by Pandora Pine
“No. Ten said spirits attacked him.” It sounded crazy saying it out loud.
“Attacked him? That’s not possible, Ronan. Spirits can’t hurt humans. I know movies say they can, but it’s not-” Carson paused, his head turned and he looked like he was listening to someone.
Ronan would bet that Bertha Craig was in the room. Thank God for that. One of the reasons he’d come to see Carson here today in the shop was in hopes Bertha would join them.
“I stand corrected, Ronan. My mom has a lot to tell you, but first she wants to hear all about this dream.” Carson smiled fondly at the empty space next to him.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Bertha. Ten said the dream was about the two of us going to dinner. When we got there, he saw a huge line of spirits waiting to talk to him. When he told them he couldn’t speak to them, they surged toward him and started attacking him. When he looked for me to protect him, I was gone. He was screaming for me as they kicked and punched him. When I woke him up, he was covered in bruises. I could tell from the shapes what caused them; fingers digging into his flesh, fists, shoes…” Ronan trailed off. He felt a warmth surrounding him and knew Bertha had her hands on his shoulders.
Ronan appreciated the comfort Bertha was providing, but he didn’t need it right now. He needed a way to help Tennyson.
Carson burst out laughing.
“What’s funny?” Ronan didn’t see humor in any of this, but knew Bertha Craig marched to the beat of her own drummer from the other side.
“Mom says you’ll take her comfort and like it.” Carson laughed.
Ronan should have known Bertha could hear his thoughts. “Do you know what happened to him last night, Bertha?”
“Mom’s nodding. She says she knows a bit about it. Conduits like me and Ten aren’t as common as you think. When spirits see us, they rush to us. That’s why Ten seems inundated at crowded places like supermarkets and restaurants. Sometimes these spirits have been waiting a long time to find someone like us. Just like in life, some spirits don’t like being kept waiting.”
“Jesus, so people are assholes in death too?” Not exactly words of comfort, Ronan couldn’t help thinking. He’d been to plenty of crime scenes in his twelve years on the force thanks to ill tempers and lack of patience.
“Some of them are. You have to think about the urgency of the messages they are delivering. Or rather the urgency of the messages in their own mind.”
“Ten says that when your dead, your priorities change. What was important in life isn’t what’s important in death.” Ten had explained that to him in the course of the Michael Frye case, but he supposed what was important to a five-year-old boy wouldn’t necessarily be important to an adult.
“That’s true, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t other priorities that take over. There are spirits that never got to say goodbye. Others that never got to say they were sorry. Still more who want to continue the fight from the afterlife. Plus, some of them can feel entitled.” Carson tilted his head and shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?”
Ronan’s own spirit sunk lower and lower with each word out of Carson’s mouth. “What you’re saying is that Tennyson ran into a bunch of entitled spirits who were pissed off that he couldn’t help them.”
“That’s what Mom thinks. What they don’t understand is that Ten can’t help them right now. All they knew was that he had the ability to help and he wasn’t helping. That intensified the situation. It’s like rabid fans following Justin Bieber around all day and then he announces that he isn’t signing autographs or taking selfies today.”
“It was a riot,” Ronan whispered, horrified. Ten was all alone in his dream facing a rabid mob. Ronan felt like he was going to be sick.
Carson nodded.
Ronan took a shallow breath through his mouth hoping to keep the nausea at bay. “Bertha, they beat him pretty badly. Can they do more than that? Can they put him in the hospital? Can they kill him?” Ronan felt his entire body start to shake. Not even the warmth flowing through him through Bertha could warm him up.
The look on Carson’s face was grim.
Ronan knew the answer. “So, what do I do? Keep Ten awake?” Christ, it reminded him of those Nightmare on Elm Street movies where the killer stalked teenagers in their sleep. They were safe so long as they stayed awake.
“Mom isn’t sure if he’s safe when he’s awake either.” Carson’s eyes were glassy as he spoke.
Ronan’s heart was pounding. He was a trained police officer. He carried a gun for a living. He was an expert marksman and was trained in all methods of self-defense. None of those skills could keep Tennyson safe. “Madam Aurora.”
