I stared at her for a long beat, dumbfounded. “You’re joking.”
“No. You opened a door for Roger instead of talking to him through a window, and it was a mess to clean up.”
I had no idea what to say. “I always thought you were making that up.”
“No.” She took pity on me and leaned closer to pat my hand. “You were strong even then, Izzy. Your parents were worried about how strong you would become. The mix of your genes was ... interesting. I think we always knew you would turn into something special.”
“I’m not special.”
“You are.” Maxine kept her eyes on me as she tightened her grip. “Your grandfather says you spent some time reading tarot cards and palms in New Orleans when you were working your way through school.”
I battled back surprise. “I guess you two were in touch more than I realized.” A twinge of sorrow hit me. “I didn’t charge a lot. I remembered what you said about being responsible. I was careful when I read their futures.”
“I’m sure you were.” Her answer was a little too perfunctory for my taste. “Once you open certain doors, though, you can’t close them. I wish you would’ve talked to me before you opened your own shop. You could’ve found yourself in a dangerous situation if you weren’t careful.”
“I was careful.” My temper bubbled up before I could control it. “I was always careful.”
“I know you were.” She made a tsking sound before holding up her hand to cut off whatever I was about to say. Even I didn’t know what it was, but there was no doubt it would be hot and mean. “We’re here to see if we can find answers, not dwell on the past. I simply wanted to make you aware that even as a child you were powerful. This gift you try so hard to hide, it was always there.”
I gazed into her eyes for what felt like forever and thought about Braden. “Can you hear the gate?”
Maxine shook her head. “No. Can you?”
I nodded. “There are voices on the other side. They talk to me, call for me.”
“Is this new?”
“No. It happened when I was a kid, too.”
Maxine was all business. “What do you remember?”
“Just that I heard voices.”
“Did they tell you to do things?”
“No. They ... showed me things.”
Maxine wrinkled her nose. “Not, like, gross things, right?”
I was amused despite myself. “No. Just pictures. I can’t quite remember them. I remember Dad seeing what I was drawing and freaking out. He picked me up and ... that was it. I can’t remember anything other than that.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I countered. “It happened to me. I need to remember.”
“I think that if your subconscious was ready to remember you already would’ve done it. When you’re ready, you’ll know.”
“I’m ready. Trust me ... I’m ready. That’s why I came back here.”
“I know, but I don’t think things will happen on the timetable you seem to imagine. I believe the universe has a way of getting what it wants. It wanted you back in this place, and it won. That doesn’t mean you’ll get the answers you want right away.”
That was the last thing I wanted to hear. “Well ... awesome.” I dragged a hand through my hair and focused on the candle flickering on the floor between us. “What do you expect to achieve here? What do you think is going to happen?”
“I don’t know that anything will happen,” she replied, resting her hands on her knees as she got comfortable on the floor. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to find a spirit, one that’s anchored to this place, and ask it some questions.”
“And how does that work?”
Maxine wrinkled her forehead. “Haven’t you talked to spirits since you were a kid? I mean ... you grew up in New Orleans. That place is crawling with spirits. You grew up amongst the Bruja, not my Bruja, but others of the same ilk ... and your grandfather was a sorcerer. How can you not know about spirits?”
I averted my eyes. “I guess it never came up.” That wasn’t exactly true. I’d called a ghost one other time, not long after Katrina had ravaged the city. I was younger then, but I remembered. My grandfather swooped in and saved me ... and then we had a very long talk about what was and wasn’t allowed. Ghosts were essentially off the table. “Just tell me what you want me to do. I’m ready.”
“I want you to follow my lead.” Maxine extended her hands and waited for me to press mine to hers, palm to palm.
I did as she wanted, smiling when the candle flickered the second skin touched skin. “Did you do that?”
Maxine ignored the question. “I want you to focus on your feelings, Izzy. It’s not about what you know. It’s about what you feel.”
“Okay.” I pressed my eyes shut and opened my mind, allowing the whispering to increase tenfold. “What am I supposed to feel?”
“There’s no right answer to that question. Although ... I thought I just heard something. What was that?”
“They’re talking to me.” I didn’t bother opening my eyes even though I felt Maxine’s gaze on me. “They’re excited. I think they can sense something is about to happen.”
“In a good way or bad way?”
“I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
When Maxine didn’t immediately respond I wrenched open one eye and found her staring at me. “What?”
“You seem awfully excited, Izzy.”
“Since when is that a bad thing?”
“I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”
“Last time I checked, you were the one who insisted we do this,” I pointed out. “If you want to stop, just say so. I don’t have time to screw around. In fact ... how did you even get in here?” I didn’t ask the obvious question when she showed up, but I had no choice but to utter it now. “They replaced the door.”
“I ran into Oliver when he was leaving. He let me in.”
“You mentioned before that you knew him. It’s fine that you’re here. I would’ve let you in myself. I’m not sure it was a good idea for him to let you in, though.”
