Brownie nodded. “It’s shameful being in this situation, where a-a-aghostis haunting your home. When there’s a child involved, it’s even worse. You can’t imagine.”
I squeezed her shoulder. “Let my associates and I walk the home.” I glanced at Ruth and Alice. “Come on, ladies. Let’s see what this house has in store for us.”
We started to walk out the door. I stopped and turned. “Anything scary happens while we’re gone, just start praying, okay?”
“Praying?” Brownie said, terror in her voice.
I nodded. “Just do it. It should help.”
Ruth, Alice and I stepped outside the kitchen.
“What do you think it is?” Ruth whispered.
“I don’t know. I’ve never encountered a spirit that asked for me.”
We started in the living room. I closed my eyes and listened, searching for a spirit.
Being a clairvoyant meant I could talk to ghosts, but I could also sense their energy. When I’d first stepped into the house, I hadn’t felt anything peculiar, which I knew was on purpose. The ghost was hiding.
“Come on, spirit. I know you’re in here.” I walked a circle in the living room and then headed into the family room.
I stopped. My eyes widened.
A faint apparition of a woman clad in a wispy dress stood by the window, looking out. She had long hair that billowed as if a wind was blowing into the house.
I gestured for Ruth and Alice to stop. I didn’t know if they could see her, and to be frank, at that moment I didn’t care.
I took a small step forward. “Why are you here?”
The apparition turned. Her ghostly skin looked milky, young. She’d died in the prime of her life. Her clothes weren’t from this decade, but I couldn’t place their origin.
Her eyes widened as if I scared her.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to help. Why are you here?”
“I am always here.” Her voice broke between words as if the spirit had forgotten how to speak but was quickly remembering.
“Butwhy?”
“I am chained here.”
Okay, maybe this chick could give me less cryptic answers. I would appreciate that.
“A family is here now. You need to leave them in peace. The light awaits you. You must go.”
She ticked her head to one side. “I cannot.”
“Listen to me, you are dead. You have passed over. Your friends and family are awaiting you in the afterlife. This home no longer belongs to you. It belongs to these people. Stop haunting them and go.”
I raised my hand. Stars started falling from the ceiling.
The spirit glanced up and inhaled. Her dress rustled around her. A slow smile curved on her face before she launched herself at me.
The ghost hit me with the force of a gale. I rocked back. A hundred images flashed in my head.
I saw the woman when she’d been alive. She stood at the window, waiting. I saw her lying dead at the foot of the stairs. Then I saw something else. Something that made me crumple to the floor.
I fisted my hands, trying to get ahold of myself.
