“Yes. I think maybe this will be good,” Lu said. “It’s very calming.”
Dot beamed. “Thank you. I restored it myself. With help from my son and daughter, but all the furnishings and colors were my idea. I just wanted it to feel…peaceful. Like a garden in the shade.”
Lu was quiet, watching Lorde lean in and sniff the chair. Well, sniff the ghost who still hadn’t opened her eyes.
“It was my sister’s room when we were growing up.” Dot seemed perfectly comfortable filling the silence. She bustled over to the window, raised the wooden blinds, then opened the narrow closet door.
“She passed years ago. But I think she’d approve of the new look. Extra linens in here. This is your key.” She handed over the brass key. “If you need anything, just ring the bell out in the main room. I’ll hear it and be with you in a jiffy. If that doesn’t work, text the main number. I’ll get that too.”
Lu nodded. “Thank you.”
Dot made a quick exit while Lu looked across the room, out the window at the view of trees and grass and a little brick house across the street. She shut the door and put the key in her pocket. She waited, tracking the sound of Dot’s footsteps, heart, breathing. When she was satisfied Dot was out of earshot, she turned to face the chair. “Who is it?”
The question was for me, but Lorde wagged her tail and moved back to sit next to Lu, tipping her furry face up and gazing adoringly at her.
“Let’s find out,” I said.
I strolled through the queen-size bed—new mattress, Egyptian cotton and all—stopping in front of the chair. I inhaled, exhaled in a thin stream, and drew my shoulders down like I was ready to lift the back of a truck.
I pulled energy and focus andwill,dragging them to me like a heavy rope through the mud and rain, a sort of mental hand over hand that made sweat pop out on my upper lip. Then I shoved that focus, thatintentinto my words, throwing it like a javelin, screaming through a bullhorn to breach my world and impact the ghost’s world.
It wasn’t as hard as trying to influence the living world, but it still took a hell of a lot of effort.
“Afternoon,” I said, that word hitting like a hammer on a single pane of glass.
The woman, who had the same round face and short nose as Dot, opened her eyes.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
She screamed. At volume. When she ran out of breath, she clutched the knitting to her chest and gulped air, her eyes all buggy.
“Easy,” I said in the crack of silence, “hang on. I’m not going to—”
But she’d already refueled. The shriek that came out of her could peel skin off an elephant.
“Jesus, lady.” I stumbled back, one hand patting air, as if there were an “off” switch I could punch, the other cupped over my ear, trying to keep what was left of my brains in my noggin. “Calm down!”
Screamer rushed to her feet with unsettling speed. She fisted the knitting needles into stabbing position and pulled her arm back. The sock attached to the needles unrolled like a long, thin, unevenly striped tongue.
She paused for breath again.
“I don’t want to hurt you!” I yelled. “I’m friendly. A friend. For the love of all the gods, stop screaming!”
For six whole, blissful,silentseconds, I thought I’d gotten through to her. I knew it was a hell of a shock to have someone that was not a ghost appear in the ghostly plane, but she was acting like I was there to kill her.
Which, technically, okay, I could be. But the energy it took to send a ghost packing meant glyphing magic and using enough of it to knock a spirit loose. I didn’t have the time, energy, or inclination for any of that.
“All right,” I said. “Good. So, I was just passing through and wondered if you…”
Her eyes narrowed, one hand fluttered up to her throat, the other cocked at her shoulder, ready to lay the hammer down. Well, stab the knitting needles down.
Lorde decided it was time to get between us and bark her head off.
“Evil!” the ghost screamed. “Die!” She let out a battle cry and those knitting needles were finally on the move.
I rocked to the balls of my feet, ready to rush.
But the ghost was bullet fast. She swung, knitting needles aimed for the center of my chest, a chakra point. She had good instincts and aim. If those needles had any magic in them, I’d be in pain.