“Probably not,” she agreed. “But Oliver and I go way back. We need to focus on the seance. You’re desperate for answers and I’m curious about what will happen because we’re so close to the gate.”
“Do you think the seance could pull souls through the gate?” The idea was horrifying. “That would be dangerous, right?”
“I don’t think even you can pull souls through the gate.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting. “Aunt Max ... .”
“We’re just going to test it.” She flexed her fingers against mine. “If I feel as if something is about to go off the rails I’ll pull the plug.”
“Fine.” I wasn’t thrilled at the possibility of unleashing ghosts on the unsuspecting island populace, but I was eager to find answers. The sooner we took care of the enhanced wraith, the better. “Let’s do this.”
Maxine nodded. “Close your eyes,” she prodded. “Go back to the place where you were. Try to ignore the whispers and focus on individual voices.”
“Okay.” I pressed my lips shut and inhaled through my nose. “Okay.”
Briefly, while going through my rebellious teenage years, I’d decided to focus on yoga. My grandfather was big on magic and wanted me to flex my mental powers in a different way, so I knew the yoga would drive him crazy. It did, and I enjoyed watching the way his eyes rolled when he thought I wasn’t looking. In truth, the yoga helped center me. It taught me a few techniques for calming myself. I used those techniques now.
“Do you hear anyone?” Maxine asked. Her voice sounded as if it was traveling over a great distance. “Is anyone out there?”
“Someone is here,” I replied, opening my mind wider when I felt a presence brush against my subconscious. I felt, rather than saw, my own internal image flicker. It was something I’d witnessed firsthand with the New Orleans Bruja, and I knew my counten
ance reflected a skull – a Catrina, almost – even though I couldn’t see it. “I feel ... someone.”
“Is it a man or a woman?”
“Woman.”
“What is she saying?”
Maxine was intent. I recognized that, even though my mind was still floating. It didn’t feel as if it was attached to my body, more that my subconscious had somehow managed to climb to a spot ten feet above my head.
“She’s not saying anything. She’s ... trying to show me something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. It’s something with her mind. In fact ... .” I let go of Maxine’s hand and raised my fingers into the space above my head. I expected to make contact with the spirit’s ghostly form, but instead I touched nothing but air. “She’s trying to warn me.”
Maxine’s demeanor shifted and I felt her lean closer. “Warn you about what?”
“Something is coming. Some … creature. It looks like a snake.”
“What creature?”
My eyes never opened yet suddenly I saw all around me. “Oh, my ... .” I blew out a terrified breath and forced my eyes open, scrambling back when a kaleidoscope of ethereal faces filled my vision. “What the ... ? Aunt Max!”
“I see them.” Maxine sounded grim as she slowly rose to her feet. The spirits — who looked angry and ready for retribution — shifted quickly to fill the space between us. “Where did they come from, Izzy?”
Was she seriously asking me? “How should I know? You’re the one who thought it was such a great idea to have a seance. You should know where they came from.”
“Your magic drew them here.”
“No.” I vehemently shook my head. “I didn’t expel any magic.”
Maxine tilted her head to the side, her expression chilling. “You did.”
“I did not.”
“You did so.”
“I did not.” I shook my head when I realized this was essentially the argument I’d had with Braden earlier in the evening. “I did not,” I repeated, my voice lower. “They’re not here because of me.”
“Oh, Izzy, don’t be an idiot. Of course they’re here because of you. I certainly didn’t call them.”
“But ... .” I wanted to challenge her assessment but I knew she was right. “What am I supposed to do? I don’t like this. I don’t like the way they’re looking at me.”
As if on cue, I moved to the side to avoid the nearest female ghost. She seemed intent as she stared. When she extended a finger to touch me, I knew that was beyond the scope of what I could tolerate and jerked away from her. “How do we get rid of them?”
“I guess that you get rid of them the same way you called them,” Maxine replied, swatting at a younger ghost, one who looked to be in her teens. “You called them, so you need to send them back.” She lashed out again with her hand. “And, the sooner you evict them, the better.”
“I didn’t call them!”
“Yes, you did!”
“I did not!”
“Oh, don’t start this again.” Maxine was beside herself as she smacked down a short male ghost who looked to have wandering hands. “You need to call them off, Izzy. I can’t stop them. I don’t even know what you did to get them here. You have to be the one.”
I didn’t enjoy being the one required to do anything. “I didn’t call them here! Stop saying I did.”
“Oh, this is unbelievable.” Maxine hopped off the step and twisted to evade one of the ghosts. “Izzy, do something!”
“I don’t know what to do.”
I felt helpless, frustration washing over me. I didn’t think things could get worse. I was wrong.
At that exact moment, the door to the gate room opened and Braden strolled through it. He looked lost in thought, as if he wasn’t expecting an audience, and he pulled up short when he caught a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye. “What the ... ?”
“That was going to be my line,” I gritted out, hopping to my right to put space between the insistent female ghost and myself. “What are you doing here?”
“I forgot my sunglasses.”
