Ghost Light (Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective)

by E.J. Stevens

Later that night, much later if the slant of light coming through my bedroom window was any indication, I rested my head on Ceff’s chest. He stroked my cheek and I closed my eyes. Shockwaves still rolled through me at his touch.

  “Tired?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, surprised.

  I had been dead to the world when Ceff carried me up to my room, but now I was bursting with energy. My skin continued to glow, giving off waves of heat. I looked down and shifted the sheet half draped across my body. I wasn’t tired, but the wound at my side had started to bleed through the gauze. I was supposed to be resting, not doing mattress gymnastics. When Kaye said to spend the week in bed, I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what she meant.

  I sighed. I needed to change the dressing if I wanted to avoid infection.

  “I’m not tired, but I do need a shower,” I said.

  Ceff lifted his hand and a string of water from a glass on the nightstand rose in a spiral ribbon to dance between his fingers.

  “Would you like company?” he asked.

  “Do pixies lick salt from your skin?” I asked.

  Ceff lifted me into his arms and nuzzled my neck.

  “Mmm, maybe I’m part pixie,” he said.

  Ceff carried me to the bathroom and kicked the door shut.

  Chapter 28

  Steam rolled out into the loft as I opened the bathroom door. My superheated skin and Ceff’s water magic had filled the tiny room with steam so thick I couldn’t see. Not that sight was a necessary sense for what we’d been up to.

  I stepped out into the apartment and blinked at my roommate leaning against the kitchen counter. It must have been later than I thought if Jinx was out of bed. Ceff and I were still holding hands, not yet ready to break the connection of our touch. I was pretty sure that if we let go, I’d have to suffer through the visions when we touched again.

  Jinx looked between us and shook her head. I was wrapped in an old robe that showed too much leg and Ceff wore a towel low on his hips. Jinx had dark circles around her eyes and held a mug of coffee to her lips.

  “I want my prudish roommate back,” she said. “She was much quieter and didn’t hog the shower.”

  “Sorry,” I said.

  We walked over to the breakfast nook and each perched on a stool facing Jinx. When she slid two mugs of coffee across the counter, I shifted my bare foot toward Ceff’s, twining our legs together at the ankle. There were a lot more ways to remain touching than just holding hands.

  I flashed my friend a goofy grin and breathed in the scent of fresh coffee. My grin faltered when Jinx turned her face and I realized the dark circles weren’t entirely from lack of sleep. A large, purpling bruise rose along Jinx’s cheekbone.

  That bruise hadn’t been there yesterday, which meant it wasn’t from the cemetery battle. Jinx was clumsy and no stranger to bruises, but the bruise on her face looked suspiciously like the imprint of someone’s fist. I cracked my knuckles and stared at Jinx.

  “Are you alright?” I asked. “What happened to your face?”

  “This?” she asked. “It’s nothing. You should see the other guy.”

  “A man did this to you?” Ceff asked.

  His voice was low and threatened violence. I could feel the anger vibrate through his body where we touched. I clenched my jaw and reached for knives that weren’t there. Ceff and I were in agreement. If someone did this to Jinx, they were going to pay.

  Jinx shrugged.

  “I went to see Hans last night while you two were trying to bring the building down,” she said. “Big mistake.”

  Oh crap. I’d forgotten to tell Jinx about Hans’ temper tantrum the night the clurichaun got her drunk. So much had happened since then that the call had totally slipped my mind, but that was no excuse.

  “I am so sorry,” I said. “I mentioned you’d been drinking with a clurichaun. I didn’t know he was anti-fae.”

  “It’s alright,” she said. “I didn’t know either. I mean, I knew he was a Hunter. But I didn’t realize he was such a racist douche. When I said I’d just helped to save thirty-three fae kids, he smacked me in the face.”

  “I’ll kill him,” I said.

  I broke contact with Ceff, launched myself from the barstool, and ran toward my room. This was no time for cuddling. I needed my knives. I looked down at the robe and bare legs and added clothes to the list. Ceff, moving fae fast, was pulling on jeans and grabbing his trident.

  Hans was going to pay.

  “No, wait,” Jinx said.

