Page 38 of Malum Discordiae

Pax smoothed my hair and ran a hand gently over my face, gazing down at me, his eyes so startingly bright in color now, he looked almost feverish. Speaking of feverish, I was hot. Much too hot. I felt almost . . . sunburned in a weird way. Or windburned. As if all the moisture had been stripped out of my body.

“Water,” I croaked and tried to sit up. Pax held me in place but motioned to the side, and I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and heard someone leave the room. A minute later, Hanlen returned and handed me a bottle of water, the top already twisted off.

Pax helped me to sit up a bit but didn’t let me move too much and didn’t allow me to move away. At this point, I was just fine right where I was. I had no idea what the fuck just happened, and I honestly thought I might be losing my damn mind.

I took a few gulps of the water, the cold liquid soothing my scratchy throat and cooling me a bit. I looked around at everyone, suddenly noticing the destruction of the room. Cabinet doors were open. A wall mirror was in pieces, its frame still hanging lopsidedly on the wall. The pitcher and glasses on the sideboard looked more like glass confetti now. The big armchair that Dev had been propped against earlier was turned halfway around. Other furniture seemed shifted, some teetering unnaturally as if legs or supports or something had been broken.

“Anyone feel like filling me in?” I asked.

“We’re not sureexactlywhat happened,” Pax said and ran his hand down my arm. “We think the hypnosis may have opened up something in you. A window or little door that the dark entity exploited.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow your roll. There is no ‘dark entity’ in me.”

Dev moved closer. “Sadly, we think there might be. Its influence, anyway. We’ve talked about the oppression before. This thing has sunk its claws in you. It’s affecting you outside of the estate. Those dreams? The physical malaise and health issues you’ve been experiencing? The mood swings . . .”

“That’s likely why you felt twitchy and looked so tired after our first visit to the estate. That’s probably when it happened. And even the stuff that happened at my place after the hospital, Sky,” Pax added.

“What about that night?” I asked.

“All the things that happened to you in the bedroom? The horrible night terror, the scratches, the fire in the outlet?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Nightmares and bad electrical. What about it?”

Pax shook his head. “It wasn’t that. But because I knew you were okay, I didn’t push. Itwaspoltergeist activity, Sky.”

I laughed. Like outright, belly-laughed despite the situation. “So, what?” I asked. “You have a Casper?”

“I don’t have anything,” Pax said, and the look on his face was super-serious. “My house is fortified. I’m not sure anything could get in, even if it tried.”

“Then what the hell are you talking about?”

Birdie sat on the coffee table near the couch so she was closer to eye level with me. “Do you remember when we discussed the different kinds of hauntings way back when you first joined the team?”

“Yeah. Well, some of it anyway. A lot of it just went in one ear and out the other.” I glanced at Dev. “No offense, boss.”

He smiled. “None taken.”

“Well, what do you remember about what we said about poltergeist activity?”

I racked my brain, trying to remember what had been said. “Floating objects, mischievous goings-on . . .” I said.

“And?” Birdie prompted.

I thought some more. “Um, I remember you guys talking about how the jury was still out on what exactly causes the activity.”

“Exactly,” Dev said.

I looked from him to Birdie. “I’m still not getting it.”

“So, the disconnect,” Lark started, “is that some parapsychologists believe that spirits are responsible for the physical and psychological disturbances. However, another subset of people believe that poltergeist activity is actually—”

“Unknown energy caused by a living person under duress or stress.” I finished and then couldn’t stop myself. “So, basically attention whores playing pranks.”

“It’s not at all,” Pax said, and I looked up into his eyes.

Dev sat next to Birdie on the table, and Harper and Hanlen moved in closer. “If we go with the second option there, that poltergeists are actually psychic energy created by people to cause telekinesis and telepathy on an unconscious level, then I’d say being tormented in your sleep for weeks would be enough to cause that to happen. Not to mention your history. You come from a long line of black coven witches—on both sides—Sky, whether you want to admit that or not. You’re . . .extrain your DNA. I know this is all woo-woo nonsense to you, but it is what it is. You were quite literally born into this world, and this thing, whatever it actually is, has had it out for you since you were an infant.”

He stopped for a minute and looked away, a strange expression filling his face. “I’m sorry about all this happening to you. I feel absolutely terrible for not protecting you better. I shouldn’t have sent you guys in for that initial look-see without at least some kind of protection—just in case.”

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