by BL Maxwell
Chapter Eighteen
Wade
As soon as Jimbo lit the sage, a ripple ran through the spirit. She didn’t react as though she was in pain, but it was very apparent it had affected her. Jimbo glanced at me, his brow starting to sweat with the exertion it took to hold back the beacon he held power over. When he’d opened it up in the basement in Old Sacramento, it had looked like a bright spotlight. And every spirit within miles had been drawn to it. But we didn’t want to draw spirits.
“Jimbo, I know you can do it. Dial it open just enough for people who are connected to her to see. They’ll see it before any other spirits do. As long as you keep it dialed down everything will be okay.”
He shook his head and after taking Dean’s hand, he closed his eyes. We all watched as his breathing became faster and more frantic. It was as though he was running a race, but he was standing right in front of us. The physical strength it took to restrain his power was something very few people would ever realize or understand.
The power burst out of him, but not without control. It pulsed, and the bright white light that shone out of his chest was nearly blinding in its intensity. I glanced at Jason and even though I knew neither him nor Dean could see it, I had to force myself not to shield my eyes.
“Do you see your loved ones?” I asked the spirit. Her gaze was focused behind Jimbo. The part of the veil I couldn’t see, but I now knew without a doubt was there.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. But they hurt me, and I couldn’t remember who I was anymore.”
“Now you have a chance at a new existence with everyone who meant something to you. You won’t have to be alone anymore.”
“I’ll go, after all this time all I want is peace. Please, tell the man who saw me he doesn’t have to worry anymore. I’ll be free now.”
She walked toward the edge of the room and crossed through to the veil. As soon as she was gone, the beacon closed the pathway behind her. I was so focused on her I almost didn’t notice when Jimbo collapsed.
“James,” Dean shouted, as he hit the floor.
Jason and I rushed to his side. Jimbo was exhausted. Sweat ran down his face and soaked his shirt. But he was okay.
“Jimbo, you did it.”
He turned and met my eyes. Through the sweat and his breaths that came so fast—the exertion from controlling his beacon was easy to see—he smiled. Probably the first real smile I’d seen from Jimbo other than when he was smiling at my mom or Dean.
“I did it. I wasn’t sure it would work but it did. I used my beacon to guide her to the other side of the veil. And I didn’t let any of the other spirits follow it. Janis was right. I can control it.”
“Oh, James, I’m so happy for you,” Dean said, and after hugging Jimbo, tried to help him to his feet.
“Well, I’d say we’re done here since the ghost that was the biggest threat has left, and the ones who were getting a little too friendly have agreed to behave. Let’s cleanse the place with sage just to be sure, and we can start packing up.”
“The sage won’t hurt the ghosts downstairs?” I asked Jason.
“No, we’ll stay away from the bar which I’d guess is what they’re tethered to. If we don’t completely seal off the room, they’ll be fine.”
The four of us got busy doing just that. Dean and Jimbo took the upstairs and Jason and I took the lower level. We were careful around the bar, leaving a path in and out for the wayward ghosts who didn’t want to leave where they considered their home.
“We’re done here, let’s pack up and go. I’ll call Travis on the way out of town and let him know everything is fine. This has to be the fastest we’ve cleansed a place so far,” Jason said as he walked up the stairs.
“Let’s hope tomorrow is the same. I have a feeling we won’t get off so easy on that one.”
“Wade, don’t jinx us. Let’s just enjoy the fact that this one was so quick and easy,” Jimbo said from the top of the stairs.
“You’re right, let’s enjoy it while we can.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jason
To say Travis was relieved would have been an understatement. He answered the phone as soon as it rang.
“Hello?”
“Travis, this is Jason. It’s all done. You shouldn’t have any more trouble.” I went on to describe everything that had happened. He was silent for the most part.
“So, there were two ghosts downstairs, and one upstairs? I thought it was all the same one.”
“No, and the ones downstairs were more mischievous than harmful. We told them they can stay as long as they don’t cause any trouble. Wade was told the one having fun is Luke.”
“I can’t believe it. It’s still all so crazy.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve always been curious about the paranormal, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing it right in front of me.”
Wade wove his fingers with mine as we drove toward Sacramento, and Travis continued to talk.
“Did the woman say who she was?”
“No, she told Wade she’d been hurt, but she didn’t remember what had happened. At first, I wasn’t sure she’d move on, she seemed so angry. But Wade convinced her that if she moved on, she’d be with her loved ones again. Jimbo helped her to see that.”
“I’m more than grateful to you all. Thanks again for all your help.”
“You’re welcome, Travis. And if you have any repeat offenders be sure to call us.”
After hanging up, I turned to look at the others.
“Whelp, everyone ready to do it all again tomorrow night?”
Jimbo groaned, Dean clapped, and Wade smiled over at me.
“Hell yeah, baby, bring on the ghosts. And don’t forget my mom’s going on this one.”
