by S D Hegyes
The girl sniffed and her lip trembled. “Gloria Murphy.”
Sorsha nodded and sat down on the ground, cross-legged. She opened her purse and withdrew her cards, separating them into two stacks—those with spirits and those without.
“What’s that?” Gloria asked.
Sorsha smiled at her. “This? This is what I like to call my spirit deck, and I believe there’s someone in here who can help both of us. Sound good?”
The little girl nodded.
“Watch.”
Her eyes glowed orange with power, and then orange mist swirled around the skull on the back of the cards and the eye sockets filled with orange light.
“Wow.” The girl giggled and clapped her hands. “You can do magic. Do it again.”
Sorsha’s grin widened. “Oh, I’m just getting started.” She brought the deck close to her mouth and whispered, “Gloria Murphy.”
The eyes of the skull brightened and the mist swirling around it seeped toward Gloria.Translucent vapors exited, rising and taking form beside the child spirit.
The young woman wore a crop top and ripped jeans. Her hair was shaved on either side of her head, creating a short mohawk. There were several piercings in her ears and a sleeve tattoo on one arm. She grinned at Sorsha.
“Sorsha? What brings you to the cemetery this evening? Scouring for more spirits?”
Sorsha frowned and gestured to the child. “Her. Jenny, what do I do about her?”
Jenny turned to Gloria. Horror spread across her face as her hands rose to cover her mouth and dampen the scream that rose from her throat.
“Sorsha,” Jenny’s voice was so low Sorsha barely heard it. “No. Sorsha, this can’t be.” She took a step toward Sorsha and grabbed her, yanking her to her feet. The spirit was stronger than she looked, but Sorsha had discovered all spirits were stronger the more agitated and upset they were.
“What can’t be? Jenny, stop. I need your help.”
Jenny shook her head. “Not this night. I. . . I can’t. No. Make her rest for the night. We can handle it another night.”
“I don’t know how to do that, Jenny.”
“Change her haunt then.”
“Jenny!” Sorsha’s face twisted in a mixture of fear, anger and confusion. “Stop it.”
“What’s going on?” The child wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m scared. Where’s Mommy? Where’s Daddy?”
Jenny looked at Sorsha, pain in her eyes, and Sorsha looked back and forth between Jenny and Gloria, the lightbulb in her mind burning bright as it flickered to life. She jerked her thumb in the child’s direction, and said, “Her?”
The spirit nodded.
“Oh. Oh, Jenny, I’m sorry. Shit.” She twisted her hands together. “Come here, Gloria. I need to tell you something.”
“You’ll tell me where my mommy and daddy are?”
Sorsha opened her mouth and then shut it again. “I’ll try.”
The child looked between the two women with a frown. Then she took Sorsha’s hand. Sorsha pulled the little girl forward and down into her lap as she sat on the ground, wrapping her in a hug.
“What do you know about death, Gloria?”
“I’m. . . dead?” The little girl pushed herself back from Sorsha’s embrace and looked at her.
Defeat clogged Sorsha’s throat, and she had to clear it before she could speak again. “You were buried today. They haven’t even placed your headstone yet.”
“Why am I dead?”
“I don’t know, Gloria. I don’t know. I can promise you this though. I’ll find out.” The conviction in her voice was strong, and she looked up at Jenny to confirm her actions.
The other spirit nodded her head.
“You will?”
Sorsha nodded and bopped the little girl’s nose with the tip of one finger. “I will, but for now, I think it’s best if you get some sleep. I’ll bet you’re tired.” Her eyes glowed with orange light once more.
The little girl’s eyes reflected the same color, and then she stretched and yawned. “You will come back?”
“I will.”
Gloria nodded and gave Jenny a dubious look. Then she crawled out of Sorsha’s lap on her hands and knees and curled up on the fresh soil of her grave. Her form sank into the soft earth and disappeared from view with one last yawn.
As soon as she was gone, Sorsha looked at Jenny. “I’ll call Tanner and get a dossier on her. I want to know who the fuck killed her. I’ll get the motherfucker if it’s the last thing I do.”
Jenny wrapped her arms around herself. “You promise, Sorsha Phantom?”
There was magic in her words, Sorsha knew. She didn’t know a lot about her abilities, but she knew agreeing to a promise with a spirit wasn’t something she’d be able to back out of. She had to be sure. She looked down at the grave and knew there was nothing she was more positive about.
There was a rule in combat. Civilians were off limits, especially women and children. Sorsha knew the world wasn’t always black and white, that there were places in the world where children were forced to become soldiers, but this wasn’t combat. This was an innocent child who’d been murdered in cold blood.
“I swear to you, Jenny. I’ll get the asshole.”
The other spirit nodded, her lips pursed. “That’s all I ask of you.”
As Sorsha stomped out of the cemetery, she ordered an Uber and shot a text message to Tanner. She’d met Tanner at boot camp, and they’d been friends ever since.
Even though she’d been out of the military for four years— Five years, she corrected herself. It had been five years since she’d left. Then again, she hadn’t really had a choice. She’d been on a mission that went south based on some decisions she made. Two people ended up dead, and Sorsha ended up in a coma for several months. When she finally awoke, her mind had been so scrambled, she barely remembered her name. The doctors weren’t even sure what woke her.
