Houseguest
“I think I saw it over by the noodles.”
I stood at the end of the grocery aisle, rubbing my forehead, looking from one end of the store to the other. We’d been searching the place for the better part of an hour and my patience was starting to wear thin. “You think you saw it, Virgil? Did you see it or not?”
Virgil shrugged as he placed his hands on his hips. His mouth turned up apologetically, raising the bushy mustache across his lip. I wasn’t accustomed to that look from Virgil. In all the years he’d been lingering, his responses matched his scholarly appearance. The clean-kept suit, the slicked hair, and that stark white apron around his waist… he was like something straight out of a Hollywood Wild West flick.
But Virgil was the real deal. Smart, sharp, and always reliable. Of all the spirits I’d wind up with, I was thankful I had one with a brain in his head.
So to speak.
It was rare that he was as clueless as Sutter. Though that wasn’t entirely fair, I guess. Sutter was plenty helpful. Where Virgil was a walking trove of knowledge in dealing with all things supernatural, Sutter was the brawn.
“You see anything, Sutter?” It was a pointless question. He was a few feet away with his back to us, staring down at one of the long open coolers containing packages of ground beef. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Sutter…”
“This still blows my mind.” He turned and met my gaze, then tipped his head toward the meat. “You just leave it out in the open like this an’ it stays cold. Hell, I had live horses rotted out from under me on the trail.”
“Sutter.”
“How’s it stay so pink like that?” He turned back to me and nudged the brim of his old cowboy hat with a finger, his grin growing wide. “You think it’s pink inside, too?”
“Can we focus and get this done, please?” I gestured down the aisle. “Do you see anything or not?”
“Yup. Virgil was right. Look over by them noodles. That’s where I saw it.”
“Well, you could have said something instead of standing there, gazing at meat.”
Sutter put both arms out in a mild shrug. The gesture caused his duster to fall open a bit, revealing the old riding leathers and his gun belt beneath. It was a perfectly clean and polished replica of the one that hung around my own waist. “You know what I like.”
I raised a finger to point at him when a few of the lights flickered overhead before the grocery store was plunged into brief darkness. Emergency flood lights switched on slowly around the story, attached at the tops of pillars, as the dim glow spilled down into the aisles from the low-wattage bulbs. The store had gone silent as the hum of coolers and ventilation shut down.
From down the aisle behind me, I heard plastic packages tumble from the shelves. Square packages of instant noodles lay scattered about the floor. I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as I drew the six-shooter from the holster at my side.
Each slow step down the aisle echoed in the dimly-lit, empty store. The shelf suddenly vibrated and shook, jostling the remaining stacks of packaged noodles. I paused and leaned, trying to get a better view into the low shelf.
“You see it?” I sucked in a breath as Sutter spoke next to my ear, startling me.
“No… God dammit, Sutt—” I was cut off as the shelves exploded loudly, sending packages and boxes in all directions. Tumbling into the opposite shelf, I had bags and boxes of various dry foods rain down on me. I blinked through debris and food particles hanging in the air, coughing and spitting out a mouthful of dried noodle pieces.
It was sitting on the pile of packages that covered most of me, its pink eyes locked with mine. They were innocent, taking me in inquisitively. It didn’t look ferocious in any way. You wouldn’t get any feeling of impending doom looking at the what appeared to be a cross between a hyper-muscular kangaroo and a soft white rabbit.
If you didn’t know anything about shade roos, you might be compelled to pet it.
That would be a mistake.
Its mouth opened in a shrill cry, the small yellowed fangs in its mouth more than doubling in size. It raised up huge, fluffy paws, with black talons, as if to swipe at me.
I pressed the barrel of the revolver into his mouth and squeezed the trigger. Sparks of light exploded in every direction as its body toppled to the side. The short white fur of the roo bristled as it twitched before the entirety of its form collapsed in on itself and disappeared into luminous vapor.
“I told you it was in the noodles.” Virgil was standing over me, his arms crossed over his chest. Sutter skipped forward and kicked a boot through the vapor. Though his foot passed through the small cloud without disturbing it, he still whistled loudly and laughed.
I pushed plastic packages, both exploded and still intact, off me. It was like swimming in a sea of instant noodles as I sat up. I could feel them like small grains of rock and dust in my hair, my ears, my beard, and all inside my clothes.
Everything smelled like cheap noodles.
“I don’t get paid enough for this shit.” I climbed to my feet as I shook out and dusted off my clothes.
“I have suggested many times that you should raise your rates, Luca. You should charge based on the value of the service you provide. It only makes good economic sense, when there is a demand for the extrication of malevolent spirits, and a low supply of… us.” Virgil kept his arms crossed, staring at me matter-of-factly before finishing his thought with a nod. “You wou—”
“…wouldn’t have to work as hard or as often, I know. Virgil. I know. It’d be easier if they’d actually pay me after.”
“You should make ’em pay a deposit.” Sutter sniffed as he hiked up his beltline, as if to adjust the chaps and canvas jeans he wore. “Either that, or get yourself a pimp to come collecting. Maybe one of those Chinamen with fluffy pants that fight with little sticks. They’ll get your money.”
I tucked the revolver away, spitting again as I swiped a hand through my hair. No matter how much I tried to shake it off, there were still more bits of dried noodle cascading from everywhere. It was like sand.
“They won’t like the mess you made.” Virgil was looking over the length of destroyed shelving, with metal fragmented and twisted, like it had been torn apart by heavy machinery. He was right. They’d return in the morning to check my work and likely throw a tantrum over the damage.
Never mind that it would have been infinitely worse if we hadn’t done anything. They’d be lucky to have a store standing and could likely stack a few dead employees or customers on top of that.
A notification triggered my phone to vibrate in my pocket. I eyed Virgil and Sutter as I grabbed the phone, wandering down the aisle. “Do something useful, Sutter. Clean that up.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that, Rooster.” Sutter made a noise like he was shooting a mouthful of tobacco spit in my direction, one of his habitual gestures from when he was still alive. That particular one was a raw emotion habit tied to him being antsy. He usually did it when he was bored, tired of being on a job, and wanted to get back to the truck.
For a damn spirit, he was one of the most impatient bastards I’d ever known.
The screen of my phone was lit with a few missed call notifications and a voicemail. Annoyance rose in me. I knew in the back of my head this store owner was going to try and skip out on payment, or ding me for damages. Virgil was right. Sutter’s impatience was pushing my buttons. Now I had Ethan blowing up my phone, and dry noodles were still tumbling around in my clothes.
I hate noodles.
Every inch of my body was stiffening with the living rigor mortis that comes with bone-deep exhaustion. I had never been this busy before. By the time I finished a gig, I had two more waiting for me that had either come through my website, or straight through Ethan.
I really didn’t want to talk to him. I had a feeling his incessant calls, despite knowing I was on a job, meant an urgent response was needed.
