Olivia narrowed her eyes. “When will you learn you can’t fool me?”
I sighed and told her about what was going on at the Cressley. It all spilled out: everything I had seen, heard, and felt. My face burned as I spoke. I hated admitting I was afraid.
I tried to play down the seriousness of this morning, but there was no way to act like Mr. Partridge’s fall was no big deal. He could have died. Thank god Roman had been there. He was amazing in a crisis. All I could do was stand around wringing my hands, but Roman had taken command of the situation quickly and calmly. There was something sexy about a man who could effortlessly seize control like that.
“Dude,” said Olivia, after I finished talking. “That’s intense.”
I buried my head in her comforter. “What do I do?”
“We could check out the new age store down the road from my work,” suggested Olivia. “It’s called Crystal Chakra.”
I faked gagging. “Why would I go to a new age store?” I bought my tarot cards off Amazon, thank you very much.
“If you’re starting to have questions about ghosts, don’t you want to know the answers?”
“You don’t honestly think I’m going to find those answers in a place that stinks of ‘moonlight’ flavored incense.”
“Where else are you going to find them?”
That was a good question. Even Google had disappointed me.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said.
Olivia raised her eyebrows. “You’ve never been that easy to convince. You must be freaked out.”
“Roman is convincing.”
***
Whatever type of new age incense they were burning at Crystal Chakra irritated my nose and made me sneeze. What was wrong with Nag Champa? The store was eerily silent, save the off-brand Enya playing in the background.
An elderly couple tended the counter. The woman stared at Olivia and me over the rim of her teacup, while the man shrewdly counted small pink crystals.
Olivia and I browsed quietly through the bookshelves. I wasn’t interested in Wicca, astral projection, or opening my third eye, but a tea-leaf reading book caught my eye. I was always looking to add to my repertoire.
“There’s a ouija board over there,” said Olivia, pointing at a display in the corner of the room.
“I’ve already got a spirit board.”
Her eyes widened. “Have you used it?”
“Roman won’t let me use it. He says it’s dangerous”
“And you’re listening to him? Well, well, well. Aren’t you obedient?”
Before I could answer, the bell over the door chimed so loudly my skeleton almost shot out of my body in shock. I spun around to see what had interrupted us.
I recognized the silhouette in the doorway all too well. I ducked behind a bookshelf and tugged Olivia with me.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“That’s Roman,” I hissed, jerking my head in the direction of the door.
“Oh,” said Olivia. “I get it now.”
“Yeah, he’s hot,” I said. “I know. He’s also never going to let me live it down if he catches me in a place like this.”
“Couldn’t you say you were looking for work stuff-”
“After this morning? Forget it. He’ll see right through me. He’ll know that I’m starting to-” I cut myself off. I wasn’t going to finish that sentence. It would make it too real. I was starting to believe in ghosts.
“Well hello, you two,” came Elliot’s voice. For a second, I thought he’d caught me hiding with Olivia, but then I realized he and Roman had sauntered up to the counter. I peered cautiously around the corner to watch them.
“Elliot!” said the elderly woman’s voice. She sounded cheery, delighted to see them. “And Roman, too, what a nice surprise.”
“Sorry I haven’t been in to see you for a while, Lillian,” said Roman. “I’ve been busy at the Cressley.”
“Have we been experiencing more-” Lillian lowered her voice, but the store was quiet enough that I could hear her without straining my ears. “More paranormal activity at the hotel?”
“Always,” said Roman.
Olivia tugged my arm. “Isaac,” she hissed under her breath.
I held my fingers to my lips.
“They’re talking. We can make a break for the door.”
I shook my head. We had business here, and Roman wasn’t going to scare me off. Plus, eavesdropping could glean us valuable information. Our best option was to freeze here, surrounded by bookcases, and hope Roman wasn’t in the mood to treat himself to a new book.
At the counter, Roman was still telling our story. I glanced at Olivia, who was listening with increasing horror on her face. So maybe I’d glossed over some details when I told her the happenings at the hotel. So what?
“He’s exaggerating,” I hissed, hoping that would put her at ease.
She opened her mouth to whisper something back, but a gruff, shaky male voice interrupted before she could.
“Are you sure it’s a ghost?” It must have been the man at the counter speaking. “That sounds like a poltergeist to me.”
“There’s no way to be sure,” said Roman.
“I’ve been telling you for a while, Roman, you need to get a priest in that room.”
“I’ve told you, I’m not interested in a priest,” said Roman.
Thank god. I could not handle a priest going into my room.
“We’ll take some candles, then we have to head off,” said Elliot. “We’ve got a busy day.”
“Candles?” Olivia mouthed.
I shrugged. I had no idea what was going on.
It felt like forever before Roman finished his transaction, but finally he was done. I watched through a gap in the bookshelf as, paper bag in hand, he headed for the door. Elliot trotted after him, shooting a cheery wave at the counter. The bell dinged over their heads as they left.
I stayed frozen until I was sure he wouldn’t be coming back. Then I slowly exhaled.
“That was close,” I said.
