Megan screamed into the vortex, the words ripped from her numb lips. The sound swallowed by the rushing whoosh of the wind. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ground her body to this plane of existence as she felt her spirit pulled from her. Black fog covered her vision and slashes of red flashed and bombarded her eyes, painful as the slash of a knife on her flesh.
A hand emerged from the fog, each finger ending in a razor-sharp talon. A finger flicked, and a stinging pain cut across her cheek. The gush of warm, wet blood flowed down her face. Her shaking hand reached and caressed her untouched skin. She pulled back her hand in disbelief, shocked to find no glistening crimson on her fingers. How was it possible her cheek wasn’t sliced to the bone?
A warmth enveloped her from the back. Strong arms reached around and held her. A calm voice whispered in her ear. She clung to the sound of his voice. It anchored her.
“Let him go, Megan. Release him.”
“Aaron, you don’t belong here. Leave me. Move on.”
“Again,” Jack told her. “You are in charge of this home. This plane.”
“Aaron, move on.” Her voice shrieked out, louder than the wind. The roar stopped as quickly as it had started. Her ears rang in the silence.
O’Malley dropped his arms from her and she felt a momentary twinge at their absence, at the loss of his warmth and strength. She sighed and pulled her shoulders back. The man was nothing to her. Someone she’d contracted to help with a difficult problem. She had just released her husband, she didn’t need another man the instant one was gone. She was strong enough to go through this. She was strong enough to do anything.
Luke Tremaine rushed up to Jack and slapped him on the back. “Tell me you caught all of that. We are gonna be rich. No other ghost show has this kind of footage. We will set the bar too high for the others to compete.”
Andrea started to talk, but Megan put a hand on her arm and her sister stepped back. She’d relied on her parents, her big sister, and on Aaron for too long. It was time to step up and be in control of her own life. She was tired of all the bullshit. She was just plain tired of everyone thinking they had to take care of Megan.
“I’m afraid that is impossible, Mr. Tremaine. I signed the contracts and Mr. O’Malley agreed not to televise the event taking place here in my home. I expect your company to honor my wishes.”
She winced as her mother’s voice came out of her mouth. Shrugging, she steeled herself to take the man’s anger and disappointment. It was time to get some benefit for being a Martin-Stovall.
He didn’t disappoint. Tremaine threw his arms up in the air and turned his back on her. It didn’t sound like he was cussing, but some choice words came through his muttering. Mostly idiotic and waste of time.
Jack turned and took her hand in his grasp. “It wasn’t a waste of time if you feel better, Mrs. Trent. Ghost Releasers isn’t about the fame and the television show. It is about helping people.”
“Thank you, Jack. I mean, Mr. O’Malley.” She bit her lip. “How will I know if it worked?”
“I’ll call you in a couple of days and you can let me know how you are doing. If anything happens, anything at all, just call Ghost Releasers and we can come back.”
His fingers squeezed her hand and let it drop. He turned to help his people start wrapping things up. There were a few high-fives, but mostly low murmurs as they compared what their equipment had detected and what they had seen and heard firsthand.
Jack turned back to her once the last crate had been taken outside. “We’ll go over the evidence and let you know if anything turns up that we didn’t see or hear for ourselves. I’ll have my assistant put together a package for you with all the event’s exciting parts.”
“I don’t think it was exciting,” she whispered, her hands rubbing up and down her arms. “More like terrifying.”
Jack grinned, and his dark eyes brightened as he stared at her. “In the paranormal world, we would think this had been the best night ever.”
His smile disappeared but his eyes still stared at her. “I’m glad we were here with you instead of you going through this alone.”
“Me, too,” she intoned as he turned and shut the door behind him. The calm silence in the room surrounded her until Andrea wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Me, too,” her sister said, placing her chin on Megan’s shoulder. “Me, too.”