Probably some housekeeper in an upper-class neighborhood, trying to deal with a spirit haunt to keep the trophy wife of the home good and happy.
That’s what most of the late-night calls were. ‘Quick, come take care of this ghost before Mrs. Golden Honeypot wakes up. At least they paid promptly. I couldn’t really complain about being busy. There were far too many stretches where I didn’t get shit for work and that made money tight.
I really didn’t want to talk to Ethan. I really just wanted to sleep. My head dropped back against the seat in my truck and my eyes closed. For an old boxed delivery truck, the cab was plenty roomy and comfortable enough that I was ready to drift off, right there in the dark parking lot of the grocery store.
But a real bed sounded better and there was a hotel just down the road. My mind was made up before I finished the thought, and I sat up to start the truck, patting myself down for the keys.
“…Shit.” My eyes darted around the cab. “Shit!”
Sutter’s head appeared through the rear wall of the cab, just inches from my face, following by Virgil’s head. They looked like mounted trophies. “What’s wrong, Rooster?”
“Nothing… I think I left the damn keys inside.”
“Nah. You didn’t.” Sutter sniffled as he stared at me. I held his gaze a moment before leaning in a little closer.
“…and have you seen them, Sutter?”
“I have.”
Virgil retreated slowly, disappearing back through the wall of the cab. Sutter was grinning at me. I closed my eyes, steeling myself for what I knew was coming. This was the worst part about dealing with the dead. They experience thoughts and emotions just like the living. I’ve seen both Sutter and Virgil act happy, sad, celebratory, and even depressed.
That also meant they got bored.
And when you’ve been kicking around since the 1800’s, you lock onto the things that tickle your fancy and stick with them. Like this game Sutter liked to play. “Gee, Sutter… Where might you have seen my keys?”
“Up mah butthole.”
I sighed heavily and immediately swung a fist at the wall of the cab but, like always, he managed to disappear just as my hand hit the wall. Not that I could actually hit him anyway, even if he hadn’t moved. I could hear his muffled laughter from the back of the box truck.
“God dammit, Sutter!”
His face appeared through the wall again, but only for a split second, long enough to say “Above the visor.” I swung my fist hard into the wall again as he disappeared, and huffed. I slapped the visor down, catching the keys as they fell into my lap.
Sleep was welcome and long overdue. I couldn’t handle the bullshit from Sutter on top of everything else when I was running on empty. The chime from the ignition gave me the same feeling of blissful closure that a ringing bell provides at the end of a school day. At least it did until my phone started to ring again.
Ethan wasn’t going to let up.
I swiped to answer the call as I started up the truck. “I need to sleep.”
“That’s hard to do when the phone is ringing, huh?” Ethan’s voice was energetic, like usual. I didn’t sense any urgency in his tone. No fear or concern rode his words. He was his usual youthful, jubilant self. If you didn’t know him, you could even mistake the higher pitch of his voice for a young teen, but Ethan was easily pushing thirty. I think. “You finished with the rabbit?”
“Just.”
“Took you longer than I thought it would.”
“I’m tired.”
“You mentioned that.”
I crushed the irritation as it started to rise. I had no reason to be upset with Ethan in any way. He was practically family; one of the people I genuinely trusted. He was also a huge part of my work. I was just mentally spent and physically exhausted, and he didn’t deserve to have me take it out on him.
“You got something, I’m assuming. You don’t usually ring me multiple times like that.”
“Eh, something. Yeah.” He was quiet. I was having a hard time wrangling my irritability. It felt like he was pointlessly fishing for a response to continue. I felt near ready to snap at him as I stroked a hand down my chin and gripped at a tuft of my beard tightly, letting the slight sting of the pulled bristles keep me focused. “So, my brother rang me up, asking me for help.”
“Matt’s still off at college, right? He wasn’t really the type to call on big brother.”
“He is. Not far from where you’re at, actually. He’s a bit desperate for help.” I didn’t like where Ethan was going with this, but I didn’t interrupt. My mind was going to a thousand ridiculous scenarios on why I needed to go help his kid brother—everything from keg runs to some community outreach program that needed extra hands. “Long and short of it; he’s in a fraternity and he said there’s all kinds of weird shit going on in his chapter house. He knows I dabble in weird shit.”
“Yeah… and?”
“And Luca, this is the kind of weird shit that’s right up your alley.” Here it comes. “Just go check it out, humor him, see what you see. It sounds like there’s some spirit hoodoo stuff going down. Yeah?”
“For someone who dabbles in weird shit, ‘spirit hoodoo stuff’ is incredibly vague and doesn’t tell me jack. You need to be a little more specific.”
Ethan sighed and let out a grunt. “Guys are all acting out of sorts. The air in the frat house feels different. Everyone’s grades are down. Matt says everything is fucked.”
“It sounds like a frat house, Ethan. Last I knew, college kids aren’t exactly bankrolling much. Is his fraternity covering the fee?”
“Not exactly.”
“…then are you?”
“I need to call in a favor, Luca.”
“Oh fuck me. C’mon, Ethan. Seriously?”
“I run it ragged for you some days, Luca. Don’t make me spell out everything I do.”
“I give you a cut of every single gig, there’s no tally sheet for favors.”
“You gonna do it for a friend?”
“Friends let friends sleep.” He was quiet now, but I could hear him breathing quietly through the phone, followed by a quiet sigh.
“Ohio.”
“Oh, there’s no way you’re gon—”
“We did that job in Ohio, and it took me over a month to get the smell out of my car and that taste out of my mouth.”
“It sounds kind of kinky when you put it like that.”
“Luca…”
I laughed and sighed, settling back into the driver’s seat of the truck and Ethan echoed my laughter briefly before we got quiet again.
“Fine, Ethan. Fine. You know I’m not gonna say no to you. Send me the details. I’m still gonna get some fucking sleep and settle up with this job in the morning before I go anywhere.”
“There’s just one more thing, Luca.” It never fails. It doesn’t matter what job I’m working, or what’s already been done. Ethan is notorious for one-more-thinging me to death. “He doesn’t want his fraternity to know we’re checking it out. So, you’re going undercover.”
“What?” My response couldn’t have been any flatter.
“Matt and I are gonna work some computer magic and get you plugged into his fraternity as a potential transfer, checking the place out, scoping the school, whatever. That’ll give you a few days to look around if you need it.”
“No. I’m not joining a frat.”
“You already said yes.” I could practically hear him grinning through the phone. I didn’t even have the mental capacity to process what he was telling me right now. I just wanted the phone call to be done. I just wanted to sleep. “Treat it like a vacation. Beer, sorority girls, a party or two. Someone might even throw you a pity fuck.”
“Ohio was supposed to be a vacation. You see how well that turned out.”
“Then consider this payback. I’ll send over the info.” The phone chirped as he ended the call, and I casually tossed the phone into the passenger seat. I mumbled to myself, digging my finger and thumb into my eyes and crushing the bridge of my nose.
