Destiny

by Rachelle Mills et al.

  I glance back over to the makeshift playroom. The baby hasn’t left the gate. She’s staring at her daddy, her eyes imploring him to come get her. She could simply want out, but there’s something about her expression that denies that.

  “Interesting.” Wade scribbles in his notebook. “Has there been anything else unusual you’ve noticed?”

  “There’s a rancid scent that comes and goes. At first, we thought maybe an animal had crawled under the house and died, but the smell didn’t stay in any one place. It travels all over the house now.”

  “Does it seem to linger in any one room longer than the others?”

  “In the baby’s room.” Mrs. Duchaine purses her lips and glances toward the playroom. “Any room she’s in, really.”

  Wade nods and writes a few more things. “Have you seen any apparitions?”

  Mrs. Duchaine shakes her head, but her husband nods. Another clue maybe this couple isn’t lying to try to get their fifteen minutes of fame on some show. We might be making a second trip here without the Ghostbuster wannabes.

  Wade lifts a brow, waiting for them to come to a consensus.

  “I saw something,” Mr. Duchaine says after a silent moment. “Hillary thinks I’m imagining things, but I don’t think so.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I think it was a woman. It had a dress on, anyway. Long, white hair, but I couldn’t see the face well. It was white with dark streaks. It’s like she’d used black makeup, and it all ran down her face. Mostly, it was just a blur.”

  “Have you done recent construction?”

  The Duchaines are saved from answering by the doorbell. Surprised, Mr. Duchaine glances in that direction.

  “Here are my experts.” Mrs. Duchaine stands, a relieved expression on her face.

  Wait…she doesn’t want Wade here, but she called her own ghostbusters? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

  A familiar voice fills the air, and I turn, not prepared to see who’s standing in the doorway, but there he is.

  Dr. Lawrence Olivet, spook doctor extraordinaire.

  He’s always reminded me of Will from Will and Grace. It’s the brown hair, brown eyes, and shape of his face. He’s not overly tall, but not average either. His eyes are always kind, and he has this way of sucking you in when he speaks.

  Once upon a time, I considered him family.

  Then I found out he’d been lying to me from day one. Once you lose my trust, it’s almost impossible to get it back. Thanks to Dan, I didn’t completely cut Doc out. I’ve been trying to rebuild our relationship. Well, trying would be too generous of a word. I haven’t ignored his emails or texts. That counts as trying. Maybe.

  If he’s here, something’s definitely up. I hope he can read the warning in my eyes. I’m not here as the Ghost Girl, but as Mary’s friend.

  Wade’s indrawn breath tells me he knows who’s just entered the room. Anyone worth a grain of salt in the paranormal community knows who Doc is. He’s always on the move doing lectures, investigating, and recently he’s been doing the talk show rounds.

  Mr. Duchaine gets up and goes to meet Doc. Wade’s eyes nearly bug out of his head. I snicker and try to disguise it as a sneeze, but he’s not fooled. He frowns, clearly not appreciating the humor in any of this. Ghostbuster wannabe meets the real deal. I can see the humor in it.

  Mary stomps on my foot, and Wade doesn’t miss the low “ouch” that escapes me. A shy smile flirts with his lips when he looks at Mary. At least I know he’s smitten too, and it’s not a one-way crush. I’ll take a few foot bruises if it means my sister is happy.

  Doc follows the Duchaines back into the room, and Wade jumps up like an eager puppy and rushes over to him. It reminds me of my Hellhound, Peaches. She still rushes me like a puppy every time I come home. Peaches was my grandfather Silas’s gift to me after I smashed my soul to destroy a Fallen Angel. He wanted to make sure I was always protected and gave me one of his hounds. Oh, and Silas is a demon. Let’s not forget that little fact.

  Doc smiles and shakes Wade’s hand, but his eyes never leave me. He’s studying me, making sure I’m okay, I think. It’s been a year since we’ve been in the same room together. Eric squeezes my hand around the same time my phone buzzes.

