“Can’t tell you,” she said. “I don’t know anything about other ghosts.”

  “And yet you know about the ones downstairs.”

  “I know about the ones downstairs, but it’s not like I converse with them much. And they don’t even converse with each other very often,” she noted. “A couple seem to be able to, but most of the others don’t. Yet I think they create bonds,” she stated thoughtfully, “but I’m not sure how that works.”

  “That’s because the only bond you’ve formed is with me,” Skylar explained. “And you really should be going into the light.”

  “But I’m not going to,” she argued, “because this is way too much fun.”

  Skylar groaned at that. “What will it take for you to go in the light? Maybe you can try another lifetime here.”

  “What if it’s worse than the last one?” she asked. “With my luck I’d come back as a man. An especially simple man.”

  Skylar couldn’t do anything but laugh. “Well, I would hope,” she added, “that you would have a little more tolerance for those simple males, if you did come back as one.”

  “Well, according to you, we’re coming back for each lifetime to learn something,” she said, “and that’s not really something I want to learn.” And, with that, she disappeared.

  Skylar sat here, pondering her world that had more ghosts than actual humans, considering the conversations and friendships that she had with both humans and ghosts and realizing that most people would consider her three bricks short of a load. As long as nobody really understood what was going on, and she could keep that secret safe, then it was fine. But the minute she started making the mistake of talking to these ghosts around other people, it would be a whole different story.

  For that reason alone, she tended to keep people away because it was too easy for her to forget about these ghosts being ghosts and not humans. Since she talked to them on a regular basis, it was hard to remember to hide their presence, and, once that secret was out, well, she didn’t want to think about what her life would be like. And that just brought Gage up again because he already knew way too much, and that was disturbing in itself.

  She shouldn’t have told him so much, particularly after he had followed her to the graveyard. That was a step too far in her book, and yet somehow she didn’t feel threatened by it, and that bothered her. How is it that she was giving this guy a level of leniency, especially when she wouldn’t have given anybody else the same? It didn’t make any sense, except that the ghosts and her own abilities had confirmed she had nothing to fear from Gage.

  And now that she had actually worked to save his life, it was even more apparent. She understood his energy more than he probably did, just from the experience of trying to save him. Not that it was a nice feeling by any means. Still, she could only deal with so much at one time, and he was not it. Plus, as long as Jonesy appeared to be missing, it would only bring more and more police and investigators around.

  She feared he was dead.

  Taking a deep breath and calming her thoughts for a moment, she said, “Jonesy, if you’re here, I’d like to talk to you.”

  A weird muffled sound came on the ethers, and she tilted her head to the side. “That doesn’t sound like Jonesy.” She spoke softly because she wasn’t sure exactly what she had heard, and it was more like she was speaking to herself.

  When another voice spoke up, it said, I’m not Jonesy, but I’d like to speak with you.

  Startled, she bolted to her feet and looked around, but no human form was here. Yet that ghostly voice had been strong, too strong for her not to first think it may have been human. “Why?” she asked.

  He took something from me.

  She looked up to see an apparition, standing in front of her. “What can you do with it in your form?”

  None of your business, he stated in a brisk tone. But I need it. And, if you know where it is, I need to know what you know.

  “I don’t know where he is,” she said blankly. “People have been asking me off and on all day. I don’t even know him.”

  You didn’t answer my question. The apparition wobbled in place for a long moment, and she saw the darkness of anger, first just at the edges, then slowly taking over. There was a bland haze on the outer layer, and she immediately covered herself in a protective energy.

  He laughed. You might do that now, he noted, but you won’t always be able to hide from me.

  “I’m talking to you now,” she stated in a calming voice. “I can see that this really bothers you, but have you considered that maybe you need to let it go?”

  I can’t let it go, he argued. He had something of mine.

  “What did he have? And, if I can find him and get it back, what is it that you want me to do with it?” she asked, trying for a reasonable tone of voice.

  Jonesy had the tarot cards but no longer, he stated, and I need them.

  “What good will they do?”

  They will help me live again.

  “No, they won’t,” she argued. “That’s not possible.” She spoke with a surety that she didn’t feel because something was always happening out there in the ethers, something odd and different enough to make her realize that she could never count on anything. But this guy seemed so sure that he could live again that she didn’t even want to go there or to consider it as a possibility.

  Yes, it is possible.

  “And how do you figure?”

  Jonesy already had my bones, he murmured. And my life was taken from me.

  “Many lives have been taken from many people,” she noted. “It’s a sad fact of the state of humanity, but that’s no guarantee that you can live again.” She hadn’t ever heard from anybody that it was even a possibility. “When your life is gone, you need to go to the light, and then you need to come back again as a different person with a different life lesson.”

  He snorted. I like the one I’ve got just fine.

  “Maybe so,” she admitted, “but apparently it was taken from you, and, therefore, it’s not the life that you have any longer.”

