“Does that mean you’re getting a ride back with us?” Danny asked.
Grace stared at Nicco. She had a choice to make. She could take him at his word—trust he wanted to help and couldn’t. Or she could not trust him and believe he didn’t step in when he had a chance to stop the Glamour.
Which one was the truth? She wished her abilities included the power to detect if someone was lying.
But she didn’t need to make the decision now—didn’t need to work through all the possibilities and consequences when she was at the end of a long and stressful day—a long and stressful few weeks. And maybe suffering from a mild concussion, she thought as the pain in her head continued to grow.
“Okay, Nicco. Consider yourself on parole, for now. Until I get a chance to decide about you. You and The Family,” Grace said.
Nicco appeared disappointed but resigned and didn’t try to argue with her.
“For now, all I want is to get home, get a shower, and get some sleep.”
“I agree.” Nicco motioned to the remains of his shirt and his dirty clothing with a slight smile.
“You shouldn’t drive in your condition, Gracie. How about letting me drive?” Danny offered.
“The last thing we need is for you to dematerialize in the middle of the drive home,” she said, shaking her head.
She turned to Nicco. “Know how to drive a stick?”
Chapter 54
Grace stood on the small hill next to her parents’ graves. The wind stirred the leaves of the maple, and the air had a crisp fall feel to it this early in the morning. She looked around the small cemetery and noticed how empty it was. Danny and the grounds keeper were the only ones there with her, which meant there wouldn’t be people to wonder about her burying a couple dozen small boxes.
If her request to dig the large number of small holes surprised the grounds-keeper, he didn’t show it. He only asked matter-of-factly where and how deep she needed them. He did a tidy job of organizing the holes into several concentric circles surrounding the graves at the top of the hill.
Grace felt compelled to give an explanation for the boxes, given the large number of them. But she was reluctant to tell him the real, gruesome reason. She feared the site would become a point of interest for thrill seekers and those whose tastes ran to the macabre. She kept it simple and told him there had been an accident.
Anthony and Sophie had surprised her with a check from their family to buy small grave markers for each of the girls. There were markers with initials where they knew the girls’ names and ones with carved flowers matching the names she gave them when she didn’t have their true names.
She wasn’t sure of the cost of such a gesture. But Anthony and Sophie said the price was of no consequence to their family. They insisted on covering the expense on behalf of the Paranorms, for what happened to the girls.
Grace turned to where Danny was sitting in the shadow of the tree branches, his arms wrapped around his knees. He wanted to be here for the girls today, even if he couldn’t be a part of the ceremony. They had agreed he would move out into the cemetery proper once anyone else showed up, to maintain the appearance he was simply another ghost.
Danny gave Grace a bitter sweet smile as she knelt down on the soft blanket the grounds keeper had given her to keep her dress pants clean. She shared the smile with him and began to settle the boxes in the holes, one-by-one. As she worked, she tried to picture her mother and father there with her and Danny. Positive thoughts of them welcoming the girls rather than thoughts of how the girls came to be there.
Grace turned at the sound of footsteps to see Sophie and Anthony walking together up the gravel path to the grave site. Grace glanced over her shoulder and was relieved to see Danny was gone from his spot under the tree. Not that either Sophie or Anthony could see him without his manifesting, but Grace didn’t want him to be conspicuous today.
Sophie waved to her as Grace stood up to dust the dirt from her hands.
“Good morning, Grace.” Sophie gathered her into a warm hug. She released Grace with a squeeze. Anthony grabbed her for his own hug. Grace was starting to get over the fact that Anthony was a hugger. Starting.
“What are you guys doing here this early?” Grace asked. “The funeral isn’t for another hour and a half.”
“We thought we would come and help you bury the girls,” Anthony said.
Sophie gave her a gentle smile. “We didn’t want you to do this all by yourself, today.”
“Thanks. It’d be great to have your help.” She was doing well with the process until now. But she wasn’t sure how long she could keep her spirits up.
