Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
JOSH
“I’m so glad you enjoyed your stay,” I say politely with a smile I hope doesn’t look as fake as it feels. “Keep an eye on the website for that theme weekend you were interested in.” The smiling couple thanks me again and leaves, and I slump.
That’s it. The inn is empty. We have some tourists in the museum, and there’s a school group at the smithy with Ewan, but once they go, the estate will be empty except for staff. It could all be over tonight, if Kieran decides to go ahead.
He comes out of the office. “They gone?”
“Yep.”
He nods, the fine lines around his eyes standing out.
Kieran’s a worrier by nature, it seems, and this whole thing has been incredibly stressful for him.
Especially since he’s the boss and has to make the decisions.
The buck stops with him, unless he brings the owners into it, which the ghosts are dead set against. They weren’t impressed with how the owners reacted to the demon being accidentally freed during the renovations.
“I guess I should decide what to do,” he sighs.
I want to say yes, because the wait is killing me, but Kieran’s become a friend, and friends care about each other’s mental health, right? So instead I say, “A few more hours won’t hurt. We have everything we need.”
He shoots me a grateful smile but shakes his head. “A few more hours won’t make a difference. I know what we need to do. It’s tonight. Anyone who doesn’t want to be there doesn’t have to be.” He winces. “Except you. Sorry.”
I wave away the apology. “I want to get it done.” I don’t add that while part of it is that I don’t like having a demon in the house, it’s mostly because I want to see if I can actually do this…
banish a demon. I’ve spent my whole life up until now thinking of my ability as a curse.
It’s held me back in every part of my life.
But since I got here, that’s changed dramatically.
Not only am I accepted, is my ability accepted, but it’s considered a gift.
Something useful and helpful. Suddenly, I find myself wanting to use it.
To stretch it, experiment, see what I can do.
“Six o’clock?” Kieran suggests. I consider it.
By then, the gates will be closed to tourists, and the day staff will be long gone.
Without any guests tonight, the kitchen staff will be gone too.
It’ll just be those of us who live on the estate and whoever chooses to stay—and it should still be light out, which will make me feel a lot better, even if NEDDT didn’t mention sunlight or dark making a difference.
But then, I didn’t ask. Maybe I should email and ask them.
Pushing the sudden worry aside—surely they would have said something if it mattered—I tell Kieran, “Six sounds good.”
Ewan comes up to the house to have lunch with me.
The school group is safely munching on sandwiches on the front lawn, after which they’ll go out to the fields with Daniel to talk about corn or whatever.
Ewan and I go up to my apartment and make our own sandwiches, eating them curled up together on the couch.
“So, it’s tonight, then,” he muses, brushing crumbs off his chest. I eye the broad expanse lasciviously and think about offering to do it for him.
“Tonight,” I echo absently. Because chest. The old-fashioned shirt stretches across it, open at the neck, showing off plenty of tanned skin and a teasing patch of hair.
“Josh!” He’s laughing, exasperated, and I figure it’s not the first time he’s called my name.
“Yes? Sorry. It’s just… you’re you.” I wave a hand to encompass him, as though that explains my distraction.
Which it does. This is the sixth day since our date, and each one has been better than the last, even when we were both buried in work and exhausted.
Even when the ghosts and our living friends tried to pry into our lives.
We’ve spent every evening together, mostly at my place, but twice at his, since it’s still on the property and within reach of the guests if they need me, and I can’t see myself ever wanting to end this.
He’s kind and funny and hot as fuck, but most of all, I feel so comfortable with him.
It’s like he gets me. I don’t need to be on guard or worried, and even when I was nervous about our date because it was our first date, I knew it would be okay. Ewan would make it okay.
I never thought I’d be the kind of person who wanted to be looked after, and I still don’t, not really, but I can’t deny how good it feels to know that if I do, Ewan would step up to do it.
“I know I’m me.” He chuckles, leaning over to kiss me. I’m pretty sure he meant to say more, but we both get distracted, and it’s some time before we break apart, lips swollen and eyes dreamy.
Ewan clears his throat. “Uh, what were we talking about?”
I sprawl across his lap, where I somehow ended up, and walk my fingers up his chest to his strong throat. “How hot you are.”
