Spirelli Paranormal Investigations Box Set 2

by Kate Baray

  Chapter Six

  The next morning, Jack, Marin, and Lachlan met at Jack’s house for breakfast. Marin brought breakfast tacos, and Lachlan brought an insane idea.

  “Reborn?” Jack asked. “What does that even mean?”

  Lachlan’s tacos were still wrapped in foil on his plate. “You can’t destroy a dragon’s essence. Joshua hoped, in coming here, we would know how. But he couldn’t have predicted how young the dragons are in this world.”

  “So if you can’t destroy essence, you think it’s okay to recycle it? Isn’t essence a dragon’s soul?”

  Marin shook her head. “No. Essence isn’t soul; it’s essence. A snapshot of the dragon.”

  Lachlan leaned his forearms on the edge of the kitchen table. “Consider essence as a smaller, nonphysical reflection of the whole. Pairing Joshua’s bodiless essence with a new body lacking essence should remake that reflection in the image of the new owner. It’s an end for Joshua, but the energy of his essence would go on in its new form. Again, destroying that energy is beyond our knowledge, so this is the only solution for Joshua.”

  Jack had a bad feeling about this conversation.

  After chewing over Lachlan’s explanation, Jack asked, “And where does one shop for dragon bodies without their own essence?”

  “One doesn’t.” Lachlan shifted his weight further forward. “Except for Joshua, I’ve never heard of one existing without the other. Temporary separation, but that’s it. A dragon won’t work, because all dragons will have their own essence.”

  “No.” Jack shook his head and kept shaking it. “No way.”

  Lachlan quirked an eyebrow. “I haven’t asked.”

  “You will. And the answer is no.”

  “I’m not asking,” Lachlan said. “Joshua is.”

  Marin turned a narrow gaze on Lachlan. “When did that happen?”

  “Last night. The rebirth of his essence through joining with another person was the only solution I could find for him. But I wasn’t certain he’d agree, so I had to speak with him.” A self-deprecating smile emerged on Lachlan’s face. “It took significant effort before Joshua would consider communicating with me. He has a strong connection with you, Jack—for whatever reason.”

  “He agreed.” Jack couldn’t believe what they were asking.

  “He asked me to present the case to you. Only because he sees it as his own death with no harm to you. The energy of his essence will continue, but it will be imprinted by you,” Lachlan said. “Think of it like a sort of reincarnation, but with energy rather than soul.”

  “You don’t know for sure that Joshua’s imprint on his essence would be erased, do you? And even if it is, what would dragon essence do to a human? It has to have some effect on humans.”

  “Actually, Jack, it has been done. There’s evidence in our mythology.” Marin shot Lachlan a sidelong glance. “From long ago in our history, when the relationship between humans and dragons was very different.”

  “Joshua and I discussed the mechanics. It’s not only possible, he’s seen it done. A very long time ago—but he has firsthand experience.”

  “Are you telling me it’s safe?” He directed the question to Marin, because he trusted her infinitely more than Lachlan in this scenario. Jack could only imagine the lengths Lachlan might go to appease or even preserve a sane ancient. But Marin…he knew Marin. They may not be close, but he knew her. If she thought it would kill him, she might let him do it—but she’d say it was dangerous.

  “Lachlan? Why don’t you share the mechanics?” Marin gave the old dragon a falsely sweet smile.

  “It’s simple, in theory. Your body and his essence can join in the in-between. Either I or Marin open a door and carry you through. You merge with Joshua’s essence, and he’s finally at peace. Anything of him—his memories, his feelings, his experiences—are washed away. The sum of your being—memories, experiences, feelings—will be imprinted upon the essence energy. Then we bring you back.”

  Jack narrowed his eyes. “You’re leaving something out.”

  “Yes, he is.” Marin’s voice was tinged with anger. “We can carry you through, but I don’t believe it’s possible to hold on to you while you merge with Joshua. Am I right?”

  Lachlan’s lips thinned, and he nodded his head.

