“You worked by instinct tonight. That’s big. But who attacked me?”
“It was a projection of the one in the Spiritus.”
Artie had appeared in the room. He picked the spoon from his bowl. Grits dropped from the tip, plopping on top of more grits. Didn’t this guy eat anything else?
I frowned. “What do you mean that was a projection of the spirit we captured?”
Roan bolted up. “Is there someone here?”
I gripped his arm. “It’s okay. It’s just Artie. He said the spirit was the one we captured.”
“Yeah.” Artie swiped a forearm over his mouth. “It projected from that thingy ’cause you’re nearby. It still has power. Until you get a name and banish this guy for good, you’re in danger.”
“He says we’re in danger.”
Roan rolled his eyes. “Great. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I murmured.
Because of thevolatility of theSpiritus, we decided to keep it at Southern Ghost Wranglers. That way the spirit wouldn’t have access to harm anyone in the building at night since no one—namely me—would be there.
“What’d you say this thing was again?” Alice tipped the canister toward her face. She reached to tug at the one of the caps on the end.
I lunged forward. “No!” And snatched it from her hand before Alice had a chance to unplug the evil inside.
“Sorry.” Her face drew up into a perfect imitation of a child sulking. “I didn’t know it was dangerous.”
“You need to listen to Blissful, Alice.” Ruth wagged a finger. “Pay attention to her. We’re not peddling doughnuts in here. We’re dealing with spirits.”
“I know,” Alice whimpered. “I only thought it looked pretty.”
“This pretty tube holds the bad spirit from the Jarvis house.”
Ruth gasped. “You don’t say.”
“I do say.”
Alice shoved her glasses high on her nose and inspected theSpiritusall over again. “How’d you get it in there?”
“Roan Storm helped me.”
They exchanged a look.
“What?”
“I thought Roan didn’t believe in ghosts,” Ruth said. “Even though his grandfather did all sorts of suspect things, I thought Roan was straight and narrow.”
“He can’t be too straight and narrow if he’s dating Blissful,” Alice murmured.
I shot her a hard look.
She hitched a shoulder. “What? You do have purple hair.”
“Violet,” I corrected, “and I’m pretty straight and narrow.”
Ruth and Alice locked gazes before bursting into laughter.
Ruth knuckled tears from her eyes. “Who says?”
