Fragility Unearthed

by Rebecca Royce

  “Hi, I’m Kendall Madison. What’s your name?”

  She handed me her card. “Jennifer West.”

  And now I had Jennifer. How was I to keep any of them safe when my own ex-husband languished in pain?

  “Jennifer, I appreciate you coming. The situation is quite dire. I’ve done something illegal. Big time. I’m also terrified for your safety to even have you near me. You might want to leave.”

  She pushed by me. “I’m not scared. Very little frightens me. When I was ten, my father was possessed by a demon. He killed my mom. My brother Tanner—Henry’s agent—and I hid under the bed for three hours while my father suddenly ranted in German. That was fear. Since then? Nothing rattles me.”

  I followed her into my kitchen. Jennifer started setting out her things all over the table. She really meant to continue on with this whether I wanted her to or not. I stood watching her.

  She raised her eyes to look at me. “I’d like coffee. Black. You can get it for me while you compose yourself. Henry said you’ve had a huge shock of some kind. That you’re rattled. And also I’m supposed to tell you that your kids are well and fine. I don’t know where they are. Henry called me from the road. He wouldn’t say which one. He’s also paid my retainer, and he’ll take care of all of my bills.”

  I didn’t know what I’d ever done to deserve friendships like the ones I had with Victoria and Henry. I took a deep breath. I thought I was done crying. My tear ducts had other ideas. I rushed to the coffee maker.

  “Don’t worry. I’m used to tears. Everyone cries all the time around me.”

  I laughed. “Good to know.”

  She patted the chair next to her. “Come on. Tell me what happened. Start from the beginning.”

  “My ex-husband is possessed by a shadow creature. Nothing taken from your father—that has to be one of the worst experiences a person can see—but the Shadow who has my ex rules demons, controls them. He’s seriously scary. You’ll never see one like him unless you die and come back to life. Only those who were ever dead, even for a second, can see them.”

  She tapped her pen on the table. “So Henry and Victoria can see them.”

  “Right.” Henry had told me that Jennifer knew. “One of them has taken my ex. He’s suing me for full custody of the children just to get me to do what he wants. I outplayed him. I got the kids, and they’re hidden. With Henry and others. I realize this is illegal. I’ve basically kidnapped them. But I have no choice. I’m supposed to go in front of a judge or something and defend my right to see them.”

  I wasn’t a lawyer. I didn’t know what had to happen now.

  “Oh, I see.” She tapped her pen again. “Is there anything you can give him?”

  I hadn’t seen that coming, and to say it threw me would be an understatement. What was the matter with this woman? “Excuse me?”

  “Obviously you can’t give him what he wants. But could you give him anything? Something small in the next twenty-four hours to get him to get rid of the restraining order. The rest of it doesn’t concern me. We can deal with it. But taking your children or having other people do it when you’re supposed to be restrained? That we need to get rid of.”

  I threw my hands in the air and slumped down in one of my kitchen chairs. “Like what? What could he want that I have?”

  He wasn’t getting the phoenix. End of story. I’d also promised Malcolm I wouldn’t make any deals with evil creatures. He wasn’t here for me to explain any of this to.

  “Information.” She pursed her lips. “Henry mentioned your boyfriend is missing.”

  “That’s right.” I nodded. Why did she think that mattered? “He has the phoenix.” I kind of thought I knew where it was.

  She perked up. “Perfect. You’re going to tell him that you’re working on getting him the phoenix and you’ll give him some information which might lead to his being able to get it. He drops the suit. You tell him Malcolm is missing.”

  “Why would I want him to know that?”

  “Because maybe the shadows can find Malcolm. If they know he’s missing.” She waggled her eyebrows. “You follow the shadow; you find your boyfriend. Two birds, one stone.”

  “Are you a lawyer or a war negotiator?” I got up and finished making her coffee, which I promptly placed down in front of her. She waited until I sat again to speak.

  “I told you my story. About my father and the demon.”

  She had. I shook my head, still unsure if I followed her train of thought. “You did.”