“Are you burying them in a specific order?” Anthony asked. “Or should we spread out and work from there?”
“No. I was just going from one to the next. But now that there are three of us, I think we can each tackle a separate circle on the hill.”
“Okay, sounds like an excellent plan. I will go get more tools and blankets.” Anthony turned to head toward the ground-keeper’s shed.
“Is Danny here?” Sophie asked as soon as Anthony was out of earshot.
“Yes, he was with me until you and Anthony arrived. I made him promise to stay out of sight today, to keep people from connecting him with me.”
“I’m glad he’s here. The girls meant a lot to him and I was afraid he would have to miss it.”
Grace and Sophie stood together in comfortable silence until Anthony returned with the extra tools and blankets. Grace walked them through how she was burying the boxes and putting the grave markers on top of each.
“I’m not sure what religion, if any, the girls followed. I’m not very religious myself, but I thought the girls would be okay if we chanted a Buddhist meditation for them as we bury them: Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Shanti means peace. It’s my most sincere wish for the girls, after all they’ve gone through, to find peace.”
“That’s lovely, Grace. I think it’s perfect,” Sophie said.
Together, they progressed from one grave to the next, placing the boxes and positioning the markers. They worked without talking, each following Grace’s example to repeat the simple meditation for each of the girls.
Grace checked her watch after she finished with the last girl’s grave in her circle. There were about twenty minutes left before the funeral was to start. It gave her plenty of time to put away the blankets and tools and get cleaned up before the others arrived. Besides Sophie and Anthony, she had invited DL, Jennifer, Zack, Celeste, and Beth to the funeral. Grace didn’t mention it to anyone else, thinking to keep the ceremony intimate.
When she left the public bathrooms, the cemetery was filling with visitors. She walked back toward her parents’ graves to meet Sophie. With an unsettled feeling, she realized all the cars at the cemetery were for people heading toward the fresh graves on the hill.
“Who are all these people?” she whispered.
“Well, some of them are my family.” Sophie pointed to a large group of people on the left side of the hill. They were all clothed in black suits and dark dresses.
Anthony stood next to a small, much older, dark-haired woman. They were at the center of a semi-circle of people and were deep in conversation. Grace looked over the faces and recognized a few from the theater and the warehouse cleanup. When her eyes found Fuoco, he waved at her and flashed a broad smile. Grace gave a few quick waves in response, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
“Your whole family came to the funeral?” Grace asked.
“Powers, no!” Sophie laughed. “This is just a few of them.”
A few of them? There were about twenty people standing around Anthony and the woman.
“Who’s the woman Anthony’s talking with?” Grace asked, careful not to point at them.
“Marcella,” Sophie said. “She wants to speak with you after the funeral.”
“Oh.” Grace’s heart skipped a beat. She would finally meet the head of Sophie’s family. She hoped that was a positive thing.
>
“Isn’t that Mrs. Winiarksi over there?” Sophie interrupted Grace’s train of thought.
Grace looked to where she was pointing and saw Mrs. Winiarksi standing on the opposite side of the hill from Marcella and her family. She was wearing a long black dress and an elegant black hat and gloves. Surrounding her were Billy’s brothers, uncles, and cousins, the ones not on duty wearing their dress blue uniforms.
Grace walked over to the Winiarksi clan to give Billy’s mother a hug and to shake several hands.
“Mrs. W., what are you all doing here?” Grace asked.
“I think it would be obvious, Grace. We’re here to attend the funeral.”
“But how did you find out when and where it would be?”
“I told her,” Anthony said as he stepped up beside Grace.
Mrs. Winiarksi reached out to grasp Anthony’s hand in hers. “Yes, Anthony let us know. We wanted to be here, since Billy can’t be here himself.” Mrs. Winiarksi’s voice quavered, and Anthony stepped next to her, sliding her hand into the crook of his arm.