“Oh, well, that’s convenient.” I tilted to my side. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
Braden took a long moment to glance between Maxine and me. “It looks as if you’re being overrun by ghosts, which I don’t get since you’re half reaper. Why are you surrounded by ghosts?”
“Aunt Max thought it would be a good idea to conduct a seance so we could perhaps get answers about what the wraith did on the other side ... or why those other wraiths showed up.”
The ghosts were growing more aggressive, and the woman who refused to be separated from me actually managed to put her ghostly hands on my shoulders, sending a shiver down my spine.
“Oh, geez!”
“Are you okay?” Concern washed over Braden’s features as he took a step in my direction. When the ghosts flooded toward him, acting as an intimidating barrier, he stopped. “How do we get rid of them?”
“Izzy has to do it,” Maxine offered, gasping as she tried to escape from two ghosts at the same time. “She accidentally called to them. This wasn’t what I had in mind when I suggested a seance, by the way.”
“Well, you should’ve been more specific.” My temper ratcheted up a notch. “Knock it off!” I yelled at the ghost closest to me, widening my eyes when she stopped moving and merely stared. “Huh.”
“Did you just order that ghost around?” Braden asked.
“Yeah.”
“And it listened?”
“Yeah.”
“So, order them back to where they came from,” Braden snapped. “If you can control them, now is the time to make them go away.”
That was easier said than done. “What if they don’t do as I ask?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Braden took two long strides in my direction, frowning when three ghosts changed course to cut him off. “They don’t want me close to you.” He almost sounded as if he was talking to himself as he glanced around the room. “They don’t want Madame Maxine close to you either. They’re trying to isolate you.”
His words had a chilling effect. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“They’re attracted to you.” Braden managed to keep his voice calm. I thought that was mildly impressive given the panic running through his eyes. He was a master at maintaining control, I had to give him that. “Izzy, you have to order them away.” He almost sounded as if he was pleading.
“I’m not sure I can,” I admitted, my stomach twisting. “I don’t even know how I called them here in the first place.”
“Then we have to experiment until you get it right,” Braden prodded. “For now, order them away.”
I licked my lips and nodded. “Okay.” I focused on the frozen ghost, at the way her nearly transparent lips twisted into a sneer. “Go back to where you came,” I whispered.
The ghost merely stared at me, unimpressed.
“You’ll have to be louder than that, Izzy,” Braden chided. “You need to be more forceful. Let them know who the boss is.”
“I guess, in that scenario, I would be the boss.”
“You are the boss,” Maxine stressed. “You have to act like the boss. Order them to go back where they came from. Be specific.”
“Right.” I gathered my courage. “Go back where you came.” My voice was stronger this time, but not loud. “Go back where you came,” I repeated, this time louder. A brief shimmer moving through the ghost told me something was happening. “Go back,” I ordered, my courage growing when I saw another shimmer. “Go back. Go back. Go back!”
I repeated the phrase multiple times, allowing my words to run together until there was no end or beginning of the chant. I felt my image flashing, the internal Bruja emerging as power washed over me. I focused on the ghost directly in front of me, channeling all my energy into her. I continued chanting as she disappeared.
“That’s enough, Izzy.” Braden was at my side befo
re I realized it was over. He grabbed me around the waist when I listed to the side, my head suddenly heavy. “You did it.” He gentled his voice. “They’re gone. Good job.”
“Good job.” I ran the words over my tongue. “Is it bedtime yet? I think I need a nap.”
“Definitely.” He caught me before I fell to the floor. “I’ll make sure you get to bed.”
“That’s good.” My head rolled to his shoulder, my mind heavy. “You smell like ... limes.”
“That’s because Aisling likes limes in her iced tea instead of lemons.”
“Hmm. That sounds good.”
“I’ll get you some when you wake up tomorrow.” Braden directed me toward the door. “Come on. I’ll get you back to your room. You’re in the boathouse, right?”
“Yeah. My old house is gone. It was destroyed.”
“I know. I’ll take you to the boathouse.”
“Okay. Nighty-night.”
And just like that, I was dead to the world.
Twenty-Three
I woke in my bed, which was still too new to feel comfortable. I was dressed in the same clothes I’d worn the previous day. When I rolled to a sitting position, the first thing I saw was my shoes neatly arranged on the floor near the door.
The second thing I saw was Braden sleeping in the chair in the corner of the room. He looked uncomfortable, his lanky frame contorted in such a way that he couldn’t possibly have gotten any sleep. And still, his eyes were closed and his breathing easy.
“Holy bats in the belfry.” I clutched my blanket closer to my chest, as if covering myself, and glared at Braden as he stretched and opened one eye. “What are you doing in my bedroom?”
“And good morning to you, too,” he drawled sleepily.
“You want me to say ‘good morning’ to you?” I was incensed. “You’re in my bedroom. I didn’t invite you into my bedroom.”
“Well, given the fact that you essentially passed out while I was dragging you through the aquarium last night, that’s hardly surprising.”
Only The Lonely (A Death Gate Grim Reapers Thriller Book 1) Page 21
