Page 76 of Possessed By Shadows

I sighed. “Sorry for touching you. Don’t touch your face. I have wet wipes in my bag,” I offered trying to wrangle it off my back.

Micah helped, and let me lean on him for support.

“Am I supposed to feel wrung out like a wet mop?” I asked Jason. Had they ever had anyone possessed before? Worked with psychics? If I was going to do more of this shit, I needed some training.

“If it used your energy, maybe?” He shrugged.

Micah found the wipes and set about cleaning me first.

“Hey,” I told him.

He shrugged off my protest and wiped down my hands, face and neck. I would need to change clothes. The wet of the rain pools combined with debris stunk. I hoped that wasn’t mold getting through the masks. Surviving the nightmare of Afghanistan to come home and die of mold poisoning would really suck.

I grabbed up a few wipes and began cleaning his face, although the tears didn’t stop, and his gaze was set on mine. I leaned in to touch my forehead against his. “I’m sorry,” I told him. I didn’t offer to stop, or promise that it would never happen again because I had to find Lukas. And if this was a lead…

“I dreamt of him,” I said. “Adrian. Couldn’t tell what he was saying, but he was talking to me.” Which might have been him talking through me. I eyed the space and didn’t like the idea of laying down and trying to dream again while Adrian’s ghost tried to use me.

“It sounded like Lukas was supposed to meet him?” Micah asked, seeming to try to think through what might have happened. “He said cop. And he died while Lukas was still a cop. If he was an informant, they might have met regularly to get info?”

But here? This was not only out of the way; it was a dangerous location. Falling apart, filled with toxic mold, and difficult to navigate. I couldn’t see Lukas asking a high-strung kid like Adrian to meet here. The effort to get across town, and inside, would draw attention. That just sounded wrong. But what did I know about real life undercover work? Technically, Lukas had not been an undercover cop either, so he wouldn’t have been dredging sewers or hiding in back alleys.

“Why here?” I asked.

Micah shook his head. “We should get you home and cleaned up.”

“You’re welcome to stay,” Jason said. “Good shit happens when you’re around.”

Good for them maybe. I didn’t think it was great for me. And I wasn’t any closer to finding Lukas. But if Adrian was still around, he was not making himself visible. I wondered if the energy of the ghost hunting crew would help him charge? Or if all he had, he’d given me, and that was it?

“Why does every step forward feel like three steps back?” I sighed and tried to get up.

Micah helped me to my feet, letting me lean on him. I was way too wobbly, and weak. “I did not run a marathon.”

“Used by a ghost might be a spiritual marathon,” someone in the group said.

Micah hugged me tight. “Can we get some help getting outside? We could use some air.”

And a shower, I thought.

“I can give you guys a ride home,” one of the girls offered. “You can clean up?”

“Maybe come back after dark?” Jason prompted like I was his ticket to a gold mine. And maybe I was, being a supernatural magnet or whatever. I waved him off and let myself be led the long way around to the entrance, and to the car of the gal who didn’t mind her backseat getting a little dirty.

Micah and I sat in the back of the car, deadly silent. He clung to my hand, back ramrod straight, eyes forward, and still wet. Was he angry with me? How did I fix this? How could I save Lukas and not lose Micah?

Neither of us spoke. She let us off outside our front gate, even giving us her number to call in case we wanted a ride back later.

“Thanks,” I told her as I got out, feeling like I was a hundred and eighty years old. The walk through the garden was slow, Micah, nestled against me, keeping me upright more than anything else. “Don’t hate me,” I begged him.

“I could never hate you.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Well, if you kicked puppies or something…”

“Can I kickoutthe ghost cat?” I grumbled as he let us inside and Precious was sitting on the back of the couch looking as real as Jet. At least her eyes weren’t black.

“You invited her.”