  Jack’s brain was doing backflips trying to sort out how the process worked. “And you’re telling me that somehow, I could take on that energy and it wouldn’t change me? I find that hard to believe.”

  “You would change the essence, because it’s merely a reflection of the sum of the body and mind. That energy was not intended to exist apart from a physical body.” Lachlan sighed. “To remove the metaphysical aspect, think of essence as an organ. It serves a function, but it’s not intended to exist as a being on its own.”

  “But what will it do to me?” Jack asked again.

  Surprisingly, it was Marin who answered. “It might give you a longer life. Maybe make you more resistant to disease. Prop you up a little—but it can’t give you something that’s not already there. It’s energy, not magic, and its function is to act as a nonphysical receptacle.”

  “What if something goes wrong with the reset button and Joshua isn’t washed away?” Jack shook his head and held up his hands. “You know what—don’t answer that. I don’t care. I don’t know why I’m even asking these questions. This idea is insane. I could disappear into…into the freaking in-between. I could be stuck, just like Joshua was.”

  “Very unlikely. I’ll be there, and I won’t lose you.” Lachlan inched back, making an obvious effort to give Jack more space. “Please, consider it. You’re the only option. Someone with magic wouldn’t work. Something about the energy of a dragon’s essence and the kernel of magic inside humans isn’t compatible. And while Joshua is willing—he’s only agreed to attempt the process with you.”

  And that made Jack angry. He’d been inside Joshua’s head, and Joshua had been inside his. Jack couldn’t imagine an eternity of what Joshua had lived. It was unthinkable. But the solution was a no-win situation for Jack: a small chance that he’d end up lost in that same, terrible place that had trapped Joshua in exchange for a good chance the ancient would be able to rest at last. Jack gained nothing. Save the world, do the right thing, be selfless. His pulse thundered. What about him?

  “Find someone else.” Jack stood up and left the kitchen. His guests could find their own way out.

  Jack went to his room and dropped down on his bed. Fuck them and their ancients and their problems.

  He didn’t particularly want to examine why the question made his blood boil. It was a question, and he could simply say no. He punched his pillow. It wasn’t that simple. If he hadn’t been Joshua, if only for a few snatches of time, it would be so much easier.

  “Screw them.” Jack rolled over on his side, planning to try catch-up on a few more hours of sleep. He was so tired, yet as he lay there, sleep eluded him. He felt smothered by the weight of the ancient dragon’s despair.

  The heaviness pressed down on his lungs, until he felt like he couldn’t breathe. The ache of a loneliness so dark and deep, he felt he’d never see, touch, or hear another made his heart hurt.

  “Damn you, Joshua.” But Jack knew it was his memory and his conscience this time—not the dragon’s telepathy—that wrapped around him and squeezed until he wanted to scream.

  Bleary-eyed, Jack rolled out of bed a few hours later. He picked up his phone and tapped speed dial for Marin. “We do it now. Meet me at The Junk Shop.”

  “Wha—”

  Jack hung up on her. He couldn’t live with the guilt. Knowing what he knew, feeling what he’d felt—he couldn’t live with the guilt of not helping Joshua. And that son of a bitch had looked inside his head and counted on it.

  He sat down at the small desk in his room and hand-wrote a letter. It took him three tries, but he got it about right in the end. He sealed it in an envelope, and addressed it simply to “Kenna.” He dropped it o
n his desk, there for anyone to find—if it came to that.

  He drove too fast on the way to the shop. And when he arrived, he slammed the door of his car shut. He was pissed and he was damn well allowed to be.

  Marin and Lachlan were waiting in the shop for him. As was Joshua.

  “Why—” Lachlan began.

  “None of your damn business.” Jack tossed his car keys on the counter, and they landed with a loud rattle. “I’ll be exactly the same when we’re done.” He directed the statement to Marin, because he still didn’t trust Lachlan’s motivations.

  “You don’t have that kernel of magic that some humans have—and this won’t change that lack. You’ll be the same: no magic, no fire,” Marin answered calmly. She looked worried.

  That made two of them.

