by Amy Boyles
Jinkins Hudson floated above us. Dark, evil energy filled the room, sinking into my pores and chilling me to my toes.
The spirit stared down at us. “You think you can control me now?”
I stuck my finger in his face. “You have no power here. You must leave, Jinkins.”
The cellar door burst open. Axel and Pepper flew down the stairs and skidded to a halt beside Roan and me.
The spirit flared his power. The columns supporting the house shook. “I will take all your souls with me if I leave.”
Fannie launched herself toward him. “Jinkins, you will tell me right now where the treasure is.”
I nearly slapped my forehead. Why? Like why did Fannie have to throw herself into the mix right at that moment? I mean, couldn’t she have waited? Didn’t she see this was a volatile spirit and that it needed to be wrestled and forced to travel into the other world?
Jinkins’s face contorted in anger. The savagery that filled his eyes made me shudder.
“You will never have it,” he screamed at Fannie. “It will never be yours. You will die before I give you all the money.”
His arms exploded out, and Fannie was tossed like a rag doll across the earth.
Axel lifted his hand. “You will return to where you came from.”
The ghost laughed. “Do you think any of you hold power over me?”
Well, I had at least hoped so. The spirit roared, and a gust of wind pierced my skin. It pushed me back. I dug my heels into the earth and leaned into the gale.
Jinkins laughed. His ghostly halo darkened, and a cruel scowl twisted his face. “None of you can command me.”
“I can.”
My gaze cut across the cellar. Roan stood in the very center of the room. The gale hadn’t affected him. He lifted his hands and said, “You need to cross over. This isn’t the place for you. You are no longer allowed to walk the face of this earth.”
My eyebrows shot to peaks. Would it work?
Jinkins fought. He lurched forward and twisted, but whatever power Roan had held him fast.
“What are you doing?” The spirit screamed with fear.
Roan’s thick brow furrowed. “Putting you where you should’ve gone long ago.”
With his jaw clenched and his shoulders tight, Roan then raised his opposite hand. Suddenly the earth beneath the spirit’s form opened. Black roots jutted up from the earth and wrapped themselves around Jinkins.
I don’t know if what I saw was real or simply a hallucination. The roots looked solid in their inky blackness as they twisted around a spirit.
Then they changed, unfurling into small bodies.
I gasped. “They’re other spirits.”
“No, you can’t hold me.” Jinkins fought, pulling and gnashing his teeth at the apparitions as they coiled around him.
He broke free of the darkness that fought to yank him down. Jinkins whirled on us. “See? You can’t keep me!”
His chest bowed. The pressure in the room thickened. Jinkins conjured power. He would use it to destroy us.
“You’re done hurting people!” From the dark cellar, Artie appeared. The spirit launched into Jinkins and stuffed him down toward the hole.
The dark spirits latched on to Jinkins’s legs. Before the spirit had time to realize what had happened, the afterlife had sucked him into the darkness, leaving no trace of him but the fragments of a howling, cursing ghost.
The earth zipped up and Jinkins Hudson was officially gone.
Artie floated down to where Jinkins had last stood—no grits in sight. His eyes lighted on the ceiling. A seam split in the rafters, and a sparkling light created by a thousand pinprick stars appeared.
“Artie,” I whispered, “thank you. You saved us.”
Artie nodded. “I couldn’t remember much until tonight. It was seeing her.” He pointed to Fannie. “It brought back my travels, the murder, the money—all of it.”
He stared into the light. “Now I can rest.”
I waved. “Go rest.”
He floated up until he vanished out of sight. Molly Menzel appeared. “Thank you,” she said.
I smiled. “Please go in peace.”
Molly vanished into the light, and the starry slice of heaven on earth zipped shut.
A collective sigh escaped the room. I turned to Roan. He dropped to his knees.
I reached for him. “Are you okay?”
Sweat beaded his brow, and his hands trembled. “I’m fine. Just…tired.”
