We ordered, then I updated Hannah, who sat on my right side, on all the happenings so far. She and Beau listened carefully, frowns growing deeper as they took it all in.
“So despite the fact you’ve tried twice today to scope out the town, you were sidetracked both times?”
I shrugged. “That’s the size of it. Of course, I’d prefer having Gwyn over sticking to a plan—”
Hannah grinned, and I knew she felt the same way.
“—but it is grinding my gears a little that we still haven’t scoped out this town properly.”
“We’ll do so tomorrow.” Hannah’s frown stayed put as she looked about her. “No one can rest easy here, not even those dense to the supernatural. Even they can pick up on something not being right. You can practically see the tension and unease like a dark cloud. The whole energy of this place is off.”
“I can confirm because even I feel something is off.”
Booker threw in “We’ve got a meeting with a historian lined up, so hopefully we’ll have some good data to work off soon.”
Beau grunted. “That’ll help for sure. All said, I think y’all prioritized things right. Rescuing Gwyn and securing our sleeping area does us more good in the long run. Even the short run.”
“Few issues to add to this.” Mack did not look happy. In fact, he was groaning like he regretted every word before even saying it. “One of the ghosts told me there’s an almost-demon running around causing the worst of the trouble. He didn’t know the man’s name or where he was, just heard whispers of him.”
Eli eyed Mack like he’d just announced he’d seen a viper earlier. “When you sayalmost-demon…”
“That’s literally as much as I know.” Mack splayed his hands in an apologetic manner. “I wish my source had more information, but he was repeating rumor to me.”
Eli made unhappy noises, like a gremlin who’d been told they had to have a bath. “I don’t like almost-demons, either. They’re trouble every single fucking time.”
“Have to agree with you,” I said. Unfortunately, Mack wasn’t done. “Tell them the other thing, hon.”
Quinn objected. “Why is there another thing?”
With all the enthusiasm of a man forced into a root canal, Mack said, “My source also tells me that whoever approachesMiner’s Creek doesn’t come back. The ghost town apparently sucks in the dead and doesn’t release them. He had no idea why and wasn’t curious enough to go investigate it himself. Also too afraid to do so. I have no idea what’s happening over there, but that smacks of trouble.”
There were groans from everyone. I didn’t like it either. I had no idea how we’d even start to figure out the problem. Someone should have warned me before I joined the division how much troubleshooting was involved.
“Well, seems we’ve got our work cut out for us.” Hannah sat there, staring at the group, looking like she was tired already. Anticipated exhaustion was the worst. “All said, we’ll need to take this in pieces, I think. My main worry is Gwyn and how she’ll fare as we’re trying to unravel this knot. Gwyn, did Mack get you the manual yet?”
“There’s a manual?” Mack’s expression was of one who knew nothing.
“It’s the FBI. There’s a manual for everything,” Booker said laconically.
Man made a fair point.
“Ah, right, I didn’t use it for you,” Beau recalled. “By the time you came to me, you knew too much for the manual to be handy. But it’s perfect for her. We’ll get online tonight and download it.”
I could tell Gwyn liked the idea of a book very much. But then again, this was a girl who chose the library as her hiding spot.
There were a few ghosts rumbling around the room. I couldn’t see them, but I saw how the Mediums kept track of them with one eye. No one said anything, but the looks were very obvious.
We ate quickly, no one willing to linger over a beer or anything, and I left a nice tip for the waitress, who had done a good job. We were back out the door in thirty minutes flat.
“Well”—I looked around the group—“we’ll get a very good idea of how bad activity gets at night if you want to at least walk the main square and maybe peek at the river. Want to—”
I heard a yelp from nearby and turned, automatically putting my back to Mack and Gwyn, ready to react once I pinpointed the source.
Eli wasn’t waiting on my slow ass—she was already moving. Not a hundred yards from us, a young woman looked wildly about, her hand protectively covering her chest. Someone had groped her?
“You!” Eli barked, marching to the woman’s location. “Living or dead, you don’t get to harass—oh, you think running from me is a good idea?”
I followed her with my eyes as she darted across the street and into the little park. The danger park, as I thought of it, after Mack’s description. Quinn chased after her while Booker just shook his head, already resigned to his wife having an after-dinner workout. Quinn had barely caught up when Eli grabbed something, and then next I knew, body-slammed it to the ground like she had the ghost in a choke hold.
