Phoenix slumped forward, barely keeping himself from hitting the floor. Part of me wanted to lighten the atmosphere by making a joke, but I knew better. The seriousness of what Phoenix had been going through made my stomach turn. What if this kid had gotten in his head to do the same thing to him? This little boy had real issues with adults. Or maybe it was Mr. Glass trying to torment Phoenix? If my hunch played out, then that was probably true.
“Yes, but I was adopted when I was twelve. Wait…you think because I am an orphan, he’s after me? How do I get rid of him?”
“The only thing I know to do is let Sierra know. This may be just another piece to this weird puzzle. It might not even be the whole truth. To say this case is complicated is an understatement. I only hope my handling the statue hasn’t made it worse.”
“He’s been in my head, and there’s been times where I’ve felt like I was going insane. At least now I have half a reason.” Phoenix looked away from me. I knew he was trying to hide his fear, but it was too late. His demeanor changed the moment I asked if he was an orphan. I knew he was keeping something from me.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
Turning back toward me, he said, “I have always struggled with dark thoughts, Aggie. You should know that about me. I remember my birth mother saying that I was too sensitive. It stuck with me. You know, I don’t remember her ever saying she loved me, but she was fine telling me I was too weak, too sensitive. I don’t remember my father. The only thing that kept me from going to that dark place through all of this was you.”
I kissed him. Me, Aggie Kelly. I went in for the kiss. And the kiss didn’t stop. I wanted nothing more than to take this to the next level, but now wasn’t the time. We had business to take care of first. Important business.
“Are you okay with me letting Sierra know everything?”
“If it will help move this evil dude and those kids on, then yes.” Phoenix hung close to me, our lips close together. I could feel his sweet breath on my skin. I squeezed his hands but backed away.
“Good. I’ll give her a call and fill her in on all the details.”
I forced a smile, hoping that Sierra would be able to sort all of this out, but even I was beginning to doubt that any of us could.
Had we finally met our match?
Chapter Fifteen—Sierra
Clicking the screen, I looped the footage so I could watch the shadow slide out of the statue and into the antiques store. I must have seen these ten seconds of video at least a dozen times when Joshua joined me. Our daughter slept on his shoulder.
“Joshua, she’s getting too big to sleep on you. It’s hard enough putting her down for a nap now. I don’t have the upper-body strength to tote her around.” I didn’t feel like arguing about this subject again, but it was really a problem. Emily did not want to sleep in her bed; she wanted to be carried around. Even Mrs. McBride mentioned it. I didn’t want to give that poor lady more to worry about. She’d been completely devoted to our daughter and was the first to spoil her, but this was getting ridiculous.
“I know, I know. Let me go put her in bed. That looks like interesting footage. That’s from the antiques store?”
“Yep, and it’s a doozy. I’ll wait for you, Joshua.” I smiled up at him. Anytime we stumbled across actual evidence, we were like two kids in a candy store. Kids with a serious sweet tooth. The creepy McBrides. Always ready to score a good scream.
Man, I missed Big Brother. I still couldn’t believe that he’d walked away from everything. Totally walked away from Gulf Coast Paranormal. I mean, I understood his reasoning, but to leave it all behind? I couldn’t fathom a life without the supernatural.
“Okay. She’s down for the count. Let it roll, sweetie.”
I rolled my eyes at the pet name. I wasn’t one to like using a pet name. Or having one used for me. I’d never been into this PDA stuff.
“Take a look. It’s definitely a shadow.”
“Hey, no spoilers. Let me see it without the director’s commentary.” Joshua grinned at me as he plunked down on the couch beside me. I clicked play and studied his face as he witnessed what I witnessed. “Dang! A shadow! Head and shoulders, and small, but then it expands at the end as it passes into the other room.”
“Yeah, but there’s more. Wait! There’s more.” I couldn’t help but flash my trademark smart-aleck grin. It was the one thing I had of my father’s. That and my short stature. Poor Dad. Always lying about his height.