Axel helped get Roan to his feet. “What he summoned took a lot out of him. It drained his energy.”
“Summoned?” My brow pinched together in confusion. “He summoned the other side?”
“Just like you summon the light,” Roan murmured. “I can summon the dark.”
I glanced at Roan. A secret flickered in his eyes. A flash of sadness welled in his glance.
“What is it?” I curled a hand around his arm.
“Nothing,” he said darkly. “Not a thing.”
But it was something. It as like a cold hand had grabbed Roan’s heart and smothered it, keeping it from me.
“Let’s get him some fresh air.” Axel towed him toward the stairs. “It’ll help.”
Pepper pointed to Fannie. “We can’t just leave her here all alone. She’ll escape.”
Kency Blount appeared in the stairwell. “You’re not alone. The police are here.”
“The police?” I couldn’t hide the surprise in my voice.
Kency thumbed behind her to Ruth and Alice. “Thanks to these two we received a call that there was a disturbance at the house.”
Alice twisted her fingers. “Once the house shook, Blissful, I couldn’t help it. I called the police.”
“Glad you did.” I pointed to Fannie Sullivan. “Kency Blount, meet Deborah Hudson.” I then acknowledged the literal skeleton in the room. “And that’s Mr. Jinkins Hudson. Mrs. Hudson murdered and then preserved him.”
Kency pulled handcuffs from her waist and clipped them on Fannie. “I can’t wait to hear this story.”
I smiled. “I’ll bet it’s a doozy.”
Kency nodded toward us. “I need y’all to clear out so we can do our work.”
I reached Alice and Ruth. I wrapped my arms around them and squeezed so hard I nearly sucked the life from them.
“Kency,” I said gratefully, “I thought you’d never ask.”
TWENTY-FIVE
The next day, Pepper and Axel readied to leave Haunted Hollow. I had to admit, it had been fun working with folks from out of town on a case. The fact that Axel was a certified wizard and Pepper a witch made it all the more interesting.
Next time I’d have to see more magic, though. The way I figured it, the world needed more magic.
Sounds funny coming from a cynic like me, right? Well, sometimes I needed a little cheer in my daily routine. Just maybe not as much as most people.
“All packed up,” Axel said. He wrapped an arm around Pepper’s shoulders and gave her a big smile.
She snuggled into him and sighed. “Well, we solved the case.”
“Thanks for all your help,” I said.
Roan sidled up to me and slid an arm around my waist. “Yes, thank you.”
I tapped my mouth. “There’s one thing I don’t understand. How did Fannie know that Jinkins was in the tube?”
“Their connection,” Roan said slowly. I nearly did a double take. Was he answering questions about ghosts?
“They had a deep connection, so she just felt it. Same as if someone had touched the Spiritus and felt it hum. They were connected that way.”
“But why hadn’t she gone into the house before and confronted the spirit if she knew he was a ghost?” Pepper asked.
“Jinkins was too powerful for her,” Axel said. “That’s why she became so excited when he was trapped.”
“She finally had power over him,” Pepper said sadly.
“I think she may have periodically gone into the house to talk to him,” I added. “Ar
tie told me that one day a woman visited Jinkins and made him angry. It was probably Fannie.”
Pepper clicked her tongue. “It’s too bad that they could never reconcile. Even in death.”
“I think Jinkins always had to exert his power over her,” I pointed out. “He abused her while he was alive, and he haunted her in his death.”
“And now he’s finally gotten what he deserves.” Roan kissed the top of my head. “And the people they killed are at peace.”
I gave Roan a squeeze. “Not to mention that Kency retrieved the box of treasure.”
I’d found that out later that night. I’d mentioned it to the sheriff and she’d shown me the box. The cigar box overflowed with jewelry and cash. No wonder Fannie had been on a mission to retrieve it. Now she’d never have it. She’d spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Kency had said it was funny that she hadn’t found the box before then considering the police had dredged the entire cellar.
I smirked but said nothing. In the back of my head, I figured Jinkins must’ve moved it while the police searched. Spirits were funny that way.