My phone chimed, and the screen lit with the glow of a new notification, bathing the weathered cab of the truck in soft, bluish light.
I’d check it in the morning. I needed all the sleep I could get if I had to pretend to be a dude-bro come morning.
Sutter had been pacing while I wrapped up the call with Matt. It wasn’t often that he was this excited about anything. The details of this particular job were boring him, until it clicked that I was going to a fraternity house full of guys.
His eyes went wide when he processed that bit and suddenly, we couldn’t leave fast enough. Sutter was, as spirits go, a complex creature with a range of emotion and a ridiculous sense of humor. He was also just as homosexual in the afterlife as he was when he was alive.
The only thing Sutter liked more than a well-muscled and good-looking man was a bunch of well-muscled, good-looking men.
I loaded up my backpack in the rear of the box truck, glancing around at the living space. Even if I were only gonna be in the frat house a few days, it would be strange living in a normal space. I’d grabbed the occasional hotel room for an overnight, but it had been years since I’d stayed anywhere more than a day. I usually slept right here in the back of the truck.
It was cozy after I’d converted it. There’s a lot you can do with a box truck to turn it into a comfortable living space, right down to the sleeping space and bed I built out over the cab.
Part of me didn’t want to leave the truck in this storage lot, but that wasn’t really what was bothering me. I had to leave Sutter here as well and I didn’t really know how to explain that to him. He had been running off at the mouth about… everything. Mostly about the men. But also about how much fun I would have, and the drinking, and the socializing. He was currently telling a story to both Virgil and I about a poker tournament he was in back in the day, and somehow trying to relate it to this situation.
Virgil was captivated, and while Sutter was deep into the details of the story, he didn’t miss the action of me sliding the gun belt and revolver into a locker in the back of the truck.
“Rooster… what the shit are you on about with that?” The air got a bit crispy. It’s a weird feeling. Crispy air like that is a mixed feeling of cold—but not cold—but also slightly electrified. Air gets crispy when spirits get angsty, pissed off, upset, and a variety of other emotions.
I turned around and put my hands up toward him after fixing a padlock to the locker. “Sutter, listen. I wanted to tell you. I can’t take you with me on this.”
“Horsepussy!” He snatched the hat from his head and slapped his hip with it, giving me a stern and grumpy look. “I ain’t about to let you go tussle with some unkind thingamatits.”
“I’m sorry you can’t go, Sutter. I know why you want to go a—”
“You hate me because I’m gay.”
“I do not. Don’t be like that.”
“You think I’m a filthy pickle kisser.”
“Sutter…”
“Nope. You do. You hate me. You’re ashamed of me. You don’t want to be seen with a dirty ol’ perv like me, huh? Can’t handle that ol’ Sutter likes the puckered, chapped ass of a bruiser. You find it revolting where I like to put my tongue.”
“Sutter, you know that’s not it. No one can see you, you know I’m not ashamed of anything. I just can’t walk around with a revolver hanging off my hip, around a college.”
“You don’t love me.” Sutter hung his head.
“Jesus Christ, Sutter.” I rubbed a hand across my forehead. “It’s just a few days, tops. You’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”
“Tell me you love me.”
“I’m not gonna do that, Sutter.”
“Bullshit, boyo. You can’t hug me goodbye, so you tell me you love me.”
I sighed and looked at the ceiling of the box truck, my shoulders slumped. “…I love you, Sutter.”
“Oh, Luca, put it in a box and just take it with you. Put it in your backpack. Ain’t no one gonna know. Don’t leave me in the truck!”
I grabbed my backpack from the floor and turned, hopping out the back and grabbing the strap of the rear roll-up door to pull it with me on my way down. I stopped short of closing it, looking up to Sutter as he wore the sad expression of a devastated child. “It’s only for a few days. I’ll be right back.”
“I love you, Sutter,” Virgil piped up from behind me. He sounded sincere, but despite his gentlemanly upbringing and usually calm demeanor, I could still detect a note of teasing in his voice.
Sutter mumbled, “Shut up, nerd…” before fading as I shut the door on the truck.
It was a short trip from the storage facility to the frat house, but I still let the GPS on my phone lead me there. I had assumed Ethan gave me the wrong address when I rolled up in front of a run-down Victorian. I had already driven through blocks of chapter housing, and thought I might have to turn around once I got out into what looked like run-of-the-mill homes.
I looped back anyway for a second trip through sorority row. That was three blocks of ass soup and a hell of a view. There wouldn’t be much time for any traditional panty raiding, but if I had to be stuck for a few days on the job, at least there’d be something pleasant to look at.
The farther I got from those houses, the more my stomach sank. The Victorian was nestled in a community of perfectly-manicured lawns that could only be sustained by little old ladies or well-to-dos with professional landscapers on speed dial.
If this was the place, there would be a significant shortage of eye-candy in my immediate future.
Three girls came running from around the back of the house, screaming. If it weren’t for the voluptuous curves pouring out of the barely-there bikinis, and the two guys in loin cloths chasing after them, I might have been concerned.
“That looks like fun.” Virgil peered out the window of the rental car from the passenger seat as we watched the group disappear around the other side of the house.
I yanked the keys from the ignition and climbed out, pulling my bag from the back seat as I stood. “You wouldn’t look good in a bikini, Virgil.”
If the address was right, then this was the place. The house wasn’t marked by Greek letters like the others I’d driven past, but it had the look of a place run by college dudes. There was a faint droning of bass growing in volume as I walked toward the house.
“That’s not what I meant, Sir. I was referring t—”
“Luca.”
“Sir?”
“Luca.” I paused, but I didn’t turn to look at Virgil as I spoke. I always had to be mindful about how I interacted with them in public, especially during the day. I took in the house and nodded my head. “Not Sir, just Luca. This place looks like shit.”
Virgil didn’t respond. His attention was drawn to the girls making another squealing pass around the house, their group splitting as they dashed around me, though with not enough space. One of them slipped in the grass and nearly barreled into me.
They all erupted into laughter as the curvy blonde steadied herself with the help of her girlfriends. I slid my sunglasses down my nose, quirking a brow. It was every attempt to play it cool, given how much of her body was exposed, and close enough that I could smell the chlorine on her skin. The little hemp necklace and jade pendant around her neck had more string to it than her bikini.
She hit me with those green eyes and I thought I saw it. That brief flash as fast as a burst of lightning, just outside of your peripheral vision. A fleeting fraction of a nanosecond where her eyes devoured me.
“Tara, let’s go!” Her friends pulled at her and she grinned, jogging off after them. I watched her assets depart with her as the two guys from the previous chase strolled up. Neither of them looked too thrilled to see me.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“For Netflix to update their movie selections more often.” They looked at each other with a mingled look of anger and confusion. “Yeah, don’t think too hard on that, guys. I’m Luca, I go here.”
“You go where?”
“Here,” I pointed at the house. “I’m a transfer. I’m your new bro.”
