Chapter Sixteen
Mike
Dylan and I had been on four successful assignments over the past week and that was good enough for Rino it seemed.
“We can go?” I asked, stunned.
Rino nodded where he sat behind his desk. “You’ve proven yourself capable of freeing ghosts from people and assisting them to move on. I have no doubt you’ll succeed in helping Erik.”
“Thank you,” I said, still feeling surprised. I’d expected at least another week of training. “Are you sure that I can truly handle it?”
Rino smiled kindly at me. “Most mediums would’ve been drained after so many assignments in a row, but you haven’t. After you bonded with Dylan, you’re stronger than most mediums. I have no doubt you two will be able to handle this without issue. Plus, I have another agenda for you in Denmark.”
“What is it?” Dylan asked, clearly sensing I was beyond words right now. I was that strong after getting Dylan as my anchor?
“The medium community in Denmark is lacking in numbers and have too many cases open. I offered them our help while you search for Marcus. I promised you would deal with four cases, but there might be more,” Rino explained.
We’d already been told he had more cases for us there, but this seemed like his way of asking if we were open to staying there for longer than just those four cases.
“Why are they lacking?” I asked.
“They don’t have enough mediums like we do, their numbers are simply fewer.
You’d think that would mean less ghosts as well, but that’s sadly not the case.
Imagine how many cases we have in the surrounding towns, then imagine that we were only ten mediums to deal with them.
” Rino sighed. “It’s like that in many countries.
There are simply not enough mediums, but we help those we can. ”
“We’ll help,” I said, so pleased we got to help Erik and those poor overworked mediums as well.
“I knew you would,” Rino smiled. “I have your assignments here. And your plane tickets. Your hotel information is there, too. Denmark isn’t too big, so I put you in central Copenhagen. Erik can guide you to the town he believes Marcus lives in.”
“Should be an hour’s drive from Copenhagen, unless he moved, but I doubt that,” Erik replied, looking torn between elation and dread over the fact he would be seeing the man he loved after all this time.
“So, we just go?” I asked, feeling like I’d gotten to skip a huge exam and was now just given the pass.
Rino smiled patiently. “You just go. I’ll have everything emailed to you both in a few minutes. You decide which of the cases you target first, but I would get them all out of the way before you help Erik.”
“Why?” Dylan asked. “Shouldn’t we focus on freeing him from Mike so he had less of a drain on him?”
Rino smiled softly. “Erik could end up being a great help with the ghosts and then you can take all the time you need to find Marcus. These cases are of high priority. Marcus could be anywhere in the world, especially since he doesn’t have any social media.
It could take months, if not years, to find him.
I would rather have these cases closed and let you focus all your time on finding Marcus after. ”
We just nodded and walked out of the mansion, both of us clearly stunned, but also relieved.
Finally, Erik would get back to Marcus, and Dylan and I could start our career together however we wanted.
Rino hadn’t assumed anything about us staying as mediums after our training, but we’d said we wanted to, and he’d seemed pleased by that.
Most mediums preferred to work in the field, but some didn’t want any part of this world and I could respect that.
After all, I hadn’t wanted it either. Now that I had Dylan by my side I was actually looking forward to being a full-time medium.
Maybe it was because of Erik too. He’d proven to be such a good soul and I wanted nothing else than to help him, and others like him, find peace.
“You won’t like this,” Dylan said, his expression grim as we got into the car.
“Oh, no, what is it?” I asked, sharing a worried look with Erik.
“We need to make one important stop before leaving, and it will drain both of us before a long flight.”
I groaned, but Erik just laughed gleefully.
Dylan’s mothers were the kindest women, but damn they were nosey and rather intimidating.
I’d met them twice before Dylan and I started dating or rather, prior to our bonding.
Now that we had to see them as a couple, I felt so out of my depth.
They’d facetimed us a few days ago and we’d promised to visit them soon.
Dylan had to warn them not to show up because in his words, we were likely cuddling…
or more. They did not need to see that. I’d died a little inside when the words had tumbled out of his mouth with no remorse.
What was worse, was that they’d laughed gleefully at it and mentioned how happy they were that Dylan had found someone.
“What if they don’t like me?” I asked, trying to swallow my nerves. It did absolutely nothing but make my stomach queasy.
“They already love you,” he assured me, driving down the streets I knew led to their home.
Erik’s head popped in between me and Dylan, not that Dylan knew that. “I like Linette the most,” he said, grinning. “She’s feisty.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not nice picking favorites, you know?”
Dylan ignored me, knowing by now that I was likely talking to Erik. I liked that I didn’t always have to translate. Dylan also knew I would tell him everything Erik and I talked about before bed. That way he felt like he was a part of things, too.
“Penny is nice too,” Erik said, sounding like he meant it. “She’s just not Linette.”
I looked past Erik to see Dylan smiling softly as he drove toward his childhood home. “Erik likes Linette the best.”
Dylan just laughed at that.
“Denmark?” Penny gushed excitedly. “I love how you two get to travel together. It’s important for a healthy relationship to experience things together.”
We sat in their living room enjoying a cup of tea while Linette somehow kept bringing more treats out from the kitchen. Not gonna lie, Linette was my favorite, too.
Dylan, who had a mouth full of lemon tart, nodded eagerly at that, and with a hand covering his mouth replied, “It’s all because of Mike. He needs to travel for work and they were kind enough to hire me as well to help him out.”
“I still can’t believe you’re bonded,” Penny sighed happily. “And to such a handsome man as well.”
“Me neither,” Dylan grinned, squeezing my thigh. “And I get to work by his side forever, there’s nothing better.”
“And you have your blog,” I reminded him.
Dylan had decided that he wanted to blog about food while we travelled, sharing recipes and pictures from restaurants all over the world.
Cooking was a hobby of his and I loved that he could do this while we worked, not because we believed it would be something he could make money on, but simply because he enjoyed doing it.
I would enjoy it, too, since it meant a lot of fun restaurants and trying out different dishes while we travelled.
“I can’t wait to cook Danish food with you,” I said, bumping into his shoulder.
“Uuuh,” Penny exclaimed, excited all over again. “You’re even cooking together?”
We nodded.
“Linette, they’re so meant to be,” she said, her tone so serious it made me smile.
“Definitely,” Dylan agreed, shooting me a proud smirk. “Mike is too precious not to keep forever.”
“Aww,” they both cooed.
“Our little boy is truly a man now,” Linette teased.
“Nothing little about him,” Erik quipped from my right, making me choke on my ginger cookie.
“Are you okay, hon?” Penny asked, handing me a glass of lemonade.
“Yes,” I croaked, gulping down the sour liquid. “Just a crumb that got stuck.”
“I hate when that happens,” Erik laughed.
This hour would be pure torture it seemed.