Only the Quiet Read online

  “That’s definitely the truth.” Griffin moved in and gave Aisling a long hug. “Call if you need to check in. Otherwise, try to enjoy yourself.”

  Aisling still looked doubtful as she moved toward the door. “Okay. We’re going.”

  Braden offered me a wave and a wink. “I really like how you look in those yoga pants,” he called out. “I think you should consider adding more color to your wardrobe. I’ve only ever seen you in black.”

  “I’m totally on that,” Jerry said, snagging the credit card from my hand and grinning at Cormack. “We’ll see you in a few hours. By then, we’ll be so refreshed you’ll hardly recognize us.”

  “That will be a nice change of pace,” Cormack said, shaking his head.

  I’D NEVER BEEN TO a spa, so I was perfectly happy letting Aisling and Jerry lead the way. I thought Aisling would be morose once we were away from the baby, but she was fine ... and chatty.

  “So, what’s going on with you and my brother?” she asked as soon as we were in the facial chairs located in the heart of the day spa.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I hedged, avoiding her probing gaze as a technician approached with a bowl full of goo. “What is that?”

  “It’s a cleansing mask,” she replied in a voice straight out of a phone sex commercial. “It will clean out all the impurities in your skin and leave you looking ten years younger.”

  “So ... basically you’re saying this will make me look like a child?” I wasn’t sure that was something to strive for.

  “You’ll like it,” Aisling supplied. “I didn’t use to be big on spa days either, so I get that you’re nervous. Jerry made me see the light, though, and now I live for them. Your face will be so smooth by the time you leave here you’ll swear your cheeks are made of satin. No joke.”

  “You should get it put on your butt, too,” Jerry suggested, causing my mouth to drop open. “Aisling managed to get away with murder for an entire month when she did that and allowed Griffin to get a good feel.”

  “That was an overshare,” I chided.

  Jerry merely shrugged. “That’s how we roll.”

  “It really is,” Avery agreed, sighing as her technician started applying a lavender mixture to her face. “He’s not just talking about him and me either. He’s talking about my entire family. We’re all up in each other’s business.”

  “Geez. I never would’ve noticed.” I eyed my technician suspiciously as she instructed me to lie back in the chair and relax. “I thought you guys were docile and demure. My bad.”

  Aisling chuckled. “I love how sarcastic you are. You fit right in with us.”

  “Just for the record, every family has cliques. We’re the cool clique.” Jerry gestured between Aisling and himself. “You should join our group if you want to have the most fun.”

  “I didn’t realize that was limited by who you hung around with,” I replied. “I’ll give it some thought.”

  “You should definitely do that.”

  I could feel Aisling’s eyes on me but opted not to meet her gaze. “I don’t want to tell you your business, but the baby doesn’t hate you.”

  “Oh, no? Did she tell you that?” Aisling was dubious. “I can tell she hates me. She’s always eager for Griffin or my father to hold her. Heck, she even likes it when Braden holds her. She’s stiff and uncomfortable for me.”

  “I think the problem is that you’re stiff and uncomfortable when you hold her and the baby picks up on that.”

  “I told you, Bug,” Jerry said. “You’re worked up, so the baby is worked up. You need to chill so she chills.”

  Aisling balked. “I am not worked up!” She sounded unbelievably shrill.

  “Obviously not,” Jerry said dryly. “You’re completely normal.”

  “I am.” Aisling was insistent as she looked to me. “I’m not nervous. I mean ... I don’t get nervous.”

  I had a choice. I could agree with her, say I’d been mistaken and let things go. Or, I could tell her the truth and perhaps shove her a bit in an effort to keep her from becoming mired in her own head.

  “You’re not nervous about most things,” I clarified, making up my mind on the spot. “Lily is different. I think it’s because of your mother. In your head, you know that the woman who died and the one who initially came back were not the same person. But you still can’t seem to shake the fact that one of them tried to kill you.”

