Grim Tidings

by Amanda M. Lee

  I sighed and took a step toward the bed. None of the machine alarms had sounded yet, so I was hopeful I could collect my soul and go. That would be a nice change of pace. Evelyn’s soul started to rise from her body and I made a decision. I whipped the scepter out and absorbed it before it even had a chance to achieve ethereal form. What? She cut a woman’s brake lines and still gets to go to Heaven. She’s had enough breaks.

  I let myself out of Evelyn’s room, releasing a relieved breath when I saw a nurse was wandering up and down the hallway and would find herself at Evelyn’s bedside in a few minutes. I plastered a smile on my face as I passed her, but she didn’t even bother to look up.

  I started moving back through the home but stopped when I heard a familiar sound. I made a quick decision and headed in the direction where the noise originated from and pulled up short when I caught sight of Aidan sitting with three women around a small table on the patio.

  Aidan looked up when he caught sight of me. “Hey. How’s it going?”

  “Are you eating?”

  “Yeah, they have really good pie here,” Aidan said, sending me a saucy wink.

  “Is this your girlfriend?” One of the elderly ladies sitting at the table with Aidan patted his arm to draw his attention. He clearly was a hit with the Geritol set.

  “That’s my sister,” Aidan corrected.

  “And you still don’t have a girlfriend?” The woman asked again. “I have a granddaughter. She’s not very pretty, but she has a lovely personality. You might like her.”

  “Dorothy, you know you’re my only girlfriend,” Aidan flirted shamelessly.

  “And he likes boys,” I added.

  Dorothy’s eyes widened as she glanced between Aidan and me. “He’s a poof?”

  Aidan frowned. “That’s not a nice thing to say, Dorothy.”

  I sent Aidan a rueful frown and shrug. How was I supposed to know he was in the closet here?

  Dorothy patted the open seat to her left. “Sit here, dear. Tell us all about your brother.”

  Not seeing the harm, I did as I was told. I smiled at the other two women at the table, but neither looked happy with my interruption.

  “This is Edna and Dolores,” Aidan introduced them. “And you’ve already met Dorothy.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

  “She looks like a tramp,” Edna whispered to Dolores. Since she had a hearing aid in her ear, I had a feeling that her idea of a whisper and my idea of a whisper were vastly different.

  “That’s just how the young girls dress now,” Dorothy chided Edna. “Don’t be rude.”

  “She looks like a skunk,” Dolores said. “What’s with her hair?”

  I reached up and patted my head subconsciously. “They’re highlights.” I have no idea why I was suddenly defensive, especially at a table where muumuus were the obvious trend.

  Aidan smirked. “I like her hair,” he said. “The streaks give her some street cred.”

  “You are a poof,” Dolores said after a beat. “I don’t see how we never noticed before.”

  I met Aidan’s churlish smile with one of my own. “You spend a lot of time here?”

  “Aidan visits us every month,” Edna said. “He always has the most fascinating stories.”

  “For a poof,” Dolores interjected.

  “He can’t help it,” Dorothy said, her eyes flashing. “The television says they’re born that way.”

  “The television also says you can find love in two weeks in a roomful of strangers,” Dolores countered. “I prefer it the old way, where poofs pretended they weren’t and women didn’t wear jeans so tight their business was on display for everyone to see.”

  I risked a glance down to see what jeans I was wearing today and then bit my lower-lip. Hey, I don’t like super-low-waisted jeans either. You try finding something else in stores these days. Plus, they make my butt look great.

  “You’re a real peach,” I muttered.

  Dolores sneered. “I’m not the one who’s hard of hearing,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes and fixed my attention on Aidan. “So, what are you doing here? Besides eating pie and picking up women, I mean.”

  Aidan stuck out his tongue. “I had an assignment in the area and I thought I would stop in and see my girls.”

  “In this area? In this immediate area? Why would Dad send me then?”

  Aidan suddenly seemed interested in the painting on the wall behind me. Since it was a kitten in a toilet, I figured something else was up besides art appreciation.

  “He didn’t think I could handle it, did he?” It shouldn’t surprise me, but the realization still hurt.

  Aidan shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him that.”

  “I am so pissed.”

  “Watch your language,” Dolores ordered. “You already dress like trash, you shouldn’t talk like it, too.”

  “How has someone not stabbed you in your sleep yet?” My patience was short today and Dolores was on my last nerve.

  Dolores raised her eyebrows – which were drawn on – and puckered her lips. “I could say the same thing about you.”

  I ignored her retort. “I want to know why Dad sent you here.”

  Aidan’s head lolled to the side. “You know why.”

  “Well, I’m already done, so this was completely unnecessary.”

  “You’re done with what?” Dorothy asked.

  “Yeah, Aisling, what are you done with?” Aidan’s question was a challenge. He was clearly trying to remind me that we were supposed to remain under the radar.

  “I just can’t believe this,” I muttered. “It’s because I’m a girl. He’s never trusted me because I’m a girl. This is total crap.”

  Dolores snorted. “Welcome to the real world, dear,” she said. “Men are assholes and, even if you are a tramp, you never have any real control.”

