She stared at him for a long time. “I don’t imagine that it’s accepted by many people.”

  “Anybody in my world would have no problem with it,” he stated quietly. “So you’ve spent a lifetime separated from those of us in this field, worried about judgment, worried that people would not like your system?”

  “I make the souls wait,” she said defiantly. “I make them wait, until I know that I can handle however many I can carry.”

  Skylar seemed to be blaming herself for something.

  “And I need the power of the full moon.”

  “You do,” Stefan agreed. “The bottom line though is that, when you step up, you step up in a big way. And I can imagine that the pull the souls have on you is pretty tough and that the only way you can deal with them is to push off the event, awaiting that full moon and the promise of more usable energy.”

  “Sometimes they won’t leave me in peace,” she cried out, “even when I tell them that I will help them eventually, but that I can’t help them right away and that I need my energy to build and that I need time to recover from each transfer process.” She sighed. “They won’t listen.”

  “No, because those souls are determined to go where they want to go,” Stefan noted, “and it’s not your fault, and you are not to be blamed when you need to take a step back and to do it your way.”

  She tilted her head, as if listening for a lie in his words, and Stefan, still attached to Gage, let her. And then her shoulders seemed to sag, and she whispered, “Thank you.”

  “You should never blame yourself,” Stefan stated, even ordered. “What you’re doing is incredible. I don’t know anybody who can do this.”

  “You help souls cross all the time,” she noted.

  “And I only take one at a time.” He laughed. “And I only help those who are ready and who can see the light. You don’t wait for them to see the light, do you?”

  She shook her head. “No, as long as I know that they are meant to go on the other side,” she explained, “I’ve never yet had anyone not go, when I can take them there. Typically I take those who have been blinded by circumstances in this world, where their fear and their pain have held them back from crossing over. Then I can make it happen.”

  “That’s incredible,” Stefan said. “You don’t realize what a special gift you have.”

  She stared at Gage now, her eyes again glowing with a weirdly inner light.

  Gage felt something trickle up and down his spine, as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck and all around his arms stand on end. He looked at her and asked, “Did you just touch my soul?”

  She smiled. “Of course. If you come into my world, I have a right to check to make sure that you are of my world and that I don’t need to kick you right back out again.”

  He sucked in his breath. “I’m really hoping you don’t.”

  After another moment of analysis, she relaxed even further.

  Stefan asked her, “Have you ever had help?”

  “No, and no training. I learned very early on that anybody I told was out to hurt me.”

  He winced. “Unfortunately that’s often true,” he confirmed. “I knew you were here, but I had no idea you were capable of generating that power or that you could cross over yourself, yet stay connected to here. I’m not sure you understand how absolutely unique it is that you can stand with one foot on the river Styx and cross over, letting all the souls go through you to the other side, and still return to this side, completely whole.”

  “Well, whole I’m not so sure about,” she teased, with half a smile. “Yet I have learned to perfect it over time.”

  “How long have you been doing this?” Gage asked, dazed at the thought.

  “A decade or more,” she replied, with a one-arm shrug. “I don’t count. I just know that I operate this way and always have.”

  “And nobody knows?”

  “Not until tonight,” she noted, tilting her head back defiantly.

  “All I would suggest,” Stefan added gently, “if you ever feel you need backup or a hand or assistance in any way shape or form, you contact me and Dr. Maddy. We will never laugh at you, and we surely would never hurt you. Honestly, you belong with us, and you need to be part of our group.”

  “Why?” she asked, checking out his energy. “What is it that I need from you?”

  He smiled. “Community support. Acceptance. Belonging.”

  Her eyes widened and then narrowed before she gave him a gentle smile. “Touché, you’re right about that. It’s the one thing I’ve never had. I do not have peers who accept me. I do not have anyone who supports me. I’ve been alone and worked alone for a very long time, never fitting in. I’ve always assumed that, at some point in time, I would end up in jail for this. Labeled a crazy woman and confined somewhere for months, if not years.”

  “And, if that ever happens,” Stefan said, “I can help.”

  She tilted her head. “Can you?”

  “Absolutely. We would do our utmost to get you back out again.”

  She smiled. “In that case, it would be nice to have somebody watch my back.”

  “The work you do is too important.” Stefan said. “I mean, I can’t even begin to do what you’re doing here.”

  “And yet you seem surprised by that,” she noted, with a burst of laughter.

  He agreed. “I am forever surprised by things continuously happening around me that move me, especially when I have no idea that it’s even done. I’ve never even considered that this was a possibility—before now.” Stefan made a sound almost like a prayer, as if unable to come up with the words to describe it. “My God, … what I saw tonight.”

  She nodded. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t share it.” He hesitated, and she cocked her head, as if listening, even watching him. Yet another mystery Gage couldn’t unravel. “And, yes, Dr. Maddy is okay.”

  With that, he relaxed. “Fine. I hope you get to the point where you are less concerned about being found out.”

  “I’m not sure that’ll ever happen.” She raised her left eyebrow at him. “Once you’ve been burned, it’s difficult to even think about opening yourself up to that again.”

