“Her? You’re sure about that now?”
“Definitely a female. She feels threatened. And pissed. Really, really pissed!”
“Macklin. Any ideas?”
I see the thoughtful look on Sexy Nerd’s face just as I reach the bottom of the stairs. A table and a shit load of equipment are all that stand between me and the group of people that have royally destroyed my peace. A wicked smirk still tilts my lips as I tip my head and wait to see what he comes up with before I make another move, my curiosity temporarily getting the upper hand on the plethora of emotions rolling through me.
“I have a theory,” Sexy Nerd, or Macklin, mumbles. Clearly lost in his own musings. “Cole, put your arm around Mandy.”
Alpha’s eyebrows go up questioningly.
“Just…bear with me and let’s see what happens.”
My eyes narrow as I watch Alpha, or Cole, grab Agent Barbie’s hand and pull her alongside him. His left arm wraps protectively around her shoulder, and she buries her tearstained face into his side. His other arm comes up reflexively, wrapping her in an embrace.
I’d like to say that I saw the act for what it was. A way to goad a response. That I am a mature, adult ghost and could ignore the emotions creating a tsunami inside me. I’d like to. Really, I would. But I can’t. Nope. This ghost girl can apparently be just as immature and irrational as any other living, breathing, warm-blooded female on the planet that’s had a run in with the green-eyed monster, otherwise known as jealousy.
A low growl startles me for a second until I realize it’s coming from me.
Huh. That’s interesting.
“What the hell, Macklin?” mutters Knox. “Not a good idea, guys,” he warns, shaking his head.
Smart guy, that one. They really should listen to him. Especially considering the sheer level of energy coursing through the room. Maybe it’s time to throw in something special from my ghostly repertoire.
Doors slam shut throughout the house, and the clatter has everyone looking around, waiting for what will happen next.
“That theory, Macklin. Now,” Alpha shouts.
“It’s just as I thought. The few times we’ve been able to get a reaction from the entity were always when Mandy was touching one of us. If I had to guess, this entity really does not take kindly to that.”
Oh, just peachy. First, I was an it. Now, I’m an entity. What’s a ghost girl gotta do to get a little respect up in here?
Aretha really had the right idea.
My mind zings back to Macklin’s words. Why don’t I like Agent Barbie touching these guys? I don’t know them. I certainly shouldn’t feel so possessive of them.
Fuck!
What the hell is happening to me? The panic I’ve been keeping at bay begins to creep back in. The power, though diminished, is still buzzing at my fingertips.
Just as I’m about to turn around and find a place where I can calm down and work through all of the craziness, I hear Cole hushing Agent Barbie – because no way in hell am I calling her by her real name – and whispering to her just low enough I can’t make out the words. Her head tilts up, and she stares into his eyes, his shirt once again clutched between her perfectly manicured fingers. For a split second, I think they’re going to kiss and am hit with the strongest sense of déjà vu, like I’ve seen this play out before.
The fire in my veins is instantly reignited, all rational thought disappears, and the growl has returned. All of a sudden, the built-in sound system throughout the house starts blaring a popular pop song.
Barbie screams while the guys all cover their ears. I stand there, with a death glare aimed at the blonde interloper. If looks could kill, she’d be nothing but ash right now. Lucky for her, I don’t even have a solid body let alone super-death-powers. But I do have enough energy zipping through me to add a little extra oomph to my usual bag of tricks.
I concentrate on my power. Holding my hands out in front of me, I wave my right hand to the side, and a portion of the silver cases on the floor start to slide toward the far wall. Doing the opposite with my left hand, the remaining cases slide to the other wall. With each step I take toward the door, I spread the sea of cases.
“Shit!” Cole exclaims over the loud music.
His gaze follows the cases that are seemingly moving by themselves across the beautiful hardwood floor. “Thad. Levi. Get Mandy outside. Now! We’ll follow in a minute.”