The footage continued to roll, and then the second shadow appeared. It was taller, altogether bigger and more solid. It gave me the chills just watching it. There were two of them! They were working together, or one was chasing the other. I couldn’t believe it.
“Sierra, did we get any footage on the other cameras? Anything that would rule out car or pedestrian traffic? Let’s see. It looks like the temperature drops correlate with the shadows’ appearance. Look at that! Twenty-degree drop by the time the second one moves out of the warehouse.”
Joshua was so excited, he didn’t even wait for me to answer his first question. “Yeah. Here’s the second camera. Only moved across the corner of the screen. It’s right…there!” Once again, he appeared delighted by what we’d captured. “This is a great catch, Sierra. What’s going to be your next step? I know you have a plan.”
I elbowed him once before kissing him soundly. “What makes you say that?”
“You always have a plan.”
I sighed as I studied the monitor. The image froze, and the shadow loomed large in the screen. “It’s clear we have two ghosts. Earlier today I got confirmation that this wasn’t anything especially otherworldly. Two ghosts. Powerful ghosts, though. Both fueled by negative emotions. I need to contact one, and then the other one will go. They are tied together for some reason.”
“You make it sound so easy. You and I both know it’s never that easy. And I hate to do this to you, but I have to work tomorrow. It’s you running solo, Sierra. Don’t do anything crazy, okay?”
I laughed. “Crazy like what? Communicating with a pyromaniac child or his angry father? Crazy like moving them on? That’s me. Now that Chloe’s being threatened, it’s that much more worrisome. I still think Aggie is the catalyst. She’s strong, as far as mediums go. Strong and untrained. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone stronger. Except Jocelyn.”
At the mention of our dead colleague’s name, Joshua closed the laptop. “Don’t say that. I hope you’re not serious.”
“I know, I know. I don’t want to say it, but it’s true. Aggie has all the hallmarks of a powerful medium. A few hundred years ago, they’d be calling her a witch. Her gifts are organic and raw but powerful nonetheless. She’s the common denominator, Joshua. Aggie is a big old white lightbulb, and all the moths are drawn to her. As far as I know, she’s not dimming that light down at all. I don’t think she knows how. I have to help her.”
“I know you do. That’s just you, Sierra McBride. If we’re finished here, now that Emily’s asleep, maybe you can keep me company.” My husband’s flirtatious words led to a lovely evening, and thankfully our daughter slept all night. When I woke up, there was nothing I wanted more than to crawl back in bed, but Emily was raring to go and Joshua was about to go to work. My mind was already focused on this afternoon’s meeting. To my surprise, Joshua wasn’t dressed for work at all. He was still in his sleeping clothes; he hadn’t shaved yet, and his blonde hair looked like a crazy halo.
Wild and bright. And crazy sexy.
“Aren’t you going to be late?” I asked as I scooped cereal into Emily’s mouth. She was playing and dancing in her high chair. At least she was happy this morning. My child was not usually a morning person.
“I took the day off. I swapped shifts with Whitney. I’m working Saturday, and he’s taking my spot today.” He poured himself a bowl of cereal and grinned at me like he’d given me the best gift ever. I guess in his mind he had, but this change of shifts also meant that I’d be going to
his mom’s by myself this weekend. It was her birthday. I sighed inwardly but put on a happy face. How in the world had he forgotten that? Should I remind him? No, not now. I’d gently prompt him later today.
I was happy that he was going with me today, though. I’d barely gotten a wink of sleep last night. I woke up from one nightmare after another. The man knew a medium had him in her sights and took great pains in scaring me away. I wasn’t scared, more like determined. And not only that, but I also had another epiphany. I was going to take Aggie under my wing. She was going to learn everything I knew about effectively using her abilities, without putting herself or others in danger.
This wasn’t just a rescue mission for a ghost, and not just helping the living clients. This job was all about teaching this powerful medium before she killed herself or someone else.