“Excuse me, you two!” called Lillian. “Do you want to explain why you’re hiding behind the bookshelves?”
“Do you think she’s talking to us?” whispered Olivia.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “No. I think she’s talking to the other two people hiding behind the bookshelves.”
We emerged sheepishly. Lillian was standing at the glass counter, arms folded over her fluffy green cardigan. She was indistinguishable from half the little old ladies at church back in Utah. But you’d never find anyone from my church in a new age store. I shuddered. No rumination. That was my rule.
“Well,” said Lillian. “I’m waiting for an explanation.”
“Roman and I have… Issues.”
“Are you his boyfriend?”
“He wishes,” snorted Olivia while I protested.
A knowing look crossed Lillian’s face. “You’re the man from the hotel. Isaac, right?”
I was surprised to hear her say my name. “Wow, he talks to you a lot, doesn’t he?”
“I have a way of making people open up.” She smiled sweetly and dipped her tea bag into her mug. “He told me you were… What were his words, Rupert?”
The old man grunted. “An arrogant, pretentious, fraudulent skeptic who was going to get himself killed.”
“Oh, is that all?” said Olivia with a smile.
“But you’re here.” Lillian took a sip of her tea and put the cup down on the glass countertop, where it clinked like a small bell. I turned sharply to check that wasn’t the sound of someone coming into the store. Olivia and I were still the only customers.
“I want to know more,” I said. I dug my hands into my pockets and swayed on the spot. “I want to learn about the science behind all of this.”
“Science isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” said Lillian, waggling her short, plump finger. “In my day-”
“In my day you called a priest for issues like this,” snapped Rupert
. He looked up from where he was piling gemstones into small boxes. “Which is what Roman should have done the second he found out about that hotel-”
Lillian patted Rupert on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Rupert, dear. Would you like some tea?”
“No, keep your tea,” he grunted. He got to his feet. He was shorter than I expected, shorter than me. Rupert was one of those old men who had been compressed by age. “I need something stronger.”
Lillian tittered as Rupert hobbled away. “There’s no changing them when they get that age. Of course, you two aren’t going to know about that for a while, are you?”
“Yeah, we’re young and spritely,” said Olivia. She was trying hard to conceal a giggle.
“That’s the spirit, dear. Now, you were saying you want to know about science, and that’s all well and good — there’s a store for that — but I feel like you two might be interested in something a little more special than science. Follow me.”
“More special than science, huh?” said Olivia under her breath.
“Shh,” I said. I could get information out of this woman — not necessarily about ghosts, but maybe about Roman.
“You want a pendulum first,” said Lillian. “All you need to do is ask it to swing one way or the other depending on what question you ask. It’s the easiest tool for novices.”
That was because it was easy to convince yourself the tremble of your hand was a ghost moving the pendulum. Confirmation bias.
“What sort of things does Roman usually get from here?” I asked.
Roman was more reasonable than your average pendulum swinger. The peridot necklace I was wearing seemed to be the only hocus pocus he believed in, and he was half-hearted about that.
“Oh, Roman doesn’t buy much except candles anymore. He comes in to chat these days.”
“How long have you known him?”
“Let’s see,” Lillian said. She pursed her lips. “Oh, it would have been about ten years ago when Roman Bula first came into my store. He was here almost every afternoon until his last year of high school. During that time, he bought every book on spirits that we stocked.”
“Wow.” Roman had been involved with the supernatural longer than I realized.
“Then one day,” Lillian continued, “his dad — a skinny white guy, you know, I was shocked — came in brandishing a receipt and told me and Rupert we weren’t to sell that nonsense to his son anymore.”
“Oh,” I said. The thing about chatty old ladies was that sometimes they chatted about things you weren’t supposed to know.
“Whoops, I shouldn’t be speaking ill of your friend’s parents, should I?”
“I don’t think you should be gossiping at all, Lillian!” Rupert called from the back room.
“And I don’t think you should be eavesdropping, Rupert!” she replied.
It was probably time to leave before I found out any more of Roman’s buried family drama. We thanked Lillian profusely and escaped the incense-stuffy store empty-handed.
***
After Crystal Chakra, Olivia and I checked out a place called Phantazm. It was a niche store where you could find serious ghost hunting gear, like the kind Roman used. Phantazm couldn’t have been more different to Crystal Chakra. The electronic, faintly plastic smell made me think of BestBuy or an Apple store, except for all the creepy posters on the walls. I supposed they had a certain image to maintain here.
If Crystal Chakra was too fanciful for me, this place was too clinical. There were only a few people in here, mostly tech-bros who looked so much like Elliot it made me jump.
I half-expected Roman to catch me at any moment, but there were some perks to being short. If Roman came in, I would notice him before he saw me. I had sharp senses. And right now, my senses were attuned to Roman. The second I spotted someone with his deep, sober expression and his warm, umber skin, I would spin around, every cell of my body on fire.
“You two look confused.” A woman with a bright smile approached us. She was the only woman working in the store, and I hadn’t noticed her until she popped out from the shelves right next to us. Olivia instantly relaxed. I knew she hated being the only woman in a room.