  “Years before I met Henry, years before I knew there was a way to exorcise them from a person, I negotiated with a demon to get out of a human body. I know how to handle the impossible. Even when all I want to do is hide under the bed again. If we end up in legal trouble, I’ll help you. Before that, let’s see if we can’t make immediate trouble go away.”

  She had a point. Of course, it interfered with my plans. “I planned on killing that shadow on Saturday. He’s tormenting my ex. I wanted to end it.”

  “Hmm. I can’t make that decision for you.”

  I looked outside. “I won’t make life harder for Levi to find Malcolm. Neither one of them would be okay with that, and it goes against my own code.” Michael had his ethics, and I had my own. “That being said, if Top Hat can find Malcolm between now and Saturday? That might be okay.”

  After Jennifer left, I sat back down to look at the work from the app some more. There were jobs in town to be done. I contacted the owners of several homes needing clearing and set myself up to do the jobs. No one needed me. I could work all night.

  I stared at my own phone. Texting Malcolm was becoming like my own personal diary entry. Whatever I thought or felt, I texted to him. Maybe I thought he’d be annoyed and tell me to knock it off.

  I’m going to do something you won’t like. I have no choice. It’s breaking a promise to you. Go ahead and yell at me. Come home and do it.

  I clenched my jaw and texted Levi’s number. Was there really a time when one of my biggest problems had been that they were both in love with me?

  Hello. I can’t give you the phoenix because I don’t have it. I might be able to get it for you, but you have to take away the restraining order keeping me away from the kids. Pay your lawyers to get it done. Then we’ll talk. I’m not lying about this. I’d rather disappear than deal with you.

  I rose and grabbed my purse, shoving my phone into it. There were houses to clear. When Malcolm got home, he’d still have his business. It seemed the least I could do for him.

  I drove across town ignoring my phone. I even went so far as to turn off the Bluetooth so I wouldn’t hear it ping over the radio. I’d answer whatever snide remark Top Hat made on my terms, not his. Or maybe I just dealt in avoidance these days. Still, I couldn’t help but check it when I finally parked the car.

  Okay. I’m willing to play ball and believe you don’t have it but can get it. This doesn’t sound like a lie. Levi doesn’t think so either. He says you only tell fibs about huge things, not small details. I’ve gotten to know him quite well. He’s no longer resisting me. Who could blame him? Pain sucks. We’ll get rid of the restraining order. Our people in the legal system will see to it.

  I tried to focus on the good portion of the text—I’d gotten what I wanted—and ignore the goading about Levi in pain. I couldn’t immediately fix it.

  Small steps. With shaking hands, I texted back. Send me proof it’s gone, then I’ll tell you how to find the phoenix. Hopefully Levi wouldn’t see right through my lie and tell Top Hat. How did I negotiate with the shadow when the person he possessed knew me better than anyone on the planet? Stop hurting Levi. Seems kind of pathetic to be beating up an innocent when the person you want is me.

  I needed distraction, and I needed work. Or maybe what I really required was a bottle of tequila. Although drinking when I was as messed up in the head as I currently found myself seemed a bad idea overall.

  Instead, I texted Block. How was your date?

>   After I sent it, I shoved my phone into my pocket. Work was what was on the agenda for my evening. I’d do as many jobs as I could before I had to go home and crash. Tomorrow would be the same deal.

  I walked up to the house. This was a realtor job. I’d never met the woman, but looking back through the app’s history I could see that Malcolm did a lot of work with this woman. She was either sensitive or she was super careful. Did she have any listings she didn’t turn around and have cleared? Malcolm had cut her a good deal. She got her clearings at half the cost.

  The door was unlocked, as promised, and I walked right in, flicking on the light. Not that I needed the illumination. I could see the ghosts as much in the dark as I could in the light.

  Normal people didn’t stalk around in dark houses. Small gestures toward not becoming totally antisocial …

  If I’d even momentarily forgotten about the Cascade, I would have remembered the second I walked into the house. What would I have told Malcolm about this job? Well, it was a busy ghost house. Were there always that many ghosts or had they shown up simply to deal with me?