  I know who it is before I look at it. We have a connection forged in our souls, one that time or distance can’t break. Sure enough, Dan’s texted to see if I’m okay. He must have sensed the trepidation sending butterflies roaming in my stomach. Our connection isn’t the same as the one I shared with Eli, my very own Guardian Angel, but it’s just as strong, maybe more so since our souls are tied to each other.

  A long story in and of itself, and one I don’t have time to think about right now. I send him a quick text telling him I’m okay and I’ll call him later.

  “Emma Rose.”

  I take a deep breath and bring my eyes back up to meet Doc’s. At least he didn’t call me Mattie. It sounds strange hearing him call me Emma Rose, though. There are only two people who do that. One is my father, and the other is Silas.

  “Hey, Doc.”

  Wade’s eyes go wide when I greet the famous parapsychologist like an old friend. Ha, take that, Mr. YouTuber.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re interns, learning the ghost hunting business from Wade, here. He has his own YouTube channel.” Interns sounds better than trainees.

  Doc tilts his head, his gaze bouncing between me, Mary, and Eric. “Well, then, I hope you’re learning something.”

  “Loads.” I nod emphatically. I don’t want another foot stomp.

  “Catch me up on what I missed.” Doc settles down across from me, while the Duchaines take their seats. It’s hard to miss the stares they’re giving me.

  While Wade sums up everything from his notes, I check out the baby. She’s abandoned her perch at the baby gate and is sitting on her little pink Hello Kitty toddler sofa watching cartoons. She’s not nervous, so that’s a good thing.

  “Hillary, you said you’ve noticed a lot of activity in the baby’s room?” Doc asks, bringing my attention back to the conversation. Finally, someone is focusing on that little tidbit of information.

  “Yes, Lawrence. The lights flicker constantly, the TV goes on and off, the baby monitor fritzes out every five minutes. It can get very cold in there too. I’m worried to leave her alone. We’ve been bringing her into our room at night.”

  “That’s a good thing. A child’s energy is the purest there is. Most supernatural beings like ghosts or demons tend to feed off their energy. Has she been irritable or lethargic at all?”

  Wade is furiously scribbling during all this. About time he learned some good investigative techniques. Not that his questions were bad, they just didn’t dig deep enough.

  “She’s been fussier than usual.” Mr. Duchaine strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Which I thought was the reason she seemed more tired than usual. She’s constantly waking up at night.”

  Doc nods. “We need to secure her safety first. We may have to move her out of the house until this is dealt with. Can she stay with her grandparents if necessary?”

  “Of course. Either of our parents would watch her for a few days.”

  Doc and I both snort at this. He smiles while everyone stares at me like I’ve just sprouted devil horns. What? I know this isn’t going to get sorted quickly. It could take a day, or it could take a couple weeks. It depends on the ghost. Some are easily dealt with, while others are stubborn. And some are just downright evil. The extraction timetable always comes down to that.

  “We’ll start with a few days and go from there.” Doc sits up and leans forward, his arms braced on the dining room table. “Now, you told me over the phone you’ve done some major renovations. Did all this start happening before or after?”

  “We didn’t live here before,” Mrs. Duchaine explains. “Henry inherited the house from his uncle, who’d been in a specialized facility for Alzheimer’s. Even his father didn’t
know about the house. He was surprised when they read the will. The place has been empty since the early seventies and needed a lot of renovation. There was enough money in the inheritance to make that possible. We moved in a week after everything was done.”

  “Did the work crews complain about anything unusual?” Doc leans back and takes a sip from the bottle of water he brought in with him.

  “Not that they told us.” Mr. Duchaine frowns, thinking. “The work got done on time. We started noticing things our first night here, so I don’t know how they couldn’t have experienced something.”

  “A lot of times people ignore what’s happening around them because they think if they don’t acknowledge it, then it’s not real. If you can get me the name of the site supervisor, I’ll have a chat with him.”

  “Of course.” Mr. Duchaine nods.

  The first sliver of unease creeps up on me. It teases the edges of my gifts, testing to see if I feel it. I ignore it, as I am apt to do. Ignore them, and they go away. This time, I want it to think I don’t know it’s here.

