When the ghost shrank about a foot, I figured they were.
“Come on,” I whispered. “Get small.”
The ghost sobbed. “It’s so lonely haunting this house. All I wanted was to play with the people. Have new friends.”
“You don’t get friends by scaring the life out of people. The living are supposed to remain with the living. You’re dead. You need to go where there are others like you. Where you’ll be surrounded by spirits. It’s the most peaceful place. You’ll love it.”
Heck, I didn’t actually know if that was true, but I figured the other side had to be pretty peaceful because once I sent a spirit over, they hardly ever returned.
If they did return, it was to give me a nugget of knowledge. It wasn’t because they were going to sue me for misrepresentation of the afterlife.
Thank goodness.
“Blissful,” Ruth whispered. “Is it time?”
I shook my head again. These grannies were chomping at the bit to catch this guy.
I’d explained to them before that I don’t actually catch the ghosts, I help them transition. Catching a spirit was Plan B. Always.
I took a tentative step forward. When the spirit didn’t launch itself at me, I figured it was safe to take another step.
And another.
“Listen, I know you’ve lived in this house a long time. I know you like it here, but it’s time to move on.”
The ghost stopped sobbing and glanced up at me. His dark eyes looked like they had been dunked in pearls. They were luminescent as a few remaining tears dripped from the corners and splashed to the ground, disappearing as soon as they landed.
“But I like it here so much.”
I smiled sadly. “It can be hard to let go and face what we don’t know. But trust me—you’ll be much happier in the light.”
“You think so?”
I pointed my hand toward the ceiling. A thousand stars exploded above us. They cascaded down, reminding me of dust motes caught in sunlight.
“The light,” I said.
The spirit’s eyes widened as the light worked its magic on him. Few ghosts could resist the lure of the afterlife.
“All you have to do is go. That’s it. Just walk right in.”
The ghost shrank a little more. He stepped forward, and for a second I thought we had him. I thought for sure he’d just waltz right on up into the light and leave the family he’d been haunting alone for good.
But no.
Why couldn’t anything just be easy? For once?
At that point I wasn’t sure if the anticipation of the moment got to Alice or if it was simply that she was dying to see the EMF generator in action.
Whatever the reason, the end result was that Alice hit the button. An electric blue spark flared in the box, and the next thing I knew, a bright blue light enveloped the ghost.
Boy, did that tick him off.
He ballooned back to nine feet. His mouth twisted into a snarling grimace. He bellowed. Wind whipped my hair around my face. My clothes fluttered. I had to brace my legs to stop from skidding across the floor.
“Did I do something wrong?” Alice yelled to Ruth.
Ruth grabbed a table and held on for dear life. “I think so!”