  “Multiple times,” Jerry muttered. “I mean ... seriously. Mrs. Grimlock — the real Mrs. Grimlock — would never hurt her children. You need to get with the program, Bug.”

  Aisling made a protesting sound deep in her throat. “You were the one who insisted I hang out with her ... and allow her to help prep for the wedding ... and go shopping with her.”

  Jerry suddenly found something of interest to study on the wall. “I don’t exactly remember things going that way.”

  “Oh, they went that way.” Aisling’s eyes filled with fire as her technician darted to her other side and tried to pretend she wasn’t listening to the conversation. “You made me spend time with her even though I knew she was evil. Heck, I told Griffin from the beginning that she was evil. He was the only one who didn’t give me grief about it.”

  “I didn’t give you grief,” Jerry argued. “I just ... thought you should give her a chance. That was before I knew she was eating people. It was definitely before I knew she wanted to take over your body and live forever.”

  My technician made a face but continued working on my mask. “He means that metaphorically,” I offered lamely. “She metaphorically wanted to take over Aisling’s body.”

  “And yet she was literally eating people,” Aisling lamented, grinning when I frowned. “Don’t worry. We’ll tip so well they won’t even care what they overheard. This is hardly the first time they’ve dealt with us.”

  I wasn’t convinced the women would simply ignore what they heard, but there was nothing I could do about it because the wraith was already out of the cloak, so to speak. I decided to direct the conversation back to something healthier. “I believe we were talking about Lily. The sooner you relax around her, the sooner she’ll relax. You’re her mother. She loves you. She’s just confused about why you’re so tense. She’s sensitive, so she picks up on it.

  “Eventually you won’t be tense at all,” I continued. “Er, well, at least not about the little things. I’m sure you’ll still get tense about the big things. When that happens, you’ll look back on this and laugh.”

  “I hope so.” Aisling rolled her neck and closed her eyes. “Tell me about Ryan Carroll. Do we know anything about him?”

  I was surprised by the question. “I didn’t think you were interested in work stuff right now.”

  “I’m interested in anything that takes my mind off my troubles. Focusing on your troubles would be an example of that.”

  “Oh, well ... we don’t know much,” I admitted, being careful when choosing my words. “I’ve never heard about anyone in our line of work having a sealed file. I mean ... that seems counterproductive, right?”

  “I think it sounds counterproductive now,” Aisling replied. “The thing is, this was fifty-some years ago. We’re talking about a time when men were allowed to beat their wives and the women had no recourse because they were basically considered property simply because they signed a marriage license.”

  “Wow,” I said dryly. “Tell me how you really feel.”

  “I feel as if we’re going to find some really gross stuff about this guy in those sealed files,” Aisling replied without hesitation. “I’m guessing Carroll was a complete and total loser and he has more than skeletons in his closet. I bet there are bodies there ... and maybe the remains of dead wives. Oh, maybe there’re some dead pets, too.”

  I made a face as my technician pointed toward the wall and mouthed the words “fifteen minutes.” I understood. I was supposed to remain in my spot, motionless, for fifteen minutes so the mask could do its thing.


  “I think you watch too many movies,” I countered, closing my eyes and getting comfortable in the massage chair. The vibrations were so comforting I thought I might fall asleep. “I’m guessing this guy was a rule breaker, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know that we can jump to saying he’s a murderer. We need more information.”

  “I’m more interested in what he was doing in that kid’s head,” Aisling admitted. “I mean ... that’s not normal. This started at the aquarium, which is right above the gate. That seems to indicate that he’s been hanging around that area for some reason ... or someone called him to that location.”

  “What about the other ghosts I saw?” I asked, thankful the technicians had excused themselves to the back of the building so I could talk freely. “What do you think is up with them?”

  “I don’t know. How many did you see again?”

  “I didn’t count, but I would estimate around twenty. One of them was definitely the dead teacher, Lauren Tate.”

  “Did you run her?”