Her memories from before the military were either gone or mixed up and weird. The only thing she remembered with clarity was that she never wanted to return home, even though she couldn’t remember why, and that she shouldn’t show anyone her abilities.
Not only were her earliest memories compromised, but she’d had enough shrapnel pulled from her left leg that there was some residual nerve damage.
Since then, she’d had several surgeries to remove shrapnel and repair damage to her leg. Her last surgery had only been a couple weeks before meeting Irene, and while the doctors insisted she needed more, she refused. She couldn’t afford the medical bills anyway.
Every once in a while her leg would go numb without warning or just tremble randomly. Then, as it got colder, it ached as well, and she found herself limping the longer she was on it. She’d slowly built her strength back up with physical therapy, but the ache remained. She’d learned to tune out the pain and just tried not to push herself too much.
She’d come away with her life, but she’d lost her job. Her actions in the field during the mission had come into question while she was still in a coma, and they’d decided it was best that if she ever woke up—something the doctors had questioned the possibility of at first—she’d be discharged from the service. It was another slap in the face along with the medical debt she acquired.
It was why she needed a roommate. She could afford living on her own—if she ignored her medical debt. She’d ignored it too long as it was.
The ride home was uneventful. Then again, Sorsha’s mind was wrapped in other things. She had to find out everything she could about Gloria, and she needed it as soon as possible.
Tanner responded to her quickly with a light-humored text about getting her the dossier in exchange for dinner when he was next in town. She laughed.
They were already set to have dinner when he visited. She told him as much, reminding him he was supposed to be there around New Year’s, and earned a frowning emoji in response followed by a short text that read, “Your no fun.” She corrected his grammar wit
h “You’re” as she walked inside her apartment complex.
Sorsha wasn’t certain how many apartments were in the building, and in the end, she didn’t care. It’s location across the street from the blood bank meant it saw a lot of foot traffic for those interested in moving.
A wall of mailboxes was on the right side of the lobby while the stairs were on the left. An elevator was on the back wall next to a bulletin board where she’d posted a notice about a roommate a week earlier.
There were three people in the lobby area, more than she ever usually saw. Sorsha glanced behind her out the main door. It was dark. Maybe everyone was just getting off work and returning home. She was so used to returning and seeing the place deserted, it threw her off for a moment.
Two of them, obviously a couple if their close proximity was something to go by, stood before the mailboxes, sorting through a stack of mail. The third stood before the bulletin board, his hand on his chin as he gazed over it thoughtfully.
She glanced at him as she pulled mail from her box. Dark hair cut short on the sides, a pompadour on top, dark eyes, and a clean jawline. He looked familiar. Why?
Curse my missing memories!
When he glanced at her, she caught sight of a lip ring on the bottom left corner of his mouth, a piercing in his right eyebrow, and several other piercings in both ears.
“Ah, we meet again, Barefoot Contessa. You live here?”
She nodded. “Barefoot Contessa?” She turned toward him and drank in the sight of his lean form. He wore a tank top underneath a denim jacket, but it was taught enough she could see every line of his muscles through the white cotton. Her eyes trailed lower over skin-tight jeans that left little to the imagination. The cowboy boots threw her for a moment. She frowned and her gaze returned to his face. “You’re the man I ran into when I was. . . Oh!” She flushed and gave him a shy smile. “I don’t remember you having piercings the first time we ran into one another.”
“I take them out for work. They frown upon that kind of thing.” He grinned. “Your living nearby explains the lack of shoes though, I do say.”
“It’s not a long walk home.”
“Obviously not for someone going barefoot here in this town. I don’t mean to offend, but either you’re comfortable in your skills to take care of yourself, or you’re stupid.” His eyes razed over her, and his grin widened. “I’d like to think the former rather than the latter.”
She snorted. “Is that supposed to be a dig at my choice of footwear for that evening?”
“Well,” he said, running a hand over the side of his head. “I’ve heard that this part of town was notorious for robberies and murders only a handful of years ago.”
“True, but it’s cleaned up since then.” She tucked her mail in her purse and put one hand on her hip, shifting her weight off her left leg. “So, what are you doing here?”
“Looking for a place to stay. Been living with my cousins long enough. Figured it was time to get out and stretch my wings a bit.” He grinned. “What’s living here like?”
“Expensive, but probably cheaper than other areas and worth it. Private. Quiet. No one bothers me, which is just as I like it.” She held out her hand. “I’m Sorsha.” She took his hand, and her skin sizzled with warmth against his. Yellow vapors curled out the ends of her fingers, starting to coil around their entwined hands. She released him before he could see.
He chuckled. “Larz Kazal. Don’t like touching people?”
“What? No. It’s not like that.” She flushed again, flustered. He was a good-looking man. A really good-looking man. On top of that, her power had activated as soon as she’d touched him, similar to the way it had reacted to Frank. That hadn’t ever happened before. At least, not that she could remember. To have it happen twice in one night puzzled her.
