Page 97 of Spiritwarrior

“Do notbabyme…is there something else you’re not telling me? I have to go to the apartment and let the delivery drivers inside for the furniture before checking on my mom at the hospital.”

“Did I tell you that Baylin moved in with her parents?”

“Yes, you did. Why are you avoiding answering my question?”

Looking up from his hands, he realized he couldn’t avoid the question forever.

“Don’t be mad, but I may have forgotten to mention my own gift.”

Sophie narrowed her eyes on him.

“May have?”

He simply shrugged his shoulders. “My gift isn’t as good as theirs, and you never get to see it. Whew, that’s a relief off my mind. We can go now.”

“Slow your roll for once, Jody!”

His shoulders slumped. “I just don’t want you to overreact when I tell you.”

“Do I need to go inside for me to sit down?”

“No! There are pillows in there. I prefer to talk to you out here…uh…” Realizing that he had stalled for as long as he could, he got on with it. “Have you seen the movieThe Sixth Sense?”

Sophie moved to sit down on the trailer steps seemingly to know where this was going. “You mean the one where the kid sees dead people?”

Roughly, Jody swept a nervous hand through his hair. “Yes, well, I can see and talk to spirits who haven’t been rebirthed.”

“Rebirthed?”

“You might be more familiar with the term reincarnated.”

She grew pale as if she herself had seen a ghost. “Oh my …”

“Mother,” he correctly interjected. “Our higher power is a woman… Mother controls the universe.”

She just stared at him while Jody shifted his weight to his other foot.

“If you’re ready, we can go to the hospital now to check on your mom—”

“In a minute. I need to think!”

“About what?” he asked helpfully.

“Just be quiet a second.”

Jody snapped his mouth closed.

“How do you talk to them?”

This is the part he really didn’t want to tell her, yet he didn’t want to keep any more secrets from her.

“Two ways, they can come and talk to me if I’m in their vicinity or…”

“Or?” she asked in a strangled voice.

“Or I can call their spirts. I can force any spirit living or dead to obey me if I’m holding one of their possessions.”

Sophie jerked to her feet. “Have you made me do anything I haven’t wanted to do?”

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