I stood at Mack’s back like a buffer so nothing could attack him from behind. I was a living shield, which wasn’t unheard of, but it wasn’t normally this bad.
I watched the Mediums grabbing ghosts and hauling them to Eli, watched Eli move through the room slowly, touching every ghost she could, her eyes fierce with triumph and concentration. Quinn stood much like me, a living shield at her back. Our eyes met as we moved, rotating around our Mediums like asteroids to a planet.
Yeah, this would take a while.
And we wouldn’t leave our Mediums until it was done.
19
I worked up a literal sweat in that damn attic. I was dusty, sneezing dust bunnies, and desperate for a shower.
But we were done.
And I’d take that victory all day. Well, what was left of the day. It was nearly nine at night now. We’d been in the theater most of the day, only coming down long enough to eat, hit a bathroom, and then go right back to it. Eli was exhausted, currently draped over Quinn like a fur stole, not moving anytime soon. Quinn didn’t seem to mind carrying his wife inside the bunkhouse.
More than a little worry ran through me, as she had definitely pushed it, but Eli promised a good sleep would set her to rights. We’d all pushed ourselves to the limits, desperate to get the theater done and off our plates. I’d exorcised twice and nearly done it a third time, I’d felt so desperate. Laying hands on Joey had failed—elusive little bastard—leaving me anxious. He hadn’t been in the theater at all.
I had the bad feeling he knew we were coming for him and was doing everything in his power to evade us. I really hoped that wasn’t the case, though, because I did not want to chase him down.
At least we’d gotten more of his mob? I didn’t know if we’d finished off all of them. I doubted it, but every little bit counted.
The main floor clearing team had gone ahead of us, as they’d finished hours ago, and promised to make dinner. I opened the door and was hit with a wave of sound, smells, and light. It smelled amazing, like meat and potatoes and savory flavors. Everyone seemed to be in the main room, including Booker and a man I didn’t know. Ah, this must be our chaos magician. Wow, they’d made good time.
Booker was all smiles as he turned, hailing us. “Ah, the conquering heroes have returned. Come, meet Seiji. Uh-oh, Eli, did you overdo it?”
She flashed him a victory sign. “I did. But we’re done with the theater.”
“Then that’s definitely a win.”
Booker handled introducing us, one by one, Seiji shaking hands as he went. Gwyn might have been right about him being Japanese American, as a very New England accent came out of his mouth. He wasn’t very tall—my height, in fact—with thick black hair cut to fall casually around his face in a frame, touching his collar. He looked a bit tired, and of course he was aftertraveling all day. Not to mention whatever case he’d been on before this one might have been a doozy.
Poor guy, and here we were handing him a whole new headache.
“And finally, Brandon’s fiancé and Medium, Mack.”
I shook hands with him, not surprised by the casual strength in his grip. “Hi. Sorry if I’m getting you dusty.”
He shook his head a little with a smile. “I’ve been covered in worse, I promise you. We’ve eaten, if you’d like to join us at the table?”
“Let me shower real fast. I can’t even stand touching me right now.”
“Of course.”
He seemed very polite, a little quiet. Then again, could be because he was tired. I got really quiet when I was tired.
Brandon and I split from the group, sharing the shower but not doing more than copping a few feels because we really were starving. I’d get my hands on him properly later. We were quick to get out of the shower and into pjs. Might as well at this time of night. Brandon beat me out the door, with me straggling just because I was so freaking tired and sore it was hard to move.
I beelined for the main room, but Lachlan seized me before I could get out of the hallway. He leaned in, hands on my arms, a desperate hope on his face.
“Mack. Do me a solid, aye? Find out if the man’s gay or bi or something.”
My eyebrows arched. I’d known Lachlan was not straight, we’d talked men before, but hadn’t he told me he liked the cute and cuddly type? I wouldn’t have described Seiji as cute per se, more classically handsome. Or maybe Lachlan had multiple types. “Oh really now. He’s your type?”
“Never in m’life has my libido taken a look at a man and saidPlease? with such begging eyes.” Lachlan cast a longing look over his shoulder. “Pray with me, mate.”
“I’ll try to suss it out for you,” I promised. This was far too entertaining to turn him down. “Let’s start by talking to him, yeah?”
Lachlan nodded and headed for the table like a cat spying a field of catnip. I had to subtly catch him and redirect him to the kitchen so he remembered to get a plate of food. He acted like he was mesmerized by this man. Davina had caught on already, too, as there was pure mischief on her face. She was going to get mileage from this.