“What?” Carson asked.
“I read an online blog last night from Madam Aurora. Someone asked a question about this same thing. She wrote an answer about this phenomenon. Can she help Tennyson?”
Carson grimaced. “Ronan, I don’t think that’s the best idea.”
“Why not? This woman seems to know what she’s talking about. Maybe she knows how to keep Ten safe.”
Carson was shaking his head. “There has to be another way.”
Ronan didn’t like the way this was going. “What aren’t you telling me, Carson?”
“Did you mention Madam Aurora to Ten?” Carson asked carefully.
“Yes, and he didn’t think talking to her was a good idea either. Look, I know you psychics have your own clients and your own territory, but if she can help him, then I think we need to call her.” What the hell was going on here? Why were Ten and Carson both reticent to speak to this woman?
“I know, Mom. I’ll tell him.” Carson sighed.
“Tell me what?” Ronan could feel his temper starting to rise.
“When Ten first moved to Massachusetts, he went to her looking for a job. He needed a start. A way to establish himself and make some money. She gave him a test, which according to Ten, he passed with flying colors and she turned him down flat. Kicked him out of her shop and told him to never come back.”
“Why would she do that?” Ronan had a feeling he already knew.
“Because he was a stronger talent than she was and she was afraid that he would eventually rise above her and then steal her clients when he struck out on his own.”
Ronan growled. “That dirty bitch, I’ll-”
“Don’t say it, Ronan. You’ll never be able to take it back,” Carson cautioned.
“Someone else then. There has to be a higher-level psychic who knows how to help Ten through this that doesn’t have that kind of attitude.”
Carson nodded. “Mom’s going to look into it.”
“Thank you, Bertha. I appreciate that. I really do, but what do we do in the meantime?”
“We wait.” Carson sighed. “We wait.”
Ronan didn’t know how much more waiting he could take.
27
Tennyson
Tennyson was a ball of nerves. He was sitting in Laura Keller’s sun-splashed Salem, Massachusetts Reiki studio waiting for his 10am appointment to start. The Advil that Ronan had given him earlier this morning had completely worn off. In addition to feeling edgy, Ten was one big ache.
Ten hadn’t wanted Ronan to go to work this morning. For the first time in their relationship, he’d wanted Ronan to call in sick and spend the day with him. Nothing like what had happened last night had ever happened to him in the seventeen years since he first discovered his gift and he was scared.
Spirits had attacked him in his dreams which he hadn’t known was possible. Could they attack him when he was awake? Relaxed? While he was driving? Could they affect the brakes in his car? Tennyson just didn’t know.
What was also upsetting him was Ronan suggesting he turn to his arch nemesis for help. Not that Ronan had any way of knowing Madam Aurora was his arch nemesis, but he knew and that was enough to fuel his unease.
Ronan had a point though, Tennyson did need help. More help than Carson and Cole could provide.
“Tennyson G
rimm?”
Ten jumped a mile. “Yes!” He hopped out of his seat like it was on fire.
“Hi, I’m Laura. Why don’t you come back to the treatment room with me and we can get started?” Laura was a petite woman who looked to be in her early forties. She looked concerned over Ten’s reaction to her appearance.
Ten followed behind the woman, adding embarrassed to the list of things that were going wrong with him today.
“So, Tennyson, why are you here today? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Laura smiled kindly.
Ten burst out laughing. He couldn’t help himself. The absurdity of the situation was just too much for him. Ten laughed to the point that Laura joined in with him, out of pity or because it just felt good, he didn’t know and didn’t much care at the moment. It just felt good to let it all out.
When he was finally back in control of himself, Ten took a deep breath. “I’m a psychic, Laura. I work over at West Side Magick, here in town. I’ve had my gift since I was thirteen years old and a few weeks ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life by wishing my gift away. Whatever it was I did that day shutdown something inside of me. My gift isn’t actually gone, it’s just blocked. As one person puts it, my door to the other side is shut and locked and I have the key, but I don’t know where it is.”