  More anger built in her unwanted ghost, and she stood fast, not letting him see any sign of fear at all. Ghosts like this lived on fear; they thrived on it. The worst thing she could do was actually let him see that she felt anything; otherwise he could use it against her.

  Finally he eased back and spoke. You’re strong.

  “Have you talked to very many of the living?” she asked, with a note of humor.

  A couple, he noted. They didn’t last long.

  At that, a whisper of a warning trickled down her spine. “Didn’t last?”

  Nope, they didn’t last at all. I’ll have to see how you do.

  “Last during what?”

  Possession, he stated, with a cheerful voice. I’ve become very good at it. The trouble is, my subjects don’t handle it very well.

  Skylar now felt that Jonesy was dead. By this ghost possessing him. And all about getting the cards. And, if Jonesy were dead, she then wondered if this angry spirit were the black entity who had sought to possess Gage earlier today, which had almost killed him too. Of course she had nothing to prove either theory, just her gut. Regardless, this spirit was to be avoided at all cost.

  Therefore, I’m always looking for somebody new, somebody stronger I can experiment on with my abilities. … And it looks like I found one.

  And, with that, he disappeared.

  Of course he could try. That didn’t mean she’d give him—or any other ghost—the opportunity.

  *

  The next morning Gage woke up and walked to one of the recommended breakfast spots. He had slept surprisingly well but was antsy to get out of his hotel room. He didn’t know why, but he definitely felt that sense of getting away from there free and clear, and he was okay to follow that dictate because he didn’t really want to be sitting inside anyway.

  It was a beautiful day out here, and he would only be here for however long it took to find Jonesy, so Gage wanted to explore and to learn. Besides, he was also going on one of those graveyard tours today, without his private nighttime tour guide. He wanted to see just what people were actually saying about these graves and about the ghosts. Even if he saw some on the tour, Gage didn’t expect that he could say anything to any of them. But he’d never know until he actually got there.

  He looked around at the restaurants nearby, chose one, picked up several beignets, and then decided that something more was needed. So he picked up several egg sandwiches too. As he walked toward Skylar’s store, Gage checked the atmosphere around it. He couldn’t tell a whole lot, but it seemed like everything was fine. He saw no dark sense of foreboding, saw no stormy weather, like they always talk about in the movies. It just looked like a normal day.

  As he walked into the store, he thought he heard a youngster inside, and he remembered what Skylar had said about the ghost kids often letting her know when people came in, so he called out, “Thanks for giving her a heads-up.”

  After a moment of silence, Skylar’s head popped around the corner, and she glared at him.

  He smiled suddenly. “I brought breakfast.”

  She frowned and sighed.

  “Yep, it’s a good day, isn’t it?” he asked, chuckling.

  She shook her head. “How come you won’t be chased away by my temper?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure, but, no, I won’t be,” he replied. “Nice try though.”

  “Not likely if it didn’t work.” She motioned to the space to the left of him. “Do you see anything?”

  He looked around and down, then shrugged. “Nope. Am I supposed to?”

  “Well, the little boy you said thank-you to is standing there, grinning up at you.”

  He turned and looked for a minute. “I can see … something, like an ethereal kind of a cloud maybe.”

  She nodded. “This little guy’s name is Jackie. So go ahead and say hello, if you like.”

  He knelt and said, “Hi, Jackie,” as he held out his hand. Instantly an icy wave crossed his palm, and he immediately retracted it. “Jesus.”

  “When you held out your hand, Jackie put his in it. His little hands are very cold,” she noted.

  He stared at her in wonder, then again at the space, but the ghostly apparition was gone.

  “He’s gone off, grinning from ear to ear,” she noted, with a smile. “Looks like you made his day.”

  “Good God, it’ll take a while to get used to this.”

  “A long while,” she added cheerfully. She took the bag from him, now looking inside.

  “You don’t ever tell me what you like or don’t like,” he stated. “Except you don’t seem to like being in crowds, so I’m guessing you don’t like walking through the graveyards in the daylight.”

  “I like all those things,” she replied. “All at the right time. And, so far, we haven’t had the right time.”

  He nodded. “I get it.”

  She offered him one of the egg sandwiches, and he nodded with relief because he was pretty damn hungry, and, after that touch from the little ghost, Gage was also on the nervous side. “Should I do anything for these ghosts? Are there any around me?”

  “Lots of them,” she stated, “but don’t worry about it. They’ll always be there, just watching you. Particularly now that you tried to interact with one of them.”

  “And what now? So the others will try to interact with me too?” he asked, frowning.

  “Maybe. You can never tell what ghosts will do.” But then she tilted her head, as if listening to something, and thereafter she shrugged. “Posey here wants to know why you’re back.”

  “Posey?”

  “An older woman, who passed peaceably in her rocking chair.”

  “So why is she still here?” he asked. “Aren’t they supposed to just naturally go off to the light and have a new life?”

  “Well, whatever afterlife that they’re supposed to have, she decided she didn’t like it. She still had family living here at the time, so she figured she might as well stick around too. But it does drive her nuts that they don’t come and visit.” Skylar smiled. “And you can’t really explain to her that they’ve all since died now and are gone, and their ghosts didn’t hang around, like she did.”

