Page 28 of Malice

“It says, ‘Danger,’” she says. “Danger from who? Or what?” she asks.

Our fingers fly across the board again, and as more words are spelled out, Jocelyn’s expression shifts from concern to downright terrified.

“Who is it?” she asks.

The tool moves to the letter C, but then the board is ripped out from under us and flung across the room, leaving us both stunned and speechless. I grab my sister’s hand, pulling her closer to me as everything on the counter rises from the surface, hovering for just a second or two before it flies across the room and smashes into the wall.

“Fuck,” Jocelyn whispers. “Fuck, fuck.”

“What just happened?”

“A spirit tried to tell us there’s danger here. I think it was attempting to tell us about the source of the trouble when the board was torn away from us.” She turns to face me. “To be clear, you aren’t making any of this up.”

“Shit. What do I do now?”

Before she can answer me, a cupboard door flies open. Three white ceramic plates rise from the shelf and hover in the air before flying like frisbees across the room. We watch in terrified horror as the same thing happens to the dishes on a lower shelf.

Jocelyn squeezes my hand. “Call the guy. Tell him he’s needed.”

Chapter 12

Aster

I’ve often wondered what winning the lottery would be like, and except for a lack of procedure and cameras, I’d bet it’s a lot like this. I’ve never seen so many numbers in my bank account balance. And not just one account. Apparently I have a financial portfolio. I wasn’t broke before, but I wasn’t sitting on a huge nest egg either. Now I could do literally anything I want and not sweat about it.

It’s been a weird few days adjusting to my new reality. I did the status report Farnsworth wanted and managed to get scolded for not doing more. Even though the threat of being sent back to the Below is in the back of my mind, Crash assures me I have time still. It’s not quick or easy to wrangle a Horror.

I’m leaning on a tree while Otto sniffs around looking for the perfect spot to pee when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and stare at the unknown number, then decide to answer it.

“This is Aster.”

“Aster. Thank fuck.”

“Who is this?”

“Hudson Davis. I need you. Like, badly. Can you come?”

Hudson. “What’s going on?”

“You know how you said there was a ghost?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well, you’re right. There’s a ghost here and I don’t know what to do. I know you said you were investigating the damage or whatever, but do you know what to do?”

Before I can answer him, I hear what sounds like breaking dishes in the background and a woman saying “fuck” over and over. “Are you okay?”

“Um, so far. It’s breaking everything.”

Crash appears next to me, smiling wide. “Told you so. Tell him you’re on the way.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Thank you.” He blows out a breath. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Otto has abandoned his desire to pee in favor of sitting on the sidewalk, gazing up at Crash and wagging his tail. Crash tilts his head and nods.

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