Page 44 of Medium

I shrugged. “They just got bonded? Which sounds like magically married, I guess? They can’t be very far apart from each other right now.”

Pia hopped out, landing on both feet at once. “Bonding is more permanent than marriage. Can’t you see the bond between them?” She tapped right below her sternum.

I scrunched up my face. “No? Should I be able to?”

Then Ms. Jackson exited the car. They were a tiger as they emerged, but on the way to the ground they shimmered and a very, very large pig landed gracefully on the pavement. They had a black head and shoulders, and their rear half was white with black spots. They still wore the rhinestone tiara they’d sported as a tiger, and over their back was a red blanket which read “Service Animal”.

I suppressed a laugh. “Um, Ms. Jackson, that’s a, uh, great choice.” What the hell else was I supposed to say?

Pia clapped her hands before petting Ms. Jackson’s neck. The pig’s back was higher than her waist.

“Okay,” Manny said. “Let’s go meet these people and then we can walk around.”

We started toward the front of the SUV. Grandfather appeared beside me. “The girl looks better today.”

“Thanks to you.” I glanced around. “Where are your friends?”

“Not sure about Dimi. She was here a minute ago. Garfield and Mercy decided to watch Randolph and Hugo. They’re supposed to check in with me every few days.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You’re in charge of the investigation?”

He scoffed. “I didn’t run a company for decades for nothing, boy.”

I was grinning when I walked up to stand next to Ellis. One of the men, the slimmer, model-quality gorgeous one, was saying, “I’ve never seen a bond do that, but I’m no expert.”

The heavyset guy, who was wearing a t-shirt saying, “Shh... No one cares”, glanced at me, then he smiled at Ms. Jackson. He turned back to Shane and Ellis and scowled at the couple of feet of air between them. “I just started being able to see bonds, so I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but that doesn’t look comfortable. How does it feel?”

Ellis crossed his arms. “Like any minute the wheel will stop spinning.”

Shane nodded. “Or like the magic threw its back out and needs someone to crack it and get everything aligned.”

“Uh huh. And what’s with the way you’re standing?” He waved a hand between them. “You’re acting like you’re acquaintances at best. A bond requires consent and intent to form. Are you regretting it? Is that why it’s... unbalanced?”

Shane rubbed the back of his neck. “We... it was kind of the heat of the moment. And we’ve been arguing some.”

I saw Ellis’ eyebrows pop up, but he didn’t comment.

The big guy pointed at them. “Maybe figure out your relationship and then let’s see what happens to the bond?”

Shane and Ellis both sagged in defeat. Whatever fix they were looking for, they weren’t going to get it here.

The handsome guy turned to the rest of us. “Hi, I’m Greg and this is Cal.”

We all introduced ourselves, and Pia said, “And this is Ms. Jackson. They learned a new form today!”

Cal grinned. “Much better than the hedgehog, Ms. Jackson. Good job.”

They trotted forward and butted their head between Cal and Greg, who automatically started petting them. Those two, who’d bonded a few weeks ago, stood so they were always touching or almost touching. Shane and Ellis rarely got that close.

Shane’s grandmother popped up beside me, and I flinched. “Shit! Please don’t do that.”

She waved this away. “You need to toughen up. We’re ghosts. Scaring people is what we do.”

I rolled my eyes and said to my corporeal companions, “Sorry. Ghost.”

Dimi pointed back toward the main part of the cemetery. “The other ghosts here, they saw the imp get taken away.”

“Imp?” I looked at Cal and Greg. “We’re here about an imp?”