The difference between the two men was astounding too. She’d been on edge around Fank in the crowded bar. Sorsha glanced around, noticing she and Larz were alone. It had been a long time since she’d been alone with someone and felt as comfortable as she did. She remembered there’d been such a time, even if she couldn’t remember the events that had led to such. She swore under her breath, hating the lack of memories.
“Something wrong?”
Sorsha shook her head. “No. Just remembered something. Or, rather, remembered I can’t remember something.” She shrugged one shoulder. “It happens, and it sucks.”
Larz frowned. “Anything I can help with.”
“Doubtful.”
He glanced at the bulletin board behind him. She followed his gaze. The ad she’d pinned there was still up. She’d already gotten a couple calls from running it in the local news online, but she noted there were a couple slips missing from the paper ad as well.
Looking her in the eyes, he reached up and plucked one of the slips of paper from the ad. He raised it in salute before he turned away, heading toward the door.
“It was nice meeting you, Sorsha. You’ll hear from me soon, I believe.”
She laughed. “Alright.” She waved and watched him as he walked out and turned right down the road.
When she returned to her apartment, her phone rang, and she answered it, despite not knowing the number. “Hello?”
“Is this Sorsha?”
“It is.” She smiled.
“Hello there. My name is Larz. We just met downstairs. I’d like to know more about the apartment and room, please.”
Sorsha laughed. “How about an interview and tour, Larz?”
“Sounds perfect. I can’t wait.”
6
Red smoke. Crimson eyes. Pained screams. Elongated teeth.
Blood. Smoke. Tears. Spirits.
All of these flashed through Sorsha’s mind as she tossed and turned. It had been the same for months—years, if she was honest with herself. She didn’t dream. She saw fragments of memories she couldn’t hold onto when awake. She was so used to it, they no longer bothered her as nightmares anymore.
The shrill of her phone ringing chased away the nightmarish memories for good and roused her from her sleep.
“Good morning, sunshine!” Tanner exclaimed in a sing-song voice.
Sorsha groaned and rolled over in bed, shoving her blankets off and reaching for her phone, even though she had it in her hand already. She didn’t even remember grabbing it.
“Tsh,” she said to herself as she pulled the phone from her ear and looked at the time. “Tanner, it’s five in the morning.”
“It is for you. It’s earlier for me.”
She groaned. “Where are you? Arizona or something? Ugh!” She pulled a pillow over her head with one hand, groaned and tossed it back. “Good morning, Tanner,” she said in a falsely-cheerful voice.
“Much better. Anyway, I got those dossiers you wanted. I faxed them over to you.”
When it came to intelligence gathering, there was no one Sorsha trusted more than Aiden Tanner. They’d been part of the same time when she’d been in the military, and he was the only other survivor of the mission that had gone wrong.
It had been a long time since they’d seen each other face-to-face, but they’d never lost contact when she was discharged.
She had files on all the spirits in her spirit deck, and Tanner was the one who’d put them together.
When she’d first started taking on clients with Phantom Mystics and Michael called in, she’d asked him if he had a brother named Aiden.
“Not that I know of,” had been the reply and that had been the end of the conversation.
Tanner never let her down. When he said he’d get her information, he did. Usually quicker than he’d originally promised too. The downside was that he insisted on a dinosaur method of faxing it rather than just emailing her.
His words made her sit up. She glanced over at her computer and fax machine. She always left it on just in case he sent her something.
Sure enough, there was a thin stack of papers sitting in the tray.
“Have I told you lately
that you’re awesome?”
She could imagine him shining his knuckles on his shirt. “Not recently, but that’s okay. I know.” Then his tone shifted from playful to serious. “One of those files is about a kid, Phantom.”
Sorsha stiffened. “I know,” she said in a low voice.
“Something going on I need to know about?”
She bit her lip. Although they’d worked together for years, she hadn’t ever told him about her abilities. He didn’t know she could see spirits, even if he had been the one to help her compile files on all the spirits in her deck.
“I don’t know yet,” she told him honestly. “It’s something I’m working on. A pet project of sorts. Police here have no leads, and I want to see if there’s something they missed.”
He chuckled. “So, you’re telling me you’ve become an amateur sleuth over the years?”
“Why do you think I had you create the other dossiers?”
Silence met her words as he thought about that. “Touché,” he said. “What about the other files? Those people are still alive.”
Back on neutral territory she didn’t mind talking about, Sorsha relaxed. The less he asked about Gloria, the better. She didn’t want to lie to him, and she didn’t want to tell him the truth. That was an argument she wasn’t ready to have—especially over the phone. She wondered if she’d ever be ready for that conversation, and she realized she wasn’t certain.
“I’m looking for a roommate.”
“A roommate?”
“Yes. The kind of person that lives with you but doesn’t sleep with you. A roommate.” She laughed. “I know that’s a difficult concept to grasp from someone like you, but. . .” She let her words trail off, a grin on her face.
She and Tanner had been roommates at one point in their lives. Then they’d been more as they got to know one another over the years. After a couple of botched dates, they realized they just didn’t work well together as anything more than friends, and that’s the way they’d remained ever since.
“I know what a roommate is, Phantom. Just curious why you need one.”
