Page 11 of Christmas Spirits

“Woah,” was all he said.

Woah was right.

Arianna walked around the counter and bent down to retrieve something under the register. “But lucky for us, Aunt Marla has a leger of all the customers and sales she’s done over the years, along with their contact information. Just in case.”

“Just in case what?” I asked, curious.

Arianna’s head popped back up, and she smiled. “Don’t ask.”

Laurence and I exchanged looks.

She plopped a heavy, leather-faced book on the wood, everything shaking from its massive weight. This leger was thicker than most dictionaries.

That’s a lot of customers.

Should I be worried that so many supernaturals were taking advantage of Divine Magic’s underground magical enterprise? Probably. But like most things in this world, you have to push it aside and keep on going. Otherwise, it’d keep you up every night.

Catching us staring, she laughed. “It’s a lot, right?”

We nodded in unison.

“And out of all these names, only one is a necromancer. That tells you something.” She opened it and started flipping through the pages. On each side, there was a long list of names, addresses, items, and their costs in tiny but neat cursive handwriting. Quickly, she flipped through the pages and scrolled through for a few minutes. Then, she stopped, pulled out her cellphone from her jean pocket, and dialed.

“Rhys? Hi, this is Arianna from Divine Magic. Yes, Marla’s niece.” She pointed to the phone and nodded our way, telling us Rhys was just the man she’d hope would pick up. “You’re all caught up on payments. That’s not why I’m calling. I have a job for you.”

She was quiet for a bit as he responded.

“Yep, poltergeist,” she said. “Really? I’m not surprised. There’s some crazy shit going on lately.” Another pause. “Uh-huh. Okay. I’ll tell them. But is there any way you can come sooner? This one is extra feisty.” More mumbles on the other end. “Okay. I’ll call you back.”

She hung up and pocketed the phone again.

“So?” Laurence asked, eager.

My chest hurt from the erratic beating of my heart. Breathing was getting harder, too.

She sighed. “He said he’s been extremely busy lately. Haunts have been running amok.”

“Which is true,” I said. “It’s from the veil thinning.”

She nodded. “He can come in two days at the earliest.”

“Two days?” I gasped. “That’s the twenty-third. The day before Christmas Eve.”

“Christmas Eve Eve,” Laurence added as a poor excuse to lighten the mood. But when he turned to me, his smile quickly vanished and he cleared his throat.

Suddenly two days felt like years away.

We were in the middle of the Christmas rush. How was I going to run my business if I was being tormented by an evil spirit? I’d have to close until after the holidays…

“And there’s one more thing…” Arianna continued with a grimace. “The cost of Rhys’s services is pretty steep…”

“How steep we talking?” Laurence asked.

“Three large.”

I choked on my next inhale. “As in three thousand dollars?” That was all the money I just got from Mrs. Harris’s party, plus all of our savings, and that meant no company van. No expanding. I had just started climbing toward my dreams, and now I was sliding backward. And fast.

“Call him back and tell him it’s a deal,” Laurence said, tone stern.

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