Her smile was sad. “I can tell you all I know, but it’s not everything. It won’t be enough.”
I took a deep breath and took her hand. “It’s a start.”
THIRTEEN
I urged Octavia,Wilson, and December onto the porch. The EMF readings showed the entity had left. But after witnessing the large void it had conjured, I didn’t want to take any chances.
“Rae, what the hell happened?” December asked in a rushed whisper. Her and Wilson were confused when Octavia and I bounded down the stairs worried about their safety.
“An event.” I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, trying to slow my breathing enough to focus on replaying the scene. I tried to pick through every detail without panic tainting my judgment. But the more I gripped calm, the more powerful it grew, becoming a ghost, resisting a peaceful transition.
“An event?” December crossed her arms over her chest, forehead creased. “I didn’t see anything. It completely isolated you two?”
I nodded numbly. I’d never had a job where a spirit could create such a massive event. Some spirits could pre-plan their haunts. Meditate on their actions. But precisionwas damn near impossible because even with the highest ability to focus, the dead couldn’t control their every move. Their actions were like attempts at agency in a dream, working for a little while before falling apart.
“Let me see.” Wilson reached for his sister, mouth turned downward as he noted the bruising on her neck. The discoloration spread. Tomorrow there would be swelling. If I hadn’t been keeping an ear out for her reappearance, obsessing over seeing her again, then I wouldn’t have gone looking for her. My stomach lurched at the thought of her alone with that thing before I’d gotten to her. Had there been signs before now? Hints of its intense power that I’d overlooked?
“It’s fine,” Octavia murmured, but she sat down in a rocking chair, letting her brother inspect the damage.
Wilson glanced at me for a second, his eyes narrowed. “Well, Jones? How are you all fixing this? Because honestly, this shit’s gotten worse since you’ve shown up.”
December gave me a subtleuh-ohlook. The energy of raging clients was almost as powerful as that of fearful ones. Between Wilson’s fury and Octavia’s new anxiety, they provided a hearty source for a spirit to feed on…my churning gut was throwing “abort mission” options into the mix.
“Wil,” Octavia warned. “If she hadn’t come up there when she did, I don’t know if I’d be sitting here.”
He scoffed. Hell, I agreed with him. Things escalated the moment we got here. And I couldn’t say with certainty that the direction we marched in would be the right one.
“We’re getting closer to the solution. That’s most likely why the attacks are escalating.” December tried to stand taller. She glanced my way, hoping I’d buff up her defense.
“Every encounter gets us closer,” I agreed in awhisper. My vision blurred. I needed to sit, my ankle pounding as my adrenaline cooled down. I opted to lean against the porch railing instead, conscious that sitting at a time like this would look like admitting defeat.
“And how many more close encounters do you think Octavia will survive?” he asked point-blank. “First the nightmare, now an all-out assault. Does she have to die for you to know what it’ll take to end this?”
“No one’s dying.” I pressed my nails into my palm, willing myself to stop replaying the shadow of horror on Octavia’s face when the entity mocked her. She clung to me for dear life, and all I could offer her were words. Hollow promises.
Octavia was right; I was a brilliant liar. That’d never bothered me before, but now it came with high risk and low reward. Things weren’t falling into place with this job. There’d be no faking it till I made it. I had to be right, or I had to step aside for someone better to do it.
If you had let the monitoring finish during her nightmare, you would have had a hint of this power level. And then, you would have known she wasn’t safe on her own while on-site.
I bit down so hard on my inner cheek I tasted blood.
The RV appeared on the horizon, kicking up dirt and hope. I bounded down the stairs, ignoring the pain sparking up my ankle as I went toward them before they had barely parked.
“Well?” I asked.
Jonah’s shoulders sagged as he got out of the RV. Nico studied me and then switched his gaze to the Daniel siblings, frowning as he asked, “What happened?”
“An event.” I sucked in a breath, motioning for them to follow me back to the porch. “It was around eight to nineminutes. A full dark veil trapped Octavia and me on all sides. It’s…chatty. Escalating in violence.”
“No shit,” Nico murmured when he got a look at Octavia’s neck. “You okay?”
“Fine.” She didn’t meet his gaze, wouldn’t meet any of ours.
I sniffed, looking toward the yard for a second to ground myself. My throat burned as I watched the last bit of daylight stain the sky red. The automatic porch light flickered on, a ghostly white light that hurt my eyes.
“It didn’t cross a salt circle,” I continued. “And didn’t make itself known to Wilson and December downstairs.”
December kneeled in front of Octavia, getting a closer look at the injury. In a gentle voice, she asked, “Is it alright if I check for damage? We may need to take you to a hospital.”