I tipped my head back to Roan. “Another thing I don’t understand was the whole master business.”
He gazed down at me. “What is it you don’t understand?”
“Who was the master?”
Axel and Roan gazes snapped together.
I rubbed Roan’s waist. “What?”
“It’s the spirit locked in the basement,” Roan said.
Axel released Pepper and slipped on his coat. “We’re pretty sure.”
“But how can it communicate with other spirits if it’s trapped?” Fear sliced into my heart. This could be horrible. Cataclysmic. That the spirit held command over other ghosts wasn’t good. At all.
“There must be cracks in the spell binding it,” Axel explained. “It can talk to other spirits, but that’s the limit of its power.”
I dug my fingers into Roan’s sleeve. “But what if it gets ahold of another evil spirit? What then?”
Roan’s jaw clenched. “The level of evil in Jinkins Hudson wasn’t normal.”
“I agree,” Axel said. “He was easily corrupted because his soul was already black.”
“Hmmm.” I considered what they’d said. “We’re hedging bets. Is that it? As long as the spirits in the vicinity aren’t terribly evil, we should be fine. But if another slips into Haunted Hollow, one rotten to the core—”
“Then we’re in deep,” Roan finished.
“So one of the first things we must do is get a demonologist here to help you.”
Roan threaded his fingers through the back of my hair. My scalp tingled with pleasure. “That’s what I’m working on. Don’t worry. We’ll get it straightened out.”
“We need to.” My gaze searched his. Roan’s eyes still held a hint of some emotion I couldn’t figure out.
He kissed my hand. “We will.”
Pepper smiled. “If that’s it, then I guess we’ll be going.” Her purse buzzed. She rolled her eyes in embarrassment. “Sorry.” She stepped away to answer the call as we said our goodbyes to Axel.
After a minute Pepper thumbed off her phone. Axel’s brows shot up in question. “Everything okay?”
She laughed. “Yeah. That was Betty, my grandmother,” she explained to us. “She’s at a yard sale and says we need to get there fast. Says there’s an object I’ll like. Some sort of golden cat figurine.”
“It must be interesting if she’s calling about it,” I said.
Pepper shook her head. “Knowing her there’s probably more. I wouldn’t doubt it if she’s found a rare feather that ignites when you sit on it.”
I laughed. “She sounds like fun.”
Pepper smiled warmly. “She is.” She slipped on her coat and shouldered her purse. “Well, looks like it’s time to go.”
We waved goodbye from the porch. Once they were out of eyeshot, I prodded at the subject that had been bugging me.
“Roan.”
“Hmm?”
“You said something last night. Something about your power being dark and mine being light.”
He scowled.
“What is it?”
His hand slid down my arm, and he tugged me inside. “Let’s sit down and talk.”
We retreated to his suite of rooms. “This must be serious if we’re back here. Do I need a drink?”
He smirked. “I hope it’s not that bad.”
I studied his features. We’d been together long enough for me to know that when his brows pinched, he wasn’t only puzzled; he was worried.
“But you don’t know how bad it is.” I needed to give him an in. Let him know whatever he said was safe with me.
He plopped onto the sofa and rested his elbows on his knees.
“Is it that bad?”
He raked his fingers through his hair before tangling one set through mine. “I don’t know what it means, but whatever this power is, there’s a darkness to it that I don’t like. I feel this well of power, and I don’t know what to do with it.”
I nibbled my bottom lip. “When I see the light, I don’t really call it. The light is always around us. The spirit energy helps make it easier for the light to come forward. That’s all. I can coax the light if a spirit is near, but it’s not me doing it. I’m not that talented. But what you did last night? That’s beyond the scope of what I can do. I see spirits. I talk to them. They talk to me and mostly pester the heck out of me.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what I did.” His eyes searched me for support. “Do you believe me?”
I scoffed. “Of course I believe you. I’m not a total cynic, you know.”