  Despite myself, I was starting to come around to Dolores’ way of thinking. “I’m on Dolores’ side,” I announced.

  Aidan looked surprised. “She called you a tramp.”

  “Maybe she’s right,” I growled, standing up to make my dramatic exit, holding on to the lip of my pants to make sure they didn’t dip too low when I did. “She’s right about these pants, too. They’re indecent. No one should wear them. They’re dangerous. I could flash someone at any time. And, just for the record, he’s a total poof.”

  With those words, I left Aidan -- his mouth agape and his eyes wide with frustration -- and flounced out of the patio area. This was certainly not the end of this argument and, just as soon as I peeled these pants off and set them on fire, I was going to start complaining. Loudly.

  Twenty-Seven

  I was so caught up in my mental retribution I didn’t notice another familiar face as I stalked through the dining room. It wasn’t until Aidan practically tackled me from my left, forcing me behind a small partition, that I returned to reality.

  “What the hell?”

  Aidan slapped his hand over my mouth, furrowing his brow and focusing his purple eyes on mine. It was like he was trying to send me a silent message. We had tried to read each other’s minds when we were kids. It never worked. I have no idea why he thought it would suddenly start working now.

  “I can’t read your mind,” I hissed.

  Aidan held his finger to his lips in an attempt to silence me. I rolled my eyes, but mimed drawing a zipper across my mouth. When Aidan was sure I was going to be quiet, he slowly withdrew his hand.

  I widened my eyes to express my irritation.

  Aidan silently pointed to a table in the far corner of the dining room. I rolled my eyes but looked. My heart instantly started hammering. Griffin was sitting at a small table, smiling as he talked to a woman with orange hair – no joke. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but whatever it was the woman was tickled to hear it. She cackled, grabbing Griffin’s arm as though he was the funniest man in the room. A further glance told me he was practically the only man in the room. Wow, I guess
that myth about women outliving men isn’t really a myth.

  “What is he doing here?”

  “How should I know?” Aidan whispered. “He’s here, though. We got lucky at the hospital. If he sees us here, we’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “He didn’t believe the hospital story,” I countered.

  “He let it go, though. He won’t let this go.”

  “What are we going to do?” I asked. “You still have a soul to get. I knew I should have just left when I took Evelyn’s soul. She cut a woman’s brake lines, by the way, and she’s still going to Heaven.”

  Aidan smirked. “Catholic?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s always fun.”

  “That doesn’t help us right now,” I reminded him.

  Aidan breathed in heavily, considering. “Okay,” he said finally. “My charge is in Room 102. We’ll go hide down the hall until she goes. It shouldn’t be long now. We’ll just be really careful.”

  “How are we going to get out of here without him seeing us? We could use the rings, I guess.”

  Aidan shook his head. “Someone might see. We can’t explain disappearing into thin air. Those rings only work when there’s no chance of someone seeing us putting them on.”

  “So, how are we going to do it?”

  “We’re going to move really quietly and carefully.”

  “Yeah, because we’re stealthy spies,” I griped.

  “Do you have a better idea?” Aidan looked as though he wanted to shake me.

  I blew out a sigh. “No.”

  “Just follow my lead.”

  Aidan moved toward the edge of the partition and then tiptoed out into the room. I had to fight the urge to laugh when he plastered himself against the far wall and sidled down it. When he managed to turn the corner without Griffin looking up, he sent me a thumbs up and motioned for me to follow. Like I was going to do what he did. Instead, I just ambled out from behind the wall and made my way in Aidan’s direction, refusing to look across the room to see what Griffin was doing. Once I hit the corner, Aidan latched onto my wrist and yanked me. Hard.

  “I told you to do what I did,” he said, his voice full of recrimination.

  “I’m not a poof,” I replied.

  Aidan smacked me upside the head. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

  “How was I supposed to know that you’re Johnny McStraight when you’re at an old folks home?”

  “They’re old; they don’t know any better.”

  “And you like the attention,” I said.

  “They love me here.”

  “We need to talk about your self-esteem.”

  “We need to talk about your trashy pants,” Aidan countered.

  I frowned. He wasn’t wrong.

  “So, where is Room 102?”

  “It’s near the entrance,” Aidan said.

  “And where are we going to hide until she dies?”

  Aidan mulled the question. “We could hide in the room.”

  “What if she has a roommate?”

  “Then I’ll charm her like I do everyone else.”

  Aidan was already halfway down the hall before I decided to follow. He’s not half as charming as he seems to think he is.

  Luckily for us, Aidan’s charge not only had her own room, but the door was shut. We sneaked inside and found Addie McHale asleep, resting peacefully. Her white hair was spread around her pillow – like a halo – and she looked as though she could slip away at any moment.

  “She looks a lot more accommodating than mine was,” I said.

  “The brake line-cutter? That’s a little freaky. Did she tell you that stuff?”

  “She kept calling me Frank,” I said, sinking into one of chairs at the edge of the room.

  “It’s the shoes,” Aidan offered, going for levity.

  “She kept saying she knew he cheated on her but she still wanted to see him,” I said. “Then she mentioned cutting the brakes. She said she confessed to her priest and he gave her some rosaries and Hail Marys and she was good to go.”