  He nodded. “We’re not those people. Check my energy, walk through me, feel it, understand my soul, where I’m coming from, those I help, the centers Dr. Maddy and I have, the people we work with, and the people who we save on a daily basis.”

  She hesitated, and he urged her again, “Walk inside me and see for yourself.”

  Gage piped up, “Uh, how can she do that? Aren’t you talking in my head, seeing out my eyes?”

  Something moved at his side, and Gage turned to see an odd spirit form standing there, glowing in gold. “Stefan?” he asked in amazement, and the spirit nodded. As Gage watched in even deeper shock, Skylar stepped forward and stepped into Stefan’s energy. Gage couldn’t believe it, but the energy itself started to gyrate in a weird blending motion. He didn’t understand it.

  And then she separated again. “Accepted,” she said, her voice calm and at peace.

  “And you do realize that, having done what you’ve just done,” Stefan began, “you’ve now—”

  She nodded. “We’re now connected in many ways,” she interrupted, an odd note of humor. “I hope your wife understands.”

  He burst out laughing. “She does.”

  “I don’t,” Gage admitted, stepping forward. “I don’t understand at all.”

  She looked at him and said, “Well, close your eyes.”

  When he did so, she stepped forward, and he felt the energy whispering closer and closer, and then he felt something cool land on his lips, and then, dear God, his whole spirit jolted, as she stepped inside his body and became one with his soul. He cried out in joy and wonder, completely in shock, and then it was all too much, and everything went black.

  Chapter 14

  “Well, Stefan,” Skylar noted, “I guess Gage wasn’t quite ready for that.”

  “He was ready,” Stefan stated comfortably. “Give him a minute to come back around again. It’s a bit of an awakening.”

  “And yet he’s so anxious for answers.”

  “Sometimes one is anxious for answers, until one actually understands what one is asking.”

  She smiled at the glowing gold ball beside her.

  He asked, “It doesn’t drain you? What you did tonight?”

  “It is draining,” she agreed, “but I’m very aware that I walk a pathway that balances energy from both sides. That’s the reason for my dance at first.”

  He nodded. “Of course. You have to get the vibration correct, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, “and the energy must move and flow as intended.”

  “Have you ever had it not happen?”

  “Not since I learned how to do it properly,” she said. “There’s an instinctive knowledge as to when it’s all ready.”

  “It’s stupendously amazing to realize all that you’ve learned,” Stefan murmured, “and to think that you did it all on your own is incredible.”

  “Is there any other way?” she asked, smiling. She reached down a hand, her hand that still buzzed with wild energy, and placed it on Gage’s forehead.

  “Will that bring him back?” Stefan asked.

  “It should.” She gave him a gentle smile. “Enough healing energy still runs through my system that it should be of value to Gage.”

  “Have you ever utilized that energy to help anybody else?”

  “If you mean, anybody physical, yes,” she replied, “but only in ways that they aren’t aware of.”

  Stefan nodded. “I know Dr. Maddy would love to have that energy available to her.”

  She looked over at him. “Meaning?”

  “You should be able to transfer that energy to a patient who’s not here in this physical location,” he noted calmly. “Which means that, anytime you have that leftover energy, she has patients who need it.”

  Skylar tilted her head and contemplated that thought. “There really is no physical distance when it comes to loving healing energy, is there?”

  “No,” he murmured. “And that type of energy is powerful.”

  She smiled. “It is very powerful, and I have used it a couple times, but again not in such a way that anybody would be able to recognize.”

  “You must have had a fascinating life,” he murmured, “to have become so independent and so capable on your own.”

  “I always wondered what it would be like to have people,” she added, with a smile, “people who cared, people who were there for me, people who were supportive.”

  “You may not have had it before,” Stefan noted, “but you will now.”

  “Nothing will really change though, will it?” she asked.

  “Except maybe just knowing that you’re not alone?” he stated, “Hopefully that will put a smile on your face, a smile that hasn’t been there very much, I suspect.”

  “No, not near enough.”

  “And now it can be,” he said.

  At that, Gage groaned, opened his eyes, and stared up at her. “Did you just walk inside me?”

  “Is that even possible?” she asked, immediately turning the question around and looking at him, all with a big smile.

  “I would have said no,” he began, “but you’ve given me a glimpse into another world. It seems like a parallel universe, so foreign to the world I lived in before that my other world means absolutely nothing to me now.”

  “And it will be that absolutely nothing determination,” she explained, “which will allow you to take whatever offer you’re given on your company and just walk away.”

  He stared at her, as he slowly sat up. “You know what? Right now I agree.” He looked around the graveyard. “Jesus, I can’t believe what I just saw.”

  “Well, I suggest you get on your feet,” she suggested. “I had a ton of energy, but it will fade quickly.”

  He nodded. “What about Stefan?”

  She looked around, but that sense of loss was here already. “He’s gone. And now we need to get moving too.” She helped Gage to his feet.

  He immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tucked her up close, and whispered, “My God.”