They looked at each other again and shared the same look. It was almost painful watching their gears turn to process the situation. I was immediately flooded with doubt that I’d be able to tolerate this stupid shit in order to get this done. I quietly prayed to myself that I’d get inside and find absolutely nothing, so I could get the fuck out of here.
“Whoa, hey…” Matt came double-timing a shuffle around the house toward us. He hadn’t changed since the last time I saw him. He was short and kind of thick all over. He looked so much like Sam Gamgee, straight out of Hobbiton, complete with the curly locks of hair. “What’s up, guys? I see you met the new guy. Luca, makin’ friends?”
“Yeah, something like that. Look, I don’t know if this is a good idea.” I pushed my sunglasses up onto my head as the two guys quietly wandered back toward their party, one of them shaking his head as they disappeared around the back. My attention turned down toward Matt and his face was a mess of excitement, and happiness, and poorly-hidden panic. “…You alright?”
“Yeah, man! Kinda… not really. I appreciate you comin’. It’s pretty FUBAR here, dude. There’s some weird shit going on.”
“Yeah, I gathered. You and Ethan both suck at details, you know that?” I sighed and adjusted the position of the backpack on my shoulder. “You got me here. Fill me in, so I know what I’m looking for?”
“Can you really see stuff? Like ghosts and shit?”
That motherf...
“He shared that with you, huh?” I wanted nothing more than to drive all the way back to Seattle, that very second, and kidney punch Ethan. It’s one thing to handle client work on the down low. The world starts changing when word gets out that you can see and talk to spirits. That’s a one-way ride to a psych lockdown. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here. See what I can see. Ghosts and shit. But it would be nice if you gave me a little more detail, so I don’t wander blindly into something that wants to eat my face.”
“Yeah dude, no worries. Um… so, everyone is acting way different. Like Tabs has been skipping classes and barely comes out of his room. A couple of the guys are always fighting with each other and they’re like… the nicest guys usually. Then Booboo has been pulling a Waldo and missing chair meetings for the chapter.” Matt let out an extended huff and shrugged.
“Booboo?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s his name?”
“Yeah, we call him Booboo. He’s pre-med.”
He kept staring at me with all the seriousness in the world, like that made complete sense and everyone else should get it. “Matt, that sounds like normal shit that would go on at a college. There’s probably a couple hundred dudes on campus arguing about microbrews and quoting lines from Fight Club while skipping class.”
“Nah, Luca, c’mon.” Matt leaned closer to me, looking around as he lowered his tone. “This all started a couple weeks after we moved into this new chapter house—like a couple months ago. It’s just getting worse. These guys were aces before. Totally clean cut, chill, professional, and focused on their education. Now they’re barely passing, and partying more than they’re studying. We’ve got sorority girls hanging at all hours…”
“Again. This sounds like normal college shit, Matt. I don’t think I’m gonna find anything here. I’ve got a feeling your boys are just cutting loose and getting their wicks wet.”
“Would you please just check it out?”
I couldn’t tell him no. I already told his brother I would go through the motions. The more I thought on it, the more it hung in my mind that they were in a new location. With an old place like this, it wasn’t uncommon for people to wind up with an unwelcome houseguest – sometimes more than one.
You get a significant, dramatic, sudden change in the energy around spirits like that, and you can wind em up. Just the kind of thing a bunch of rowdy, horny, college students would do.
Fuck.
“I’m here, aren’t I? Let’s see it.” I followed him into the house and glanced back, craning my neck to see if I might catch another glimpse of the girl. All I got was a mustache-covered grin from Virgil as he trailed after me.
Matt waited inside the front entry, closing the door behind me before wandering through a side archway. I glanced through the larger arch toward what looked like a massive sitting room with a giant fireplace, before my eyes went up the steps ahead of me. I peeked through the arch where Matt had disappeared and found him wandering down a flight of stairs into the basement. A God-awful techno remix of some Beach Boys song was floating up, mingled with a lot of chatter and laughing.
There’s nothing like starting out a job by wandering down into a basement, party or no. It was nothing like I expected though.
I paused as I rounded the corner with Matt, my shoes slipping a bit in thick sand that was slick like grease on the ceramic tile floor. The basement was an open expanse and, as far as I could tell, it stretched the length of the house without any real dividing walls.
And the entire floor was covered in a thick layer of beach sand.
There were a half-dozen guys lounging around in folding chairs, each with a topless girl in their lap or hovering nearby. One of the guys was completely nude and receiving a vigorous blow job from a girl, all while holding a completely casual conversation with another guy in a speedo sitting across from him.
Matt and I both looked at one another as I arched my brow. He nodded while I tried to keep my eyes anywhere but on the girl making a collect call on the bonophone. “Alright, what else ya got?”
The entire lot of them seemed oblivious to us as Matt led me back up and to the second floor. The expansive square space at the top of the stairs had a single hall leading off toward the back of the house, and was lined by numerous doors.
Of course, it was exactly what you might expect, given the situation: dimly lit, kind of musty, dark wood trim, and plaster walls that were marred with the passage of probably hundreds of people, packages, boxes, and furniture over the years. Each of the doors were equally scarred and battered, though they still had the antique brass door handles with the old-fashioned keyholes, all heavily tarnished.
“Here’s one of the first things we noticed.” Matt paused at the second door in the hallway and gave the knob a turn, swinging it open. I was standing slightly off to the side and leaned in slowly to peer around the room.
It looked like every other dorm-style room; the room was small, square, and sparsely furnished. A corner desk was perfectly organized and clean. A bookcase stood next to it, with books that were carefully and perfectly lined and sorted from smallest to largest. The bed against one wall was made so well you could bounce a quarter off it, like a military barracks. Some clothes were neatly folded on the top of a three-drawer dresser. The wood floor in the room was remarkably polished and gleaming, like it had recently been refinished. I raised a brow and looked to Matt, my eyes going between the room and him, while I waited for an explanation.
“You see it now, but wait.” He held up a finger, then produced a smartphone, swiping briefly before handing the phone over. “This is what the room looked like before.”
The room in the picture was identical as far as furniture was concerned, but it was filthy. A remarkable number of aluminum can tabs covered the floor, dresser, even the bed. Virtually every surface was obscured by empty cans, tabs, paper, takeout containers, and countless other unidentifiable things.
“Alright, dude, look… If this is some kind of fucking joke you and Ethan are playing for payback, then you got me. Here.” I handed the phone back to him. He shook his head and started to speak, but I cut him off as I put a hand up. “I gotta go. I left my cowboy in storage and this isn’t worth pissing him off.”
“Luca, I swear this is seriously weird. You really need to see the rest.”
I stared hard at him and held a finger up, pointing at him before glancing sideways. I made brief eye contact with Virgil. He shrugged and nodded.
“Fine.” I put my hands up in the air. “What else ya got?”