Dipshit or Wankstain – not sure which is which – tries to pry Barbie’s fingers from the front of Cole’s shirt. When she’s finally detached, she struggles to stay with Cole and ends up over one of the twin’s shoulders, crying hysterically. I don’t even have time to react to the contact before they rush her outside, shutting the door behind them.
The effect is immediate. The angry haze that has been consuming my vision clears, and the addicting power running through my body slowly diminishes. I’m left standing in the middle of the foyer, shattered glass around my feet, with the music still belting out a last warning that everyone will get what’s coming to them - before suddenly cutting out.
Talk about perfect timing on my part. Yes! #GhostGirlFTW
And…silence.
No one makes a move or says a word, too stunned to come up with anything coherent. Or at least that’s my excuse. Not sure what the guys are thinking.
It’s Macklin that breaks the standoff.
“Holy shit! That was epic!”
Cole turns to scowl at him and then faces Knox.
“Knox?”
“Nothing. It’s like all the intense anger and irritation just disappeared. I sense a little bit of confusion, maybe, but that’s it. She’s still really close. Not sure where exactly, but definitely close.”
“Any ideas what the hell that was all about, Mack?” Cole asks.
“For whatever reason, it…” Macklin starts.
Back to it now, am I? My fingers spark in response.
“Whoa! She doesn’t like that at all,” Knox states with a light chuckle.
Why is he amused? I’m sure as hell not.
“Um. Ok. Sorry! Uh. For whatever reason, she…” he pauses, looking at Knox who surveys the room for a second, gauging my reaction.
Satisfied, I give them two thumbs up. Like they can see it. Which they definitely can’t so I just look ridiculous. Ugh. #GhostGirlProblems
Knox nods to Macklin, giving him the all clear. This whole thing is just too weird for words.
“Right. So she definitely has an issue with us being touched. Why that is, I can’t say. Maybe it has something to do with why she’s stuck here? Some sort of incident from her past that’s stirring up all of these feelings. We’ll have to dig deeper for answers,” Macklin finishes.
“Okay,” Cole starts, “let’s work on getting everything set up as soon as we can. We need to start documenting our experiences and digging into the history of the house. Mack, walk Mandy’s bag out to her and make sure she’s ok to drive home. If not, drive her car and I’ll have one of the boys follow you.”
My temper flares at that, but before it can escalate, Knox cuts in.
“Yeah. She doesn’t like that either. Apparently it’s more than just the touching she has an issue with. How about we get Mandy a taxi if she’s still shaken up?” Then he proceeds to look around as if he’s waiting for my approval.
A warmth spreads through me at his words. For the first time in too long, I can communicate with someone else, even if it’s indirectly. His thoughtfulness causes a pang in the region where my heart would be, if ghost girls had beating hearts that is, and a small smile finds my lips.
“Uh. Yeah. Okay. I think she likes that idea,” he says, then clears his throat.
No doubt he’s feeling all of these mushy feelings coursing through me and doesn’t have any idea what they’re about. I suppose that’s for the best. Because right now, I don’t have any idea either.
To say tonight was a clusterfuck is an understatement. I’m exhausted, both mentally and physically.
After the chaos of earlier, there is nothing I need more than the drink in my hand and the surprisingly comfortable leather seat under my ass. We’re all trying to settle down now that the house is somewhat in order – the broken glass cleaned up, furniture uncovered, and the bedrooms situated enough for one night.
Macklin was able to get a fire started in the large, ornate fireplace in the study, and its crackling warmth is enough to calm even the most restless soul. The room is massive, with bookshelves on the far wall, a woven rug that covers a majority of the dark wooden floor, and leather sofas that are arranged in a U-shape in the center of the room facing the large window seat overlooking the front lawn and circular drive. Most of our equipment is still sitting just outside the study door. Untouched after being moved by an unseen hand.
Once the glass stopped exploding, slamming doors quieted, and the music went silent, it was as if she just vanished. The onslaught of emotions diminished with the distance, and I was left feeling oddly…hollow. It may have been mere moments out of this long life I’ve lived, but the connection was more powerful than any I had encountered before. It was as if I experienced every nuance of what she felt, when she felt it.
