by Sean Michael
Blaine let the recorder run, trying as hard as he could not to either move or freak out.
The thing came closer, still visible only on the special camera. He couldn’t see anything with his naked eye. The air got cold, the drop in temperature sudden, and the image on the infrared sharpened. It was right there in the foreground now, almost on top of them.
Flynn began breathing rapidly, quick little pants that all of a sudden became visible, the air cold enough that each exhalation showed.
Then he blinked, eyes huge, and poof. The moment was gone. Disappeared.
Flynn’s cheer was quiet, but it was there, and Blaine could feel the excitement pouring from him. “That was so cool. Could you see anything? With the naked eye, I mean.”
Blaine shook his head. “No. Nothing. I felt the temperature drop. Did we get a reading?”
“Yeah. The EMF was going nuts, and you saw the thing on the infrared camera. It got damn cold there for a minute.” Flynn’s excitement was contagious. Even Will was chuckling.
“Rock on. Hopefully we’ll have some EVP too.” Damn. Damn, that had been cool.
Flynn nodded, still bouncing on the balls of his feet like a big kid.
“Let’s keep going,” muttered Will. “The ER’s just ahead.”
“Good deal. We’re heading into the emergency room proper now. We’ve just experienced some cold spots and a measurable visual on our infrared cameras, so we’re very hopeful that Maryann will continue to try and reach out to us.”
“A lot of people died in the emergency room,” Flynn added. “We could hit on more than just Maryann.” He was back to using the EMF detector, the little handheld machine beeping along happily but not showing anything significant yet.
“Sure. Go ahead. Call away.” What the actual fuck? Blaine was supposed to lead the team, right? At least in this? Right? “I’m going to take a break. You keep filming, Flynn, huh?” He needed to calm the fuck down and quit being a prima donna. Seriously.
“What?” Flynn and Will said it together, Will actually lowering the camera to look at him.
“Did I do something wrong?” Flynn asked. “I didn’t mean to—this is all so new, you know?”
“Not at all.” He cleared his throat dramatically. “I need to grab a bottle of water. Keep filming. We’ll cut me back in.”
“Okay.” Flynn looked concerned but didn’t question him. “We’ll wait for you here.”
Will had one eyebrow up and a questioning look in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.
Blaine waved once and jogged toward the others. There’d be a cooler with bottles of water. Hell, maybe he’d run outside and take a leak and just focus. It was never going to be seamless, adding a new person to the group. Maybe he’d become complacent. Maybe that’s why they sucked.
Jason and Darnell had returned from setting up the motion-activated cameras and were checking the feeds when he got back to the lobby.
“Hey, Blaine,” Jason said. “You guys forget something?”
“Just need a drink. Throat’s dry. They’re still filming.”
Flynn might be your new psychic after all.
Darnell tossed him a water bottle. “You’d better get back there. They need you.”
“They’re fine. I may take a handheld and a Mel Meter, head upstairs real quick and get some readings.”
Darnell snorted. “You camera shy all of a sudden?”
Jason didn’t say anything but was watching him, looking as surprised as Darnell.
“Shit no. Flynn wants to try some stuff. I thought I’d give him his head.”
“You’re the front man. If I wanted Flynn to do it, I’d have told you.” Jase’s voice was sure, firm. “You get your ass in front of the camera and show everyone how it’s done. You’re the one with the spark.”
He opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, the walkies crackled.
“Blaine, man, you coming back soon?” Will asked. “We’re waiting on you to go into the ER, and there’s a bunch of spooky noises and a lot of action on the EMF reader.”
“Aka get your ass back there squared,” Jase said, pointing toward the hall.
Blaine laughed as he ran back. Yeah, he was a dipshit. An emotional dork.
The guys were waiting for him, and they both cheered as he got there, Flynn immediately showing him the EMF reader. “Look at this! There’s a ton of activity, and I swear to God it feels like it’s way colder in there. Will said he feels it too.”
Will grunted. “Definitely something going on in there that needs your touch, man.”
