Page 59 of Treasure and Tarot

“See. That’s them. Those are our ghosts. Those are the Belle spirits. Not that…thing that was in Thierry.”

“No, that was Horus,” Thierry said. “And he didn’t die in your house. So he’s not tied to it. He was there to get what he thought was revenge.”

Sebastian was the one to growl now. “Well, he can fuck right off.”

“That was kind of the consensus,” Colton quipped.

He poked Colton in the ribs.

Once the whole video had run, Gent cleared his throat. “That is a content-may-be-disturbing-for-some-viewers warning waiting to happen.”

“You think?” Iago rolled his eyes. “This place is amazing. You ought to come and see it.”

Gent raised one black eyebrow. “I might have to. I have some things to discuss with my business partner, and besides, this is a really active situation. Is it usually this active? Mr. Belle?”

It took a second for Sebastian to figure out Gent was speaking to him.

“Sebastian, please.” He nodded and smiled toward the computer, unsure if Gent could even see him. “It’s active all the time, but not mean, just active. Books fall over. Lights flash. Cold spots, you know, just normal life things, not scary axe things.”

Speaking of scary axe things…

He looked over at Hank. “I don’t want that thing back in my house. Can you take it back to the historical society with you?”

“Totally. If we have problems with it there, we’ll stick it in a Faraday cage.” Hank didn’t seem worried in the least.

“Thank you, I just… I don’t want it around Abby. It makes me uncomfortable. In fact, if you want the entire trunk of things for a permanent display, that’s fine. It doesn’t seem to bother the ghosts when it’s gone.”

“God, I love that,” Gent said, and everyone looked up. “The way that he just talks about ghosts, like everybody knows that they’re here, and it’s no big deal.”

“They are here, and it’s not a big deal.” And that was that.

Mason nodded. “You have to come and see this house, boss. It’s intense.”

“Hopefully less intense now.” Bastian still had to live there with his daughter. “When can we go back home?” he asked Thierry.

“I’ll do another walk-through this afternoon and, as far as I’m concerned, you can go back in the morning.”

“Oh good!” That was great news. “Good. That’s what I want.” He glanced at Colton. “That’s what we want.”

Colton beamed at him. “That is absolutely what I want. To go home with you in the morning, yes.”

The whole room sort of went, “awww”, but Sebastian didn’t care. Sebastian was kind of feeling theawhimself.

He reached for Colton’s hand and held on. “So that’s what we’ll do tomorrow morning. We get to go home. It sounds perfect. I’ll make pancakes and bacon breakfast for supper.”

“What about us, boss? I mean, if you’re going there…” Iago sounded worried.

“Well, I need to talk to Gent. You guys can’t stay at the hotel indefinitely. I know Mason has been living out of a suitcase anda storage unit, and Iago, you’ve been renting a room from your uncle…”

Law whistled and studied the ceiling.

“And Law’s living situation has changed abruptly. So maybe we should see if there’s anything to rent here in Hot Springs Junction?”

Gent nodded. “I can see a whole series on the old mining towns around you.”

Sebastian brightened. “I know a place just off the park. About two blocks from me.”

“Send me the deets,” Gent said. “And I’ll contact the rental agent.”

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