The morning passed quickly, and soon Joshua and I were heading to the Devecheauxs’ shop. Almost immediately, I began connecting with the activity there. The spiritual excitement was incredible, and I felt hopeful. I couldn’t explain it, but I picked up on a string of hope.
The boy asked me questions. I could hear his young voice in my head. I didn’t close the door to him but allowed him to speak to me.
You cannot hurt me. I won’t let you.
I squeezed Joshua’s hand as we continued to drive to the shop. He knew something was up but didn’t ask me any questions. My husband was familiar with my work. I loved that he let me do my thing without question.
You have been hurt long enough. You hurt others too, but I have not come to judge you.
I have already burned. You cannot punish me. I will not go to hell. You cannot make me!
The ghost boy, Randall was his name, did not trust adults. He didn’t trust me either. So that was his problem. He was afraid of judgment. Yes, hellfire and judgment had been beaten into him. He expected us to punish him. He had not experienced love even once in his young life. Randall’s mother had not protected him. His father hated him. There had been no one else.
Until now…
Randall, my name is Sierra. I only want to help you.
The answer I got was a growl. A deep, guttural growl. This wasn’t the boy. This was the other spirit, the spirit that worked hard to be a darker presence. And if left unchecked, he would be successful. It was possible for a ghost to be so continually and consistently evil that it shed his or her humanity, leaving behind only an essence. A lost, evil essence.
No, he wasn’t quite there yet, but he wanted to be. If we didn’t remove him from this statue, he would grow and grow until there was no hope.
I immediately closed my mind and visualized myself cutting a silver rope. That was the connection to the spirit world. I would open again later when we were ready to do our paranormal work. In the meantime, I closed my eyes and visualized sunshine.
It released me, and that was perfect timing. We had arrived at our destination. It looked like the store was busy. Henri would have to clear the shop before we began working with that statue. There was no need to put anyone else in danger. We parked the car, and Joshua grabbed our bag of goodies. For privacy’s sake, we didn’t wear anything that would identify us as Gulf Coast Paranormal, and we’d taken our personal vehicle, not the GCP van.
Walking into the store, I immediately experienced physical discomfort, a sour stomach and a dull headache. I put my light shields up against this obvious psychic attack. White light is the most robust protection light available for mediums. White light blocks out all lower energies from interacting with my aura, and it also blocks out all energy from interacting with me. That would be lesson one for Aggie: Use your white light!
As I stepped inside, I sensed anger, and my nose detected a faint yet familiar scent of fire. Detra Ann met us at the door and hugged me. I didn’t push her away. I could feel her fear and worry for Chloe. I understood it; I had my own child to worry over. If I didn’t get this right, who was to say this negative ghost wouldn’t wander over to my crib? No, this had to be done and done today.
Detra Ann locked the door behind us and adjusted her Be Back In 15 Minutes sign, then pulled down the shade. Okay, time to get with it. I recognized everyone. They were hanging out around the shop, clearly waiting on me to get started. Joshua lingered by my side, his strong hand on my shoulder as if to say, I got you, babe.
“Thank you for coming. Thank you so much. We don’t know what to do.”
“We’re happy to do this. You remember Joshua.”
“Hi, Joshua. You all know my husband, Henri. Aggie is here, along with her friend Phoenix. He’s also being affected by this statue, so we thought he should join us. I hope that’s okay.”
I nodded in agreement. “Yes, but don’t tell me anything else. I know too much already. I think I can get a good reading off the statue. It seems stronger now. Aggie, full disclosure, have you touched it again? Don’t hold anything back.”
Phoenix spoke up, his tone apologetic. “I asked her to do that. I had to know why this thing was trying to control me. Not the kid, but Mr. Glass. The headmaster.”
Okay, they were totally ignoring my instructions. Don’t tell me anything else. I raised a hand and shook my head to remind him to keep those details to himself.
A crack of thunder surprised us all. Just a few minutes ago, we’d been driving in sunshine. As I peeked out the windows, I could see it was dark, gray and threatening rain. My stomach churned again. Yes, this evil man was very powerful, too powerful to play around with.
