My head jerks back. “What haveIdone?”
“You’re taking too long, and we’re stuck here until my unfinished business is resolved.” He lowers himself to the floor, sitting with his legs crossed. “You really need to get a rug for this room.”
“What?” Corinne asks, but I shake my head and continue to address Billy.
“So, you do have unfinished business? What is it?”
“Obviously, if I knew, I’d be taking care of it to get the hell away from you and this dusty house.” He pushes away a dust ball to prove his point.
I huff. “There’s literally no reason for you to be so hostile with me. I don’t want you here any more than you want to be here. Let’s work together, figure out what’s connecting you to me, and get you on the other side. Wherever that might be.”
He nods. “Good call.” His head tilts to the side, looking beyond me. “What’s she doing?”
I glance back and find Corinne wielding a bundle of rosemary.
Her hands shake, and her eyes dart around wildly.
“Corinne, what are you doing?”
She steps toward me. “I saw that move.” She’s pointing to the dust ball. “He’s really here.”
“Obviously,” I deadpan. “But what are you doing with that?”
A billow of smoke wafts from the bundle, the smell not at all appealing.
“Getting prepared. He sounds nefarious.”
Billy snorts. “I’m already dead. What’s a burning weed going to do to me?”
“It wassupposedto be sage,” I drawl, looking to Corinne with a level of annoyance I didn’t think possible. “We were gonna smoke you out if we had to.”
“Oh yes, I’ve heard all about this from Harry. Could you please inform the hot newcomer that sage only works if you truly want me gone? The rosemary won’t do a damn thing but give you all a headache.”
“Idowant you gone.”
“Not true. You’re curious about the unfinished business. We’re stuck. I’m not going anywhere.”
He’s right, I am curious. Who wouldn’t be? This entire situation is not of this world, and I’d be a liar if I said the knowledge that I have the ability to commune with the dead wasn’t a little mind-blowing.
As ridiculous as it is, I’m awestruck with myself for having such an amazing gift. I’m special and that’s something I’m going to hold on to for a bit longer.
I groan. “Put that down,” I call over my shoulder to Corinne. “Billy and I are going to take a stab at communication. So, Billy, you can see her, but she can’t see you?”
He shrugs. “Seems so. She looks like she’d be more fun than you. I’ve always been a fan of brunettes. And I’m digging that skirt.”
With Billy the Killjoy running around constantly offending me, I’m even more sure that he’s not leaving until I solve this mystery of why he’s linked to me.
And, if he keeps up his attitude, I might just go ahead and draw it out to make his afterlife as miserable as I can for as long as I can.
Corinne nods like a bobblehead, running the rosemary under water from the kitchen sink. “I’d like to know why I’m blocked,” she says, in response to the question I posed to Billy.
A loud crash from the second floor draws the attention of all three of us.
“What was that?” Corinne asks.
“I... don’t know. Billy?”
His eyes are trained on the floor above. “Something’s here.”