  “Yeah, well hold all that shock for a little bit later,” she noted, feeling an inner sense of panic rising. “We have company, and we need to get out of here fast.”

  “Company?”

  “Yeah, and it’s not friendly.” She immediately ducked and raced toward the open gate. He followed, and, by the time they got to the other side, she closed and locked it.

  He looked at her. “Ghostly or human?”

  “Both. And I’m not exactly sure why.”

  She moved away from the gate itself, but looked back at the graveyard.

  A man in a loud, cranky, almost angry tone yelled out, “Gage, you can’t escape.”

  Gage froze, turned toward Skylar.

  She faced the ghost and asked, “Linden, by any chance?”

  *

  Gage stared at the strange apparition in front of him. According to Skylar’s words, it would be his friend. The one who had died in the car accident. “Linden?” he asked hopefully. “Is that you?”

  “Yes.”

  So much anger, almost hatred filled his voice.

  “Yes, it’s me, not that you care. Of course you lived. Of course you’ll do very well out of all this. Look at you, and yet I’m the one who’s dead. I’m the one who doesn’t get to live and do anything that I wanted to do anymore. I had dreams too, you know?”

  “So why did you kill yourself?” Gage asked him.

  At that, Skylar grabbed Gage’s hand. Turning to Linden, she stated, “You need to take that anger out on someone else. And you can’t stay in that agitated state for long. It’s draining you of all the things that you need to do with your life.”

  “What life?” he roared. “My life is over because of him.”

  “Are you sure about that?” she asked, her gaze scanning the area for the evil human she had sensed.

  “Yes,” he snapped, “I am. He’s the reason I’m dead. I’m sure he told you something else,” he yelled, with so much bitterness. “But he’s wrong. He’s lying. He is the one who caused the accident. It’s his fault. He tried to kill me.”

  Gage felt like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest at the lies spouted by his friend. “That’s not true,” he whispered, hoping nobody else could hear Linden speaking. “You know it’s not true.”

  “Do I?” he snapped. “All I know is, you got the money, and you got life, and look at me. I’m dead. I’m not even on the other side, where I belong. I’m here, stuck in-between.”

  “That’s because you chose it,” she stated instantly. “Now you could choose to go follow the light on your own. You could choose to walk away from this half existence.”

  He laughed. “Says you,” he muttered, with such disdain.

  “Yes, I do. I do understand, whether you acknowledge it or not,” she explained, “but your anger and your hatred keep you anchored where you are.”

  “And why am I here?” he asked. “That’s what I don’t understand. I didn’t die here, and yet Gage is here.”

  “That’s because you’re not tethered to where you died. You’re tethered to Gage himself.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he roared at her. “You will not stop what I’m here to finish.”

  “And, if you’re here to finish something, why haven’t you already done so?” she asked, inciting further rage from Linden.

  Gage looked over at her in shock, and she just shrugged, then spoke to Linden. “All I see right now is somebody who’s so angry and so incapable of accepting what he did to himself that he can’t let go. You wasted your human life here, indulging in your addiction, then cutting short your own life. And now you’re wasting the in-between time you have to think and to figure out how to fix your next world,” she said. “You have a chance at a second life, an opportunity to do so much good, to learn from your mistakes in this life and to come back and to live all over again, but better and differently and learning other lessons.”

  “You lie,” he growled. “There’s none of that for me. You know it as well as I do. Gage must pay for what he did.”

  “And why is that your decision?” she asked, looking at Linden. “Why do you feel that you have the right to say what he has to pay for or not?”

  “Because it’s not fair,” he roared, the sound splintering into Gage’s eardrums.

  Gage clapped his hands over his ears. As Skylar placed her hands over his, almost immediately the tone went down. “Thank you,” he whispered to Skylar, then looked back.

  Only Linden’s ghost was gone.

  “Dear God, what the hell was that?” Gage asked.

  “That is an angry ghost,” she stated calmly. “It won’t be the last one you see, and unfortunately it happens to be your friend. However it does feel like it’s gone for now.”

  “You have to believe me,” he said, looking her in her eyes. “I did not kill him.”

  “I know.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Remember when I walked through you? You have no secrets from me now.” Her eyes once again gained that weird glow. “I can feel and sense the heart of you,” she murmured, “and you did not lie.”

  He felt the relief wash through him, even as her words stunned him. “So, like, you know everything?”

  “If I wanted to, I could access everything, yes,” she admitted. “And, if you don’t like it, well, that’s too bad because there are repercussions for your actions too.”

  He winced. She was talking about him following her. “I really did feel like you were in danger.”

  “You did when you saw me walk out of my building,” she shared calmly, “but that is not why you initially came after me.”

  “No, because, when I saw you in that outfit,” he replied honestly, “I was afraid that you had a partner that you hadn’t told me about.” She shot him a look, and he smiled and added honestly, “And you can tell the truth from this. I was jealous.”

  She smiled back at him. “And I can tell that you’re speaking the truth, so, in this case, I forgive you. But, when you lie, I will know,” she stated, “and I will not tolerate it.”