His eyes took on a lethal edge. “I’m not in the habit of allowing people to speak to me like that.”
I rubbed my temples. “I can bring them back, if you’d prefer?”
“Don’t mind her,” Daisy piped up. “She’s terrible at customer service. She’s always this cranky. Have a blessed day!”
I was still rubbing my temples with my eyes closed when the client chair squeaked then groaned. Clothes rustled.
“See that you keep this to yourself,” Mr. Criminal said. “I’ll be watching.”
I barely kept from huffing out a laugh as he shuffled off. He didn’t know my name, hadn’t known when I’d show up here, and didn’t know where to find me otherwise. But suddenly he’d be keeping an eye on me?
Get in line.
“Blessed day?” Mordecai asked Daisy.
“I don’t know, he was scary. I figured he’d be less likely to kill religious people. So…” She let the word linger, and I knew they’d both shifted their attention to me.
“So…” I heard shifting on the rug. “You…listen to ghosts and then push them out of this world?” Mordecai asked. “That’s it?”
“I’d thought there was more to it, for some reason,” Daisy whispered.
“It’s plenty, trust me.” I stared out over the water again as the daylight continued to wane.
“Where do they go?” Daisy asked, and I could hear the shiver of unease in her voice.
While the kids did know my magical type, we’d never really discussed it, and they’d certainly never seen me do it. Part of that was because ghosts creeped Daisy out and she shushed me soon after I started talking about them, and another part was that the freak show was no place for a self-respecting teenager, magical or otherwise. It was hard to get a good understanding of my work without actually seeing it.
“Some say it’s a place that is infinitely better. Some rant and rave about how annoying it is. But what exactly that place is, I’m not sure. I’ve never been there. The furthest I’ve gone is to the Line—the gate to the spiritual plane, basically.”
“Could you…” Daisy’s swallow was so loud, I could hear it from a few feet away. “Could you go there if you tried?”
I furrowed my brow in thought, watching that relaxing movement of the water. “I honestly don’t know. Sometimes, when I send a particularly strong and stubborn spirit across, I have to put so much effort into it that I hear a subtle calling from beyond the veil. And when I bring someone back, it’s the same way. My spirit kinda…jumps at it. But I don’t know if I could go over, or what would happen to me if I did. Would I get trapped? Would my body die without my soul? Would my body go with my soul?” I shook my head slowly, curiosity and fear mingling at the great unknown. “When I’m old and senile and wetting the bed, I’ll probably try it. Couldn’t hurt at that point, know what I mean?”
One of the kids let out a breath. No comment came for a few moments.
“But…these spirits aren’t still people, right?” Daisy asked. “I mean, if they were, we’d all see them… They’re…almost a figment of your imagination?”
She sure hoped they were, at any rate.
“They were people, and now they’re…wandering souls?” I shook my head, not used to explaining this. “You guys, I honestly don’t know. They look like living, breathing people to me. They look as real as you two, except I can see past them if I need to. Like Superman’s x-ray vision.”
“Then how do you know they’re ghosts?” Mordecai asked.
“I just…know. When I’m tired, I overlook it half the time, but normally…” I shrugged. “I just know, that’s all.”
“I feel like you should get a firmer handle on your magic. I mean…you just made three hundred dollars!” I could hear the excitement in Daisy’s voice, despite the way I’d made that dirty money. “If you had a better idea of all your…abilities, maybe you could make even more. Because that man definitely seemed happy with your service. The personality behind the service could use some work, but the actual service seemed to leave him satisfied. That says to me that he felt he received value for his money.”
“Well put,” Mordecai said. “That junior CEO class taught you something. I should’ve taken it.”
“You guys, I know this one seemed great and all, but I don’t usually make that much money. Besides, it isn’t fun. The stories I was told—”
“Stocking shelves isn’t fun,” Daisy said. “Cleaning up dog poop isn’t fun. Do you know what the difference is? Those pay badly.”
“Just tune them out like you always tune us out,” Mordecai said.
“I don’t tune you out—I ignore you. Which is easy because you yammer about nothing. People who have been tortured to death are a lot harder to block out. And this usually pays badly.” I rubbed my face. “That guy was an exception. And obviously dangerous. You’re forgetting that I was told sensitive information that could get me in big trouble.”
“By ghosts,” Daisy said. “That doesn’t count in a house of law.” I frowned at the odd term, momentarily derailed. “That guy is proof that word of mouth works. Am I right, Gandalf?” I could hear Daisy rubbing her hands together. “I would kill for my clipboard right now.”
“Just be patient,” I said, resuming my stare out over the water. “You’ll see what this job is really all about. And then you’ll understand why I only reserve my party tricks for desperate times.”
18
Kieran
“And you said this chick can also reach into your chest?” Jack asked Kieran as they sat inside the flowing tent they’d set up. The billboard outside advertised a mystical soap that wasn’t on display.
The second he’d gotten word that Alexis was on the move, Kieran had had Jack follow her and relay info back to him. He hadn’t been thrilled she’d turned up here, in a place ten times worse than the disgusting half-world in which she lived. She was subjecting herself to ridicule and humiliation by small-minded fools. This market, for lack of a better word, was degrading for magical people as a whole, and it had to be damaging to a person’s self-worth to participate in it.
In an effort to keep an eye on her, he’d had his guys set up this tent down the way from hers. This way he could monitor her, unmolested by those who might recognize him. His guys had also set up a couple of cameras, for when the larger crowds inevitably came, wanting entertainment from those deemed less than human.
He planned to move closer once the crowds would properly mask him, but for the moment, he had a clear view from a few angles, and enough audio from the closest camera to make out what was going on. Neither Alexis nor any of her crew—her teen wards, he surmised—had noticed them setting it up. They were completely oblivious to the goings-on around them and therefore defenseless to hostile forces. Kieran included.
“Yes, in so many words.” Kieran leaned forward on his wooden chair, resting his elbows against his knees, looking out the small window in the side of the tent. They’d cut it shortly after his arrival. “It doesn’t look like that’s the power she’s using here.”
“It looks like she’s doing Ghost Whisperer stuff, so the file must’ve been right. At least in part,” said Jack, leaning against the pole in the corner, looking out his self-made window. Donovan stood at the mouth of the tent, keeping everyone moving by making their tent seem as boring and unimpressive as it was. Three tablets sat on a small table at the back of the tent, displaying the camera views. A Bluetooth speaker softly played the audio feed from the cameras. “But a class two shouldn’t be able to actually see spirits. Especially not in broad daylight.”
“I know,” Kieran said dryly. He was well versed in what a Ghost Whisperer could and could not do. As his guys well knew. “I’ve devoted more time to the report on Alexis than I care to admit, and I can’t find any trace of how it might’ve been altered. The usual signs are absent, and it’s obvious she doesn’t have any magical connections who’d make the changes for her. She’s estranged from the magical society. Has been her whole life.”