  Aidan snickered. “Catholics.”

  “We’re Catholic,” I reminded him.

  “Barely.”

  “Dad has crosses on the wall in his office,” I said.

  “That’s just for show.”

  “So, where do we go when we die?” The question was a lot more serious than I initially intended.

  Aidan settled himself in the chair next to me and thought about the question. “Where do you want to go?”

  “I like the idea of reincarnation,” I said finally. “I think it would be cool to be able to come back and do it all again.”

  “Really?” Aidan raised his eyebrows. “You don’t want to spend eternity with me?”

  “Not really.”

  Aidan poked me in the ribs. “What’s so bad that you want to be reincarnated and try to do it over again?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “It’s just … we see death all the time. Every day. It’s nice to think of there being something else.”

  “And you can’t physically see Heaven or Hell,” Aidan replied. “So, if you can’t see them, how do we really know they exist? That’s what you’re really thinking, isn’t it?”

  “Of course not,” I scoffed. “We know those souls go somewhere.”

  “True,” Aidan said. “We only have some guy’s word, though, or several guys, actually, that these souls are going to a better place.”

  “Do you ever think about it?”

  “Dying? I try not to.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I think that it’s important to live your life for what it is,” Aidan said. “I’m not really worried about the afterlife. At least not yet.”

  “When will you worry?”

  “When my looks start to go,” Aidan said with a wink. “And that won’t be for at least fifty years -- if ever.”

  I coughed to hide my laugh. “You’re nothing if not optimistic.”

  Aidan’s face sobered. “Aisling, you can’t worry about death when we’re in the business of death. Besides, look what we’ve learned about everlasting life over the past few weeks. Do you really want that?”

  “Reincarnation isn’t everlasting life,” I countered. “I don’t want to be a wraith. I just like the idea of a do-over.”

  “What would you do over?”

  I shrugged.

  “Griffin?” Aidan had a knowing look on his face.

  “I don’t like Griffin,” I growled.

  “Yes, you do.”

  “I do not.”

  “You do, too.”

  I decided to change the subject. “Do you like Jerry?”

  Aidan looked uncomfortable and shifted in his chair. “Why do you ask that?”

  That wasn’t a denial. “Because you seem to.”

  “I told you, what happened after the police ball was because of alcohol and Pretty Woman.”

  “That’s not what Cillian and Braden say,” I hedged.

  Aidan’s eyes flashed. “What did they say?”

  “They said that I should stop being against you and Jerry and embrace it,” I answered honestly. “They said that they thought you and Jerry would get together years ago, and I was the one holding the two of you back.”

  “Ais, you’re my sister. You’re my twin. I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I said, “even if you’re a total tool most of the time.”

  “I don’t love you so much that I would put my own happiness aside,” Aidan said, ignoring my jab. “It was just an accident.”

  Why didn’t I believe him? I opened my mouth to tell him that I would be fine if he dated Jerry, but I didn’t get the words out. The door to the room opened. Crap. How were the two of us going to explain our presence?

  One look at our new visitor told me that wasn’t going to be a problem.

  Aidan was on his feet, putting himself between the wraith and me, before I could even register what was going on. />
  “Oh, shit.”

  “Double shit,” Aidan agreed.

  “What do we do?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “So, why did Dad send you?”

  “He didn’t,” Aidan said, his jaw grim. “Jerry called, he was worried. I traded Cillian for this charge.”

  My heart swelled for my brother – and then plummeted. “You didn’t think I could do it myself either.”

  Aidan’s eyes darkened with irritation as he glanced at me – and then immediately focused back on the wraith. “Is now the time to focus on that?”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “We’re not done talking about this, though.”

  “Great.”

  “Awesome.”

  Aidan took a lateral step, cutting the wraith off from the woman in the bed but not lessening the distance between himself and our ghastly visitor. “There’s nothing for you here.”

  The wraith ignored him, splaying its long fingers out and twitching at the sight of Addie. The wraith didn’t speak, but a low rumble emanated from its body.

  “Oh, gross,” I muttered. “Was that its stomach growling?”

  Aidan wasn’t listening to me, though. His face was drawn and his arms were tense. “You need to leave.”

  “No leave,” the wraith hissed.

  This was the first time I heard one speak. I wasn’t a fan of hearing it again. I glanced around the room, looking for a weapon. My eyes fell on the dresser at the edge of the room. I shuffled away, hoping the wraith would be distracted by whatever Aidan was about to do, and slipped to the edge of the dresser.

  There wasn’t a lot there. A few books, a newspaper, a picture frame and a hairbrush were my only options. I shifted the newspaper and saw that there was something beneath it – an antique letter opener. Score.

  I grabbed the letter opener, wrapping my hand around the end of it, and pulled it toward me. I didn’t know a lot about wraiths. Killing them was a mystery, at least for me, but I thought I remembered something about silver hurting them. The letter opener looked like real silver. It was certainly tarnished.

  Aidan seemed unsure of himself something I wasn’t used to seeing. “You can’t have her.”

  “Mine.”

  “No,” Aidan said, shaking his head and wagging his finger as though talking to a naughty child. Like that was going to help.