  She stood in the doorway and shook her head.

  “I took care of it,” she said. “Plus, if you two, a pure-blooded fae and a half-blood, go attacking Hans, he’ll have the entire Hunter’s Guild on your ass. He’s not worth it.”

  I paused while strapping a throwing knife to my forearm.

  “How did you take care of it?” I asked. “Did you shoot him with your crossbow?”

  After what Hans had done to my friend’s face, I wouldn’t settle for anything less than painful impalement.

  “Nope, stabbed him with a hair stick,” she said. Jinx grinned. “I didn’t have the crossbow with me, didn’t think I’d need it on a date with a Hunter. I’m rethinking that for the future.”

  With Jinx’s taste in men, that was probably a good idea. Maybe we could find a crossbow dressed up with sequins. Jinx was all about the accessories.

  “I hope you also broke up with the guy,” I said.

  “Hell yeah,” she said. “I like bad boys, not batterers.”

  Jinx had stabbed Hans with a hair stick. It may not have been one of my knives, but Jinx had shown the guy she wasn’t a pushover. I grinned showing teeth.

  “If he comes near you again, call me,” I said.

  “And me,” Ceff said.

  “Like I said, Hans would only be getting his way if my two faerie friends attacked him,” she said. “I’m not getting either of you in trouble with the Hunter’s Guild.”

  “Then call Jenna,” I said. “In fact, don’t wait. Call her now and tell her how Hans attacked an unarmed human.”

  Jinx smiled and grabbed her phone.

  “Technically, I wasn’t unarmed,” she said. “Those hair sticks did a number on his neck. Totally ruined one of his tats.”

  “If you weren’t carrying a blade or bow, you were unarmed,” I said. “Hair accessories don’t count. Call Jenna. Maybe you can keep the guy from beating another girl. The Hunter’s Guild has rules and I’m pretty sure Hans just broke a few of them.”

  Jinx pulled up Jenna’s number and sauntered into her room.

  “Do you think she’ll be alright?” Ceff asked.

  “Yes, nothing a little revenge won’t cure,” I said. “Jenna will set things straight. And if that guy ever comes sniffing around here, he’ll come face to face with my blades.”

  “You’re sexy when you’re angry,” he said.

  Ceff stood beside the door to my room raking my body with his gaze from head to toe. I blushed, realizing I was wearing nothing but a robe and the knives strapped to my wrists. I hadn’t gotten around to putting clothes on yet.

  My breath quickened and I licked my lips. I stepped toward Ceff, wondering how bad the visions would be this time around. I looked up into Ceff’s face and his eyes flashed green. For the first time in my life, I didn’t care about the potential severity of a vision.

  I kicked the door shut and let the robe drop to the floor.

  Chapter 29

  “Are you sure you don’t need me to come along?” I asked.

  Ceff rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. He was going to visit the cemetery where Melusine had died, and now was buried. He’d been standing in the doorway to our loft, eyes distant, and I wondered if I should have dressed to go with him.

  “No, this is something I have to do on my own,” he said. “I must honor the dead in the way of my people. But do not worry, I’ll be back by nightfall.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” I said.

  �
��Until tonight,” he said.

  Eyes that had looked sad a moment before, now held the promise of an evening of pleasure.

  “Until tonight,” I said.

  I shivered, a breeze playing across my legs as the door closed behind him. I cinched my robe and looked around the apartment. Ceff and I hadn’t left the loft in days and the place was starting to look like a boggle pit. I was behind on every one of my chores, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

  I dropped onto the couch, suddenly feeling the fatigue of the past week. I was supposed to be on a week of bed rest, but so far I’d seen lots of bed and not much rest. Having Ceff gone for a few hours would do me good. I needed my beauty sleep.

  Unfortunately, my over-caffeinated roommate was bored. She was suddenly single and, since we’d closed the office while I recovered from a lamia bite, had free time. Jinx skipped out of the kitchen and perched on the arm of the loveseat across from me.

  “So, you ready to go out and celebrate?” Jinx asked.

  “Celebrate what?” I asked.