  Because something dangerous is in this house. It might not feel or look like it at first glance, but it hides in the shadows.

  I keep my back to the cold sliver that floats behind me and focus on Doc. He has paused in his questioning and is staring at the spot I ignored. Doc may not be able to see or hear ghosts, but he is sensitive to them. Has been since he was a kid. It’s why he works to prove they are real and help those in need.

  “How soon can you get your daughter out of the house?”

  “Is that really necessary?” Mr. Duchaine asks.

  “Henry, Lawrence knows what he’s doing. We should listen to him.” His wife grips his hand and speaks with urgency.

  “How do you know this man?” Mr. Duchaine doesn’t look happy.

  “Doc is the best in the field.” I speak up to keep from turning around. The thing is right there, boring holes into me. A shiver threatens, but I force it back. I have more control than I used to. “Google him.”

  “How do you know Dr. Olivet?” Wade asks, eyeballing me suspiciously.

  “Emma was my intern for an investigation a while back. She’s good at this sort of thing.”

  Wade narrows his eyes before swinging them to Mary. He has to be questioning everything she’s told him. What she told him, exactly, I have no idea, but I can feel her starting to shut down. Not gonna happen on my watch.

  “I went through a phase.” I shrug like it’s no big deal. “Mary’s more into this stuff than I am.”

  Wade’s expression clears somewhat, but I can still see the questions he’s sure to hit us with later rattling around.

  “I would like to set up and observe overnight.” Doc pulls the conversation back to the pertinent talk of the haunting. “We have to make sure it’s an actual haunting instead of the house settling from the renovation.”

  “Do you really think it could be that simple?” Mrs. Duchaine looks so hopeful, I hate to burst her bubble. Doc must feel the same, because he smiles gently.

  “A lot of my investigations end up with me debunking everything. It’s rare to find an actual haunting or possession.”

  “Possession?” Mrs. Duchaine’s eyes widen.

  “Let’s not borrow trouble if we don’t have to. I’d like to come back tonight, if possible, with some people to set up a few cameras and microphones in all the hot spots. Ghosts like to come out at night, usually, but not always.” Again, his eyes move to the spot behind me where it’s still cold.

  “Well, Wade had planned on doing that tomorrow night…” Mr. Duchaine trails off at his wife’s very hostile snarl.

  “I am more than happy to have Wade along,” Doc says smoothly, never missing a beat. “That is, if he doesn’t mind me tagging along?”

  “No, sir.” I’m surprised his eyes are still in his head at this point. “It would be an honor to work with you.”

  “See?” Doc beams at him. “It’s all settled.”

  Mrs. Duchaine does not look happy, but she agrees, and soon we are packing everything up and moving outside. Doc stops by my car while Eric and Mary help Wade’s guys load everything back into the van.

  “Mat…” He breaks off when I shake my head. No one calls me that anymore except for Dan. He tried, but in the end, he told me I’ll always be Mattie Hathaway to him. I let it slide because deep in my soul, I am Mattie Hathaway, no matter how much I try to deny it. Dan is a reminder of that.

  “Emma.” He corrects himself and smiles ruefully. “How are you doing? Everything okay with your father?”

  Doc doesn’t trust my dad as far as he can throw him. Granted, my dad is pretty scary to everyone but me. He has criminal tendencies, but so do I. He even admitted to me he planned on sacrificing me to gain my abilities. It’s what the Oracle he consulted told him he had to do to gain the power he wanted, but once he held me, that idea went out the window. My dad loves me. He’d never harm me in any way, shape, or form. It’s an undeniable truth I feel every time I’m near Zeke.

  “Things are great, Doc. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  The frown he’s sporting clearly says he thinks he does. I don’t really care what he thinks about Zeke. I know the truth, and that’s all that counts.

  Instead of arguing, he steers the conversation back to the house. “Intern?”

  “Mary’s into Wade, but she didn’t want to come by herself around a bunch of guys she’d never met. Eric and I tagged along. Wade explained the extra bodies by calling us trainees.”