Most don’t understand my unique abilities. They don’t believe that I can see the aura of those around me, both the living and the dead still on this plane. They can’t fathom that I hold the power to see the essence of who a person or spirit is on the inside. Whether that’s because they’re naturally skeptical or they don’t want to accept the fact that I may be able to see the real person beneath all the lies, I can’t be sure.
A person’s aura is like a misty haze that surrounds their body, changing with their emotions, but also with a core of stable color based mostly on their inner self. A yellow haze, for instance, usually represents happiness or a friendly nature. Red can signify anger or strength. Green is health or jealousy. Every color has its own meaning, and I use that to my advantage when meeting new people.
She didn’t have an aura, unlike every other entity I’ve encountered. The spirit that seems to reside in this house just exists, and I can feel her in the very center of my soul.
I take another drink of the dark amber liquid, the ice cubes clanking against the glass. The warmth flows through me and smooths out the concern that wants to rise again.
Who is she? Why is she here? What is she doing to me?
Cole walks in with a tower of pizzas that he unceremoniously drops onto the coffee table. Thad follows with a stack of paper plates and napkins, and his twin, Levi, with the bottle of Jack I helped myself to earlier.
“Dig in,” Cole says. “Then we can work through the plan for setting up our gear and where we want to begin.”
“Is no one going to ask the obvious question here?” Levi mumbles around a mouthful of pizza. “What the fuck was all that earlier?”
Most people have trouble telling the twins apart even though they tattooed opposite sides of their bodies. I don’t have that issue, of course. Their auras are enough for me to differentiate between the two.
“The entity…” Macklin pauses as if he’s waiting for her to smite him where he sits. “Uh…sorry…the female spirit…seems to be more powerful than anything we have previously come up against. Shattering light bulbs and slamming doors are one thing. Moving multiple cases and turning on a sound system with a totally relevant song is another. It should be interesting to see if she can manifest in other ways,” Macklin responds excitedly.
Leave it to our resident nerd to get excited about shattered glass and Taylor Swift.
“Mack,” Cole starts, and I already know what he’s going to ask before the words leave his mouth. “Do you think she could be the reason we were drawn here?”
The five of us are…different. Unusual in ways the world would deem impossible. We have no history. We were never born. We have no families. Don’t know our last names, if we even have any. We’ve lived for fifty years but don’t age.
Waking up one day under a bridge in Austin, TX with no idea who I was or what had happened to me, I had this overwhelming sense that I needed to find something. I journeyed across the country, following an unseen tether that constantly tugged at my soul.
In a crowded diner outside of Chattanooga, TN, I found Macklin. He had woken up in New York City and, like me, couldn’t resist the pull to hunt for something unknown. The second he pushed open the glass door of the diner, two missing pieces in the puzzle of our lives clicked into place. His aura was a bright blue, with a haze of yellow around it - telling me he was loyal, friendly, and held an intelligence that went beyond what was normal. This deep sense of brotherhood formed, and we spent hours talking about our journeys.
But the tug didn’t disappear. It was still there, insistent that we keep searching, but for what, neither of us knew.
We used his innate knowledge of anything and everything, a gift that is as useful as it is annoying, to our advantage. We scouted out routes and potential locations as we set off to follow our instincts.
Together, we found the twins in Chicago a couple months later. They hadn’t wandered like we had. Instead, they’d ignored the pull, following their guts, and stayed put, which is probably a good thing where they’re concerned. Their tendency to wreak havoc has caused us a number of close encounters with law enforcement throughout the years.
Where Thad’s aura was a deep red, tinged with a blackness in the middle, telling me he was strong and passionate with a hint of darkness somehow mixed in, Levi’s was a surprising indigo, slightly white at the center, an indication he was intuitive and benevolent, with a level of purity mixed in. Which all made sense once we got to understand them and their powers.
