“I think I’m okay, actually. Really,” I assured him when he gave me an appraising look. He wanted to ask again, I could see it in his eyes, but to my surprise, he just nodded. I guess I wasn’t the only one remembering our argument and how we’d promised to trust each other.
“Alright. Where does the ghost want you to go?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” I took a step back and looked around, but no sign of the man remained. “He disappeared. He knew Ori, though, so I think I need to go see them. This has never happened before.”
“Alright, lead the way.”
***
Esoteric Oddities appeared to be closed when we arrived, both of us flushed from the cold and disheveled, but when I tried the door, it opened easily, allowing us inside.
The faint smell of old incense curled around me when I stepped in, a scent that was somehow already becoming a familiar one. Inside, the shop was dark, save for a soft golden glow from an open door at the back of the space. The quiet click of the door closing behind me seemed so loud in the silence. I’d run out my door fueled by adrenaline, but it was already fading, leaving me regretting my decision. I should just go back to work, right? Whoever that ghost was, he didn’t want my help, so why push?
I reached back for the door handle, earning a confused look from Donovan, but the second my fingers brushed the metal, Ori appeared in the doorway, backlit by the lamplight from what must be their office.
“Alex? Is everything okay?” they asked, taking a step closer. They paused when they saw Donovan, a wariness in their eyes I’d never seen before. “Detective Parker.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said with a nod. If I’d noticed Ori’s hesitation, Donovan definitely had, which meant he also would have caught the way Ori’s eyes went to our hands, where I held onto Donovan, taking some comfort from his touch.
“Same,” they said, their attention coming back to me. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m fine, I think. I didn’t realize you were closed. I’ll come back another time. It’s really nothing, probably.”
“So, it’s definitely something, then?” Ori gave me a wry smile and my vague escape plan flittered away. “I’m just working on a side project. It’s nothing that can’t wait for now. What happened?”
They opened at noon, I remembered, which was only a few minutes away. I glanced back at the door and they caught on immediately.
“Micah is in the storeroom. He’ll be able to cover the store for a bit while we talk,” they assured me, taking a step to the side of the doorway they’d come from. “You two can come back here.”
The invitation came out almost begrudgingly, but I got the feeling it would have been a lot warmer if Donovan hadn’t been standing beside me. For whatever reason, Ori didn’t like Donovan. I considered asking him to wait outside, but decided against it. I’d tell him whatever happened, anyway, and I truly was done lying and keeping secrets from him.
We followed Ori into what was, in fact, their office. A small desk butted up against the wall with a laptop and a tablet set up on it. The laptop was off, but the tablet was paused on a video of a person holding a weird little statue that I couldn’t even begin to name. Lines of shelves on the wall were the only other furniture in the small space, leaving the floor open. Ori must have been working on their project here. A line of chalk formed a circle on the wood, with a cluster of candles at one end and an array of crystals at the other.
“Um… I can seriously come back later. It looks like you’re busy,” I offered again, trying not to stare at the circle. I still had trouble saying the word ‘psychic’, let alone describing myself as one, so this pushed the line of woowoo stuff even for me.
“It’s fine, just testing something for a friend,” they assured me. Ori went to what I’d thought was a tapestry on the wall and pulled it aside, revealing a tiny storage area. They grabbed a padded folding chair and set it out for me, careful to avoid disturbing the circle. “Okay, so, what’s going on?”
They didn’t offer the same to Donovan and I shot him a quick glance, but Donovan just shook his head once before taking up position behind me, one hand on my shoulder. I fidgeted in the surprisingly comfortable chair, twisting the zipper of my jacket nearly to the breaking point as I tried to figure out the best way to explain.
“Well… okay, this sounds weird even to me,” I admitted, sighing. “I was at work and decided to try meditating again. I don’t know what happened, but somehow that ended up with a man standing in the middle of my shop yelling at me and saying he knew you, so I panicked and came here.”
Ori tilted their head to the side, one eyebrow slowly rising and for the first time, I saw a hint of fear in their dark eyes. “I think I might need a bit more detail here, Alex. A ghost came to you and said he knew me? Did he tell you his name?”
“He didn’t say. I’m sorry.” Great. In my rush to get here, I hadn’t even considered the fact that I would be rushing to tell Ori that one of their friends was likely dead.
“Just start at the beginning and we’ll figure it out, alright?” They were doing an impressive job at remaining calm, far better than I was managing.
Donovan gently squeezed my shoulder in support and I replayed the entire encounter in my head, trying to remember exactly what he’d said in that short time. “He appeared and asked me who I was,” I said, leaving out the cuss words that had accompanied it. “Usually ghosts are pretty difficult to see in the daylight, but he must be strong, because he was almost completely solid. He seemed angry he was at my store, even though he’s the one who came to me, not the other way around.” I frowned, remembering his words. “Well, he claimed I came to him, but that’s not how my power works. He called me a, and I quote, ‘fucking novice’ and told me to tell you that he didn’t need your help, then disappeared.”
Ori blinked rapidly, absorbing all that information. Surprisingly, the fear I’d seen in their eyes disappeared, replaced by curiosity and… was that excitement?
“He spoke to you? Out loud? What did he look like?”
“Like a romance novel come to life, until he opened his mouth,” I muttered, thoroughly confused when Ori laughed in delight.
“Did he have dark hair and blue eyes? Grumpy as a hungry bear and uses the word ‘fuck’ like a comma?”
“That sounds like him, yeah,” I said, and Ori grinned, which was not the reaction I was expecting at all. “Not to be rude, but did you not like him or something? Because if he came to me, he’s… he’s dead.”
