Page 85 of Grave Beginnings

“I was thinking that, too. We followed all the way down, but maybe it didn’t start on the Thayersons’ floor. Maybe that’s why you were seeing it fade. We weren’t near enough to the source?” Bobby said.

“Uh, okay,” I agreed.

“Energy theory,” Bobby said. “It’s a little more complicated when it comes from across the Veil, but I have a few books that philosophize about how it works.”

“Yeah?” I asked. “Can I borrow them sometime?”

“Sure,” Bobby said, then waved his scanner. “Let’s head up.”

“The top two floors are one unit,” Wade said. “Penthouse.” He held up his phone, showing a picture of schematics. “A small roof deck, which is actually on the third from the top, and that floor and the one below it are split into two large units, only one of which is filled. Penthouse is filled, but it looks like it’s rented to a company for business rather than a regular tenant.”

“We won’t have access to the penthouse,” Bobby said. “Not without a warrant. We need a special key for it, and a business isn’t going to let us waltz around even if there isn’t anyone staying right now. But we can check the floors below, and the roof deck.”

Since we hadn’t run into Cassidy yet, I hoped he’d left while we were busy elsewhere. We all returned to the elevator. Ezra had not joined us, and Angel said he had gotten a message that Ezra would be uploading more video files to our portal once he was done, but that he was back in the van. For a guy who was reallygood at getting people to talk when he interviewed them, Ezra seemed to be the least social person on the team. Or maybe it was me he was avoiding.

The two floors above the Thayersons’ met us with crickets, which made me sigh in frustration. Angel slipped his fingers into mine and tugged me toward the stairway instead of the elevator. His energy curled around me like a warm hug, and I wished I could sink into his arms right that minute. Chasing ghosts, or a ghost of magic if that’s what this was, whittled away at my confidence.

We took the stairs to the next level, clearing three, then headed to the floor below the roof deck. Before he could open the door, I grabbed Angel’s hand and pulled it from the handle. A chill ran through me. I shivered and shook my head.

“I smell ozone,” Angel said. His gaze met mine. “What are you sensing?”

I squeezed his hand hard. “Feels like someone is dancing on my grave. I don’t know how else to describe it. A chill down my spine? Only, multiplied by a thousand.”

Bobby and Wade appeared behind us, scanner up. Wade was ready with taser pulled.

“Everyone ready?” Wade asked.

I swallowed hard, but nodded.

Wade flipped the handle and shoved the door open, all of us taking cover to each side of the frame, out of sight range, but silence stretched beyond the door. Wade went first, taser pointing into the hall. Bobby behind him. Angel took up the rear, behind me.

“I don’t smell anyone,” Wade said. “Or hear any heartbeats that aren’t ours.”

Handy senses, I thought as I tiptoed through the opening, worrying about whatever weird magical signature might be giving me the heebie-jeebies. A giant splat of purple ran across one wall, a thousand cracks spanning outward like creepy fingers. I pointedat the wall and glanced at Bobby’s scanner, but it showed nothing. Fuck.

He ran the scanner both ways, slowly panning. If this was like those creepy kid handprints, it wasn’t showing up.

“I have other settings to try,” Bobby said, fiddling with the machine. Wade wandered to the end of the hall and back.

“Great. Another useless superpower: Seeing magical graffiti that’s invisible to multi-million dollar tech. I’m a human spooky-doodle detector,” I griped.

“This side has one resident who is currently out of the country.” He stared at his notes. Then nodded to the side where I’d indicated the color swatch of energy lingered. “This one is empty. I can go down and see if they will let us in, since the unit isn’t rented.”

“Describe what you see,” Angel said to me. “And don’t touch anything.”

I glared at him, then waved my hand at the wall that spanned the length of the hall. The webbing of color overlaid the single door and curved around the far wall as if stretching for the other apartment. “It’s like a giant, purple, smoky spider web,” I said, adding a long list of details, including where it started and ended. “Undulating.” I had to shake my head as staring at it too long made my head hurt. What the hell was it?

“For the record,” Bobby said, “Jude’s eyes are black.”

“And being near me isn’t muting that ability,” Angel added as he stood at my back, as though ready to grab me if something went south fast.

“What does it mean?” I asked. “A Veil tear?” I tiptoed closer to the doorway, wondering if I could determine the source. “It almost looks like ice? Wrong color, but like something inside began to freeze and turn into this purple stuff.”

“Maybe,” Bobby said. He cursed softly, though I still caught it.

“None of your settings are working?”

“Sorry.”