“Holy smokes,” I whispered to Henner. “She didn’t appear like that before!”

  Where was the carefree ghost teen who wanted to experience some of the freedom she’d had when she was alive? A day ago, she’d been doing her best to live it up, making up for lost time, and now look at her.

  I tried to peek through the little round windows in the doors, but I didn’t think I could manage without someone inside seeing me. What the heck was Magda going to do? She couldn’t grab the idol any more than Cain could. She couldn’t get it out of the building without our help, even. So why the determination to get to it?

  And then I really thought about it and almost smacked myself in the forehead for being such a dunce.

  Ghosts stuck around for a reason. No one ever became a ghost because they lived a good life and died peacefully. Me, I’d stuck around because I’d refused to accept that my life was done. I’d been cut down in my prime, just when everything I’d ever wanted was right there, within reach. I’d wanted my life back, and now I had it again.

  But Magda was like Cain; she hadn’t stuck around by choice. She’d lived her life, and moved on when she was done. Cain hadn’t stuck around either, even though his death had been pretty violent. I’d never asked him about it, but I was sure part of him had always assumed he’d go on the job, so he hadn’t been terribly shocked by it.

  Maybe being killed by a demon. I doubted he’d expected that part.

  But Magda, she’d put in her years and then left with no regrets, or at least none that would make her stick around.

  At least, not until Sophia had asked me to bring her back.

  Because then she’d found out that her family was in danger, their idol missing, ready to plunge the entire clan into a civil war over the next leader, and Magda wasn’t about to let that happen on her watch. Or immediately after her watch.

  I’d given her an obsession, something to hold her to the world. She was acting like a proper ghost now, all driven and infatuated, and oh, boy Darla, you sure can make a mess of things.

  Gee whiz.

  Inside the store room, the overhead lights flickered.

  “I don’t suppose that’s your doing?” I asked Henner hopefully.

  “Nope,” he said, his face pale as he stared at the doors.

  I sighed. “Yeah. I didn’t think so.”

  Inside the storage room, a confused babble of voices picked up, and I heard the squawk of a radio.

  I batted my eyes up at Henner. “Can you…?”

  “On it.” He peeked through the window, and the radio went silent.

  He really was just the bee’s knees.

  The lights flickered again, the fluorescents overhead buzzing like someone kicked over a wasp’s nest. The voices got louder, and a bit more urgent.

  Cain stuck his head through the door before turning back to me. “Should we go in? You won’t be able to hang around out here for much longer.”

  I hesitated. There were still four fellas, probably armed, between me and the idol I needed to snag. And that was assuming the idol was out in the open and not packed all nice and neat in one of the crates I’d seen through the camera feed on Henner’s phone. Sure, the lights were a bit unsettling, but they were only as distracting as a short in the power lines might be.

  “Thieves. Thieves. How dare you touch it? The idol isn’t for outsiders. Give it back, give it back, give it back!”

  Magda Erepto’s voice drifted through the air, and I jumped. It sounded like she was hissing the words right in my ear.

  Henner and I exchanged a worried glance. That didn’t sound good. That wasn’t just normal ghost talk. Oh, sure, there could be some wailing, some thumps in the night, but furious monologuing wasn’t usually our style, unless the person had done us a wrong themselves. Something had definitely shifted for Magda, motorcycle riding Magda with her skirt tucked into her waistband, to be ranting like she was.

  Wood smashed against something hard, and I jumped as the men inside started shouting.

  “Ah, shoot.” No chance for it. I took a deep breath and dove through the door.

  The lights brightened, giving off a high-pitched whine like a turbine and cast the world into stark lines of shadows. The four guards were staring at a crate that was totally smashed, like someone had picked it up and thrown it into the wall. As all of us watched it, straw and packing materials spilled onto the floor, and I suddenly saw the bent angle of a gold painted frame. The painting inside was torn by the splintered wood, the canvas flapping like a mouth.