Laura nodded. “I assume you’ve spent that last few weeks looking, unsuccessfully, for the key?”
Tennyson nodded. “I’ve had a massage, a facial, and I learned visualization exercises. I’ve seen an energy healer too. I’m told that my gift is close, but last night something happened that tells me I’m not close enough.” He took off the light sweater he was wearing over his blue polo shirt to reveal the bruises on his arms.
“Are you being hurt in the relationship you are in?” Laura turned to get up.
“Laura, no. My boyfriend is the kindest man I know. Spirits did this to me in a dream. They are angry that I can’t help them at the moment.”
Laura froze in place. Spirits did that to you?” She looked hesitant to believe him. Pulling out her phone, she started typing on it.
Ten had a feeling this might happen. He’d decided to see a Reiki practitioner because of their open-mindedness. He was coming to realize that might not be the case. “They know I am a conduit to the living and since it’s been weeks since I’ve been able to connect them to their loved ones, they are getting a little impatient with me.”
“Well, it says here you work for the Magick shop.” Laura held up her phone.
Ten was on his last nerve. The last thing he was going to do was come in and lie to this woman about anything, least of all about being abused by Ronan. “Coming here was a mistake. I should go.” He stood up.
“Wait! Tennyson, I’m sorry.” Laura held her hands out. “I’ve just never heard a story like this before. A blocked psychic and spirits who attack in the night? You have to admit it would make a pretty good movie plot.”
Ten sighed. He was feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “Yeah, my whole life could be a movie, that’s for sure.” A whole series of movies, starting with his shitty childhood, rolling on to his meeting with Ronan and the Michael Frye case. The sequel that somehow manages to surpass the popularity of the first movie would be the Justin Wilson serial killer case and then the little engine that could would be the third installment where the psychic who has it all, loses it all. Christ, he could hardly wait to find out what would happen in the fourth movie. An alien invasion? A giant man-eating shark terrifying a local beach on the Fourth of July? Superheroes battling evil in their town? At this point, anything was possible.
“Why don’t you hop up on the table and we’ll get started?” Laura’s voice was encouraging.
Ten nodded. He was here, he might as well just have the treatment. Although, he was just bitchy enough to ask for a discount after Laura’s attitude and her on-the-spot fact checking. Shit, what would she have done if his picture wasn’t so readily available on the internet? Would she have called the police to investigate his bruises? Would Ronan have gotten into hot water because of them. Would he have been blamed for causing the marks?
Everyone who knew and worked with Ronan knew that he would never lay a hand on Tennyson. Captain Fitzgibbon had been surprisingly open-minded when it had come to letting him consult on cases and in believing in his gift, but for the sake of transparency, he would have had to allow an investigation into Tennyson’s injuries to go forward, otherwise it would look like he had something to hide.
“I just think before we begin that maybe I should document your injuries.” Laura held up her phone.
His anxiety was ramped up now. His heart was pounding in his ears and he was starting to feel like the walls were closing in on him. It was time to go. Ten hopped off the table. “I can’t believe you think I’m lying to you.”
“Tennyson, please.” Laura urged.
“No, I’ve got to go.” Without a second glance backward, his fear propelling him forward. Tennyson ran out the door.
28
Ronan
Ronan was still sitting in the reading room of the Magick shop. He was looking up different Salem psychics on his phone. Granted, knowing which one could or could not help Tennyson was not his strong suit.
It figured that the one person who could help him was a queen bitch. Ronan swore that if he ever met that bitch, he’d tell her exactly what he thought of her and her bullshit hiring practices.
It killed him to think back to eighteen-year-old Tennyson, alone in this world after being kicked out of his parents’ house. Ten had mentioned working at the local McDonalds while he’d been in high school, so Ronan couldn’t imagine he had a ton of money to his name when he stepped off the bus in Salem. And here this bitch was turning him away from a job because he was more talented than she was. Ronan had two words for that hag and they were “fuck” and “you.”