  “No strange cravings. Nothing like that. And it’ll just be me coming back.” Is wasn’t really a question; Jack simply wanted to make sure he didn’t come out of this thing and scare the crap out of himself.

  “No strange cravings, and just you come back.” Marin’s gaze flickered back and forth between Jack and Lachlan. “Lachlan needs to bring you through.”

  “You can create the door?”

  After getting a quick nod from Lachlan, Marin said, “Yes. I’ll open the door.”

  “All right. Anything else I need to know to make sure this thing works?” Jack asked.

  “Your physical self has to merge with Joshua’s essence. At first, that energy will still be Joshua; only after you’ve combined will the essence rewrite itself in your image. You have to let that happen.” Lachlan examined him. “You have to be ready to make that choice, or it won’t work.”

  “I’m ready.” As the words left his mouth, Jack hoped that he was.

  Jack felt the moment Lachlan and he crossed the barrier into the in-between. None of the numbing cold he remembered, but the absolute stillness of the place and the warped sense of time was the same. Where had the wind come from that he’d seen through Joshua’s eyes? A metaphor, perhaps.

  Jack lifted his hand. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel that he’d moved it. It was an odd sensation, but very different from his last experience in this place.

  Marin is still young. She wasn’t able to protect your physical body as well as I am.

  Jack flinched at the voice in his head. Not too loud, but invasive in a way that Marin’s mind speech hadn’t been.

  He felt Joshua, and then he felt the cold. Lachlan had let him go.

  Jack was surrounded, engulfed, swallowed by Joshua. He pushed at Jack’s very being. This wasn’t a reset. He was being consumed. Panic flared as Jack saw himself disappearing into nothing, replaced by the great well of emotion that was Joshua. How could something, someone, so old and so vast simply cease to be? No, this wouldn’t work.

  Jack struggled. His body didn’t function in this space, but he had will. Jack shoved back at the ancient presence with all of his will—and met no resistance.

  Calm. Still. Cold. Alone.

  His panic ebbed. In the stillness, Jack realized his error. For this to work, the two would have to coexist, completely share consciousness, in order for the reset to happen. Twined thoughts—but only for a moment. Could he? Cold and fear pushed, and his brain raced. One terrifying, powerless moment exchanged for an end to an ancient being’s suffering. And a lifetime of guilt and regret if he refused to even attempt the trade.

  Jack sent a message to Joshua and hoped it carried through the ether. He couldn’t form words, and he didn’t know what else to do.

  The thick numbness he’d felt in place of his body faded, and he felt himself begin to float. Not an unpleasant feeling.

  But it only lasted an instant. Once again, Joshua surrounded him, anchoring him in space. And this time when Jack felt that he was being swallowed whole, he counted backward from ten and tried his damnedest to believe that they truly were one—temporarily. Ten, nine…

  Lachlan’s flashing green dragon eyes looked down at Jack. “You said you were ready to make the choice.”

  Jack’s teeth chattered. Holy shit, he was cold. And weak and sore. Like he had the flu. Someone had laid him out flat on the ground. “I lied.” The words brought forth a racking cough.

  Marin appeared with a blanket from his office. She threw it over him. “You’re a complete ass and an idiot.”

  The worry and concern in her voice surprised him. He wasn’t sure why—he’d worry about her, too, if she was stupid enough to teeter on the brink of oblivion and thumb her nose at it.

  “I’m okay?” Since his teeth chattered with the words, it seemed a stupid question.

  “You’ll be fine,” Lachlan said. “Eventually.”

  Curling onto his side, Jack hugged the blanket close. “Joshua?”

  The tense lines of Lachlan’s face eased. “At peace.”

  Jack nodded. He couldn’t feel Joshua’s presence, so he guessed Lachlan was right. “Can I have a hot coffee?”

  Marin laughed. “Yeah. It’s brewing now.”

  Epilogue

  A few days later, Jack sat in his office contemplating the Jack and Joshua merger. He felt the same. No sudden urges to light up the furniture in a ball of fiery dragon flames. No shining green eyes. No sense of the magic that he knew was around him. In fact, no whiff of magical ability at all. Just as Lachlan and Marin had said.