  Magda Erepto hovered over them all, her bare feet dangling below the hem of her skirt. Her hair whipped around her head like it was caught in a gale, snapping in the air with a mind of its own. Hair wasn’t supposed to move like that. Her face was twisted into a snarl, too-sharp teeth on display.

  A crate against the far wall had its lid removed, showing the top of what looked like a marble bust inside. It looked expensive, and heavy, and as I stood frozen and ducked down just inside the door, the whole massive thing wobbled, and lifted into the air.

  Holy smokes, the old lady wasn’t just upset. She was going full poltergeist.

  They were the most dangerous kinds of ghosts, capable of not just affecting the world around them, but causing a lot of damage in the process. Any time you hear of people getting tripped down stairs, or things floating around, or someone pounding on the walls in the night, that was a poltergeist.

  Frank had been a nightmare, and he’d started off totally human. His anger and jealousy had twisted him into something terrible a long time before he ended up pushing up daisies. Death just made him worse. He’d terrorized families, caused some real injuries too. Poppy’s son, Finn, well Frank had harassed the poor kid for weeks. To that day, the now teenager was still a bit leery around ghosts, even yours truly, though we were better now that I had a body again.

  It had taken Poppy three banishing potions to convince Frank to shuffle off his mortal coil. And he hadn’t started off as anything more than a mook with a temper.

  Magda had been a Graeae, and a strong one, I assumed. I wasn’t sure how anyone weak could keep an entire clan of monsters in line for however many years. Sometimes supernatural power crossed over lines, sometimes it didn’t. A witch who turned into a vampire lost their magic, but a strong supernatural that came back as a vengeful ghost? Wowee, that was bad news. One that took a trip to poltergeist town, and you’d better run for cover.

  The second crate lifted higher and then jolted forward to smash into the ground. Bits of wood went everywhere in a rain of splinters. The statue inside, a young woman in a diaphanous gown carrying an urn, cracked in half. Her shapely gams went sliding across the room to rest against the far wall.

  The guards whirled, shouting. I wasn’t sure they could see Magda—in fact, I doubted they could, but they could see the destruction that was happening right before their eyes. There was a whole lot of chaos, and I saw at least one gun, which gave me the jitters. My last brush with one didn’t end so well for me, so you’d better believe I started crawling in my fancy duds, trying to hide behind one of the big boxes of stuff to get out of their line of sight while they panicked about crates, seemingly, bursting for no reason.

  I flattened my back to a huge box of what looked like cups for soda, which was so banal after everything else that I almost laughed, and had to slap a hand over my mouth to smother the snort before it gave me away.

  Magda was almost to the ceiling, her hair a terrible corona around her head, writhing and twisting back on itself, moving like… well, like snakes.

  “Thieves!” She howled to the ceiling, a strange, animalistic sound, and oh boy were we all in trouble.

  The shriek went on, and on, and even the guards, the poor human saps, who couldn’t hear it, they could still sure feel the aura of creeping dread that was winding its way through the room like an evil fog. I saw wide eyes and shaking hands, and that wasn’t a good combination for big men with weapons.

  Cain stepped through the box I was hiding behind, his face grim. Are you okay?

  I nodded, not wanting to draw the attention of the guards or their guns.

  He nodded, then turned his attention to the ghost having a temper tantrum in the middle of the storage room. Some of the bits of debris were rolling across the floor, seemingly under their own power. A few splinters rattled off the far wall, and Cain crouched down, draping himself over me.

  It felt a bit cool, and buzzy, but there wasn’t any weight to him. It was times like Cain seemed to forget that he was a ghost, that he couldn’t stop shrapnel from hitting me with his body. I didn’t remind him. The attempt was sweet, and it made my heart give a bruised little thump, just the edge of an ache. I wished I’d gotten a chance to know him when he’d been alive.

  Magda screamed again, and the lights overhead echoed her before finally bursting in a shower of sparks and broken glass, plunging the whole back room into darkness.

