“Not a chance,” Ori said immediately, shaking their head. “There’s no way he’s dead, and I’m not just saying that out of some misplaced grief or something.”
“Except he has to be, because I don’t see living people, remember? My power deals with ghosts.” Though, whoever that man was, he had been the least-ghostly ghost I’d ever encountered. I hadn’t even felt the loss of whatever energy he must have taken from me to appear. The one time I’d seen a ghost that solid had been when Charlie passed and the energy draw knocked me on my ass the rest of the night. Even then, he hadn’t been as corporeal as this stranger.
Ori paused, their dark eyes flitting to Donovan, then away almost too fast to perceive.
“He knows everything about me and what I do,” I assured Ori. Maybe they were just trying to protect my secret? “I trust Donovan with my life and I mean that literally. He saved my life when I got possessed and the ghost tried to get me to shoot myself.”
“I think I’d like to hear that story sometime,” they murmured. They took a breath and let it out on a quiet sight. “Alright. Remember how I told you there were others out in the world who were slightly different?”
Donovan’s hold on my shoulder faltered and I realized I’d forgotten to mention that part to him. Though, honestly, I’d all but forgotten until now.
“I remember you saying there were others, but not who or what they were,” I said slowly. “What, was he a poltergeist or something?”
“His secrets aren’t mine to tell, sorry. However, Iwilltell you that he was wrong, and he does need my help. He’s actually part of the project I’m working on for that friend,” they said, nodding toward the chalk circle. “He’s not dead, but he is lost, whether he wants to admit it or not.”
No matter how I twisted those words around in my head, they still didn’t make a bit of sense.
“Okay, now I’m the one who’s going to need more detail. What, exactly, do you mean by that and why did a ghost who’s not a ghost appear in my living room? What the hell is going on, Ori?”
***
Ori hesitated long enough for me to realize they were trying to come up with a way to explain without actually telling me anything. As a person with secrets of my own, I could appreciate the lengths they went to in order to protect their friend. As someone who’d just had an apparently not-dead dead person appear in my house, I just wanted to know what the hell was happening to me.
“Let me start by saying you’re probably not going to like my answer,” Ori finally said. I’d been expecting that outcome, but not for them to be so open about it.
“At least you’re honest.” I waved for them to continue, already bracing myself.
Again they glanced at Donovan, biting their lip in the most obvious display of discomfort I’d seen from them yet.
“Is there a reason you don’t trust me?” Donovan asked, the first time he’d spoken since he’d greeted Ori. “Nothing you and Alex talk about will leave this room. All I care about is making sure he’s safe.”
Ori winced. “Please don’t take it personally. Our community hasn’t had a great history with law enforcement in the past and that discomfort around authority runs deep.”
“Wait, what community?” I asked. “Okay. Ori. I swear on my life that Donovan is trustworthy. He’s a good person with a moral compass that’s much stronger than mine and a protective instinct that would put a German Shepherd to shame.”
“Thanks, I think,” he murmured.
I reached up and laid my hand on his, smiling when he immediately turned it so he was holding onto me. The angle was awkward, but it was worth it.
Ori watched that little interaction closely, their dark eyes lingering on Donovan, assessing him in a way that sent an odd chill through me. It didn’t scare me, exactly, but I abruptly remembered the strange feeling I’d had a few days ago at home, when my mind had wandered through the mountains and trees around Lowery’s Crossing. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’d been cold the rest of that night, similar to the early chill I felt when a ghost first appeared.
“I won’t give details or names,” Ori finally said, breaking the loaded silence. “But yes, there is a small community here made of up those of us who possess abilities or those who are not human at all.”
“Wait.” I held up a hand to stop them, trying to process those last few words.
What the actual hell? For the most part, I’d accepted that I was psychic, as much as that word made me cringe to even think. I’d even accepted that Ori likely had some sort of unique ability, even if they hadn’t given me any details. But I’d assumed we were anomalies, outliers in a world full of ‘normal’ people.
Now Ori stood here, calm as anything, implying that there were enough people like me out there to have acommunity? That there were nonhumans in that community? What did that even mean?
“Alex? Are you alright?” Ori asked, the concern in their voice interrupting my increasingly panicked thoughts.
“No, not really.” I leaned forward in the chair, resting my elbows on my knees and burying my face in my free hand. Donovan immediately knelt beside me, not that he had much choice when I all but dragged him, clinging to his hand. “You can’t just drop something like that on me, then ask if I’m okay.”
“I’m sorry. I forget sometimes that you’re still new to all this.”
“I’ve been dealing with this psychic crap since I was a kid. I’m not new. I’m just…” Confused? Scared? Slightly panicked? All of the above?
“That’s true, but you’re new to the community,” they amended. “If we’d known about you when you lived here as a kid, someone would have tried to help you. I’m not sure what we could have done, since your ability seems to be quite unique, but we would have tried.”