“Okay. Okay, well, you guys back off a little and let me focus.” If he was going to do this, he needed to trust in it, right? Of course right.
Blaine closed his eyes and relaxed, listening as Will and Flynn moved back. The sound was sure and sharp for a second. Then it faded as they stilled.
He swore he could feel their warmth behind him, contrasting strongly with the decidedly cooler air in front of him. They stayed quiet and still, though, letting him do his thing.
“If you want to talk to me, I’m listening.”
“No, you’re not.”
The words were low but solid. Not the fuzzy whispering he was used to.
“I am. I’m right here. Tell me what you need.”
Nothing.
Nothing.
“Room 204.”
That wasn’t a voice. It was a thought. Still, he wasn’t ready to share that.
Flynn took a gasping breath but didn’t say anything.
“Blaine? We going to go in there?” Will asked, voice soft but not a whisper. Whispers could be fucking creepy in situations like this.
“What? Go in where?” He hadn’t said anything about 204.
“The bay where the shootings happened.”
“Huh? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Did you guys hear anyone answer me?”
“Yes,” Flynn and Will answered at the same time.
“Hopefully it’ll come through on the camera’s audio,” Will added.
“Good deal.” So he wasn’t crazy, which was handy. “Come on. Let’s try in the bay.”
Flynn and Will came up behind him, totally letting him take the lead. When they opened the doors and went in, it was definitely much colder.
“Wow.” Flynn shivered, giving him a wide-eyed look.
“Yeah.”
The automatic word generator attached to the EVP recorder blipped. “Bullet.”
Blaine nodded. “That’s right. You were shot here.”
“Fuck. Amazing.” Flynn sounded like his mind was blown.
“Uh-huh.” Will had seen this kind of thing before, but he was clearly on board with this being an extremely good run.
A stroke brushed his wrist, and he made a show of jerking, spinning around, even though the touch wasn’t harsh at all.
“What? What?” Flynn looked ecstatic, eyes wide, focused on Blaine.
“Something touched me! On the wrist!” Sorry, honey. It’s on camera. Are you okay?
The touch came again, soft, gentle, like someone—she—was checking his pulse.
“Is it a good spirit or a bad one?” Flynn asked.
“Were you a nurse here? Are you Maryann? Maybe Donna Lewis? Or Renee?”
At the name Renee, the touch came again. “Renee? Hey. Hey, do you want to talk to us?”
“I can help you. What brings you here today?” Renee asked, voice warm, professionally concerned.
“Oh my God.” Flynn’s excited whisper seemed to echo all around the place.
Okay. Weird. Blaine was going to just go with it, though. “You did. We were worried about you.”
“Worried about me? Honey, you’re the one in the hospital.” She took his wrist again, and it was a cold touch, but not in any way malevolent.
“I am.” Oh fuck. He was going to pass out. “I totally….”
Flynn touched his shoulder, hand fucking warm, almost hot, compared to the specter’s.
His knees buckled, and everyt
hing disappeared for a second, a dull thud at the base of his skull whispering, “Room 204. Room 204. Room 204.”
Flynn caught him. He must have because when Blaine came back to himself, he was being held in Flynn’s arms, and they were outside the ER, a few feet from the door. Will was speaking into his walkie-talkie, voice low and urgent.
“Blaine? Blaine, are you back with us?” Flynn asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, sorry.” His head was pounding, and he felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest. The only solid thing that didn’t hurt was where Flynn cradled him. His skin tingled like something important was going on all along where they touched.
“Blaine?” Will asked as Jason and Darnell came flying down the hall.
“Sorry. Sorry. Tell me we got that.” She had been there. Right there.
“I got you fainting when Flynn touched you, yeah. And you were talking pretty good with someone. I heard it, but we’ll have to see what the camera picked up.”
Flynn nodded, hands rubbing up and down along Blaine’s arms, warming him, spreading the tingles. “I totally heard her—she was trying to help you. One of the nurses, eh?”