  Then the fire alarm went off.

  That was what finally sent the guards running out of the room. They might have been able to stand their ground in the dark, but no one wanted to face something they couldn’t see that was terrorizing everything in the room.

  Lucky for me, I had pretty good night vision. I didn’t know if it was a holdover from being a spook myself, or if it had just always been like that and I’d forgotten over the century I spent haunting the house in Silverlake. Either way, the amount of watery pale light Magda’s ghost form was throwing off was plenty for me to see by, and with the guards out of the room, I got to my feet. No way was I risking crawling around on the ground covered in glass and splinters. I even put my shoes back on.

  Cain straightened up, dusting himself off where we’d kind of stepped through each other.

  “Darla!” Henner came through the door, squinting into the dark room. “Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “Over here!” I waved my arms over my head, and Cain floated up a little so that Henner could see him.

  Henner hurried towards us, glass and straw crunching under the soles of his dress shoes. Another crate started to wobble, lifting up onto one corner as it spun in place, gaining speed. I dove forward to grab Henner’s arm to yank him behind the box with us, right before the crate burst apart, sending boards and straw and a few bits of something metallic whirling to the ground.

  It was the glint of the rubies that caught my eye. One of the pieces that had landed not far away, a small figure made of gold, and I recognized it instantly. A woman, her face turned up haughtily, with snakes twined around her arms and body. That had to be the idol.

  I dove for it, and Henner yanked me back as a pair of marble legs went sailing through the air where I’d been a second before.

  “Thief!”

  “Holy cats, Magda!” I ran my hands over my face and neck, still a little surprised they were still attached. That statue had flown with some serious speed. Good thing Henner had gamer reflexes. “I’m trying to get the idol back to your family!”

  She didn’t hear me. Or she just didn’t care. Trying to argue with a ghost that far gone was like whistling to the sea and expecting the tides to change. I wasn’t even sure she was still seeing me.

  We needed to get the idol and blow this popsicle stand, before the guards got their courage back and came with reinforcements. Eventually, someone would be coming for the priceless artifacts. Well, those that weren’t already broken, that is.

  Magda’s arms rose up over her head, and her mouth opened, wide. Wider, and wider, until it was far too much for what a human jaw was actually capable of. She shrieked, and the sound was so piercing that I was surprised my ears didn’t start bleeding. Nails on a chalkboard would have been sweet music compared to the sounds coming out of the ghost.

  She was inches away from going even fuller poltergeist, and that was bad news for everyone, including Magda. Frank had been a no-account bum, but he’d lost some piece of himself to become a monster. I didn’t want to see that happen to Magda, especially not because I’d screwed up. I’d hoped, once I got the idol back to Sophia, that Magda could have said her goodbyes to her family, and maybe had some time together, like Taliyah and her boys getting to enjoy Cain’s presence, even if he could only be with them in spirit. Literally.

  But that time had passed. And if Magda was going to have any chance at all of retaining her sense of self, then there was only one thing I could do for her.

  The veil was churning like a storm-tossed sea, the waves getting higher and more deadly with every second. I didn’t have any candles, or oils, or soothing music. But I did have my own power, the shining light wedged up behind my breast bone.

  I stood up again, my hair tossing around my face, caught up in the wind of the ghost’s rising power. Henner grabbed for my hand, but he didn’t try to pull me back to safety.

  Cain made a grab for my shoulder, but his hands passed right through. What are you doing? he hissed at me. Are you nuts?

  I took a deep breath and squinted into the gale. “Magda Erepto!”

  I’d always rolled my eyes at the idea of names having power over someone, but with the way Magda’s head snapped in my direction, maybe it wasn’t all bunk, after all.

  I met that mad gaze squarely, even though my knees were shaking. Boy, what I wouldn’t have given for a bit of Poppy’s ‘Spirit Oil’, or ‘Crossing the Veil’ oil. Heck, I’d be happy with some ‘Uncrossing Oil’, it was pretty good about warding off curses and unfriendly things.

