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“You’re gonna pay extra for this one, Sheriff,” Harlow Thane said to Drew as she strode into the cell block.

“Definitely,” Cash Moses said, stifling a yawn. “You do realize it’s almost three in the morning, right?”

“Charge whatever you want. Just bill me personally,” Drew said, getting to his feet to greet the couple. After Clara had tried to scratch his eyes out, he’d opted to wait for them on the other side of the bars.

“You personally?” Harlow scanned Noel’s body with a critical eye. “Noel?”

“It’s Clara,” she said, infuriating Noel one more time. Ever since she’d woken up in jail, she’d been regulated back into the recesses of her own mind. Clara had been berating her for hours, claiming she’d ruined her life. Replacing one prison for another one. And the entire time, Noel had done her best to ignore her.

There was no use fueling her delusions. She knew Drew wouldn’t rest until she was freed from her prison.

Cash looked over at Harlow. “Are you ready to kick some spirit butt?”

“Butt? That seems mild for the situation.” Harlow let out a bark of laughter while she pulled out what looked like some sort of metal spike.

“I’m working on my potty mouth,” Cash said as he lined up a row of candles in front of where he and Harlow were standing. Over the past month, ever since Harlow had dealt with her own ghost possession, Harlow and Cash had opened up their spirit hunting business to those who were in need. They’d gone from being celebrity ghost hunters to taking only cases that helped people. Noel was grateful for both of them and vowed to make something special for them when this was all over.

“Noel? Are you doing okay?” Harlow called conversationally.

Noel tried to nod and then realized why it wasn’t working. Tell them I’m here and ready, she ordered Clara.

“No.” Clara crossed her arms over her chest and glared at everyone.

Harlow laughed. “Nice try, but it’s not gonna work with me. I’ve battled and beaten way worse than you, babe.” She turned to Cash. “Ready?”

Cash nodded. “Let’s do this.”

Together they started chanting an incantation that sounded like another language. Probably Latin, but Noel couldn’t place it. Almost immediately her fingers and toes started to tingle, signaling that Clara was losing her grip on Noel’s body.

The pair chanted louder and louder and louder, slowly but surely breaking the connection that Clara had on Noel.

Clara’s fear rolled through Noel, and Noel started seeing flashes of injustices that Clara had been subjected to over the course of her life. Poverty, neglectful parents, and her time at Storyville, which had never been her choice at all. Her mother had sold her off to the brothel owner to pay a debt.

Then finally the handsome and powerful Henry had come along and rescued her, only to put her back in a cage where he’d forced her to live his life of crime for a few years before she died in a car chase.

It was then that Clara had looked to the sky, ready to be free of the chains of this world, but Henry had cursed her to roam the earth, vowing to find a way that they could be together again. That was when she’d been trapped at Noel’s current farmhouse for nearly a hundred years.

All I ever wanted was to be free , Clara said.

Cash and Harlow were closing in. Harlow had her iron stake in her right hand, no doubt ready to attack the spirit the minute she was separated from Noel’s body. And Cash had an iron chain in case he needed to trap the spirit when it broke free.

I’m being sucked back into nothing , Clara said, her voice cracking. Her pain nearly paralyzed Noel, and all she felt for the woman was sadness. She’d never had anything to be grateful for on this earth.

“Wait!” Noel cried, finally able to speak aloud. “Wait one minute!” She turned to catch her husband’s eye. “Tell them to send her to the sky, not wherever they’re sending her now. She wants to be free.”

The two mediums stopped chanting and peered at Noel.

Noel turned her attention back to the mediums. “Can you do that? Send her to the sky?”

“Not exactly,” Harlow said. “We can release her, but it’s up to her to go on her own. If she doesn’t, she could potentially cause even more havoc. It’s been my experience that spirits who have been around this long generally have no interest in leaving.”

Noel shook her head. “Not this time. She’s never had the choice before. Please, just give her the opportunity?”

“Are you sure? Depending on her power, she could latch onto you again, and I can’t guarantee we can do this again so soon,” Harlow said. “The energy it takes is a lot.”

“I understand,” Noel said. “I just… She wants to go. I can feel it deep in my soul.”

Harlow and Cash shared a glance, and then Harlow nodded. The two of them held hands as they chanted one last time. “Release now, spirit of the earth. Let go and find the light!”

Noel’s skin tingled with heat as if she’d been blasted by the sun, and then Clara was gone. She watched as the spirit in question took up the same silvery shape she’d had back at the farmhouse. But there was no more taunting or terrorizing. She just floated there in the middle of the jail, staring up at the light that was shining down on her.

The spirit took one last glance at Noel, mouthed Thank you , and then floated up and into the light, plunging the rest of them in the jailhouse back into a bunker of gray.

“Well, what do you know?” Harlow said with a surprised laugh. “I thought for sure we’d be battling her again.” She walked over to Noel and placed an arm around her waist, holding her up. “You did good, Noel. Thank you. It’s always a joy to send spirits to the light. Rare, but a joy.”

“I just… She never had a choice,” Noel repeated and then burst into tears as Drew gathered her into his arms and whispered over and over how much he loved her.