  Jack was giving some thought to whether his unchanged state was something to celebrate or mourn, but mostly he was just avoiding doing The Junk Shop’s accounting for the week. As he contemplated the pros and cons—of having magic, of having his books up to date, of life in general—Bob trotted into the office.

  That was new.

  “Hey, Bob.” He kept the greeting casual, because he didn’t want to chase the little dude away.

  Bob paused briefly but then continued along his path. He ended up next to one of the client chairs, then jumped with more agility than Jack would have suspected into the chair.

  “I hope you’re here to tell me your buddy’s happy. Can’t lie: the last few days have been rough. I’m not sure I’m up for another case so soon.”

  Bob curled up into a ball and closed his eyes.

  Napping in the office must mean that Bob didn’t have another case for him and was happy enough with the outcome of Nelson’s.

  He went back to crunching numbers on his computer. As he was typing, he thought he might have heard a faint whisper: “Happy…”

  The Geolocating Book

  Episode 5

  Chapter One

  Jack had been giving some thought to Spirelli Paranormal Investigations: where it had started and where it was going. What his long-term plans for the business were and how he’d ensure both the business’s and his survival beyond the next case that came through the door.

  “I’d actually like to see tomorrow, Bob. Several tomorrows, preferably with the business intact.”

  His Arkan Sonney bud looked up at the sound of his name. He didn’t move from his curled-up position in the client chair on the other side of Jack’s desk. He just lifted his head and blinked sleepy, puppy-dog-brown eyes at Jack. The little fuzzy guy was great company—and Jack had thought so even before he’d discovered the impact Bob had on his business.

  Who would have thought that having a small, corkscrew-tailed critter living secretly in his shop would have such a startling effect? The Junk Shop had become a successful enterprise overnight due to Bob’s presence. Jack remained mystified by the method, but at least now he knew to thank Bob when customers purchased odd objects in the shop he was certain he’d never acquired. Where had these mysterious items originated? Also an unanswered question. But Jack wasn’t about to grill his fuzzy little benefactor.

  “Sorry, buddy. Just thinking out loud. Go back to sleep.”

  Bob squeezed his eyes shut, let out a tiny sneeze, and settled in to nap again.

  Jack scratched the day’s growth of beard on his chin. He wasn’t sure why, but Bob had started to hang out, n
ap, and visibly wander around the store a week or two after the resolution of his buddy Nelson’s case. Whatever the reason, he was great company. Bob was like a warm blanket on a cold day—but for the soul.

  Jack grunted then leaned back in his chair. He was going nuts. Or he needed more sleep.

  He scrubbed his face with both hands. So far, he’d only come up with one solution.

  The ring on his finger tightened, followed by the tinkling of the front door bells and a flash of green sparkles in his peripheral vision. Marin.

  He rubbed his eyes, dry from lack of sleep, and when he opened them, Bob was gone. For whatever reason, Bob’s recent sociability only extended to Jack. His furry buddy usually disappeared when anyone else was in the shop—even Marin.

  Jack didn’t have long to consider the Bob conundrum.

  Marin came into the office and dropped into the chair vacated by Bob. “You look like shit.”

  “Good morning.”

  “Bender? Wild night with a new lady?” Marin crossed her arms. “But that’s not it, because you’ve looked like this every morning for more than a week now. Your ladies don’t last that long. And you’re coming into the shop early every morning.”

  “Inventory.” Jack tapped a clipboard on top of his desk.

  “Sure, except you don’t do inventory. Ever. I do it. Just like I do the dusting, and empty the trash, and refill the supplies.” She uncrossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “What exactly is it that you do again?”

  “Come on, not today.” Jack rested his forearms on his desk. “I have a proposition for you.”

  She tilted her head, her curiosity clearly piqued.

  He opened his mouth, but the words didn’t come out. Now or never—because asking wouldn’t get any easier. He tried again. “I’m tired of running into every situation we encounter ill-prepared, ill-informed, and half-cocked.”