The woman looked us up and down. She was cute, a little shorter than me with dark hair and stenciled eyebrows. Her lips quirked to the side as she took in all my tie-dye. “If you’re looking for tarot cards and crystal balls, have you heard of Crystal Chakra?” she said.
“We’re not looking for tarot cards and crystal balls,” said Olivia.
“What are you looking for?” she asked.
I exchanged a look with Olivia. She shrugged.
“We’re looking for fancy ghost gadgets,” I said.
“You’ll need to be more specific,” said the salesperson. She smiled patiently.
“What does a basic ghost hunter need?” asked Olivia.
“There’s no such thing as a basic ghost hunter.”
Oh my god, were they all this serious? If Roman had been bi or straight instead of gay, this woman would be his perfect partner.
I changed tack. “Do you know Roman?”
Her face softened a fraction. “Roman Bula?”
“That’s him.”
She looked me up and down with an incredulous look on her face. “How do you know Roman?”
I looked at Olivia, my eyes wild. What was I supposed to say? If I told this woman that I was a guest at the Cressley, I knew it would get back to Roman that I’d been here. Asking about him.
“He’s a romantic interest,” said Olivia quickly. She clapped my shoulder. “Of this guy.”
The salesperson gave me a sympathetic look. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Roman doesn’t have romantic interests. He has a fuck-roster.” She looked around, alarmed, as though afraid her boss might have overheard her swearing. “I wish I wasn’t the one to break this to you, but the only way Roman would be seriously interested in you would be if you were a ghost. Don’t waste your time on him.”
The salesperson wasn’t saying anything to me that I hadn’t said to Olivia earlier, but the words stung more when they came from someone else’s lips.
“So, do you sell starter packages?” asked Olivia brightly, changing the subject.
***
The problem with doing tarot readings on the street was that it was hard to look legitimate without a table, but who wanted to carry a table around all day?
Olivia’s days of working this way were over, but I was excited to be in back in the throng again, even if I was alone. When you were a cisgender white dude like me, you could get away with being an unlicensed street peddler easy.
Cops might half-heartedly chase me, but after I got away, they let it go. In their eyes, I wasn’t enough of a pest to need serious extermination.
I had everything that I needed in my satchel. A large tie-dyed blanket to sit on, some ornamental jewelry and a flower crown to make me look the part, my tarot deck, and a little sign that said “Tarot Readings: $10”. I considered laying out the ghost taser Olivia bought me ‘just in case’ but decided against it. I didn’t want to give my clients the wrong idea.
My body swelled with excitement and my skin prickled with anxiety. It had been a long time since I’d worked in the real world, and I missed it. I sat cross-legged on the ground and waited for the customers to come.
I made sure to sit next to a bench so my clients had somewhere to sit. It was obvious that I wasn’t doing this legitimately, but usually people didn’t care. Being an eccentric bohemian was all part of my appeal.
I wasn’t as much of a transient as people expected me to be. When they learned about my job, they thought I was one of those free-spirited travelers who went where the wind took me. Truthfully, the unfamiliar made me uncomfortable. I avoided it.
I had done six readings before I was starting to get tired. An untaxed $60 wasn’t bad for my first day back out. I’d have to do more work at home, but this was a nice little bonus. I couldn’t help but think how mu
ch more money I could make if I broke the law a little bit more, but I fought that thought away. Not until I was desperate.
I was packing up my sign when I heard a cough above me. I looked up. There was Roman, standing above me like a god silhouetted by the sun.
“Have you got time for one more reading?” Roman asked.
“I-” My mouth was suddenly dry. “Yeah, I’ve got the time. Have you got the cash?”
“Do I get a discount?”
“No one gets a discount with Genesis.”
Chapter Twelve
Roman
Isaac was in his element, sitting on the pavement with his tarot cards spread dramatically in front of him. Or rather, Genesis was in his element. A stick of incense smoldered at his side.
Ever since I’d met him, I’d been curious how anyone could fall for this smarmy, cocksure man’s act. Now I would find out.
I sat cross-legged in front of Isaac for the reading. I hadn’t sat like this since I was a child. I preferred being able to leap into action easily. But I felt as though I had to make the experience authentic.
“Okay. Let’s do this.” Isaac picked up his deck of cards. He could shuffle cards like a pro. How had I never noticed how delicate and slender his fingers were before now? The cards moved like liquid between his hands. “Do you have a personal item I could hold?” he asked. “Spiritually speaking, it can help if I touch something that belongs to the person I’m reading for.” If I hadn’t known this was Isaac, and that Isaac was a con artist, I would have thought he was sincere. “Jewelry works best.”
“I already gave you the only jewelry I have.”
Isaac touched the pendant around his neck and cleared his throat. “Right.”
“Will the necklace work?”
“I mean, none of it works-”
“Hey, I thought you were in your Genesis persona right now.”
Isaac scraped his hands down his face. When he brought them away, his skeptical smirk was gone. His face was airy, blank except for a knowing smile on his face. It was a stark difference. I’d never known someone who could perform so well.
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