  The question caught me off guard. “Well ... no. Do you think I should?”

  “I would. We can have Griffin run her when we get back to Grimlock Manor. He has his work computer so he can check his email. That means he has access to the search system. He might be able to tell us a few things about her we don’t already know.”

  In truth, I hadn’t considered tracking information on her because I assumed she was a victim of convenience.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I said after a beat. “I didn’t really think about it before, but maybe she has ties to some group we’re not aware of. Like ... maybe she was a witch and had visions of doing something to the gate. Perhaps the ghosts I saw were sent to protect it.”

  “That sounds like a bit of a stretch,” Aisling countered. “I mean ... if that were true, I think we would’ve heard more reports of ghosts hanging around by the gate. This is hardly the first time there has been trouble near it.”

  “I want to see the gate,” Jerry offered. “I think it sounds magical. I mean ... is it like Harry Potter? You know the scene in the movie when Sirius Black gets killed and drifts through the gate? Does it look like that?”

  “Kind of,” I hedged, my skin starting to prickle. The mask was clearly doing something. “It’s shimmery. You can’t really see through it, and it hurts if you brush up against it.”

  “What happens if you go through it?”

  “I don’t know. Cormack claims you die. He said there were people who ran experiments back in the day.”

  “Have you ever wondered how the gate came to be?” Aisling asked. “I mean ... did it appear right there? Was it created? Did someone try to make it and harness its power for another reason?”

  I shifted in the chair, uncomfortable. I felt as if a bevy of eyes were focused on me, which was ridiculous given our location. “It was created by early reapers,” I automatically replied. I knew the basic history of the gates because I’d spent years researching them in an effort to find answers about what happened to my parents. “The reapers worked together to create the gates. Originally they sent demons through. Then they started handling others, like the recently deceased.”

  “I think there used to be a lot more ghosts around than there are now,” Jerry noted. “If they didn’t decide to move souls to the other side when they did, the world would be more crowded.”

  “Definitely,” I agreed, fighting the urge to scratch the side of my nose. I was ridiculously uncomfortable. The mask itself felt good. Something else was going on. “I ... .”

  Whatever I was going to say died on my lips, because when I opened my eyes I found at least eight ghosts surrounding me. I recognized several of the faces from my earlier interaction in the aquarium. Lauren was one of the faces, in fact.

  “What the ... !”

  “What’s wrong?” Aisling asked, opening her eyes. The second she saw the new faces in the room she bolted into a sitting position. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  “Oh, you’re ruining my quiet time,” Jerry complained, opening his eyes. “I ... wait. Are those ghosts?”

  The fact that he was human and could see them was interesting. It was something to think about later, though, because we had a situation on our hands.

  “What the heck are we going to do?” Aisling asked, her eyes widening as Lauren’s ghost moved closer to her. “I don’t like this one bit.”

  “Join the club,” Jerry muttered. “That makes two of us.”

  “Three,” I corrected, gripping the arms of the chair. “This is so not good.”

  “Oh, really?” Aisling’s sarcasm was on full display. “What was your first clue?”

  Thirteen

  My heart hammered as I slowly looked around the room, counting in my head as I went. Nine. There were nine ghosts. That meant three for each of us. Even if Aisling and I could somehow fight off those surrounding us — which was doubtful, because she was underweight and exhausted — that still left the three eyeing Jerry with overt interest. He had no special powers other than snark, as far as I could ascertain, which meant he was the most vulnerable.

  “Hold still,” I instructed, rolling to a sitting position. “I just need a second to ... .” I trailed off when Lauren appeared directly in front of me. She moved her mouth, as if trying to speak, but no sound came out. Worse than that, it looked as if someone had tried to sew her mouth shut. She was a ghost, so I guessed that had to be accomplished on another plane of existence ... although how they were even here was beyond me.

  “They’re not regular souls,” Aisling announced, taking me by surprise when she whipped her scepter from her pocket and tried absorbing the closest entity. “This isn’t working.”