  “What are we celebrating?” she asked. “Oh, I don’t know. How about the successful rescue of thirty-three faerie kids? We made bank on that case by the way, which is another reason to celebrate. And, dun dun dun! There’s the whole you knockin’ boots with his royal hotness. You have to fill me in on all the juicy details. Like how you got past your touch phobia in such a big way. I was starting to think you’d die a virgin.”

  Jinx really needed to switch to decaf.

  “Let’s just say I had motivation,” I said. I smiled and rolled my eyes. “And that is the last we speak of it. I don’t kiss and tell.”

  “Suuure you don’t,” Jinx said winking. “We’ll see about that after a few drinks, and dancing.”

  “No way,” I said. I shook my head. “I’m not going out clubbing. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m injured. I’m supposed to be in bed, resting.”

  “Right, you were getting so much rest in your bed,” she said. “Seriously, we need to go out and celebrate. I want to hear all about your hot kelpie stud. Like, was he a total stallion in bed? Does he have all his man parts? Inquiring minds want to know.”

  Jinx waggled her eyebrows and I blushed.

  “We are not having this conversation,” I said, fighting a laugh.

  Man parts? Jinx really did have a way with words. A grin tugged at my lips, but I forced them down.

  I crossed my arms over my chest, careful of my injured wrist. My wounds were healing fast, a benefit of Kaye’s magic and my fae blood, but the puncture sites on my wrist and side still ached. I really should be resting.

  “Okay, fine,” she said. “I’ll stop asking about the details of your steamy, hot, fae sexcapades if you agree to come out and celebrate.”

  I groaned and tossed my hands in the air.

  “Okay, I’ll go celebrate, but not tonight,” I said. “I have plans with Ceff later, and tomorrow I have some unfinished business I need to take care of.”

  “I’m sure you two have plans,” she said. Jinx waggled her eyebrows. “I can wait until after the honeymoon phase, if it doesn’t take too long. How about this weekend?”

  “It’s a date,” I said. “Ceff has to return to the sea soon. Just a few more days and you’ll have your roommate back.”

  “Good, I was starting to think I’d created a monster,” she said. “When I suggested you hook up with Ceff, I had no idea that meant an all-night light show and the need to reinforce the freaking floor. I’m seriously considering calling a contractor. We don’t want you two falling in on our clients.”

  Jinx tapped her foot and gave the floor a significant look. We lived in the loft directly above Private Eye. Maybe we should call a contractor. My fae abilities were awakening rapidly and a newly realized perk was an increase in speed and strength—speed and strength that may someday rival Ceff’s. If Ceff continued spending time in our loft, we could do some serious damage. My bed crashing through into the office below could be bad for business, not to mention embarrassing.

  “Go ahead and get a quote to reinforce the floor to my bedroom…and the bathroom,” I said. I felt my ears going red and fidgeted with my gloves. “You said we brought in good money on our last case. Dip into my share for the repair work.”

  “Will do,” she said. “Anything else?”

  “Yes, um, sorry about the light show,” I said. “I still haven’t figured out how to control my wisp abilities, but I’m working on it.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “If you start glowing when we go out clubbing, I’ll just tell everyone that you’re rockin’ the latest glow-in-the-dark body paint.”

  Apparently, even the threat of me being sentenced to death for public glowing wouldn’t stop my friend from dragging me out to the clubs this weekend. I sighed and pulled myself to my feet. I waved sleepily to Jinx, loped across the floor to my bedroom, and crawled into bed.

  The pillow smelled like Ceff and I smiled, warmth spreading through my body. I relaxed, sinking into the blankets. If I closed my eyes, I could pretend he was still here with me. Light shone through my eyelids and I sighed. I’d forgotten to turn off the bedside lamp.

  I opened my eyes and reached for the lamp, but the light wasn’t on. The illumination was coming from me. Mab’s bones, I had to get this under control. I was glowing more and more often now.

  I needed to find my father. I planned to check in with Sir Torn and my new cat sidhe allies tomorrow, but I assumed Torn would have contacted me if he’d learned anything new. I’d hoped his network of spies would turn up something, but, according to Torn, my father’s trail went cold in Fukushima.

