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“Where do you want this?” Pax asked, and I took him in for the first time. He had on a blue-and-green-and-white-plaid button-down that brought out the color of his eyes, faded and distressed jeans, and his favorite black boots. He had his shirt open today over a bright white T-shirt, and his hair was spiked and artfully disheveled as always, pairing well with his forever-present scruff.
I got my mind back on track and answered. “Let’s just set it down in the corner of the parlor if we can find some room in there. I’ll shift what I need later if I have to.”
We moved through the crowd, and I said my hellos, watching as everyone went through their pre-recording checks. The team worked like a well-oiled machine. Even with the losses we’d incurred recently, things still ran super smoothly.
I looked at the control desk and took in our newest addition as I set down my stuff. Turner was the youngest member of the cast and crew at only nineteen. He had light red hair and dark blue eyes and an easy-going demeanor. But he was smart. Like scary smart, having already graduated from college. He’d told us that he’d been homeschooled before university and thus ahead of most kids his age. I wondered why he was settling for being a tech grip on a TV show and not off doing something bigger, but I was sure he had his reasons. I didn’t know much about him yet. All I knew was that we were lucky to have found him—or, more accurately, thathe’dfound us—and he fit in really well with the entire gang, though he’d taken a particular liking to Birdie. And, as was always the way with Lark, she became the team mother and babied him—to his obvious delight. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think they knew each other.
Dev and Hanlen walked in from the other archway, Birdie following behind with Myst. “The gang’s all here,” Hanlen said and smiled.
Dev pulled her close and kissed her temple. “Everybody ready?” he asked the room.
We all nodded and smiled and issued words of agreement.
“It should be dark in about an hour. Let’s get outside, get the circle set, open the way, and get this show on the road.” He beamed and then looked to his left. “Wren and Findley say the place is quiet right now, but Desmond said he doesn’t think that will last long. He saw quite a bit of activity here last night. We could be in for an eventful evening.”
This was one of those things that I just let happen. Wren, Findley, and Desmond were dead. Wren was Dev’s sister, the one he’d lost to the serial murderer just over two years earlier. It was the R?DRΩM case I’d consulted on for the NOLA PD. Findley was her fiancé, who’d died in a tragic accident after he found out that she had been murdered, and Desmond was a soldier from the War of 1812, who Dev used as arunner—whatever that entailed. I didn’t pretend to understand and couldn’t entirely wrap my head around any of it because my mind didn’t work that way, but I usually just didn’t think about it and focused on what Icouldexplain. Besides, given that Lark and Dakota—and now even Hanlen—backed Dev up, and most of what they relayed from theghost crewended up being pretty damn accurate, I just let it be. It wasn’t like I had much time to dwell on anything anyway. We were much too busy for that.
As I was about to turn to grab what I’d need for what we were about to do outside, I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye. It was in the same location as where I’d sworn I had seen something the other day—back behind the monitors. I turned, once again looking for something that could have caused it, but I didn’t see anything. I really hoped that my exhaustion wouldn’t make me mess this up. This was a big show forHaunted New Orleans, and it meant a lot to me personally, too, given my fascination with the place. I needed to get my shit together.
About two hours later, Birdie had us all protected in sacred space with help from her gods, goddesses, ancestors, and guides—another thing I didn’t even pretend to understand—and had handed off blessed and charged crystals for each of us to carry. Dev had opened the way, beseeching the lwas—the primary spirits of Vodou as he’d told us—to assist in our investigation. Given the things that Lark and Dakota had experienced already at Lamour, they’d also had Paxton say a prayer and do a blessing for us before they closed the circle. It was all just words to me, but I loved these people enough to respect what madethemfeel safe. Now, we were all inside, about to break off into groups to start the real investigation and get filming for night one.
“Hey, Sky?” Dev called, and I turned to find him in the foyer.
“Yeah, boss?”
