“You tricked me,” the spirit roared. “You lied! Now you will pay!”
As they say in the South, he bowed up. I was in for it now. Crap. If only Alice hadn’t started the EMF generator. Oh well. No use crying over spilled vodka.
Ruth clawed her way over to me by grabbing pieces of furniture to stabilize herself. “Blissful, what do we do?”
“The generator should hold him,” I yelled over the ghost’s howls.
Ruth nodded toward the spirit. “I don’t know.”
The ghost twisted and struggled, fighting against the containment unit.
Crap. It looked like I would have to play dirty this time. I hated doing that. It wasn’t like me, but sometimes you had to do a little shoving to get the results you wanted.
I ran to the EMF generator and grabbed it. The equipment was solidly built. Wherever I moved, the ghost came with me. Now all I had to do was force him into the light.
Like I said, I didn’t like making spirits do things against their wishes, but really, this guy couldn’t stay. The land of the living wasn’t for him. It was for me.
“What are you doing?” he yelled.
“What needs to be done,” I snapped.
I’d just reached the light when I felt a tug in the opposite direction. The spirit paddled his arms like he was trying to swim away.
“For Pete’s sake. Can’t you just go like a man? Go to the afterlife.” I yanked the box forward and felt a pull as the ghost desperately tried to break free. “Why does this always have to be so hard?”
“I won’t go!”
“Oh yes you will.”
I reached the spot where the light floated on the ceiling. I shoved the EMF generator up, and the spirit’s shoulder touched the light.
“Oh, wow. Is that what all the fuss was about?”
I rolled my eyes. I swear. Once they felt the light, the reaction was always the same—they were happy to go.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?”
The spirit calmed. His body relaxed, and he turned toward the little stars cascading from the ceiling. “It’s beautiful.”
I couldn’t stop the grin that splashed across my face. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.”
I flipped off the generator and watched as the ghost sailed toward the light. His face and shoulders disappeared. His legs were next. I fisted my hand and waited for the rest of his body to vanish.
His head popped down.
“What?” I didn’t even bother trying to keep the annoyance from my voice. “What is it? Not cool enough up there?”
He shook his head. “I’ll go, but I have to tell you something.”
“Better hurry. My meter’s running.”
“Her meter?” Alice said to Ruth. “We parked on a public street. There’s no meter.”
“It’s a figure of speech, Alice,” Ruth said.
The spirit ignored them. “Your mother.”