  “That was smart,” Doc agrees. “Will the three of you be coming back tonight?”

  “I don’t know. We were only here to support Mary. We’re not really part of the fake ghostbusters team.”

  Doc gestures toward the house. “What do you think?”

  “At first, I didn’t think this place was haunted.”

  “It doesn’t look like the normal haunting grounds.” Doc leans against my car. “But when Hillary called, I agreed to come. Her mother and I are friends.”

  Well, that explains how she got the famous spook doctor here. “Just friends?”

  He blushes, and I grin. Doc has a girlfriend.

  “We’re taking it slow.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Doc is quick to change the subject. “Did you sense anything in there?”

  That wipes the smile off my face. “Yeah, and nothing good either. That thing is angry.”

  “Am I right to worry about the baby?”

  “Yeah, I think you are. Not sure she should stay there even one more night.”

  “Will you come back tonight and help me? You have an advantage I think we’ll need, especially in the baby’s room.”

  “I don’t know…” My gaze goes over to the fake ghostbusters. I don’t want them to know what I can do and have it all over YouTube. I came to New Orleans to escape all that.

  “They don’t need to know about your abilities. We can keep that between you and me.”

  “They’re going to set up cameras, Doc. I don’t think me confronting a ghost is going to escape their attention.”

  The van pulls away from the curb, and Mary and Eric join us, ready to go.

  “How about you and I walk the house now while there are no cameras?” Doc suggests.

  I want to say no. Really, I do, but the image of the toddler’s eyes begging her Daddy to rescue her haunts me.

  “Did you feel that in there?” Mary shivers, looking at the house.

  “I’m not a ghost anymore, but even I felt that. The cold felt almost angry, like it wanted us gone.” Eric’s gaze is fixated on the front window, where the curtains are moving gently as if by a breeze. Could be the air from an AC vent, but I don’t think so. That thing is watching us, calculating our next move.

  It’s smart.

  But I’m a reaper.

  “Let’s go back inside and see what we’re dealing with.”

  Chapter Five

  The Duchaines are surprised when Doc knocks
on the door with Wade’s interns.

  “Hillary, I wanted to talk to you without the cameras.” Doc sits on the couch when we’re all back inside. “I want to protect Ma…Emma’s privacy.”

  “Privacy?” Mr. Duchaine gives me a curious stare.

  “Yes,” I say and glance toward the baby’s playroom. “Can you get your daughter? I’d feel more comfortable if she was safe before we start. In fact, I think it might be better if she’s not in the house at all while we walk it.”

  “There’s something here, isn’t there?” Mrs. Duchaine asks while her husband collects the toddler.

  I nod, sweeping the room. Ghosts are tricky beasts. They can hide, even from me, for a short while. “At first, I didn’t think so. This place is just too normal. Ghosts typically hang out in old abandoned places or homes that are rundown a bit. You don’t find them often in homes like this.”

  “Who are you, exactly?” Mr. Duchaine sits back down, the baby in his arms. She’s smiling. It’s the first smile I’ve seen on her face all day.

  “My name is Emma Crane, and for lack of a better description, I see ghosts.”

  “Crane…” Mr. Duchaine frowns. “Are you related to Ezekiel Crane?”

  “He’s my dad.”

  A flash of unease creeps into his eyes. “Your father…” He breaks off, and I decide to put him at ease.

  “He’s not a good person, I know, but when it comes to me, he’s my dad, and he loves me. Me walking your house has nothing to do with him, but with me wanting to protect your daughter. This thing is feeding off her. A child’s essence or soul, or whatever you want to call it, is the purest form of energy imaginable. If we don’t stop this thing, it will drain her dry, and she’ll die.”

  He still looks uneasy. My dad has a reputation in this town, a reputation that most don’t want anything to do with. I can understand Mr. Duchaine’s hesitation.

  “Henry, even if you don’t trust the Crane name, trust me. This girl is nothing like her father. She can help you if you let her. All we’re asking is to walk the house. Will you at least let us do that?”