He shook his head. “I don’t want anyone else to help me. I like you, Mike, and I like Dylan, too. I also feel somewhat responsible for you getting your abilities. I’d like to see this through with you, no matter how long it takes before I see Marcus again.”
His confidence in me and his slightly guilty expression gave me the willpower to finally open the damn car door.
The door to the mansion opened up as we approached and my new boss Rino stepped out with a wide smile on his face. “Took you long enough.” If it weren’t for his smile I would’ve thought he’d been angry that I was delaying the inevitable, but he seemed to just be teasing me as a way to ease my worries. I wasn’t his first newbie medium, so he’d likely learned through experience what to do with us.
“Apologies,” I replied, feeling my cheeks heat. “I had to mentally prepare myself.”
“No worries.” He waved me inside and gave a nod to Erik and that small gesture was enough for me to respect my new boss even more, the simple way he showed that Erik mattered too.
“We have around five ghosts in the mansion, all helping us train the new mediums. Their presence alone will drain you, which is our first step in the training course.”
“You’ll be the one mentoring me?” I blurted with surprise. Rino was the top dog, the one that most mediums rarely got to work with. Why on earth would he waste time on someone like me?
“I will,” he responded, tone calm and collected.
“Butwhy?”
He smiled as he led me through the mansion. “Because your mother is a great medium and Pete is a dear friend of mine.”
“Pete?!” I had no idea Pete was that close to Rino. Maybe that had happened after he resigned as a medium? I would need to speak with my brother as soon as possible.
“Yes, your younger brother Pete. My boyfriend and I are close with Pete and Jackson. We spend a weekend at their mansion each month.”
A weekend?Oooooh. Fuck. How the hell was I supposed to look Rino in the eye knowing he was a member of my younger brother’sBDSMclub?!
Rino smirked. “You take a minute to think that over.”
Nodding, I swallowed the thousand questions I feared would blurt out of my mouth if I wasn’t careful. I didn’t even want the answer to most of them.
Erik didn’t comment as he followed closely behind, his silent presence was a comfort as we were led further into the unknown.
“Firstly,” Rino began as he sat behind his desk, his gaze firmly on me. “I want you to know the basics.”
I felt like I knew what could be deemed as “basics” but I wasn’t about to tell my new boss that, so instead I nodded my head, acting eager to learn more.
“You already know you can communicate with all ghosts, no matter what,” Rino began, stalling my thoughts. “Therefore—”
“What?” I said, still stuck on his words.
“Hmm?”
“You said I could communicate withallghosts?”
“Well, yeah,” he replied, eyeing me curiously.
“Is it because of my previous work as an anthropologist you believe I can talk to all of them? Because languages have never been my strong suit.” I hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed by that.
“Mike,” he said, his tone full of fondness and a tad amused. “As a medium, you speak with ghosts’ souls, there’s no language barrier.”
“A what now?”
Rino laughed, deep and rich. “You communicate with their souls, meaning that no matter what language they spoke before dying, you can talk to them. It will all likely sound English to you, but it’s simply your souls communicating.”
“Seriously?” I exclaimed, bewildered over this new knowledge. “That’s so cool!”
He laughed again. “It truly is. You never questioned how you were able to speak with Erik?”
I blushed at that. “I just thought he spoke English…”