He checked the time on his phone and saw that it was nearly 10:30am. He needed to calm himself down. Ten would be done with his appointment in about fifteen minutes. According to what he read about Reiki treatments, Ten should be nice and relaxed and might even be a bit tired tonight. Ronan wanted that relaxed vibe to continue for Ten who could sure use the downtime.
Ronan had the rest of their day planned out. He was going to surprise Ten by spending the rest of the day with him. First, they were going to grab lunch at Ten’s favorite lobster restaurant out by the water and then they were going for an ice cream. After that, it was back to Ten’s apartment for a nice nap and maybe they’d marathon some old episodes of MASH. Ten loved that show.
Ronan was about to get up and find Carson. He knew the shop carried different types of tea and knew Carson would be able to tell him which type was Tennyson’s favorite. He was halfway to the door when he heard a voice yelling. It sounded panicked and scared. Pulling open the door, he started to run toward the front of the store. The closer he got to the cash register, the more the voice started to sound familiar, even though it was high pitched to the point of setting off car alarms.
“...crazy bitch thinks Ronan hurt me,” the voice sobbed.
“Ten?” Ronan half-roared. He ran the rest of the way to Tennyson, who was sobbing so hard, he was bent double. He tried to wrap his arm around Ten’s shoulder, but his boyfriend batted him away. “Carson, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. He ran into the store crying like this, saying that the bitch thinks you hurt him.” Carson was standing about five steps back from Tennyson with both of his hands in the air where Ten could presumably see them.
“What bitch?” Ronan asked gently. “The Reiki Master?” Ronan had no idea what to do here. He’d never seen Tennyson this upset before. His face was red and tears were streaming down it. Ronan wondered if he was getting enough oxygen.
Tennyson was sucking in a big lungful of air, but it didn’t seem to be helping him calm down. He seemed like he was trying to say something, but couldn’t get the words to push past his lips.
<
br /> “Cole is in the bakery. Go get him,” Carson said quietly.
Ronan moved quickly through the store and into the bakery which was thankfully empty. Cassie wasn’t standing at her usual spot behind the counter. Christ, what the hell was it with today?
Ronan ran behind the counter and heard giggling. Now wasn’t the time for that shit. “Cole?” Ronan called out. “Are you back here?”
“This better be good, Ronan!” Cole’s voice did not sound pleased. “Mrs. Salazar has Laurel for the morning. This is the first free time I’ve had to ravish my wife in a week.”
Cassie giggled again.
Motherfucker... “It’s Tennyson. He’s...losing his mind. You need to come now. He won’t let me touch him. I think he’s having a panic attack.”
“Do you need me to call 9-1-1?” Cassie asked, all traces of her earlier giggles gone.
Did he? “I’m not sure. Can you both come?”
“Right behind you,” Cole called out.
Ronan felt rooted to the spot. He couldn’t move, almost couldn’t breathe. Ten needed him and it was like he was frozen. There was nothing he could do to help Tennyson anyway.
“Ronan?” Cole’s gentle voice was right next to him. “Are you okay?” His hand was on Ronan’s shoulder, rocking him.
Ronan shook his head, trying to free himself from the fear gripping him. “I don’t know.”
“Come on. Let’s go see what’s going on.” Cole wrapped an arm around Ronan’s shoulder and led him back into the store.
Ronan could see that Ten and Carson were no longer standing near the door.
“Reading room?” Cole asked.
“Must be. They were standing by the door when Carson sent me to find you.” Ronan tried to take a deep breath, but it felt like iron bands were wrapped around his chest and he couldn’t catch enough air.
“Ronan, what’s going on? First you make a secret appointment under a fake name to see Carson and now Ten’s back early from his Reiki appointment and is freaking out about something. Tell me.”
“Ten was attacked by spirits in his sleep last night. He’s bruised, Cole. More than that, he’s scared. Neither of us know if these spirits can hurt him worse than they did or even if they can kill him. There’s a medium in town who seems to know more about this than the rest of us, but Ten has a bad history with her and after hearing the story from Carson, I’m apt to trip the bitch down a flight of stairs if I meet her.” Ronan felt a bit better laying the situation out for Cole.