“Renee. It was Renee. She spoke to me, guys, clear as a bell.”
They all started talking at once.
“What did she say?”
“Tell me we got it on camera.”
“No fucking way!”
“I heard it too, not that clear, but I heard it.”
He let the clamor fade into the background, his brain running around in circles. He’d heard things before, sure. Felt things too, but nothing like this.
Flynn was still holding him, and he had to admit, it felt good, like he was keeping it together because of the tingly touches that Flynn shared with him. Crazy.
“Maybe we should pack it up for tonight, guys. Blaine’s the color of milk.” Darnell sounded worried as hell.
“Yeah, good idea,” Jason said. “I vote we go back to Blaine’s place. We can check out what we have that way. Save a few bucks on the motel too. The drive out here isn’t that bad.”
“Works for me. I got chips and Cokes and stuff.” Blaine just wanted to go home and crawl in bed and… hell, he didn’t know.
The guys came over and helped him and Flynn stand, and it was a physical wrench to not have Flynn’s warmth supporting him anymore. Almost a pain inside him.
“You okay?” Flynn looked concerned and touched his arm.
The pain faded immediately.
“Fine. Totally. Just… that was intense.”
Flynn nodded. “Yeah, my heart was in my throat until you opened your eyes again.”
They got him turned around and headed to base camp at the other end of the hospital.
“Is it always like this?” Flynn asked.
“Shit, no,” Darnell told him. “We haven’t had this much excitement in ages. I mean, sometimes we get a good hit, but it’s less often than we’d like.”
“You must be a good-luck charm,” Will said.
“Beginner’s luck?” Flynn suggested. “I haven’t had to sit through all the times when nothing happened. Yet.”
They got back to base camp, and Jason and Darnell helped Will pack up most of their gear to take with them. It was too expensive to leave out in the open.
“How can I help?” Flynn asked.
“Get Blaine to the van, and get some water and a granola bar down his throat,” Darnell suggested, coming up with one of each and handing them to Flynn.
Will tossed the keys at Flynn, who caught them, then touched Blaine’s arm again. “Come on. We get to sit for a bit.”
“I’m sorry. This doesn’t happen very often.” Honestly.
“Are you kidding? This was exciting. I mean, I’m sorry it seems to have knocked you for a loop, but you spoke with someone! Had an actual conversation. That is so cool.” Flynn walked him to the van and opened the side door, encouraging him up into a seat. “I shouldn’t have touched you, I guess, but you looked so pale.”
He got seated, and Flynn joined him, then closed the door behind them to keep the bugs out. Flynn was about the only warm thing in the van, and Blaine had to admit he was happy they were sitting close enough that he could feel Flynn’s warmth.
Flynn opened the bottle of water and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” He sucked the water down, moaning happily.
Flynn opened the granola bar and handed it over when he was done with the water. “You’re looking better already. You really had gone as white as a… well, ghost.”
“It was a weird experience.” And somehow it had been weirder with Flynn there.
“You wanna talk about it?” Flynn asked, settling in next to him and patting his thigh.
“She was superpresent. Usually I get whispers, feelings, not ‘Hi, how are you?’ You know?”
“How cool is that? You think it’s because you’ve been here a lot and she knows you now? Recognizes you?”
“I don’t know. Seriously. Did you see her? Hear her?”
“I didn’t see anything, not really, but I could tell she was there, and I heard her. Not as clearly as you seem to have, but I could so tell you were having a conversation.” Flynn’s face was lit up, his excitement clear. “She was really there.”
“Hopefully we got something on film.” Blaine closed his eyes, his head pounding, throbbing. The anger had dissipated, though, which was good, because he didn’t need that shit.
“You need anything?” Flynn asked, that hand coming back to rub Blaine’s thigh. It was like Flynn couldn’t stop touching him.
“Just to go home. I’m tired, and I have to be at work at 5:00 a.m.….”
“Oh man. That’s damn early. I’m sure the guys’ll be here soon. You could nap on the drive home.”