  Jerry furrowed his brow. “Why did you bring that?”

  “I’ve been stuck in the real world several times now when I could’ve used it. I’ve taken to carrying it with me everywhere. That includes the movie theater, hair salon and gynecologist.”

  Jerry made a horrified expression. “You take it with you to the gynecologist? Do you think a soul is going to crawl up ... well ... there?”

  If looks could kill, Jerry would be dead. Aisling made a disgusted sound deep in her throat. “No. I don’t think a soul is going to crawl up my vagina, Jerry. I have enough going on up there these days. You have no idea what it’s like to give birth. Everything is stretched and broken already. I just don’t want to be caught without it. You know what happened on my honeymoon because I was without a scepter.”

  I was fascinated enough by the discussion that I decided to engage, even as I moved from my chair and circled the room. I needed to figure a way to scatter the ghosts — or whatever they were — without drawing too much attention. Thankfully the three facial technicians remained in the back room.

  “What happened on your honeymoon?” I asked absently, cocking my head to the side so I could better study Lauren. She looked ragged, even for a dead woman. To me, that seemed to indicate her soul had undergone some sort of trauma ... other than the horrific death, of course.

  “My father surprised us with a trip to Moonstone Bay,” Aisling replied, her eyes on me as I circled. “It’s an island off the coast of Florida. Almost everyone there is paranormal.”

  “Really?” I was intrigued. “What kind of paranormal people are we talking about?”

  “Witches and shifters, of course. I met a cupid. Oh, and there’s this nifty half-demon who can make fire swords. It’s all kinds of interesting. They also have a cursed cemetery where all the bodies get up and walk around at night.”

  I jerked my head in her direction. “Zombies?”

  “Yup. They keep it locked so the tourists don’t accidentally wander in and get bitten. They have no idea how to fix the problem, but they don’t want to destroy the bodies because they’re loved ones of the residents.”

  “That’s pretty interesting. I’ve never really gotten the chance to see zombies. I mean ... they’re rumored to be rampant in the French Quarter
, but that’s simply not true, at least as far as I can tell. Most of the time people report the walking dead it’s a hoax, though I’ve heard of a few bad brujas who wanted to resurrect an army to take over during Mardi Gras because of the noise.”

  “Ooh, Mardi Gras!” Jerry’s eyes sparkled. “I’ve always wanted to go.”

  “Maybe you should head there for your honeymoon,” Aisling suggested, using her finger to poke at one of the specters. “You said you wanted someplace cool rather than trendy. Hmm. The air surrounding these things is cold, like ‘January in the middle of an arctic freeze’ cold.”

  “You probably shouldn’t touch them,” I pointed out. “They don’t look friendly.”

  “Aisling doesn’t care about doing the smart thing,” Jerry said. “She always leaps before she looks, which is only one reason she spent an entire year grounded when we were teenagers. Her father almost had a conniption fit, although he allowed me to visit because it was the only way to shut Bug up.”

  I smiled at the image Jerry painted. “A whole year, huh?”

  “At a certain point it became a challenge to see if I could accomplish it,” Aisling replied, pointing her scepter at another ghost and pressing the button. The scepters were meant to absorb the souls and hold them until they could be uploaded into a regional transportation device — which Cormack kept in his office — and then transferred to us. “These are definitely not normal souls.”

  “What was your first clue?” I challenged. “For me, the green color was a dead giveaway.”

  “They’re more of a teal,” Jerry corrected. “I’m thinking of making the vests and bow ties that color for the wedding, Bug. What do you think?” He leaned his head and posed in front of one of the ghosts. “But now I’m starting to shy away from the color because it might be a bit too garish.”

  “I definitely don’t like the color,” Aisling complained. “I would go back to the lavender. It looks better with my brothers’ eyes, and Griffin looks good in it, too. You and Aidan are essentially splitting the wedding party, so that makes sense.”