“This is our land! Our prospect! Gold rides an iron horse!”
“Gold rides an iron horse!” The other two men joined in, chanting it now.
The hell kinda phrase was that? It was very clearly a slogan.
Their bodies filled out, enlarging somehow, which I had never seen a ghost do. On instinct I lifted the gun, aiming at thenearest ghost. I’d shoot if they even inched in this direction. I did not like this vibe; the air crackled with tension, and it was ripe with the promise of violence. I was poised on the edge, waiting for an explosion of movement.
With an unholy scream that set the entire stairway ringing with noise, one of the ghosts shot toward Mack.
I fired a clean shot over Mack’s shoulder. The ghost dodged, spinning, and started swearing in the nastiest language I’d ever heard. Kinda impressive, in a way.
Mack seized the ghost and, without mercy, exorcised it—a very creepy sight via thermals. All of the cold blue energy scattered like dust motes on the wind, justpoof,gone.
I fired again, mostly to herd the ghosts more in Mack’s direction, force them to duck toward the left side. Gwyn fired, too, her water pistol dead-on. The ghosts writhed, screaming, trying to flee, but Mack dove upward a step, catching both of them, one in either hand. He had a tight grip and a snarl on his face.
“You want to go out like your friend? Or will you pass peacefully?”
“Fuck you!” one of them roared back.
“So be it.” Mack exorcised him without compunction. The motes of his soul were still scattering when Mack turned to the last ghost. “Which shall it be?”
“I’ll… Can’t I just stay?”
“No.”
A long sigh and the ghost faltered. “I don’t want to be exorcised.”
“Wise of you.” Mack tilted his head a little toward me. “Cher, a light?”
I pulled out the Maglite and shone it up the dimmer stairway. Mack kept a hand on the ghost—not really a guide, more like aprecaution so he couldn’t bolt—and forced a passing. Only when I saw the door at the end open, then shut, did I turn off the light.
“How you doing?” He had just exorcised two ghosts, after all. I could tell he was already tired; you could see it in the lines around his mouth, aging him a decade. These ghosts took more oomph to pass, so I now wondered if exorcising two actually felt like doing three.
“Rather done in,” Mack answered, his fatigue pulling his shoulders down. “Cher, for this place, best note that exorcising two is my limit. I don’t know if I can do three.”
“I was afraid of that. You tell me when you need to stop, okay?”
“I will, but I can do some more, I think. We’ve cleared this place, at least. Let’s arm Jo Ann with some salt and know-how, shall we?”
“Sure.”
I had a feeling we’d be spritzing everything, including us, with some salt water to clear out the bad juju, but at least one family was a bit safer. I’d take the win. And I’d absolutely tell Booker what these guys had said. He was going to need to talk to a local historian ASAP.
12
I was really starting to hate Black Rock.
This place drained me of energy. I couldn’t seem to turn without needing to battle something, and every fight took more out of me. Part of it was worry wearing me down. I was doing my best to protect Gwyn from the brunt of the impact, and I think I managed, but she was already nervous. This place wasn’t peaceful for any of us, but particularly her, who had so much bad history here. I had a feeling I’d need to sleep a week and take a vacation on a beach somewhere after this damn case.
I now better appreciated Beau and Hannah, too, as it was damn hard working a case and keeping my apprentice safe at the same time. Double the work. I owed those two hugs and maybe my firstborn.
At least the next place should be more paperwork heavy than ghost heavy. I could take a breather.
Gwyn directed us to the school, and I was A-okay going right up until we got the school within line of sight. Then I just wanted to cry.
“Ma petite chère, how badly haunted is this place? Because it don’t look good from here.”
Gwyn gustily sighed from the back seat of the SUV. “Very.”