Matt sighed and seemed frustrated as he led me to the next room. I could smell the stench of stale ashtray and cigarette smoke hanging in the air. When Matt opened the door, a haze of smoke started rolling out. The haze was so thick, I could barely make out the two people in the room, but I could hear laughter and normal conversation. One guy was incredibly obese, waving his hands about as he spoke. The other guy looked pretty scrawny and unassuming. White button-down shirt and rolled up sleeves, which was a stark contrast to the big guy’s massively ill-fitting t-shirt and cargo shorts. They were just smoking away and chatting.
I looked at Matt and sighed.
“Luca, that’s Bean Bag and B. They can’t stand each other. We have to split them up because they both majoring in Cybersecurity. They’ll scream at each other for hours about crypto theory and shit. HOURS. They despise each other. But no…” He gestured into the room. “It’s like putting two Furbies together. They won’t stop.”
I looked around the hallway, as if wandering in thought, but it was intentional so that I could make eye contact with Virgil again. I didn’t have to say anything. He knew the request all too well.
I could see things that didn’t necessary belong; like spirits, for example. Things other people couldn’t see. But I could also see things through the veil. It’s like a thin curtain between the place where we all go about our merry way and the place where a lot of uncool shit hangs out.
Virgil could see what I see, but he’s always been more ‘attuned’ to spirit shit, so he can see a lot more. That includes seeing things across the veil, and anything reaching through, trying to play around in our happy human playscape.
Sometimes things that don’t belong get finicky and make their way over to our side of the veil.
He shook his head at me and shrugged to let me know the room looked clean.
“Matt, I’m just not seeing anything, brother.”
“Those two alone usually raise the entire chapter’s GPA but everyone’s grades are down, Luca. That’s all they do, is sit in there and talk. They don’t even go to class.”
“Okay… that’s a little weird, but I’m not picking anything up here, Matt. Really. You’ve showed me an underground beach party with tits, a clean bedroom, and a couple buddies who said, ‘fuck all’ to their classes.”
“There’s one more room.” Matt backed away down the hall, and gestured for me to follow. We passed by two more closed doors before reaching the end. We stood in front of the last door and Matt grinned at me as he opened it. I looked in, expecting another orgy, a guy folding his laundry, or a crocheting frat brother. Instead, I found myself looking at myself, looking at my back, and so on, and so on. The door opened into a hallway—this hallway—and I was staring at the backs of myself and Matt.
I turned slowly to find the door behind us was now open, with the same repeating hallway over and over. I was looking back at myself, looking back at myself, looking back at myself… in an endless tunnel. I pointed back and then turned to look forward again. I didn’t have any words. I looked to Matt, then to Virgil. His eyes were wide, and his eyebrows had practically climbed off his head, they were up so high. I scoffed and found Matt was still grinning at me.
“You know…” I turned, gesturing in both directions at the open doors. “Why? You could have led with this and saved a lot of time.”
“It was at the end of the hallway. Here.” Matt stepped toward the door, putting a hand on the doorframe. “Watch this.”
“Matt, wait…” It was too late. He hung onto the doorframe and leaned through. I watched him reach forward, with a finger extended, and jab the other me on the butt cheek. In the same instant, I felt the poke in my left cheek and I spun around.
Matt was grinning at me in the doorway behind me.
I looked between the Matt behind me and then to him next to me as he stepped back from the door, still smiling.
“Did you just touch my butt?”
“Yeah. Pretty weird, right?”
I scowled at him and shot a sharp glare at Virgil, as he tried in vain to stifle a laugh. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“If you thought that was weird, check this out.” Matt backed up a few steps and went charging into the doorway. As he passed through it, he emerged from the one behind us and did it again. He seemed to be picking up a little speed as he went. I peered through the door after him, and it just looked like a synchronized single-file army line of Matts running at top speed. Suddenly Matt dropped to his knees, and I watched him repeatedly pass me in a power slide as he hooted loudly, gradually slowing to a stop on the floor in the hallway.
He got to his feet and dusted himself off, grinning from ear to ear. I looked between the doorways again and back to him.
“Matt, how many times have you gone through the door?”
He was breathing a little heavy from his sprint and bounced his head as he thought briefly before replying, “I think that was the third time.”
“No, I mean… just now. How many times did you pass through the door?”
“Um, I’m not sure. A couple dozen maybe, why?”
“What if the you that’s standing here now isn’t the same you that took off running through the door? What if the original you is a couple dozen dimensions that way.” I pointed through the door. “And maybe the you that’s standing here now isn’t the real you.”
The grin on his face instantly melted away as the color left his face. He swallowed hard, and I kind of felt bad for messing with him. I had no idea if there were other dimensions, or what the door even was, but I couldn’t miss an opportunity when it so freshly presented itself.
“Am I gonna die?”
“Probably. Not from that though… at least, I don’t think. Maybe next time you call for help because of weird shit, you try to avoid playing with it.”
“Right…”
“Which one is my room, I’ll get my stuff.”
I sat upright on the bed with my legs extended and crossed, keying away relentlessly with one search query after another on the laptop. There was surprisingly little history to the neighborhood, at least in terms of documented crimes.
There was an endless stream of articles about community activities run by the little church lady society, going back some seventy years. Of course, that didn’t mean the house was free and clear of a raging or mischievous spirit. Plenty of deaths never make it into public records, especially if they happened in the early days of this place.
And the house was old. The age on record said, “more than one hundred years.” It looked it.
For an ancient Victorian, it was remarkably clear of anything. I’ve been in houses this old that looked like an afterlife cocktail mixer.
That’s what had me so fucking confused about Matt’s power slide portal… thing. How do you end up with something like that without any other kind of spirit activity?
I shook my head and looked to Virgil. He was standing at the window, unmoving, with his fists on his hips, holding a Superman pose. His attention seemed fixed on something outside. “Virgil, you didn’t see anything while we were getting the grand tour?”
His concentration broke, and he tucked his hands behind his back, turning to look at me. “No, Sir. Nothing other than what you saw, I think. That door was marvelous! I wonder how it works…”
“Why did you nod at me then?”
“Sir?”
“Luca. Why did you nod at me when you saw the clean room? I thought you saw something.”
“Oh! No, nothing unusual. I was just nodding in approval at the cleanliness… and I was curious to see more.”
I rolled my eyes before settling my gaze back on him. “You could have said that.”
Public records were a bust, so I started picking through social media. Matt hadn’t introduced me yet, but I figured, correctly, that I could find them through his own accounts. I was able to find profiles for most of the faces I saw today, but there wasn’t much of anything to look at. The guys were barely posting lately.
Just a few random check-ins, some travel pics, and college event shares. I wasn’t exactly a regular to socializing online, but it looked fairly mundane. I was scrolling through Matt’s feed, the most active of the bunch, when the door opened.
The girl. From the front yard. She gave me a sickly-sweet smile, that was so childlike and bursting with glee.
“I found you!” She slid into the room and shut the door behind her. “I thought you had left before I could say hello.”