He snorts. “No. Oh, now I remember.” Capturing my hand with one of his, he grabs my chin with the other and directs me to look at him. “Tonight, if you’re at all uneasy, even a tiny bit, promise me you’ll back out.”
“Ewan—”
“No, hear me out. You can give me a sign and I’ll call the whole thing off, if you don’t want to be the one who backs out. But I don’t want you doing anything you feel uncomfortable with.”
I swallow, warm feelings I’m not quite ready to name swelling in my chest. He’s so amazing.
“Thank you. Seriously, thank you. For caring. For being you. I’m not going to lie, what we need to do does make me nervous.
But I think that’s good? I mean, shouldn’t we be nervous about dealing with a demon?
But I want to get this done. I want it out of here, and…
” I hesitate, but he’s been honest with me, and I want him to know all of me.
“…and I want to see if I can do this. I want to do this. For once, I want to know that I bring value to something.”
His eyes blaze. “You do bring value,” he says fiercely. “You’re valuable. I’ve never met anyone more valuable, more precious than you. You light up the world.”
My whole being aches with his words. Does he really feel that way about me? Nobody’s ever felt that for me.
I look away.
There’s an awkward little silence, and then Ewan sighs.
“That was… intense. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
My gaze snaps up to his. “No. I’m not… I mean, I am, but it’s not your fault.
I just…” I really don’t want to tell him I’ve never been wanted by anyone before I came here.
If he thinks I’m awesome, I don’t want to be the one who shows him the truth.
At least, not until I’ve had the chance to maybe prove that I could be awesome.
“It’s not your fault,” I repeat, because that’s important.
“I’m not g-good with compliments.” I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face in his throat, feeling his sigh with my whole body as his arms come around me.
“Just… promise that if you feel unsafe, you’ll let me know. Don’t take risks.”
I nod against his throat. I won’t do anything that might lose me this.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Skye says nervously hours later. It’s his day off, but when Kieran texted him that we were going ahead, he came in. I guess he’s like me: nervous as all fuck, but not willing to miss out.
I mean, we are going to banish a demon. How many people can say they’ve done that?
At least… I hope we’re going to banish a demon.
I glance for reassurance at the giant bags of salt and the boxes full of quartz.
Even if this fails, the demon’s not getting away from us.
That’s why we decided to do it in the basement: there’s a better chance of keeping it contained down there.
So now Skye and I are waiting in the storeroom for the others, since Kieran asked that we all go down as a group.
“I can’t believe it either,” Johnny says, flickering in a way I know means nerves. He’s not manifested yet—none of the ghosts are. They’re saving every ounce of their strength for when we confront the demon.
“Think of the peace we can have once it’s done,” Hattie soothes him. “First the dark spirit, then we close the vortex, and we can spend the rest of eternity pranking tourists and watching television. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”
“Ooh, I heard there’s going to be a new season of Love Island,” Maisie says. “Just think how lovely it will be to see all those gleaming bodies without worrying about the dark spirit getting loose and devouring us all before the season’s over.”
I wince and mutter, “There’s a comforting thought.”
Skye looks around. “Ghosts?” I nod. “What’s a comforting thought?”
“You’re better off not knowing,” I say, shaking my head, and he turns pale.
“We are going to win this, right?”
“The salt and quartz will keep it trapped,” I declare as cheerfully as I can. “If we can’t manage it today, we can always try again another time.” Please don’t let it come to that. If I feel this nervous now, imagine how it will be if I’ve already tried and failed.
Kieran comes in, followed by Ewan and Daniel… and Arissa. I’m kind of surprised. She hated the idea of going into the basement last time, and this time we’ll actually be freeing the demon from its tomb. But her face is set in determined lines, even if her smooth brown skin is paler than usual.
“Are we ready?” Daniel asks, confident as always.
“No,” Kieran says. “But let’s do this anyway.
” He passes out battery-operated camping lanterns.
I saw the boxes when they arrived, and if they’re as good as the manufacturer boasted, this many should light up the basement brighter than an operating room.
Next, we all get a quartz medallion to hang around our necks, as well as a good-sized chunk to put in a pocket.
That’s followed by little silk bags filled with rock salt. Kieran’s taking no chances.