“Yeah. Saturdays are harsh, but it’s worth it.”
“Yeah? I’m glad because that was amazing. You’re amazing.” Flynn’s eyes shone.
“I’m just….” He didn’t know what he was. He felt drained, bone-deep.
Flynn suddenly wrapped his arms around Blaine and hugged him tight.
Invisible sparks flew between them, little explosions that faded slowly, leaving him… more peaceful?
“Sorry,” murmured Flynn, sitting back. “You looked like you really needed that.”
“No apologies.” He had. He’d needed whatever that was.
“Cool.” Flynn gave him another quick hug, then sat back and fished a small box of mints out of his pocket. He opened the container and offered Blaine the tiniest mints he’d ever seen. “They’re cinnamon flavored.”
“Those look like dollhouse candies.”
Flynn chuckled. “They’re small but mighty mints. They’re good.” Flynn passed the tin beneath his nose, the scent of cinnamon strong.
“Oh. Oh, that’s cool. How many do I take?”
“As many as you want, man, but I find one at a time is more than enough cinnamon in my mouth. Your mileage might totally vary.” Flynn’s friendly dorkiness was a balm to the weirdness left over from his experience in the ER.
“Thanks.” He took two and popped one in his mouth, the zing exactly what he was looking for.
Flynn put one in his own mouth and sprawled there next to him. There was a companionable silence between them that boded well for them being roommates.
Blaine let his eyes drop closed and focused on his breath. On his heartbeat.
It wasn’t long before the guys arrived with the equipment, and suddenly the van was full of noise and busyness and they were on their way, bumping along the trail, headed home.
They were ramped up, chattering and bouncing, excited, but Blaine ignored it.
He needed to rest.
Chapter Four
FLYNN didn’t have a whole lot to move, so it was probably just as well he was rooming with Blaine. If he’d gotten a place of his own, he’d have been swimming in it, using boxes as tables and sleeping on the floor. So it didn’t take him long to move his stuff into Blaine’s furni
shed spare room.
He spent a few minutes downing a bottle of water and giving the place a quick search to see where everything was.
The place was crazy—obviously handmade, but well-made. The kitchen was vast, with crazy mismatched granite counters and gorgeous handmade cabinets and tile floors that were obviously whatever Blaine had found. The island stood like a behemoth in the center of the room, the whole thing covered in groceries and stacks of mail.
The guys were crashed out in the huge open room that served as living/working/entertainment/dining area. There were two—two—sectionals, along with four recliners and a huge old farm table that creaked under the weight of their equipment.
A small bathroom downstairs served guests, and the upstairs had two more—one in Blaine’s suite and one in his.
A suite.
He had a fucking suite. His rooms were more of the same—crazy tiles and finishings, but a huge comfortable bed and crazy dressers. A sitting area with a love seat and a rocker. Bookshelves.
It was horrifying and magical all at once. He was in love.
He thought maybe this was what Blaine’s mind was like, this wonderful mishmash of stuff that shouldn’t work together but totally did.
Flynn spent ten minutes putting away the groceries and another five sorting the mail into junk, bills, and miscellaneous. Then he grabbed a couple of bottles of water and headed down to the farm stand. Although really, stand was a bit of a misnomer. The place was almost a store, all kinds of produce and homemade jams, jellies, canned vegetables.
Blaine had to be exhausted. He was drenched with sweat and had dark circles under his eyes. “Hey. You get some sleep?”
“Yeah, I did. And now I’m all moved in.” Flynn handed over the water. “Why don’t you go take a nap? I can handle this for a while.” He was sure he could figure things out. He was a smart guy.
“It’s cool. Mom and Dad would freak out. They haven’t even met you yet. Have a seat, if you want.”
“The least I can do is keep you company. You guys can’t hire someone to help out on the busy days?” Flynn figured the weekend had to be huge for the market, but that was the same time as they did their ghost hunting. It didn’t seem fair Blaine was the one holding the bag all the time.