Instead of the library, we use the search engines on our phones after dividing the list of the Dobys’ original descendants.
Other than a few obituaries, we only find one news story between us. “I have something.” Felix holds his phone close to his face, and I can see his eyes moving quickly from left to right.
“What did you find?” I set my phone down to give him my undivided attention.
“Eugene and Aisling had a child that died tragically over fifty years ago when he fell off a horse and broke his neck in what was called afreak accident.” Felix looks up from his phone.
“That doesn’t explain how it could have attached itself to me, but it might explain why Aisling wasn’t forthcoming about it.” I glance around the table to gauge the others’ thoughts.
Nash winces, as if the news didn’t go over as well as I hoped it would. “Oh no, what’s that look for?” I wilt a little myself.
“That’s not typically the kind of death that creates a ghost. I’m worried they may have conjured his spirit. If that’s the case, any number of things could have attached itself to the entity and appeared with it.”
I lower my head to my hands and let out a groan. Of course it wouldn’t be easy or straightforward.
“At least we have someplace to start,” Felix soothes. I blow out a big breath and lift my head. He’s right, and feeling sorry for myself wouldn’t be helpful anyway.
“Not to mention you have me.” Nash smirks. “We’ve got this, Bishop. You didn’t baulk when you were sitting across from a necromancer that raised half a cemetery. This is cake in comparison.”
A bubble of laughter erupts from me at the look on Gray’s face after hearing Nash’s jab. I didn’t think his eyes could get that wide.
“Hecate,” Felix curses. “It’s probably a good thing we don’t know what you’re doing most of the time.”
“Come on, let’s return all this stuff to the clerk and head home. Remy texted me three times, wondering when we would be back.”
“He hates being alone.” Gray sighs and begins to rearrange the large plot map and folder while I gather all of our notes.
When we reach his secretary’s front office, Gray stops near the side of her desk. “I’ll be in to go over the motions for this month’s meetings soon. Email me anything that gets added to the agenda.”
“I sent a couple things over this morning,” she says, almost as if she’s asking if he knows this.
“I’ll go over everything,” Gray promises before ushering us toward the door.
“I’ll run this stuff back up,” Felix offers, taking the items from Gray and bouncing up the stairway, so our steps are a little slower than they might have otherwise been, which leads us to run right into Tiffany as she’s walking down the hall.
Gray must notice her before I do, because I end up bumping into his shoulder when he stops dead in his tracks.
Nash picks up on the unease and pauses near us. There’s a moment that feels much longer than the second it truly is when I get to examine Tiffany while she’s staring at Gray. I notice the slight tightening around her mouth and eyes, and the flaring of her jaw as she clenches her back teeth.
Once she’s scanned him from head to toe, her eyes move over, and that’s when she notices me. Her mouth never opens, but the way her shoulders move forward as if she gasped makes me think she’s holding her breath. I know the feeling.
I’ve thought about what I would say to her a hundred times over the years, but in the moment, I couldn’t come up with one of them if there was a spell aimed at my head. My arm is still pressed against Gray’s, so it’s easy for him to slide his hand up my back and rub between my shoulder blades.
“I heard you came back,” Tiffany finally speaks. Her voice is soft, but it fits her. She’s still pretty, and I’m surprised I don’t hate her face as much as I thought I would. Maybe I would feel differently if I wasn’t bonded to the guys and Felix didn’t pretty much fuck me to sleep last night, but I don’t want to snatch her bald or even punch her nose.
“Yeah, I’m back,” I eventually reply, and it’s not even meant to be a dig. There’s an awkwardness that builds between us that I don’t know how to breach. I’m not sure if we should just walk away or what, but Nash solves the problem for me.
“Here comes Felix. You guys ready?” I think I love her. She’s definitely my new best friend.
I look up to see Felix coming down the stairs with Percy in the crook of his arm. “I’m ready,” I answer, and that’s all it takes for Gray to put a little pressure on my back, urging me forward, and we leave her behind us in more ways than one.
I CAN TELL TODAY IS GOING TO BE A “DOESN’T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS” KIND OF DAY.
When we reach the car, I send a text to Remy to let him know we are on our way home. Surprisingly, I don’t get a response. We texted back and forth a few times while we were in Gray’s office, and he was always quick to get back to me. We’re almost home now, and I still haven’t heard from him.
“What’s wrong?” Gray asks, looking in the rearview mirror.
“Nothing really.” I try to ignore the weird feeling in my stomach, but he must be picking up on the nervousness that seems to be growing with every passing minute.
