was going on, and why she had popped in out of nowhere.
“Well, I hope to change that. I know about you, Victoria. Trey and Bethany are your spirit guides, and they talk a lot about their family. I often hear them talking about their loved ones.”
Tori said nothing.
As if she didn’t believe that this woman had any freaking clue. So, Avalon went there.
“Please don’t let them start kidnapping falling babies. Their intent is good, but that’s not exactly a good idea.”
What the hell?
She didn’t know how the woman knew that.
Just yesterday, Trey had told her and Julian that they were planning on ‘having a baby’ which entailed stealing a ghost baby as it dropped in from wherever they came from. That she’d nailed that was unsettling.
Mostly because Trey and Bethany were locked down to keep them safe.
“How did you know that?”
Instead of making Avalon explain, Lucian fielded that one for her. A part of him was afraid she’d freak them out even more than they already were.
Avalon was kind, sweet, and a gentle soul, but she had the tact of a nuclear bomb. That was from her isolation, and inability to mingle with people growing up.
“Like I told you, she’s the keeper of the dead. She shepherds the spirits by being in the static. That’s her realm, like that plane is also ours,” he said.
Oh, hell, no.
Julian shook his head emphatically, not wanting to be handed that bullshit.
“It’s not my realm.”
Oh, contraire.
It was.
This time, Avalon handled it. She’d never met a man more unwilling to accept his gift. It was as if he fought against it, every single moment of the day.
“Unfortunately, Julian, it is. Your gift is forged from there. You had trauma, and that’s why your third eye opened. Losing Clarissa and her boyfriend opened that door.”
Everyone held their breath.
Why?
Someone did NOT like being reminded of that fateful day, and everyone who worked for Julian knew that. From family to friend, it was a no-go spot in his past. Dredging up his past was a sure-fire way to set him off.
Now, that hung there.
Julian stared at Lucian.
“Did you tell her that?”
He was honest.
And Julian wasn’t going to like it.
“I don’t have to tell her anything, Jules. She’s Oracle. Like I just said, she resides in that kingdom of shadows and knows everyone there. She’s the ruler there, and the dead come to her all of the time for assistance.”
To help them, Avalon allowed the dog and pony show where she jumped through hoops.
She pointed at Hart.