“Let’s get started. Joshua, the salt, please?” He reached in his backpack and pulled out the bag of blessed salt. We had friends in ministry who regularly blessed salt, water and oil for us. These were the tools of our trade.
We streamed into the workroom. Henri flicked on the lights, but it was so dark and already I could hear rumbling. Growling. Yes, it had to be growling.
Henri lifted his eyebrow and stared up at the ceiling. “Where is that coming from?” Okay, everyone heard it. That wasn’t good. If it was strong enough for everyone to hear it well, that was dangerous.
“Please uncover the statue,” I asked Henri as I opened the bag of salt. “I’m going to put down a barrier, a salt barrier. This will keep these two entities from leaving the premises, and it will prevent anything sympathetic from coming in.”
“Sympathetic spirits?” Aggie asked as she stood next to Phoenix. Henri removed the cloth and placed it on the chair next to his office. “How does that work?”
“Like attracts like, Aggie. Since we’re working with two somewhat negative spirits, it is possible that other negatives will try to latch on. I need you to step back, and don’t touch the statue.”
Aggie kept her mouth shut, but I could tell she wasn’t happy with me. I continued, “What we’re going to do is put down a salt circle around the statue. This will help contain it while we work with the spirits. Please don’t step inside the circle, unless invited. This is blessed salt. It is powerful, but it only works as long as you respect the boundary. Understand?”
Detra Ann nodded her head silently while everyone else agreed quietly. Joshua went to work. I alone stood inside the circle. This was going to be on me. I hoped I knew what I was doing.
No time for self-doubt, girl. You’ve got this.
After he finished with the salt, Joshua held the camera and focused it on me. He’d also given Henri a K-2. As soon as he flicked it on, the K-2 began to make a tapping sound and the lights flickered in the green.
“Randall? My name is Sierra. I know what happened to you. We need to talk.”
I wasn’t planning on actually touching the statue, but I allowed my hands to hover over its wet face. Yes, it was weeping like there was no tomorrow.
Go away!
“No, I’m not going away. I want to help you, Randall. I can help you get free.”
I watched in horror as a small whirlwind systematically wiped the salt away. Whatever was here, it didn’t want me to be protected. It didn’t want me to be safe.
It definitely held evil intent.
Joshua’s voice broke the silence. “Sierra, I don’t like this. That’s not cool. I need you to step away from that statue.”
“I’m not backing down. This boy needs our help—he doesn’t understand. I’m going to keep trying. Aggie, I need you to do something. You can help me.”
She coughed nervously. “Okay. What should I do?”
“Visualize a white light around the group. I need you to put up a protective barrier since the salt circle isn’t going to work. I cannot work with the child and also do protection work.”
“How do I do that?” Aggie sounded worried, and I understood her fears. She was a newbie. Here was her proving ground.
“You can do it. Your imagination is incredibly powerful. Now do it. White light all around you and then around everyone else. Closing your eyes will help you focus. Come on, Aggie. We need you.”
She agreed and immediately closed her eyes. I noticed that Phoenix was holding her hand and had his eyes closed too. Wow, I hadn’t seen that coming. The pair of them were truly a power couple. But if they ever broke up, there would be a tremendous amount of anger between them. I heard my spirit whisper to me that they were old soulmates. They were something truly special, but nothing was written in stone. They had work to do.
As I thought these things, a flicker of flame floated through the air. A piece of paper, burning. I stared at it. It was only a fragment, a torn piece of an invoice. Before it burned, I realized this was the invoice for the statue. Was this the entity’s way of telling us that there were no backsies? No giving this statue back? Nice try!
“Smoke! Look, there’s smoke rising up from the bottom of the statue! Is it on fire?” Detra Ann asked worriedly.
“Can’t be. It’s made of concrete. There’s nothing that will allow it to burn. But that paper, it looks like it dropped from the ceiling.”
A Watch of Weeping Angels (Devecheaux Antiques & Haunted Things Book 3) Page 10
