Page 60 of Dead Vengeance

“Um. Ghosts?” I continue to try to explain. “It’s… I’m not sure…”

A frenetic tapping sounds downstairs. A beak on glass. Edgar, back at the window for whatever reason. Which adds a new layer of stress, because what does he even want?

“That’s very odd,” says Helena, as if she’s not one of the oddest things in all of the Cotswolds right about now.

“It is. Odd. We should probably…” I should definitely go and investigate, because whatever that is, it isn’t normal. Or my kind of ‘normal’ at any rate. But some wariness in the back of my mind is screaming, Don’t take Liam, because it’s almost definitely not going to be okay for him, since I don’t even know what it is. But then I also probably shouldn’t leave Liam alone here with Helena either, nice as she is.

“Mr Gravely said sometimes spirits come to his house,” Liam provides, quite sweetly really. Nice he’s making small talk with the ghost. Nice he’s still calling me Mr Gravely, though I really should correct that at some point.

He speaks on before I can mull that point over too deeply. “And I was wanting to meet some… someone who might have crossed over. Who could maybe tell me about it. A little. So I understand.”

She looks back and forth between us, some note of seriousness finally passing into her eyes as they settle on mine. “Is that why you called me?”

I shake my head, slow as I can, hoping Liam doesn’t see it, trying to communicate with her, maybe stop with the whole ‘you called me’ bit. “I didn’t call you.”

“But then why…” She turns, looks behind her, at whatever she can see that I can’t, that marks her crossover point between our worlds. When she turns back, all the levity has fled from her features. “Archer, I think we need to talk.”

“I think we do,” I reply softly.

How to say to Liam, ‘Please excuse us for a moment. I promise you’ll be safe in my deadly haunted house.’

That tapping again on the window downstairs.

Liam waiting for me to tell him what’s going on. To do something.

Then another moan, deep and weirdly lustful, and I really am having trouble deciding which course of action to take right now.

“Archer?” Helena prods, meaning thick in her voice.

Then, tap, tap, tap! But this time, closer. Upstairs. My bedroom window!

Relief floods me as the pieces slide into place like a safety net, or a doorway with a big flashing exit sign over the top. “Liam, please could you pop in there and let Edgar in?”

“Uh…” There’s a brief flash of something in his eyes. Not just the expected concern such a suggestion would cause in a normal person. Is it disappointment? Hurt? Whatever it is, he blinks it away fast, forcing a smile. “Sure.” Then he steps straight into my bedroom.

“Just stay in the salt circle,” I call after him.

He spins back. “What?”

But I’m fast closing the door behind him and holding the handle tight just in case he tries to get out. But he doesn’t. Doesn’t say anything, and with a great deal of relief, I hear the window opening a moment later.

“What is going on?” Helena asks, irritation barely concealed beneath her curiosity.

“You tell me!” I whisper-shout back at her. “How the hell did you get here?”

“I crossed over the bridge!”

“You crossed over what bridge?”

“The bridge. The only bridge I know of. The very same one you put there when you invited me last time.”

“Shhh!” I hiss at her. “Look, you can’t tell Liam, okay? About what I do, about our deal, about any of it. That’s a secret.”

“Why? He just said he wants to know about ghosts. I should think he’d find that very interesting.”

“Yes, he would. But then he’d know I’m a necromancer, and that’s about the last thing I want Liam to find out about me.”

“But why? It’s a very interesting career choice. And if he has an interest in death and spirits…”