  I maneuvered through them. Some of them darted toward me; others scurried out of my way. I counted and stopped when I got upstairs and had reached fifty. Anything over fifty was all the same to me.

  Not too long ago, I’d watched Grayson clear a ghost Malcolm had been carting around for years—the ghost of the man who killed us—doing a strange movement with his arms. It had been amusing. Still, it had started me thinking—maybe there was a more efficient way to manage things in here. Or maybe I could just amuse myself trying.

  Malcolm dragged ghosts around with him. I could make them do things too. No one waited for me at home. I could take as long as I wanted giving this a try.

  I waved my hand and could feel it burn as I took all the ghosts in the room under my control. There were ten there for me to play with. I itched to send them on.

  Instead, I spun them in a circle. Centrifugal motion would be my best friend. “Look at you, look at all of you. I can make you dance.”

  I tipped my finger and they danced up and down. “Oh, look at you. Like my own puppets.”

  Imitating Grayson’s movements I ended up spinning the ghosts again until they were a ghostly tornado in the room. Over and over they spun while I watched. It transfixed me, and I couldn’t look away.

  I had done this. I could make them do whatever the hell I wanted whenever I wanted it.

  A boom sounded in the house. All of my ghosts were ripped from fingers, my hand tingling as they were ripped away. I jolted. Who had done that? Who had taken my ghosts? Malcolm? I whirled around and stopped in my tracks.

  Standing in front of me was a person I had not seen since I I’d come back to life at twelve years old. Ross Taylor—one of our missing teammates.

  Ross stood close to six feet five inches. He dwarfed me and even made Malcolm look small. Out of all of us, Ross had always been the most strikingly handsome. He had dark skin, a muscular body to match his height, brown, almost black eyes, and his head shaven to where he appeared bald. He wore a white collared shirt which accentuated the dark umber of his skin. He paired the white short sleeved top with a pair of blue jeans and brown boots which poked out of his jeans.

  I swallowed before I could speak. He was powerful. Hugely, so. He could clear ghosts, and yet his psychic ability dwarfed that talent. If Dex and my mother could “see” things, Ross experienced them as though he lived the moment. Chase had tried to locate him, complicated by the fact that like Chelsea, Mary John, Chase and myself, Ross had chosen to not remember his life with the Others. Yet, here he stood.

  “Tell me you’re not a sicko now, Kendall. Tormenting the ghosts?” He raised his eyebrows.

  His words undid me. He was right. I had been fucking with the ghosts in completely inappropriate ways. They’d been alive once. Living, breathing, sentient creatures. It was my privilege to send them on. My honor, my duty. I had no business being callous.

  I bent over, sobs wracking my body.

  “Hey, now.” Ross approached me, placing a gentle hand on my back. “I’m sorry. That was a bad joke to make. I have terrible bedside manner. Michael warned me you’d had a hard time lately.”

  I sucked in my breath. “Michael?”

  “He came and gave me back my memories a couple of days ago. To say it was a shock … Anyway, once I was done rocking back and forth, he let me know you needed me and I’d better hurry up and get here. I don’t have the details. I’m here.”

  I wiped at my eyes. “You were one hundred percent right. No, I don’t clear like that.”

  “I didn’t think so. I saw you here, in this place. The visions? They’re very intense right now. I’m having to really concentrate on keeping them in line.” Michael had promised me he’d done something for me. Here was Ross. He’d been killed when his stepfather pushed him off a cliff in Colorado.

  “Ross?” I heard a woman’s voice call up the stairs. “Did you find her?”

  Oh, he’d brought someone with him, and I was a mess. I pulled myself under control. A beautiful woman came around the corner. She was tall, over six feet if I guessed right. The russet color of her afro was covered by a crown of beads. Curvaceous, she stood with a straight back and intelligent brown eyes that had green specks in them. She wore a green, strapless, cotton summer dress.

  “Is this her?”

  “Ah, yeah.” Ross walked over and put his arm around the woman. “Kendall, this is my wife Erin. Erin, this is Kendall Madison.”