“I need to take Hanlen and Birdie with me to do a blind spirit box session in the back area with Aaron like we did at Arborwood. Do you want to take Myst and Padre and head up to the third floor and the attic if you have time? I need Dakota to do some work in the bedroom down here, but you guys should be fine and can take Myst on a test run.”
“I’m good with that, but what do I need to do with her?”
“You shouldn’t have to do anything. Just have her with you. If she senses something, she will alert you. Watch her coat. If you see her fur rise, she’s likely on to something. If she points or sits or alerts by barking or chuffing or growling, you guys can check it out more.”
“Sounds good.” I dropped down and patted my knee for Mystique, and she came bounding over, her doggie tongue lolling. “You ready to do some work, good girl?” She licked my hand, and I stood just as Pax walked up with one of my kits and his Handycam slung over his shoulder. He handed me the JumpBox. I looked at Dev.
“You want us to use the new device?” I asked.
“Absolutely,” he said. “None of us needs it right now, and since we haven’t done much exploring on the upper levels, it’ll be nice to get some data.”
My stomach flipped. “This is awesome. I’m so excited to try it. The super twins are freaking amazing with their technology, and it’ll be interesting to see if it can work in a real-world test. I mean, can you imagine the metrics we can go through later?”
Dev laughed. “All right, you nerd. Get to it.” He raised his head and did a quick pan, taking everyone in. “Good luck tonight, guys. Stay vigilant, be safe. Let’s try and make some history. Keep your walkies on. Let’s reconvene at”—he checked his smartwatch—“midnight. We’ll swap locations and get ready for the witching hour.”
As all supernatural shows would tell you, the so-called witching hour was three a.m. Normalspectralactivity was good for any time after dark—and even sometimes during the day if it was particularly powerful—but dark energy was, for some reason, anticipated and documented to be the most active at or around three in the morning. As Pax had informed the team, it was a way for the dark forces to mock the time that Jesus died on the cross, which apparently happened to be at three in the afternoon. He’d also told us that everything dark-entity related generally came in threes—something about the Holy Trinity or something. If we started seeing that pattern, we needed to be more aware. I guessed we’d see.
“Lights out,” Hanlen called, and I heard her chuckle. It was probably weird for her to go from skeptical non-believer to cast member in such a short time, but she was taking to it really well.
Pax and I started out and secured our gear just as someone killed the lights. Once we had everything in place, we headed for the stairs. I sent Mystique up ahead of us and told her to wait, and then we followed, panning the area for anything we might be able to use later. I still had the same buzzy, alert, uneasy feeling I’d had every time I’d been in the house and wondered what the night had in store.
We’d soon find out.
CHAPTER6
~Paxton~
Ifollowed Sky up the stairs, getting a shot of Myst sitting on the landing and waiting for us, panting happily. It would be fun to see how she reacted to things during the investigation. I loved that Dev and Hanlen had trained her to be an investigator, and I was excited that Sky and I got to take her on her inaugural look-see.
I panned around, taking in the areas on either side of the grand, split staircase. I still felt odd, and it always felt as if someone were watching me. It bothered me, and my senses were on high alert. For some reason, I had decided to don my charm of Our Lady of Mount Carmel tonight, a miniature of the habit that the monks wore as a sign of their love and devotion to the Holy Mother. I didn’t usually wear anything but my Saint Michael medallion or my crucifix, but something had told me to wear the Brown Scapular tonight, and it made me feel more comfortable. The charm represented the relationship between Jesus and the Virgin Mary, and was said to be one of the strongest weapons against Satan ever. Like most things, a lot of that was faith, but still . . .
Mine was simple and unassuming, a twisted rope of brown material and leather worn over the shoulders and clasped at the neck like a backwards necklace, with a brown wool tab at the nape, sporting a gold-embroidered cross. It had belonged to my grandfather and had been blessed by the Pope himself. My father hadn’t wanted me to have it, but he didn’t have much choice since Grandda had left it to me in his will.