Once again, we were in for an exciting night.
Chapter Twenty
Wade
We pulled into the driveway, and everyone got out in silence. It had been a long night. Even though it was still dark out, and we’d beat the sun home, we’d all been awake nearly twenty-four hours. We split the bags and chests between us and carried all the equipment inside.
“We’re going to go get some sleep, what time did you want to leave tonight?” Dean asked.
“We can go anytime, but I’m thinking we should leave here around five. It’ll still be light out so we’ll have time to set up before anything starts happening.”
“Hopefully,” I said.
“Let’s get some sleep, and don’t forget Deidra is going with us.”
Someone groaned, probably Jimbo, but I was too tired to figure it out. The front door shut as we walked back to the bedroom. Sleep, finally.
“Boys, I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get there and see what’s going on. Do you think we’ll really see a ghost?” Mom chattered on and on. She was so excited about going with us she couldn’t control herself.
“You’re sure you’ve got everything?” I reached across the center console for Jason’s hand.
“Yep, I packed a few more tools than what we took last night. I thought Deidra might like using her own EMF while we’re working.” He smiled back at her and I rolled my eyes.
“You know you don’t have to kiss her ass. You’re in.”
She completely ignored my comment and clapped her hands. The excited squeal that came from the back seat made it hard for me to ignore.
“I can’t wait. Now, you two will protect me from any mean spirits, right? I don’t want to end up like you did, Jason, wearing a ghost suit.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, we won’t let you get that close to a spirit. This one hasn’t tried to make contact with anyone. It’s showing them it’s there, but so far it hasn’t escalated its attacks.”
“If it’s willing to tone it down, and not hurt anyone, it can stay. But it can’t keep messing with people. It’s not really good for business to have a ghost at a place people go to relax.”
Jimbo and Dean followed us in their car, and for just a short
second, I wished Mom had ridden with them. She was so excited it was like going on a road trip with a toddler. A toddler who’d drank a pot of coffee with extra sugar and had eaten at least four donuts. She bounced with excitement and where Jason and I never felt the need to fill every moment with noise, my mom was the exact opposite.
“Was I supposed to bring a stone? Because Janis gave me one, but I forgot it. Do we need to go back and get it?” Her eyes were getting a crazed look and I started to regret asking her to go but Jason stepped up.
“Nope, you’re okay. With Wade’s abilities, and all our equipment, you’ll be perfectly safe. Plus, this spirit hasn’t been aggressive or violent. Sort of like the little boy Luke at the Saloon last night. It’s closer to a kid being mischievous.”
“Promise me you won’t leave me anywhere alone.”
“Why would we do that?” I asked her. We could be dicks but that was just cruel.
“To get revenge on me for hiding your favorite blanket from you when you were little.”
“Wha—?”
“Never mind, just don’t leave me alone.” She tucked her hands under her legs and tried to control her movements.
“We won’t. We’d never hear the end of it, and Jimbo would make sure we felt guilty forever,” I mumbled, hoping she didn’t hear it and kinda hoping she did. The slap to the back of my head confirmed she had.
“We’re almost there,” Jason said as he drove up Interstate 80 headed for Auburn, the small gold rush era town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It had quite a checkered past full of gold, robberies, hangings, and a myriad of western drama. The salon we were going to was located in a house built by one of the founding fathers of the area. At one time it had been thought of as one of the nicest places in town, and even as a salon it still was one of the more popular places to visit.
We exited the freeway on a street that dropped us right into old town Auburn and continued up to the front of the old courthouse. A few traffic lights later, we were turning into the driveway that led behind the large Victorian.
“Wow, this is beautiful,” Jason said as he parked right behind the building.
“It is, hopefully the ghosts are nice,” Mom said as she twisted to take it all in.
Jason met my eyes, and we both laughed. This was going to be fun.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jason
Jimbo and Dean were right behind us and parked in the closest space.
“Hey, guys, give me just a minute to make sure the key’s here.” I walked up to the rear entrance and lifted the mat. The key was exactly where the owner Rosa had told me it would be. When I talked to her on the phone earlier, she’d said everyone was too nervous to meet us here, even though they really wanted answers. We both agreed this would work out fine with just us here.
I unlocked the door and stepped into a short hall that led directly to the front desk.
“Should we bring everything in?” Wade asked from the doorway.
“Yes, sorry, I’ll be right there.” I followed him out and listened to Jimbo complain about how much “crap” we’d brought.
“Hey, this place is a lot bigger than the Saloon was, and it’s not nearly as open. We need more cameras here than we needed there. The upstairs is all separate rooms, so it’ll be challenging to keep an eye on everything.”
“In other words, we need it all, so come on, everyone grab something.” Wade reached into the back of the car and took as much as he could carry. Dean followed and when Deidra reached for a bag, he took it from her.
“You go ahead, Deidra, let us take care of this.”