  “Are they all dead and gone?”

  “I did check once, and she has quite a few cousins and grandchildren spread out across the country, but I don’t think anybody lives in New Orleans anymore.”

  “And you’ve told her that?”

  “Many times,” Skylar confirmed, with a wave of her hand. “Now she has locked on to me, so I just became the next family member she didn’t want to leave.”

  “It’s really fascinating, you know?”

  “It is. Yet it can also be crazy and disturbing.”

  “Have you ever had scary ghosts lock on to you?” At that, her smile fell away, and he leaned forward. “Tell me.”

  “I don’t really want to,” she murmured, “but considering what happened last night, I guess I’d better.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “You had a visit from an unfriendly ghost last night?”

  She nodded. “He’s looking for Jonesy because Jonesy had something of his, and he mentioned the tarot cards.”

  At that, Gage’s heart sank. “Did you ask him if Jonesy was dead?”

  She shook her head, not wanting to share this news until she had proof in the physical world. “Ghosts don’t know if somebody is dead or not.”

  “How is that not a thing?” he asked.

  “Do you know if somebody’s dead?” she asked him.

  He looked at her, considering the question. “Well,” he began, then stopped. “I guess not, since an awful lot of people are in this world, aren’t there?”

  “There are, and, if it’s not somebody in your state, in your world, in your actual circle of friends and family, how would you know if somebody was alive or dead?”

  “I didn’t really think of it that way,” he muttered, “but, yeah, that makes sense.”

  “Listen. This malevolent ghost is looking for a body to possess, a strong psychic body, because he wore out the last one—or two. I know that sounds horrible,” she noted, looking at Gage, “but you have to understand that it’s more important than ever that you use protection circles around you at all times.”

  “So, it’s really that serious?” He knew he sounded dazed, but what else was he supposed to do when having an actual conversation on ghostly possession. “Is it even possible that a ghost could possess me, a living body?”

  “I have to wonder if that isn’t why you passed out yesterday,” she noted, frowning. “And, if so, his possession attempt almost killed you. That would also explain how he found me.”

  “Because you’re the one who came to help me?”

  She nodded. “And, because I did help, it also shows I have some strength in this field, which he is now attracted to.”

  “Does he have the ability to actually overtake someone?”

  “I won’t say no because we’ve all heard of possession horror stories over the years. Have I come across it myself? No. Do I want to? Hell no,” she stated in a strong voice. “But that doesn’t mean that we always get what we want.”

  “And yet you’re still fairly ballsy about it.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Not really, but I won’t go borrowing trouble before it gets here either.” She didn’t even know what to say because it sounded so far-fetched. She shook her head. “And again you’re at a crossroads here. I don’t care if you believe me or not,” she snapped, “but don’t waste my time. So, if you don’t believe me, the door is behind you.”

  He immediately shook his head. “Don’t get so riled. It’s just a foreign concept to me.”

  “It’s a foreign concept to a lot of the world. The fact of the matter is, he was angry, and I mean very angry about something, and it had to do with the tarot cards. He did say that your uncle had bones that were his and something about somebody taking his life.”

  “Wow,” Gage murmured, trying to sift through it all. “He isn’t implying that my uncle killed him, I presume?”

  “No, he looked like he was from a different era,” she noted quietly. “I couldn’t tell you when or where.”

  “And time really doesn’t matter, unless you’re trying to track down a murderer,” he muttered.

  “Maybe, in that case, yes, but, at the same time, maybe not. Remember. Back then, there were no records of importance in so many of these cases.”

  “Right, so people could get away with murder, and, other than the deceased’s immediate circle, nobody really cared.”

  “There is also the possibility,” she murmured, “that somebody may have killed him while he was in the process of doing something illegal.”

  “Just because he was doing something illegal doesn’t mean that the death was justified.”

  “The person who killed someone might very well think it was justified. I mean, if you are protecting your own life or that of your family, then you would definitely consider it justified. But the criminal himself, the one who came there to do the job and got killed in the process, doesn’t necessarily agree.”

  “Wow,” Gage repeated, shaking his head. “So people are stuck and still believing their own lies, even on the other side.”

  “Remember,” she murmured. “Everybody should be looking at their own world and dealing with their own issues because everybody else has their own take on it.”

  “It’s all so very strange to consider.”

  “Strange, but it happens all the time.”

  He nodded. “So, back to last night. Did you have any problem getting rid of the possessing ghost? Has he been back today?”

  “Not so far,” she said, looking at him. “I don’t know if he’s planning on staying away or if he’ll show up again at some point.”

  “Yes, you do,” Gage countered instantly. “You wouldn’t have even mentioned it if you didn’t think he’d be back.”

  “I know he’s still hanging around,” she admitted, seemingly unoffended, adding a shrug. “I can only wait and see if he’ll become a problem.”