“Male,”the Ovilus intoned.
“Thank you,” I replied, triggering a reaction none of us expected.
All the equipment screamed.
“Shit!” Celt yelped, jumping to his feet.
“Settle down. That’s the spirit’s way of telling me to shut up. They only want to talk to you,” I surmised calmly.
Celt sent me a look that demanded to know why the fuck it was him, and I was barely hiding a smile. The spirits chose who they wanted—and it wasn’t Chey or me.
“Can you tell us your name?” Celt asked at my nod.
“No,”the Ovilus spat.
“Well, that was adamant.”
I heard a murmur and frowned. “Celt, can you rewind the footage?” He did so and pressed play. The murmur showed up, but I couldn’t quite make it out. “Turn the volume up.”
Celt hit replay, and we listened closely.“Shut up, bitch,”a male voice ordered.
“Pleasant,” Celt quipped, and I couldn’t disagree.
“Somehow I think he’s just getting started,” I replied.
“Celt, ask some questions,” Chey urged, and I nodded.
“Did you live here?” Celt asked as he began filming.
I heard a murmur again; whatever it was, it had answered.
“Were you a victim?” I inwardly winced. Celt had gone straight for the jugular. I didn’t hear anything.
“Why are you still here?” Celt continued with several more questions before I stopped him.
“Let’s play it back,” I said to Celt. There was a definite mutter, and I replayed it.
“Die.”
Celt looked stunned. “Did that say die?”
“Yeah. A usual threat.” It didn’t bother me. I played the rest of the footage and frowned when there was no more. Interesting. For the next few hours, I tried to get the spirit to re-engage, but nothing we did worked. Still, I sensed it remained, watching, learning, and that worried the shit out of me.
Callie
“Priest.”
“Yes, we’ve a priest with us,” I replied to the question my Spirit Box threw out.
“Blasphemy.”
I glanced at Sunny and blinked. “Did that just say…?”
“Yeah. I wonder what it thinks is blasphemy,” Sunny drawled with a frown.
“Me too. Could it be because Michelle is here?”
“Possibly, or maybe because she’s a female priest?” Sunny suggested. Oh, that might make better sense. Women priests weren’t common until the late nineteen-nineties. If this spirit died before that, Michelle could easily be a shock.