My focus shifted to Virgil for a fraction of a second. His eyes were on her and his mouth was open a little. Virgil wasn’t one for eye candy usually. His bushy mustache made him look older than he was when he passed. Aside from being dead he had been a perfectly healthy boob-loving gentleman.
He was just more reserved. Usually. Not that it mattered; no one could see him gawking.
Me, on the other hand…
“Aren’t you gonna say hello?”
I cleared my throat and shut my laptop, smirking. I didn’t move it from where it sat though, because she was still wearing practically nothing. Her bathing suit might as well have been made of fishing line. “Hey. Not going anywhere. Just getting settled in.”
My hands were applying way more pressure than was necessary to keep the laptop in place. I wouldn’t risk it growing legs and running off to leave me exposed in my aroused state. She nodded at my response and walked around the edge of the room, feigning to admire décor that was nonexistent before she had circled around to the bed. I made a move to shift my legs toward the edge and sit up, but she settled on the edge of the bed, turned a bit so she was facing me.
“I’m Tara.”
“Luca.” I might have just a couple years on the girl, but age doesn’t necessarily make it any more terrifying when a knockout is sitting inches away. It took every effort to keep my eyes from drifting from her face to take the rest of her in.
I failed.
She shifted when I glanced down and back up to her face. “I haven’t seen you around campus, Luca.”
“I’m… transferring. Maybe. I’m just visiting, you know, to check the place out… for a few days.” I drummed my fingers lightly on the laptop. My situation hadn’t improved. She set her chin in her hand, resting an elbow into her thigh as she made a slight-but-still-dramatic sad face.
“That’s no good, you’ll barely have enough time to see and do everything. You just got here and you’re already busy.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a lot on my plate. Matt’s gonna help me out, I think. Spend some time with the guys, check the campus out, maybe grab a bite later, and catch up on the books. What about you and the other girls? What are you doing, hanging around here today? Boyfriend drag you along to the frat party downstairs?”
She laughed and waved at me while shaking her head. “I don’t have a boyfriend. These guys aren’t my type. I just like the pool. You should put that computer away and come swim.”
God help me; it was the best worst idea to agree to this favor.
I forced a chuckle and smirked, clearing my throat again when I inadvertently looked her bikini over again. “I’m good, Tara. I don’t have a suit with me.”
“You don’t need one.”
My eyes locked on hers, and I kind of froze. Actually, it was more like completely rigid. I noticed that chlorine smell to her again, and I could almost taste the water on her lips at the idea of crashing into this girl in the pool. “I gotta…” My voice croaked a little as I tapped the laptop.
“Study… That’s alright. You know where to find me when you’re settled in.” She closed the distance between us, putting her well within my personal bubble. She reached a hand out and clutched at my beard, tugging lightly at my whiskers and scratching my chin a little. “Don’t work too hard, Luca.”
A crisp wave washed over when she touched me, and I was hit with goose bumps I hadn’t experienced in ages. I could feel the blood leaving my face as it rushed elsewhere.
I wasn’t used to any kind of attention, especially not flirting. I think Sutter flirted with me more than any woman ever did. Tara stood up and went for the door and my eyes glued themselves to her shapely ass, most of which was exposed, thanks to the skimpy swimwear. She didn’t look back as she closed the door behind her, and I sat there in stunned silence for a hot second.
Virgil and I muttered in perfect unison. “Holy shit.”
The better part of the afternoon was behind me, and I’d spent most of it trying to focus on gathering whatever information I could online. After the encounter with Tara, she had taken a portion of my attention with her.
A lot of it, actually.
I needed to get my ass out of the room to talk to these guys and check out the house more, but was fighting a little war with myself. A big (erect) part of me was surprisingly compelled to go find Tara. I didn’t know what I’d do when I found her, but I liked the idea. The rest of me was back and forth, between getting this investigation done and hiding out until nighttime to nope-the-fuck out of here.
Nothing about the crazy repeating doorway spooked me, but the idea of Tara had me scared.
I finally opted to just get the job done. Focusing on Matt helped. When I set my mind on having him introduce me to the guys, it made it a hell of a lot easier to open that door.
The house was filled with the aroma of barbecue; some kind of mesquite sauce and chicken, I think. I didn’t care. I was starving. I made a beeline for the large dining room downstairs to investigate the smell, but found Matt sitting by himself at the old expansive table, working on a heap of salad.
I could smell the food, but I couldn’t find it, and that made me irrationally grumpy. Matt took notice of me in the doorway and nodded while he chewed. Maybe they were still cooking outside or something. If the other guys in the frat had the food, then I couldn’t just wander in and help myself. I’d need Matt to get me a seat at that table and introduce me.
An introduction was necessary anyhow, so I could slip some questions to these guys about the house. At the moment, though, that seemed way less important than grabbing a bite.
“Hey man, you wanna show me to the guys? Maybe point me in the direction of that barbecue?”
“Oh, yeah, I guess.” He slid his plate away and stood up, brushing his shirt off. “That’s another thing that changed, man. We all eat pretty clean here, or we did. Most of these guys are vegan, but now they’re grilling every day.”
“Yeah, it smells amazing.”
“It smells gross, dude.” Matt looked a bit irritated and shook his head, moving around the table toward me. “I really need you to figure this out.”
“Let’s go talk to the guys then. Don’t sweat it, Matt. I’m on it.” I slapped his bicep to reassure him and he nodded, smirking. I could tell he wasn’t all that comforted, but I wasn’t exactly in the business of doling out chill feelings of zen. “Hey, what’s the story with Tara?”
“Friend of Roof. You bumped into him when you got here. She’s been bringing her sorority sisters around a lot lately.” Matt started to lead me toward the back of the house, and paused. “Like I said, about the same time all this shit started up. It’s like a damn party every day here.”
“That’s not so bad, is it? That’s what college is all about, yeah?”
Matt gave me a flat stare before turning to lead me back through the house. Probably wasn’t the most appropriate response, given his concern. I turned to find Virgil giving me a mild scowl as well, forcing a double take from me. I couldn’t question him, so I just returned the look with a touch of confusion added to it, and followed along toward the backyard.
The lot of them were gathered at a long picnic table that sat on a brick patio attached to the home. The place had a sizable backyard, complete with a brick barbecue built at the edge of a patio, a massive above-ground pool, and privacy fence all around the edge of the property.
The girls were mingled in with the guys, and not a one of them paid any attention to Matt and I as we came out of the house. Not one of them was fully dressed either. The guys were all in shorts or some kind of swimwear. Most of the girls were still topless. A couple others that had a full bikini on were like Tara—practically nothing to the swimsuits. They were all engrossed in their food and banter.
All of them; except for one, anyway.
Tara looked at me and smiled, hitting me with those eyes again. My stomach rolled over on itself as she raised a hand.
“Huh,” Matt remarked, as he looked between us. “That explains why you asked about her.”
