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Chapter One
Please not the diploma, oh, please not the diploma…
Madeline Cartwright froze in her seat as she surreptitiously watched the framed diploma on the wall behind her interviewer, Doctor O’Bannon, become unhinged from the hook. It hovered three foot above him. And the culprits—a pair of poltergeists—leered at her, apparently ready to drop it on Dr O’Bannon’s head.
Maddie clawed the edge of her seat, feeling cold all over.
The poltergeists, volatile spirits that love wreaking havoc, swarmed around the office like renegade bullets. She was the only one who could see them. And Dr O’Bannon, a dermatologist who was looking for a new receptionist, remained oblivious. He’d been oblivious when they’d moved a framed picture of him and his family from his desk and defaced it by scribbling moustaches on each person with a Sharpie pen. And he was still oblivious when the spirits dropped paperclips and an eraser into his coffee mug. Maddie sincerely hoped Dr O’Bannon wouldn’t notice any of that until the interview had finished and she was long gone from the office.
But if those nasty spirits decided to drop the diploma on Dr O’Bannon’s head…
Maddie shifted her gaze to her interviewer, schooling her best poker face. Dr O’Bannon had noticed she’d been nervous earlier. The good doctor had joked he wouldn’t bite her, and Maddie had forced herself to make a polite, girlish giggle. She liked Dr O’Bannon. The middle-aged man with a receding hairline and cheery disposition seemed like he would be a good boss to work for.
And besides, she really needed this job.
She was tired of scraping here and there just to get by, and facing eviction every month because she couldn’t hold down a steady job. Maddie wasn’t lazy or anything. She was just a magnet for spirits, ghosts, and all things unseen, to the point that she had trouble functioning in real life. Ghosts loved pestering her to help them with their worldly unfinished business, and other kind of spirits—wraiths, spectres, and their whole gangs—loved messing around with her. Maybe because they didn’t encounter many humans that could see them, or maybe she was catnip for the spirits, but her gift had become a curse.
Dr O’Bannon cleared his throat as he finished reading her résumé. “You worked as a front desk clerk at your last job?”
Maddie stiffened in her seat. “Actually”—she decided to be honest—“I was working as a cashier in 7-Eleven after the hotel job. I didn’t put the cashier on my résumé because I didn’t think it was relative to the position I’m applying for.”
“I see.” Dr O’Bannon went back to scrutinising her résumé. “You only worked for three months at the Red Inn?”
“Yes, sir.” Maddie swallowed hard. “The hotel management wanted me to work the graveyard shift and I couldn’t. I’m the primary caretaker of my mother.” The truth was, she was afraid of working nights. The spirits particularly loved to prowl after sunset. She preferred to be at home, in her own apartment, where she could put some wards against them. Sometimes, the wards worked. Many times, they were useless. Either way, she felt much better fending them off on her own turf.
“And how long did you work in 7-Eleven?” he asked.
Maddie shifted uncomfortably, wondering whether she should lie or not. She’d lasted only one day in the 7-Eleven. A customer ran away from the store after claiming she was handing him a snake. It wasn’t a snake. It was his change. She didn’t know why, or what kind of spirit had the power of illusions, but to the eyes of that customer, he’d thought Maddie had handed him a three-foot long hissing cobra.
But that wasn’t all.
With his demented screaming, other customers were also running from the store, thinking the place was being robbed. Within minutes, the store was surrounded by police officers and she had gone through some embarrassing interrogations, and before lunch time, she was out of her job.
Of course, when she argued to the owner he should check the security camera to show that she hadn’t played any hanky-panky like the customer had claimed, the owner wouldn’t hear her reasons and ousted her anyway. It was so unfair.
Maddie halted her breath, decided to skitter along the truth. “Only a day, sir. The place was robbed, and I was too scared to go back the next day.”
Dr O’Bannon let out a sympathetic sound. “That was unfortunate.”
Maddie nodded hopefully. “That’s why I prefer an office job. It’s more…secure.”
Dr O’Bannon nodded along, looking eager. “I can understand your concerns. I assure you my clients are respectable members of the society. In fact, we have a few celebrities, as well.”
A flicker of hope lit u
p. Does this mean he’ll hire me? Maddie straightened her posture and hoped the good doctor would hire her before these poltergeists ruined it all.
Unlikely though.
The poltergeists that had been following her since she’d got off the train in Dan Ryan started to chant her name audible only to her. “Maddie, Maddie, Maddie…”
She knew the drill. Poltergeists loved to chant whenever they were about to create havoc. This wasn’t the first time she had encountered nasty ones like them. Maddie forced herself out of her trance and took the initiative. “Sir, is it possible to conclude this meeting at a later time? Suddenly, I’m feeling unwell and—”
Crash!
God, no. For a long moment, she couldn’t breathe. The diploma slammed O’Bannon’s cranium in full force. The glass cracked. The frame balanced on top of the doctor’s head before it tumbled and hit the carpeted floor. Dr O’Bannon, who was shocked and puzzled, could only mumble unintelligible, wondering what had just happened.
The frame wasn’t big enough to knock someone unconscious. Maddie had prepared herself with an excuse—that somehow the diploma had come loose from the wall and fallen on his head. But at that moment, all hell broke loose.