  But I didn’t have any of it, so I was just going to have to make do.

  I tipped my chin back, like I didn’t have a care in the world. Never let them see you sweat. Or cry, for that matter. My hair lashed at my cheeks, stinging my skin.

  “Your time has passed, Magda. I release the summoning. Return to the ever after.” I took a deep breath, pushing power into my words. I was a medium, the bridge between the living and the dead, and by gosh, that bridge went both ways. “Return speedily, peacefully, and without delay!”

  A wind came up out of nowhere, and with a curse, Cain fled back to my body like he was worried about being blown away in it. The wind tore at Magda, sending the skirt of her dress whipping around, and she leaned forward, straining, resisting being moved. Magda strained against my power, trying to claw her way closer to the idol on the ground.

  I gripped my power with both hands, coaxing it into a cold flame that burned through my entire body. “Go speedily, peacefully, and without delay!”

  The wind tore through the room, blasting into the ghost of Magda Erepto, shredding the aura of violence and obsession that had started to build around her like a toxic cloud. For a split second, she looked exactly as she had back in my office that day when I’d summoned her. Gray hair neatly coiled at the back of her head, long dress buttoned primly right up to the top of her throat. Her hands folded together in front of her stomach.

  She gave me a look of grudging respect, and tilted her head to me in a shallow nod.

  And then she was gone.

  The light died, the wind died, and suddenly all I could hear was the fire alarm and the sound of my own breathing.

  I’d never been so flat played out and so jazzed at the same time. I wanted to sleep for a week, and dance all night. I’d done it! I’d managed to send Magda back where she needed to be. Not just that, but…

  I snatched up the idol off the floor. The metal was surprisingly heavy and cool to the touch. I held it to my chest and did a couple dance steps, only just managing not to whoop out loud, in case the guards were close enough to hear me.

  Cain shook his head, but Henner was grinning from ear to ear.

  “I did it,” I told him, elated. I’d gotten the idol back. I’d get it back to Sophia Erepto, stop the fighting in her family before it got started, and show Blaise Howard that I was a great medium.

  You did, Cain said, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. But maybe we should get out of the illegal auction house and away from the men with guns before we celebrate?

  I deflated. Cain might be a bluenose, but he wasn’t wrong.

  I didn’t have anywhere to hide the idol, so Henner put it into one of his ridiculously deep jacket pockets.

  Getting out of the building was pretty easy after that, especially with the fire alarm still blaring and Cain scouting for us.

  “Is that you?” I jerked my chin towards the ceiling where the red light of the alarms were flashing.

  Henner didn’t look up from his phone, where he was making sure that none of the cameras had gotten a good look at us, but he did smirk. I giggled and leaned forward far enough to press a kiss to his cheek.

  We went out the emergency exit, since the alarms were already blaring, it wasn’t about to tip anyone off. Besides, everyone was piling out, customers, security, everyone, though I did hear someone shouting at the guards to get back in there and ‘secure the merchandise’. Good luck with that, pal.

  It was interesting, trying to hurry without looking like it. It helped that a lot of the ‘customers’ were also making like a tree and leaving. No one noticed me and Henner slipping around the corner and heading down the block.

  I wanted to dance, to box the air. The idol was right there, in Henner’s pocket, and we’d done it, we’d pulled it off. Were there some snags? Sure! But I still couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

  We sailed along, my blood fizzing like I’d taken a gulp of giggle water, all glowy and golden.

  Right up until three guys in suits stepped out of the car we were walking past and blocked the sidewalk.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Henner and I slowed to a stop as the mook who’d accosted me outside the clothing store the other day managed to block the entire sidewalk all by himself.

  Even so, there were two other guys standing just behind him, making a wall of thugs that wouldn’t be easy to get past. The guy in the front made a show of adjusting his cuff links, little golden snakes with emerald eyes, and smirked at me.