Jimbo rolled his eyes and took the bags Dean offered him.
“Thank you, Dean, you boys are so sweet to me.”
Jimbo smiled the dopey smile he reserved for Deidra and Dean. His arms were loaded down with all sorts of equipment, but before he could get away, Dean cradled his face and kissed him.
“Hokay,” I said, and clapped my hands. “Let’s get this shit going.” I picked up the bags and carrying cases I’d set down, and we all walked into the salon. At the front desk there was a hallway that led to both the left and right. Beyond the desk was a waiting room that had probably once been a sitting room.
“Let’s use this room to set up in, it’s central to everything and there’s plenty of space.”
The guys and Deidra walked around me into the room and got busy. We pushed some of the furniture out of the way and set up a table with our laptops and I organized what we’d need.
“Wade, you ready to do a walkthrough and see what equipment we need?”
“Can we all go?” Deidra whisper-yelled, her eyes wide and darting around the room. “I don’t think we should separate.”
“We can all walk around and get a feel for the place.”
Dean put his arm around her and squeezed her. “Don’t worry, if they haven’t deserted James or me, there’s no way they’ll desert you.”
She patted his hand and smiled. “Okay, let’s go see what the fuck’s going on here.”
“Mom!”
“Wade! Not the time.”
He fake-zipped his mouth and threw away the key. “Let’s do this.” He rubbed his hands together and looked to me for direction.
“Okay, let’s see what’s on this floor first.” We walked back the way we’d come and continued past the front desk. This area had been added on and wasn’t a part of the original construction. All that was there was a small room that held four workstations. “We can set up one camera in a corner. This room is so small it won’t take much. Maybe set it up to view the front desk too.”
We walked back past the desk to a hallway. There were two small rooms for manicurists on the left. The hall ended at the shampoo area which opened to the kitchen on the left, and the bathroom on the right. “They said they keep having shampoo pumped out of the bottles into the sink, so we could set a camera here covering the sinks and facing the kitchen.”
“This place is pretty big,” Wade said.
“Yeah, and lots of small rooms. It makes it a little more challenging than the Saloon.”
We walked back the way we’d come and continued down the hall. On the right was a banister to a staircase that led to the second floor, and just past it was the front door. On the right, after the staircase, was another room with four workstations. This was even smaller than the other one, and even though it was part of the original house, it didn’t look any different than the room in the back. Across from that was another manicure room.
“One camera in the corner of the room facing the back corner should cover it all. I’m thinking if we attach a camera on the front door, we can get the staircase and the hall. Let’s go see what’s upstairs.”
Deidra looked at each of us in turn and reached for Jimbo’s hand. “Don’t worry, Wade can let us know if he sees anything. You’re safe with us.”
I led the way up the stairs and turned the lights on at the top. The ceiling was really low up here and seemed to bear down on us. This part of the house had not been changed from its original design. There were three rooms on one side of the hall, a bathroom and another smaller room on the other side. Each of the rooms were used as massage rooms. It was so deathly quiet up here, I braced myself for something to happen, but nothing did.
“We need a camera in each room, the hall, and at the top of the stairs. Just in case we miss something on the camera at the bottom.”
Deidra stayed close to Jimbo but she didn’t say anything while we opened each door and looked around.
“Okay, guys, let’s head back down and get set up. I forgot to mention there is a basement, but since none of the activity seems to be centered there, we’re not going to bother with it.”
“Thank fuck!” Wade said.
I passed out cameras to everyone and at this point I didn’t need to do much more. They were all familiar with the equipment and how to use it. I sat at the table we’d set up and watched the monitors as the cameras all went online.
I went back to watching the monitors, as yet another camera went online. Deidra sat next to me taking it all in and being way too quiet.
“Is Wade okay by himself?”
“Yeah, people work here all the time by themselves. No one has been hurt, just a little freaked out. He’ll let us know if anything happens.”
Just then, one of the cameras he’d attached flickered to life. His face was all that was visible at first, since he was still adjusting it and standing way too close. But then as he moved away and opened one of the bedroom doors, a flicker behind him caught my eye.
“Did you see that?” Deidra whispered.
I rushed over to the bottom of the stairs. “Wade?” I held my breath and waited; a door slammed, but no sound came from him. Behind me I heard Deidra gasp, and that’s all it took to put me in motion.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Wade
Jason called my name just as I had stepped into one of the rooms. I turned to walk back to the hall to answer him when the door slammed shut. I reached for the handle but a noise behind me had me spinning around.
“Who’s there? I heard you. There’s no need to hide.”
I slowly opened up my senses and tried to feel the room. I was about to close my eyes to focus when movement in the corner caught my eye. It was only there for a moment then it was gone. I rubbed my eyes thinking maybe I’d imagined it.
“Wade?” Jason yelled at the top of the stairs.
“In here.”
He pulled the door open and rushed over to me. “Are you okay?”
