knew. Why didn’t I?”
She sighed. “Because I think we all hoped you didn’t have it too. I mean, we thought maybe you’d take after Dad instead of Mom and Grandma. If you didn’t have the whole medium thing to contend with yourself, we wouldn’t have needed to tell you about it. Maybe that was a stupid thing to do, but it seemed logical at the time. Dad doesn’t know anything about it either, by the way, although I’m pretty sure he knows that Grandma Caroline had some kind of special power.”
Ray rubbed his hands over his face, trying to decide what to ask. There were so many things he didn’t understand that he didn’t exactly know where to start. “So how does this work? You sit in a dark room like DeVere did and hold hands until something speaks to you? How do you know if it’s real or not?”
His sister waved an impatient hand. “It isn’t like the mediums on TV or in the movies. Or like Gabrielle DeVere. You don’t have to hold séances. Hell, you don’t even have to tell people—I’d strongly advise you not to. Other people frequently assume you’re nuts if you do, based on my experience anyway.”
“Don’t worry. I can’t think of anybody I’d want to tell.” Except possibly Emma Shea. His shoulders tensed again.
No, definitely not Emma Shea
.
“It’s not so bad, Ray, honestly. Danny doesn’t do much of anything with it except, you know, it probably helps him sell houses.”
He frowned. “Helps him how?”
“I think he senses things about them. You know they used to call him the house whisperer because he could always figure out the house’s story. Mom thinks he was hearing the spirits in the house.”
Ray bit back his immediate sarcastic reply. There was nothing even vaguely humorous about this conversation. “What about you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Me?”
“You. What do you do with this ‘gift’ we all inherited?”
Rosie’s expression turned bland. “It helps me in my research.”
“Helps you how?”
She shrugged. Clearly she wasn’t going down that road. At least not yet.
He blew out a breath. “Do they, like, talk to you? Should I expect to hear voices?”
Her jaw tightened. “It’s not uniform—each of us reacts differently. Sometimes you do have, well, conversations, but not always. The old lady in your dream was probably a spirit of some kind, and she could talk to you—at least in a dream.”
“So the dreams are ghost-related?”
“Probably.” She grimaced. “I’d say almost certainly. You didn’t have them until after the séance, right?”
He nodded. “Okay, if I can talk to this ghost, does that mean I should just go back to the house? Try to have a conversation with her or something?”
Rosie frowned, shaking her head. “No. Bad idea. We don’t know enough about the ghost who came after you, about her motives or who she is. There are some very dangerous spirits out there. I don’t want you to end up taking one of them on if you don’t have to.”
He took a long pull on his beer. Alcohol seemed like a good idea right then. “Dangerous? Like how?”
His sister stared down at the table, frowning. “You remember that house that burned down last year, the one Danny was trying to sell here in the district?”
“The one where he and Biddy almost got trapped inside? Yeah, I remember. Mom was there too, right?”
She paused for a moment, then blew out a breath. “A ghost was involved in that, a bad one. It tried to kill them, but they managed to escape.”
Ray felt the beginning of a headache stirring at the base of his skull. “You’re saying that fire had something to do with Danny being a medium?”
She nodded. “Danny stirred a ghost up in that house without realizing it. Sort of like what’s happening to you. Then he had to try to control it. Only controlling something like that is really dicey sometimes.”
The pain in his head seemed to intensify. “You think I’ve got something similar at the Hampton
She sighed. “Because I think we all hoped you didn’t have it too. I mean, we thought maybe you’d take after Dad instead of Mom and Grandma. If you didn’t have the whole medium thing to contend with yourself, we wouldn’t have needed to tell you about it. Maybe that was a stupid thing to do, but it seemed logical at the time. Dad doesn’t know anything about it either, by the way, although I’m pretty sure he knows that Grandma Caroline had some kind of special power.”
Ray rubbed his hands over his face, trying to decide what to ask. There were so many things he didn’t understand that he didn’t exactly know where to start. “So how does this work? You sit in a dark room like DeVere did and hold hands until something speaks to you? How do you know if it’s real or not?”
His sister waved an impatient hand. “It isn’t like the mediums on TV or in the movies. Or like Gabrielle DeVere. You don’t have to hold séances. Hell, you don’t even have to tell people—I’d strongly advise you not to. Other people frequently assume you’re nuts if you do, based on my experience anyway.”
“Don’t worry. I can’t think of anybody I’d want to tell.” Except possibly Emma Shea. His shoulders tensed again.
No, definitely not Emma Shea
.
“It’s not so bad, Ray, honestly. Danny doesn’t do much of anything with it except, you know, it probably helps him sell houses.”
He frowned. “Helps him how?”
“I think he senses things about them. You know they used to call him the house whisperer because he could always figure out the house’s story. Mom thinks he was hearing the spirits in the house.”
Ray bit back his immediate sarcastic reply. There was nothing even vaguely humorous about this conversation. “What about you?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Me?”
“You. What do you do with this ‘gift’ we all inherited?”
Rosie’s expression turned bland. “It helps me in my research.”
“Helps you how?”
She shrugged. Clearly she wasn’t going down that road. At least not yet.
He blew out a breath. “Do they, like, talk to you? Should I expect to hear voices?”
Her jaw tightened. “It’s not uniform—each of us reacts differently. Sometimes you do have, well, conversations, but not always. The old lady in your dream was probably a spirit of some kind, and she could talk to you—at least in a dream.”
“So the dreams are ghost-related?”
“Probably.” She grimaced. “I’d say almost certainly. You didn’t have them until after the séance, right?”
He nodded. “Okay, if I can talk to this ghost, does that mean I should just go back to the house? Try to have a conversation with her or something?”
Rosie frowned, shaking her head. “No. Bad idea. We don’t know enough about the ghost who came after you, about her motives or who she is. There are some very dangerous spirits out there. I don’t want you to end up taking one of them on if you don’t have to.”
He took a long pull on his beer. Alcohol seemed like a good idea right then. “Dangerous? Like how?”
His sister stared down at the table, frowning. “You remember that house that burned down last year, the one Danny was trying to sell here in the district?”
“The one where he and Biddy almost got trapped inside? Yeah, I remember. Mom was there too, right?”
She paused for a moment, then blew out a breath. “A ghost was involved in that, a bad one. It tried to kill them, but they managed to escape.”
Ray felt the beginning of a headache stirring at the base of his skull. “You’re saying that fire had something to do with Danny being a medium?”
She nodded. “Danny stirred a ghost up in that house without realizing it. Sort of like what’s happening to you. Then he had to try to control it. Only controlling something like that is really dicey sometimes.”
The pain in his head seemed to intensify. “You think I’ve got something similar at the Hampton
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