“I was just curious. It’s not a thing.”
“I’m certain it’s a thing, Sir,” Virgil muttered quietly from behind me and I rolled my eyes slightly. He was taking advantage of my unwillingness to speak to him in front of other people.
“Whatever, man. So, you know Tara…” Matt stood next to me, pointing the guys out, one by one, at the table. “That’s Roof and Ransom, you met ’em when you got here.”
I put my hand up and stopped him, shaking my head. “Those are their names? Roof? Ransom?”
“Yeah.” Matt and I stared at one another and my brow went up. It finally clicked with him. “Nicknames from the frat. Everybody has one, or gets one from the guys anyway. We don’t use our regular names around here.”
“Okay… It’s gonna eat at me if I don’t ask. Where’d the names come from?”
Matt smirked as he started over, and pointed back to the guy at the end of the table. “Roof is a criminal justice major. Earned his nickname early on, his freshman year, before he rushed the frat, when he decided to roofie himself for research while writing a paper—nearly killed himself. Next guy is Ransom. He’s a meathead and gym rat, but a nice guy. Journalism major. Got his nickname for stealing a girl’s dog to get her to date him.”
“Clever. How’d that work out for him?”
“Community service. She changed schools. Next guy is BooBoo; the one with the Hawaiian shorts. He’s pre-med and a pretty fun guy—usually. He’s the risk manager, but he’s not on his game lately. Obviously.”
BooBoo wasn’t saying a word, just quietly eating a hotdog while the others chattered around him. If I had to guess, the face he was wearing looked like someone just broke his heart. It was pure depression.
“What’s a risk manager?”
“It’s one of the chairs that helps operate things in our chapter. He makes sure we don’t do stupid shit, or anything that could make the fraternity, or the chapter, look bad.”
Virgil chimed in again. “That sounds a bit like what I do for you… and especially Sutter.”
I turned around at that comment, pursing my lips as I glanced briefly to Virgil. Matt followed my gaze before leaning toward me. “Did you see something?”
“No,” I said flatly, as I stared right at Virgil before turning my attention back to BooBoo. “Doesn’t look like he’s thrilled about what’s going on.”
“Are you kidding? He’s the one that keeps planning this stuff. He had a truckload of sand shipped in for the basement.” Matt crossed his arms over his chest and pointed again. “And that’s Tabs, you saw his room. The clean one.”
Tabs was in the middle of carefully applying mustard to his hotdog, slowly making a perfect squiggle.
“You already met B and Bean Bag. Don’t expect them to leave that room, though.” Matt stood watching the group, a sullen look on his face. I could tell it was eating at him. The entire group of them looked absolutely normal to me.
Granted, I wasn’t used to seeing tits hanging free like that—especially not when they looked that nice. Still, without really knowing these guys, all I had to go on was Matt’s word about how they changed.
Which hit me while I was standing there, reveling in the scent of food. I desperately wanted to eat, so I didn’t really want to ask… but it was necessary. I turned my back to the group and stepped toward him, so I faced him. “If every one of these guys are acting so strange, how come you’re not?”
Matt scowled and looked down, his eyes darting around like he was physically searching for the answer. I almost regretted asking, the way it seemed to shove him promptly into a funk. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”
“You said there were chairs running the frat here. Who’s the man in charge?”
Matt poked himself in the chest.
“I’m not saying you’re wrong about everything going sideways here, but have you tried just getting a handle on these guys. They’d listen to their president, right?”
“Tried that. It’s like I don’t exist to these guys most of the time.” Matt walked to the table and knocked on it hard, injecting himself in the conversation. “Guys. Hey guys.”
The group conversation shut down, as all the heads turned toward Matt at the same time. The quiet was deafening and uncomfortable, even to me.
“Hey, so, this is Luca. He’s a potential new brother.”
“Fuck off, Matty. Nobody gives a shit.” Roof grabbed a handful of chips and threw it at him, scattering them over the table in the process. One of them landed smack in the middle of Tabs’ hotdog, among the fresh coat of mustard.
“God dammit!” Tabs slapped his plate, sending it across the table and stood, marching around to grab Roof. He snatched him up and pulled him off the bench. They wasted no time laying into each other, swinging wildly and tumbling to the ground, where they grappled.
The rest of the group went back to their conversation, oblivious to the scuffle, as well as us. Matt turned and walked straight back into the house, his shoulders sagged in defeat and head shaking.
I’d never seen anything like this and didn’t know what to think. Every investigation I’d been involved in could either be easily explained away by generic stuff, or else it was a legitimate encounter with a spirit or something else. In those situations, I could always see something.
I couldn’t see a damn thing here, other than the crazy door upstairs and Tara continuously eye-fucking me. I turned my back to the group again to address Virgil. He was studying me again with the same kind of mild scowl. Our eyes met, and he squinted at me.
“Luca, you are worrying me. I think we should leave.”
“I’m not leaving.” I straightened a bit at his suggestion, and his eyes darted around me to look at the others as I spoke to him. Tara stepped up next to me, holding a paper plate loaded high with a couple hotdogs, chips, and a variety of other things heaped together.
“Of course you’re not. You just got here.” She smiled and held the plate to me. “I saved you some.”
I took the plate as she placed it in my hands and she curled her fingers into my beard again, stroking my chin. I was lit by the same crisp chill, and goose bumps raced through me. She tightened her grip on my beard and pulled me toward her. Whatever thoughts, inhibitions, and instincts I had, that were telling me to put space between us, were quickly silenced when her lips met mine.
Nothing had ever tasted as sweet, or satisfying, as the weightlessness that I found myself in. Any desire for food I had was replaced. It had been in the back of my mind, pinging around among my thoughts like a pinball, but it was front and center now.
She broke the kiss but kept her lips near mine, her fingers sliding up through my beard to caress and scratch at my cheek. She spoke in just a whisper and I could feel her breath on my face. “Do you want to fuck me, Luca?”
I just nodded, slowly.
Her hands released me, and she stepped back.
“Luca.” Virgil tried to get my attention, but I didn’t have much interest in anything he had to say. He just wanted me to leave. If I couldn’t see anything else before I left, I would at least see what Tara wanted to offer me.
“Let’s go to your room.” Tara turned and stepped around Virgil, extending a hand and curling her fingers after me. Those green eyes called after me and I followed. Virgil was talking again, but I tuned him out.
I’m not one to drink. It plays hell with my thoughts and makes me paranoid. It also distorts everything I can see, if there is something to be seen through the veil. It was a terrifying lesson to find out that too much alcohol flips a switch that puts everything into nightmare mode.
So, when I started to feel drunk, sluggish, and warm all over, I was a little concerned—but I hadn’t had anything to drink.
The chair I sat on in the bedroom was comfortable, but not quite as comfortable as the bed. I rolled my head in that direction and saw Tara laying in bed. She smiled at me and dragged her hand slowly across the covers beneath her, toward her body, trailing her fingers up to her stomach and then to her bare breasts, before twisting her fingers around her necklace to tug at it as she bit her lip.