Not long after they came into consciousness, they had a run in with an aggressive spirit. When one of them attempted to bitch slap the thing, something only Thad or Levi would think was a good idea, they discovered they could force the spirit to cross over into whichever realm they were destined for. Seeing an opportunity, they quickly began offering their ghost exterminating services to those wanting or needing to get rid of undesirable guests. Their ingenuity and enterprising spirit, which we’ve come to understand is their default way of thinking, was much appreciated as they were able to fund our continued search while we criss-crossed the country. That was the start of our paranormal team and our cover for our supernatural abilities that would later become known as Valley Investigations & Paranormal Society.
Our rag tag group scoured locations for close to six months before we found Cole outside a poorly lit bar in Phoenix, Arizona. He was drunk, his clothes a tattered, bloody mess. His knuckles were shredded and bruised, obvious signs he had been in a fight. The twins managed to get him back to our hotel, where we forced him to sleep off the alcohol. When he came to, he was confused and angry with a cloud of unexplainable depression drowning him in his own misery. It all matched his aura which was a dark gray, with swirls of angry red. Determined to keep the urge to hunt buried under liquor and fighting, it had taken us several weeks to convince him to sober up and join us.
Even though we were no longer being pulled toward the unknown – the puzzle pieces all in their rightful places - there was still this sense of something missing. Something that would keep the puzzle from breaking apart ever again. Forty years went by until one day, the tug was back. The pull was diluted, different from the others, but persistent nonetheless.
After years of searching, we may have just found our glue.
“She could be the reason we were drawn here,” Macklin muses, his thoughts mirroring mine and drawing me back to the present. “I’ll start researching the estate as well as the surrounding areas tomorrow and see what I can come up with.”
“Make sure you tell the twins where you’d like to see the video and infrared cameras set up,” Cole states. “I want answers, so let’s make sure we document and log anything that could help us solve this mystery.”
I take another large swig from my glass. It’s coming. I can feel it. The question
I don’t have any answers to. Uncertainty has my stomach in a vise grip, and I’m wondering if another glass of Jack will help or hinder the situation.
“Knox,” he says, eyeing me like he knows where my mind has gone. He probably does. He always seems to. “Tell us about what you experienced earlier. You said there was no aura. Explain.”
Jackass. He knew if he asked me, I’d skirt around the question with half answers and small truths. Instead, he simply demanded I explain. An innate part of me is unable to deny the command. Sometimes his power sucks ass.
“It started outside,” I begin, remembering the unnerving sensation that inundated me as I stood in the driveway. “All of a sudden, I was hit with this intense flood of emotions. It was live action, as if I was experiencing them as they were happening. And not just a general sense of the emotion. It was the real deal. Like they were my own.”
“And this has never happened before, right?” he asks, already knowing the answer but wanting me to acknowledge it.
“Never. Emotions are like rain. Normally, I have a figurative umbrella which shelters me from getting drenched. The rain could be pouring down, but it flows right off that layer of protection. I know the rain is there. I can see it. Hear it. Feel the pressure of it somewhat, but I remain mostly unaffected. With her, it’s like stepping straight out into the downpour without an umbrella. The rain drenches me in seconds. Invades every sense, leaving me vulnerable. And even when it’s dried and gone, I can still feel the aftermath throughout my body.”
“Damn. That’s deep, bro,” Thad snarks from his seat on the sofa next to his twin.
“Shut the fuck up, Thad.”
“Alright. That’s enough,” Cole commands. “We need to figure out what’s happening here and what this all means.”
“This is definitely an intelligent haunting, not a residual one,” Macklin states as he grabs his own slice of pizza. “She’s responding to our actions directly, not just reenacting her last moments over and over again. Her level of power is astounding.”
“Bro, you sound way too excited about that,” Levi mutters as he tips back his glass and downs his Jack, which he immediately refills.
A Fate Unknown: A PNR, Why Choose Novel (The Ghost Girl Series Book 1) Page 3
