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“Can we—?” Before I could even finish my sentence, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. When I looked over, I saw a female in a leather miniskirt and a purple bustier flicker into existence, looking as solid as Hanlen and I did. Her black and purple braids hung to her waist, and even in death, she appeared more alive than a lot of people I’d seen. My breath caught, but I tried to hide my reaction.
“Okay, guys, you can tap Lark and get her out of there,” I said into the walkie.
“Copy,” Aaron acknowledged.
“Why’d you stop?” Hanlen asked. “That was incredible.”
“We got what we needed.” It was the only answer my brain would form at the moment. All I could do was stare beyond Hanlen to my cousin, watching as she gazed down at Hanlen with tears in her eyes.
I wondered if the reason she couldn’t come through had to do with Hanlen. I wondered if that was why she hadn’t come to talk to me. Why she’d reached out to Wren and Lark instead. I had no idea how to handle this. Hanlen had just gotten to a point where she was starting to believe—and enjoy—all of this. What would knowing that her dead best friend, the person she missed with every fiber of her being and thought of as a soul-mate sister, was standing right behind her?
I reached over and shut off my Handycam. We could piece together footage from elsewhere later. This didn’t need to be on camera.
“Hanlen, I have a serious question for you.”
“Yeah?” she said, her brow wrinkling.
“If you could talk to Reagan, would you want to?”
“Yes, of course. I’ve always wished for that. I think it’s a big reason I was so adamant that there were no such things as ghosts because I believed that she would have come to me if she still lingered.”
“There are a multitude of reasons why a spirit may not be able to reach out to someone. And sometimes those reasons don’t always make sense. Call it . . . universal spirit care.” I laughed. “The laws require balance. And when a soul is tragically taken from this world, ripped away from those who love them, it’s sometimes too hard—on both parties—for there to be contact. When that’s the case, things outside of our control come into play, and no matter how strong the spirit, the person, or the medium, it just doesn’t happen.”
“Do you think that could be what happened with Reagan?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I do. Hanlen, I’m going to tell you something, and I want you to try to remain calm.”
“No good conversation in the history of ever started off that way.”
“Fair,” I answered. “But this might not be the easiest.”
“I’ve come a long way, Dev. Is The Colonel standing behind me or something?” She turned to look behind her.
“There is a spirit behind you.”
She turned back to me. “But it’s not the soldier?” she asked. “Oh, God, is it a demon?”
I chuckled; I couldn’t help it, especially given the look on Gunnie’s face. “Not a demon.” I reached over and put my hand on Hanlen’s knee, brushing my thumb over her jeans. “Babe, Reagan is standing behind you.”
“What?” she yelled and jumped up, only to trip on the rug and fall into my lap. I repositioned her in my arms and put my lips against her temple. “Shh, baby. It’s okay.”
“Okay? I’m not so sure. And . . . wait, how do you know what Reagan looks like?”
Oh, boy. This might not go over well. Then again, it wasn’t like I did anything wrong. The other day just didn’t seem like the right moment to explain the connection. And I needed some time to come to terms with it anyway.
“Because . . .” I swallowed hard. “Because Reagan is my cousin, Hanlen. The one I call Gunnie.”
Her sharp intake of breath hit me in the solar plexus, and I struggled to breathe for a moment. Her entire body had locked, and I wasn’t sure what would come next.
“Your . . . your cousin?”
“Yes. I didn’t tell you the other night when you told me her name because I needed a beat to wrap my head around it. She’s another special thing that you and I share. Yet another reason that I think we were meant to be in each other’s lives.”
“But . . . I don’t understand,” she said.
“I know. But she’s here. And she’s here for a reason. The Colonel said that she couldn’t communicate for some reason but that she was here because of her family. Someone she loves. That’s both of us.”
Hanlen sat up straighter on my lap and pulled her hair back, tugging at the strands. I could almost see her trying to make sense of what she’d just heard. When she looked to where Reagan stood, my heart skipped a beat.