Suddenly Virgil was in my face, practically yelling at me. The echoes of his voice were pounding in my head, and it took a second to make out what he was saying.
“Luca. She stepped around me!” Virgil’s voice was far away. Muffled and muddied, like he was speaking under water.
I winced at the noise and sat up a bit in the chair. It took a tremendous amount of effort to speak, like I was talking around a mouth full of cotton. My tongue felt swollen and dry. “What?”
“I said… come touch me, Luca.” Tara’s words rang clear as day in my head.
“Luca, she can see me!”
I heard him that time, but I was already on my feet, moving toward her. Every part of me wanted a piece of her in that moment. She sat up, pawing a little at the sheets, as I moved to kneel on the bed. I crawled onto her, crushing my mouth to hers and pressing her down to the bed. My entire body was on fire as she moaned into my mouth.
When she wrapped a leg around the back of me, I ground myself into her thigh and choked out a quiet growl. I felt the air in the room electrify and grow cold. Crispy even. My hand cradled her cheek as I kissed her, and I moved to touch her breast when my fingers grazed the charm on her necklace.
The same electric, chilling sensation shot through my hand and up my arm.
Crispy.
The necklace.
She stepped around Virgil because she could see him.
My fingers closed on the necklace and I ripped it from around her neck. She gasped as our lips parted, and her head tipped back. As her body collapsed to the bed, a wisp of colored fog poured from her and flowed like water to the floor. It swirled silently then rose, taking the shape of a spirit.
A woman, like something straight out of Woodstock. She had long, straight blonde hair, with beads tied into it, and she was dressed in a loose skirt and colorful blouse that hung open to show off her ample cleavage. The same necklace I held in my hand was hanging around her neck.
Clarity rushed back as the female spirit groaned and sighed in frustration.
“Well, that was unexpected.” Virgil moved slowly to stand next to me at the side of the bed. I looked between the necklace and the female spirit, then to the girl on the bed next to me. She was unconscious, but breathing.
I looked back to the spirit. “Tara?”
“Jade,” she replied, as she gestured to herself while rolling her eyes. She pointed to the girl in the bed. “That’s Tara, and she’ll be fine.”
Jade crossed her arms, firing off an irate look at me before rolling her eyes again and looking the other way.
“You possessed her.” I looked at the necklace and shook my head. “You possessed her? How? You’re just a spirit.”
Virgil shrugged when I looked to him. Neither of us knew it was even possible. There were plenty of encounters where demons had taken control of people, but I’d never seen anything like this.
Or any kind of spirit that could have this kind of effect on the people around them.
“I was just having fun.” Jade hung her head but wouldn’t look at us. “I’ve been alone a long time. I got excited when I saw you and him together, and saw you talk to him. I didn’t think anyone could see or talk to us. I wanted to keep you.”
“Well, that’s not creepy at all.” I rubbed my forehead. “Your fun little excursion was fucking things up pretty intensely around here. How’d you get the necklace on her?”
“I’ve been stuck in some dusty store in Mexico for years. One of those boys came along and bought it one day. He brought it back and gave it to her.” Jade lowered herself to sit on the floor with her legs crossed, resting a chin in her palm with her elbow propped. “It was so different here. I’ve only seen that store. I was just enjoying myself.”
I exchanged glances with Virgil, and sighed as I weighed the hemp necklace and jade pendant in my hand.
She didn’t belong here and judging by the way she was dressed, she should have crossed over a long time ago. Typically, that’s exactly what I would do with a spirit like her—push them back and let them cross over.
But I was damn curious about everything she had been doing here, and how she did it.
“I need you to undo all this, Jade. Can you make all this go back to how this place was before? You need to fix these guys.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. Do that, and then you’re coming with me. I have… a lot of questions, to say the least.”
She finally made eye contact with me again. I expected her to object, and I was ready to force her to cross over if she got combative but instead, she showed nothing but relief.
“Well,” Virgil chimed in. “Sutter is going to hate this, that’s for sure.”
Matt was over the moon that things had almost immediately started to level off. On my way out, I gave him a brief rundown, without too much detail. While generally happy, he was a little bummed to find out his power slide door was also nothing more than a memory. I left it to him to deal with the aftermath, especially with the naked girl upstairs.
That wasn’t part of my job description. I did my part, and I always stick by my rules. Once the weird shit is handled, it’s up to the clients to handle the mundane shit.
Matt offered to let me crash, but I had no intention of staying overnight. Despite exhaustion and hunger, I vacated as quickly as possible, with Jade’s necklace tucked safely away in my bag. She and Virgil were already chatting it up on their own in the back of the rental car, as I made my way back to the storage facility, with a sack full of tacos riding shotgun.
Always tacos, because they pissed off Sutter and would send him off into an epic rant.
I figured if another spirit hanging around for a bit would upset him, I might as well add to it and get a little enjoyment out of it.
I parked the rental near the box truck that was still tucked neatly into one of the spaces usually reserved for motorhomes. Before getting out, I turned in the seat to look back at Virgil and Jade. They stopped speaking when they noticed me.
“Jade, obviously I have a ton of questions, but one is really eating at me. How did you manage to flip everyone like you did? That house was in chaos.”
Jade shrugged and smirked. “A little sexual energy goes a long way.”
“So, you… wait, with everyone?”
“No, I didn’t fuck any of them. I just, I don’t know, fed into their natural attraction to the girl, to make a little chaos. It was fun mixing things up.”
“What about Matt, he didn’t change.”
“He’s gay, Luca.” Virgil dropped that on me without hesitation.
“What? No, he’s not… Is he?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t notice, Sir.” That wasn’t the kind of subject he would joke about. He really didn’t have much of a sense of humor about things like that—or about much of anything—so I knew he wasn’t trying to mess with me. That’s the kind of stunt Sutter might pull, not Virgil. Still, I had a hard time believing it.
I looked to Jade, and she just nodded her head as if to agree with Virgil.
“Huh. No shit…” I grabbed my bag and the food as I hopped out of the car, heading for the truck to unlock the roll-up door.
Virgil and Jade stood behind me and I paused before I lifted the door. Sutter would no doubt throw a fit, but I needed answers. I wouldn’t hear the end of this for days, if not weeks, but it would be worth it. Throwing up the roll-up door on the truck, the angle of the light from the start of the sunset lit the interior well enough and I spotted Sutter trotting happily toward us.
“Rooster! Ah hell, that wasn’t long at a—” He spotted Jade standing with Virgil, and his posture stiffened. The air suddenly got super crispy, as he snatched the hat from his head and promptly lost his shit.
And he hadn’t even seen the tacos yet.
THE END
“Houseguest” is a short story prequel to the Veil of Darkness series. Pick up Book 1 of Veil of Darkness today on Amazon in both paperback and eBook (available on Kindle Unlimited)