Sophie arrived at that moment from speaking with Marcella and her family. She stepped around Grace to slide her arm around Mrs. Winiarksi’s waist opposite Anthony.
Grace followed Sophie’s gaze to see Marcella staring at them from across the way, her features stern but otherwise unreadable.
Grace leaned over to ask Sophie what was going on. “Hey, wh—”
Sophie interrupted her with an upbeat voice. “Isn’t it time to get things started?”
Grace shot her friend a look, promising she wasn’t done with the conversation. Then she moved to the top of the hill, maneuvering between the fresh graves. She turned to take in all the faces below her. Paranorms on one side, Norms on the other.
As she scanned their faces, appreciating the irony of the two groups being together this morning, a third group closed in behind them. Danny and the ghosts from the cemetery. Danny grinned and waved to her, as did Samantha and Joshua. There were less than two dozen ghosts in this small cemetery, but they had gathered to pay their respects along with the living.
As she cleared her throat to speak, a fourth group joined the crowd on the hill. DL had arrived, and with him were Jennifer, Zack, and the girls. There was also a crowd of street kids in mismatched clothing, slipping into the gap the Winiarksi clan and the Paranorms made for them.
The kids shifted, smoothing down skirts and pulling shirts straight, all the while trying not to get caught eying the policemen next to them with suspicion. DL looked over the kids with pride and a watchful eye and then met her gaze. Grace smiled and nodded back to him.
There goes the small, private ceremony. She sighed and couldn’t help thinking of Billy still in his coma despite everything they had accomplished as she began speaking.
Chapter 55
The day after the funeral, Grace received a text message from Nicco. She hadn’t given him her number. Anthony must have given it to him to make it easy for Nicco to request more readings from her. The message was cryptic—a few gracious lines asking for her presence at his office the next day.
Grace went back and forth about whether to respond immediately or make him wait. She decided not to force him to change the time to prove she wasn’t still at his beck and call. The truth was, outside of work and sitting by Billy’s bedside in her off hours, she was available. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to be accommodating and meet him when he asked.
When she arrived at the theater, she wasn’t surprised to find Samuel sitting at his usual place outside the door to the Paranorms area. What surprised her was that he didn’t open the door for her right away. Instead, he held out one of his large, meaty hands to her.
After a moment, she realized he wasn’t asking for her to turn over her valuables but was offering to shake her hand. Chagrined, she held out her right hand. He immediately smothered it in his paws, using both hands to shake her arm up and down. It was a bit scary but also endearing.
He mouthed the words “Thank you” and then stepped back to open the door and motion her inside. Word must have spread about what happened between her and the Glamour.
She moaned. She had moved from the pariah of being an Aperto Rotto to the notoriety of being the one to stop the Glamour from exposing the Paranorms to the Norms in the most dreadful way.
With those enjoyable thoughts circling in her mind, she made a quick check of the room before entering, noting with relief there were no other Paranorms inside. She didn’t want to run a gauntlet of people eager to greet her. She wanted to get in, do what Nicco needed, and get back to Billy.
This time, when she entered Nicco’s office, it had a different feel to it. Somehow less dark and musty—fresher and brighter…even perfumy? And were those flowers on his desk?
Yes, stargazer lilies. That would explain the perfume-like scent. Her eyes narrowed at the bouquet. They were her favorite flowers. God she hoped this didn’t mean another round of mind games with Nicco. She was not in the mood today!
Grace started at a movement behind the desk. She chided herself at her racing heart when she realized it was Nicco taking a seat. She swore he wasn’t there when she entered the room. She needed to get some rest soon if she was that unaware of her environment. But rest would need to wait until Billy was better.
Nicco smiled at her and then motioned for her to take her usual seat in front of the desk. While she moved to do that, Nicco placed a small, blue glass bottle on the desk in front of him.
“Good morning, mio caro. Thank you for coming today.”
