Ghost Magnet: A Haunting Urban Fantasy by Lori Drake

Author:Lori Drake [Drake, Lori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clockwork Cactus Press
Published: 2020-03-29T04:00:00+00:00

13

I returned to consciousness slowly to find myself shivering under a pile of blankets, familiar voices speaking in hushed tones nearby.

“Ben’s on his way. He says to do what we can to warm him up,” Chris said.

“Should we start a fire?” Joey—a friend and Chris’s girlfriend—asked.

“A hot water bottle might be better. I think there’s one upstairs.”

“Wait, I think he’s coming around. Dean?” Joey leaned over me, looking down with concerned brown eyes.

Chris stepped into view beside her, wearing a hesitant smile. “Welcome back, man.”

I glanced around, finding myself on the couch in the living room. Trish was perched on the arm of the couch near my head. She leaned down and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I passed out again, didn’t I?” I mumbled, huddling into the covers a bit.

“Yup,” Trish said.

“Again?” Joey and Chris said, in unison.

I had no ready answer for either of them, so I sighed and snaked a hand out from under the blankets to rub my face.

Joey sat on the edge of the couch beside me. “What do you mean, again? What happened?”

“It’s nothing.” I started to sit up.

She pushed me back down with a hand on my chest and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t bullshit us, Dean. We’ve been through too much together. What’s going on?”

I sighed again and closed my eyes. Joey had been a client once, but she and Chris had both become good friends. And we had, indeed, been through a lot together.

“Tell them,” Trish said.

I felt a hand stroking my hair, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t Joey’s or Chris’s. Opening my eyes confirmed it. I met Trish’s eyes, upside down from this angle, and nodded slightly. When I looked back at Joey and Chris, they were both watching me carefully.

“There’s a spirit here, isn’t there?” Chris said.

I nodded and he groaned. A quiet chuckle escaped me. “Don’t worry, it’s a friendly one.”

“You haven’t answered my question,” Joey said.

“I’m not sure how,” I admitted.

Chris dropped into a crouch, coming down to my level. “Start at the beginning?”

I told them everything, starting with Sadie’s owner and ending with me passing out on the front lawn after banishing two dozen spirits in one fell swoop. I even told them about Trish—though I omitted certain personal details that were both irrelevant and none of their business. By the time I finished, I was warm enough to peel back a couple layers of blanket and pull myself up into a sitting position. Trish curled up behind me, leaning against my back. She hadn’t said a peep while I was explaining things.

“So,” Joey said, not taking long to digest what I’d told them. “You’re clearly manifesting new abilities. The question is why. You said it started the day you got back from Nevada, right?”

“Yeah, but Trish thinks it started before that, that it’s been getting stronger.”

Chris tilted his head. “How much before that?”

I shrugged. “She’s not sure. Maybe while we were in Nevada?”

The two Alphas exchanged a glance, then looked at me again.

“What?” I asked, feeling like I was missing something.

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