His lips curled into a smile. “Hard to believe.”
I rose and offered my hand. “Come on. I know something that will cheer you up.”
Roan took my hand and rose. “Great. Do they make a killer pastrami sandwich?”
“We’re not going to eat. We’re going to meet someone.”
His face paled. “Please tell me it’s not some relative of yours.”
I chuckled. “You think you freaked me out that much?”
He smirked. It was the most perfect look on his face and made my heart thump. “And now you’re going to send an attack uncle on me? Yes.”
I hooked my hand through his arm. “I’m not sending an attack uncle. We’re meeting someone else.”
He eyed me suspiciously. “Who?”
“Just wait.”
A few minutes later I knocked on the door of the house. An older man answered. “Yes?”
I presented Roan. “Mr. Menzel, I’d like you to meet my friend, Roan.”
He gestured for us to enter. We did, and spent two hours talking to the man and listening to the memories of his daughter, Molly. When we left, Roan thanked me.
“Now. Where are you off to?”
I inhaled. “How about Southern Ghost Wranglers? I’m sure Ruth has a list of houses for us to visit.”
Roan dropped me off at the storefront. Before I exited the vehicle, I kissed his cheek. “What you told me last night…”
“Yep.” He eyed the road in front of him.
He thought by hiding his expression I wouldn’t know how he felt. I already knew.
“I just wanted you to know,” I said slowly, “I might be feeling that way, too.”
Roan’s eyes flared. “But that doesn’t mean we speed things up.”
I sank onto the seat. “Dang. And here I was hoping now I’d get to see you without your shirt on.”
“Dream on.”
I popped the door open.
“I’ll pick you up for dinner?”
I turned and smiled. “Sounds perfect.”
I shut the door and purposely didn’t glance back. No need for him to know my heart swelled at the sight, smell and touch of him.
There was plenty of time for that.
I entered the store and found Ruth behind the desk. “Where’s Alice?”
; Ruth scowled. “She’s on a date.”
“What,” I screeched. “With who?”
“It’s whom and she’s on it with Mr. Hodges.” Ruth smiled.
I rushed over to Ruth and threw my arms around her. “That’s amazing. We’ll have to find out all the details.”
Ruth rolled her eyes. “I’m not interested in hearing about anything that has to do with Astroglide.”
I choked on a laugh. I’d finished knuckling tears from my eyes when the door opened.
A small woman wearing dark clothing from head to toe kneaded her hands nervously.
“Hello. How can we help you?”
The woman, she must’ve been in her midforties, took a minute to study the store. “Is this the ghost-hunting place?”
“Yes.” I shot Ruth a look that said, Who is this?
Ruth shook her head.
The woman drifted slowly to me. She extended her hands as if to touch my face. My personal space vanished, and I leaned way back.
“Can I help you?”
“Are you Blissful Breneaux?”
“Yes.”
The woman lowered the cowl over her head, revealing a mass of gray hair. “Blissful, my name is Tart Walker.”
“That’s an unusual name. Tart. Not the Walker part.”
“Not as unusual as Blissful.”
“That’s true.” I clapped my hands. “What can I do for you?”
“Blissful.” She rolled the syllables around on her tongue.
I shot Ruth another look. “Yes?”
“I’ve searched for you far and wide.”
I laughed. “I am good at getting rid of ghosts.”
“That’s not why I’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh? Why are you?”
Tart nibbled her bottom lip before her lips parted, and she said, “Blissful, I’m your mother.”
Oh wow. Not what I expected to hear.
* * *
<<<<>>>>
Thank Y’all!
Thank you so much for reading THE GHOST WHO ATE GRITS. I hope you enjoyed it. While you wait for the next Blissful book, Backwoods Banshee, to be released, you can read more about Pepper and Axel in SOUTHERN HAUNTINGS.
After Pepper buys a mysterious object at a yard sale, she starts receiving death threats. But when someone is really is murdered, is it because of what Pepper purchased? Or just coincidence?