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Excitement courses through me at her words.
“You aren’t exactly alive either, though,” she goes on.
All the hope slips away from me. “What does that mean?” I ask her, feeling stupid. Maybe ghosts make sense to these people, but they’ve always been a myth to me. Now she’s saying I might not be a ghost after all? “Is it normal for ghosts to not be dead?”
She laughs, a bright, joyous sound. It fills the small space, making it instantly feel more cheerful. Despite my previous apprehension, I like this woman. She’s kind and warm.
“Darling, there’s nothing normal about you at all. You’re on a journey few have walked.”
“What sort of journey am I on? Is there any way to come back from this?”
“That’s what you have to decide,” she tells me cryptically. “Only you can choose how the journey will end.”
“How did I get on this journey?” I ask her.
She fixes me with a serious look and sighs deeply. Her lips form into a thin line, her expression apprehensive.
“That’s a question I don’t have the answer to,” she tells me honestly. “I don’t know why, but it’s clear someone has ripped your soul out of your body before it was ready. Somewhere out there, your body still lives, to accept you back when you’re ready. Or, you can choose to let go and move on. In that case, your body will die on its own.”
“I don’t want to be dead!” I answer desperately. “How do I get back to my body? Where is it?”
She sighs deeply again. This must be another question she can’t answer. Of course not. I try something else. “You said you can sense my aura. What does it look like?”
A bright smile breaks over her entire face. She squeezes my knee, and I feel the pinch of it. Her touch feels like a whisper. Like the way my mom would rub my back as a child with only her fingertips. I felt it, but it was barely there, causing goosebumps to break out on my flesh. I look down to see the woman is the one who has goosebumps now.
“You, my dear, have a pure, bright aura. You are pure light, pure joy. Which is why I know you aren’t the person they’re after.”
“Why would they think I am?” I wonder. I’ve done nothing wrong. Before I met Hex, I had no idea this place existed. I don’t know what they think I’ve done, but I’m innocent.
“There’s another spirit like you out there. Sort of. The spirit isn’t alive the way you are, but it’s clinging to the earth so desperately, it has a foothold. It feels as you feel, and it can interact with the living as well as you do. Ghosts cannot feel, but both you and this other spirit do. While you feel love, it feels anger.”
“How do you know I feel love?” I ask her.
“Your aura is full of it. There’s a deep love overflowing out of your spirit. It’s a mixture of a deep love that’s existed for your whole life and new love. You’re experiencing it in a new way, aren’t you?”
I blush deeply because we both know she means, Hex. I’ve known him for such a short amount of time but she’s right. I do love him. Maybe he’s keeping my soul tethered to the earth.
“This other spirit, though, its aura is as black as night. It is pure evil. Its only purpose on this earth is to wreak havoc and chaos. It’s been doing that for the men upstairs.”
A chill runs through me, and I wrap my arms around myself. I pray I never have to run into that spirit.
“How long has she been like this?” a voice asks. It’s a familiar voice, but I haven’t heard it in a while.
“I’m not sure,” Nicholas answers. My beloved. He’s so good to me. “She seemed okay when we went to bed, but when I tried to wake her up this morning, she wouldn’t budge. She was sweaty and paler than usual. She’s so weak.”
His voice sounds strangled, like he’s been crying. Who’s he so worried about? I try to call out to him, but I can’t speak.
“It’s the ritual,” Mama says as she enters the room. Why is she here?
“We’ve bound a spirit to the house, and it’s draining her of her energy.”
“I need to look her over,” the first voice says authoritatively. “Seer, you can stay, but otherwise, we need to clear the room.”
“That girl is like a daughter to me,” Mama protests, but the man is firm.
“She can still be like a daughter to you from the kitchen. Go brew a tea to revitalize her.”
Mama cluck’s her tongue, she doesn’t like being ordered around. I imagine her fixing the man with a cold stare, but I can’t see her. Why can’t I see anything? Everything is so dark. The voices are the only thing keeping me in the present.