Back on the old footing, it appeared. Grace didn’t know whether to be glad or disappointed.
She had thought a great deal about what happened at the lake that night. Particularly what happened with Nicco. She’d wondered if their shared experience, and her accidental attempt to kill him, would somehow change how he treated her going forward. She realized now she should have expected the formal, polite, and in-control Nicco—the one she had known before that night—might be who she saw again the next time they met.
She allowed herself the momentary disappointment but didn’t dwell on it. The place of the Paranorms was as an employee to The Family, not as friends. Nicco had told her that himself.
“Good morning, Nicco. Always a pleasure,” she replied, keeping her tone light and polite.
Nicco’s grin widened, likely in appreciation of the fact that she could pull that statement off without a hint of the sarcasm it deserved.
“How may I help you today?” Grace asked, anxious to finish with her tasks here and get back to Billy.
“It is not what you can do for me, mio caro, but what I can do for you,” he said.
Grace had come mentally prepared to deal with the mental and emotional challenges of another set of readings. Instead, she had to reorient herself to Nicco’s statement.
“What you can do for me?” she asked, waiting for the catch.
“Yes, mio caro. Anthony and Sophie have been most eloquent in their praises of your devotion to your friend Billy. Anthony in particular.” Nicco paused for a moment, letting the declaration hang in the air.
Grace wasn’t sure where Nicco was trying to take the conversation. In fact, it annoyed her that he was poking his nose into her non-Paranorm business. Her stubborn side flared at the thought, and she flattened her lips into a hard line, waiting for him to continue.
Nicco’s grin slipped at Grace’s continued silence. He must have been expecting a different reaction from her—a reaction from her, period.
Grace felt a guilty pleasure at not acting the way Nicco hoped she would. She needed to stop being such a thorn in the man’s side. But right now, she couldn’t help herself. It was the only entertaining thing about the whole situation.
Nicco cleared his throat and reached out to push a bottle across the desk toward her.
“Given everything you did to keep The Family and the Paranorms safe from exposure, I felt it proper to thank you in a manner befitting the magnitude
of your efforts and success.”
Grace lifted her eyebrows at Nicco. This was about what she had done to the Glamour after all. Nothing about saving untold numbers of innocent Norms from torture and death. It was about protecting the secrets of their hidden world. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she had hoped for more from Nicco.
“What is it?” She worked to keep her tone from showing her anger.
“It is a potion for your friend. A healing potion.”
Grace leaned forward to pick up the bottle. It wasn’t much. A simple glass bottle, dark blue, with a cork sealing the top. She couldn’t tell the color of the liquid inside, but it moved in a thick, viscous way when she swirled the bottle.
“A potion?” She turned her gaze back to Nicco.
“Yes, it will help heal your friend, if you follow these instructions precisely.”
Grace took the proffered note, scanning the instructions he had written for her. They were clear on how to use the potion, with particular emphasis on not letting the liquid inside come into contact with plastics. There was also a name on the note—the name of a Paranorm nurse she could rely on to provide a glass syringe and administer the proper dosage to Billy.
“One dose now while Billy is still in the coma. Another once the doctors bring him out. The most benefit will come from the second dose. But he needs to be out of the coma first for the potion to take full effect.”
“What’s the catch? What do I have to do in exchange for this?”
Nicco’s face shifted to his usual somber mask at her question. “As I stated earlier, Mio caro, it is a gift of appreciation. There is no ‘catch’ for what I am offering.”
Great, she’d insulted him. Grace sighed in frustration at her ability to bulldoze right through a sincere offer. It must have taken a considerable commitment of time and energy, if not only plain old expense, for him to make the potion.
She didn’t see an easy way to back out of her initial response or to make an appropriate apology. Although “Sorry for being an ass” did come to mind, it wasn’t the right thing to say.
Glamorous: A Grace Bishop Novel (Grace Bishop Novels) Page 25