  I put out my hand, and she shook it before she checked out the room. “Are there ghosts in here?”

  “There were,” I answered. “But Ross got rid of them.”

  She threw her hands in the air. “And I missed it.”

  “You couldn’t have seen it anyway, sweetie.”

  “Yeah.” Her tone dropped considerably. “There’s that. Can I tell you, Kendall? I really hoped you wouldn’t be here.”

  “Oh?” I looked between them. “Why’s that?”

  “It would have been easier if he were crazy.”

  A muscle ticked in Ross’ jaw. “Not this old chestnut again.”

  “I’ve had three days. Three days to deal with this. It’s going to take some time.”

  Oh, I knew this argument. Only Levi had never been as pleasant, not this early in the discussion. “Michael gave you back your memories, and you dragged your wife here to battle? In three days?”

  “Once he gets an idea in his head …” She put her hands on her hips. “If the ghosts are gone, can we go somewhere? Can we get a drink?”

  Sounded like a great idea.

  ***

  We ended up sitting in a restaurant near my house. For Italian food in Austin, it was considered pretty good. But many a transplant from other cities had told me Austin had pretty mediocre food when it came to Italian.

  Block joined us and the four of us sipped red wine in silence. Finally, I spoke. “Erin, when my ex-husband found out about things, he didn’t take it well. It was almost a year before he believed me and only then because he saw a Shadow creature.”

  “Wow. It must have killed him then for him to see it.”

  I nodded. I hated that memory. “For a split second. I didn’t realize it at the time but yes.”

  “Where is your ex?” Erin grinned. “I’d love to form a support group.”

  “Well …” I was the one who’d brought it up. “He’s not in good shape right now. The Shadow has taken him over. He’s trapped inside. It’s really … awful.”

  I really knew how to quiet a conversation. Everyone fell silent, and Ross tugged his wife closer against him. He should hold her close. We should all keep our loved ones as protected as we could make them.

  After that, it seemed important to tell them everything that was going on. Block pushed his drink away from him about mid-way through my story. When we were finished, I expected Ross to get up and leave.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t get here
sooner. You all need me really badly.” Ross hadn’t changed. He’d always been a wonderful team player. “I only gave up my memories because you did, Kendall. It seemed like if you thought it was a good idea, it probably was.”

  “Where do you two come from? Where’s home?” Block questioned, saving me from having to address how utterly awful it was that I’d been responsible for any of them screwing up their lives.

  Erin played with the straw in her drink. “Well, we had been living in New York City. Ross had a practice, and I ran a non-profit focusing on helping public schools get access to technology. Now this is home.”

  “You moved here?” I was shocked. “In three days?”

  Erin held up three fingers and nodded. “He’s lucky I love him so completely.”

  “Right.” She was exactly what I had wished Levi had been when he’d found out. Upset? Sure. There and believing? Yes. I shook my head. He was trapped in his own body being tormented by Top Hat. The least I could do was not think about the bad times.

  “Malcolm and Chase? What can I do to help?” Ross kept us on topic. He didn’t want to talk relationships, that much was clear.

  Block looked him square in the eyes. “Have a vision. See where they are.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “That would be the best possible scenario. I know these things aren’t exact sciences. My son can’t control it and neither can my mom. But if you can, that’s great. Also, since this might be a long haul, get a job, stay, be careful with yourselves. Don’t let your wife get hurt.” I couldn’t let myself get my hopes up he could find Malcolm. Every day he was away, he felt further and further away from me.

  Like he faded away …

  “I’ve been in touch with some doctors down here. I’m going to get everything going. There are state licensing things to take care of and …”

  I tried to focus, but the truth was I wasn’t up for this much information yet. I was still too quick to lose my thoughts. Everything was way too raw. At some point, Ross mentioned he was an ER doctor. That was funny. Troy was also in medicine. They’d devoted their lives to helping others. Even if they hadn’t been fighting the battle. What had I done when I’d lost my memories? Not that. Disgust made it hard to swallow. Michael had sent reinforcements. I looked up at the sky. Okay, I was grateful.