  The wisps from the cemetery had spread the word that their princess was in town. Now I received daily visits from the beautiful, glowing orbs, but I hadn’t found a way to question them about my father. I wished I could communicate with my wisp brethren, but so far their language eluded me.

  That left one person who might be able to help me locate my father.

  Chapter 30

  I woke the next morning eager to make some inquiries into my father’s whereabouts. Torn may be looking into the matter, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t start my own investigation.

  I slid out from under the sheets, careful not to disturb Ceff who slept on the bed beside me. His arm was thrown up over his head and his face was relaxed. The poor guy was exhausted; let him sleep.

  Ceff had returned at nightfall as promised. His eyes had been red-rimmed and puffy, but when I asked how he was feeling, he smiled. He had said his goodbyes to Melusine and was ready to begin anew, with me.

  I covered Ceff with a blanket and turned away from the bed. I grabbed my gear and an armful of clothes and tiptoed into the bathroom. I showered and dressed quickly, eager to get today’s errands out of the way.

  I pulled on jeans and a long-sleeved thermal top with sewn in thumb holes that kept my sleeves safely tucked inside my gloves. After Melusine’s pet snake managed to slither against my naked wrist, I’d decided to order more shirts with the added thumb hole as insurance against unwanted visions. I added a black hoodie, leather jacket, and gloves. I immediately started to sweat, but figured the added protection outweighed the discomfort.

  Next, I pulled on my boots, strapped on both throwing knives, and added a dagger in my boot. I tied my hair back out of my face and stuck a polished, wooden stake into the messy bun.

  I looked fierce. I wasn’t exactly dressed for a mother-daughter reunion, but the weapons and armor set me at ease. At the moment, staying calm was more important than impressing my mother. If I started glowing on the way to her house, I’d risk execution.

  Tugging the hood up over my head, I slipped out of the apartment. I didn’t have a lot of options for getting out to the burbs. I don’t drive and taxis give me the willies, so it was either take the bus or walk. With a fresh lamia bite in my side, I chose the bus.

  I caught the Route 7 metro bus at a stop on Congress Street. At this time of the morning the outg
oing bus was nearly empty. Commuters were pouring into the city on their way to work. No one except me and the bus driver were headed out to the suburbs.

  I hunched down in the front seat and watched the city slip away. Brick, stone, and concrete were replaced with trees and picket fences. On the outskirts of town, I got off the bus and walked the mile to the house I’d grown up in.

  I stopped on the street outside the familiar gray and white house with gingerbread trim. I shoved my hands into my jacket pockets and scanned the property for hints of the loving place I’d seen in my unlocked memories.

  This was the place where it all began. My parents, my real mother and father, had been happy here once upon a time. But my father had made a deal with the devil, and lost. Burdened with carrying a cursed lantern, my father had bespelled both me and my mother in an effort to keep us safe.

  I just hoped she still remembered him.

  The spell cast on my mind had chained my memories, keeping my father’s existence a secret. But that spell had begun to fall apart, exposing my past. Kaye speculated that this was due to the fact that memory spells are more effective on child minds. As I grew into adulthood, the spell began to unravel and the memories surfaced.

  Kaye suspected that any memory spell cast on my mother would only have been temporary. My witch friend claimed that a geis had likely been placed on my mother forbidding her from ever speaking of my father. If that was true, I’d have to get creative if I wanted answers to my questions.

  I set my jaw and walked steadily toward the house. My boots crunched as I strode up the gravel drive. My stepfather’s car was gone, but my mother’s car was parked beside his tool shed. The shed, and the garbage cans lined up against it, raised gooseflesh on my arms. This was the place I’d had my first vision. Taking the lid off the Pandora’s Box of my psychic gift hadn’t been pretty. That moment when my psychic gift reared its ugly head was akin to an earthquake; it shook my world apart. Even now, long after the dust has settled, I’m rocked by the aftershocks of that day.

  I swallowed hard and gave the shed a wide berth. I didn’t need to start glowing in front of the neighbors. I climbed the front steps of the house and onto the wooden porch. I took a calming breath and pressed the doorbell with a gloved finger. I still had a key to the front door, but letting myself in didn’t feel right. This hadn’t been my home in a long time.