“Thanks. I look forward to meeting everyone.”
“So do we. Now, take a look, how’s the room looking to you?”
Don slowly panned the camera. He’d put the bed against one wall, nightstand next to it, then a mirror dresser with a built-in vanity against the opposite wall. There was a desk in the corner for schoolwork and such, and one bookcase bracketed the desk. Looked good to me.
Gwyn gave a thumbs-up. “Perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you so much for setting it up for me.”
“Happy to help,” Don assured her. “Just let me know if anything else needs to be put in here. Do you have an idea of when you’ll be back?”
“Probably a good month before we can.” I hated saying those words, but it was sadly the truth of the matter. “It’s seriously insane over here.”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“Solid thirteen. Mack’s already had to exorcise several souls, and we’ve only been here a week!”
Don’s grimace screwed up a bit tighter. “That is a bad sign. All right, well, we’ll do what we can to support you from here.”
“I appreciate it, trust me.”
Was it bad I wanted to go home already?
15
I felt madder than a sick alligator with a sore tooth. How dare the ghosts target the weakest link of us all? Gwyn was already overwhelmed, I was already feeling bad about dragging her into this impossible case, and thenthatasshat decided it would be fun to scare her.
No siree, not on my watch.
I also kicked myself, because really, I should have expected them to go after her. Weakest link, after all. But I honestly hadn’t thought standing in the foyer would get her so quickly targeted. We’d barely been in there five minutes when hell broke loose. Ikicked myself again. From this point forward, I must not assume anything was safe or fine. Just assume the worst and plan accordingly.
Brandon took Gwyn out for a breather, which was honestly the better call while we waited on everyone else to arrive. It might only be for ten minutes, but I promised myself when she came back in, we’d have proper protections up around her.
Hannah sidled up next to me and murmured in my ear, “We’ve got to retrain her instincts from flight to fight.”
“I know,” I murmured back. It could be done. Hell, it had been done with me. I’d been in flight mode most of my life before I met Beau. He’d really spent most of the time teaching me how to react when spookems bum-rushed me. I’d need to do the same with Gwyn, but this didn’t seem the right timing for it. There were things in this town evenIwasn’t sure I could tackle, so I didn’t want her standing her ground against something out of her league. She didn’t know enough to judge yet. “Hannah, I feel so bad.”
She put a hand on my shoulder in consolation. “You did protect her, Mack. She’ll be in danger from time to time, the job demands it. Best she get experience, learn how to combat it. Don’t second-guess yourself or try to keep her safely away.”
“I just…don’t know how to teach her some things.”
“Every teacher experiences that moment. Every student learns a little differently, after all. Just do your best, and if you get stuck, Beau and I are always available to help. You know that.”
I felt better from her reassurance and hugged her. “Merci. Truly.”
She hugged me back, smiling warmly, which always lightened my heart. “You’ll both be fine.”
The door swung open again, but this time it was the cavalry. I was relieved to see my friends rejoin us and walked straightto them, explaining as I moved. “This damn place is so crazy it could have been an insane asylum. I do not like it one bit. Also, Eli, we’re seeing lots of grey trails, but there’s also a dark charcoal one. I’ll bet you anything that’s Joey.”
She looked about her, squinting. “Yeah, I see three just from where I’m standing.”
Beau joined us. “Eli, I’m thinking we need to stick together and tackle this place one floor at a time.”
“Yup, I agree. Basement and then go up?”
“That’s my plan. Then we’re not battling things from above or below.”
With everyone in agreement, people grabbed up the many salt bags, camping lanterns, and flashlights and headed down. Brandon and Gwyn reentered, and I noticed this time Brandon had everything under the sun strapped to him. Ready for a full-out battle, eh? Booker could have been his twin, and he had a duffel bag in hand to boot.
I kept Gwyn next to me as we walked to the basement stairs. “Now, Gwyn, here’s the setup when we tackle big buildings like this. We choose different spots—normally near intersecting hallways—and put salt circles down with a light source. That way, if a ghost or several rushes us, we have a safe place to retreat to until we can handle them. So first thing we’ll do once we’re down there is lay down those circles.”
