Page 14 of The Rebel Seer

“Hey,” Shy says.

I turn and give my son’s girlfriend a grin. “Hey, yourself.”

She gives me an apologetic nod. “Sorry, Your Highness. I was talking to Anna. She haunts the bookstore. She says there’s something going on. She can sense the energy, but she can’t leave the store to go look for it.” She turns to a space to my right. “What does it feel like to you?”

Neil stands back, watching Shy now.

What must it be like to experience a whole world the people around you can’t see? How isolating must that be? I know she was in an institution for a while because her foster parents were scared of her.

How weird is it to know there’s a ghost standing so close to me? Like how many are around at any given time and how much do they see?

“She describes it as a beckoning warmth,” Shy tells me. “She’s not afraid of it. I’m going to be honest. It’s somewhat similar to the magic I feel coming off the king at times, but I didn’t want to mention that to Rhys because the minute I start talking about death magic he’s sure I’m going to die. Like he’s not surrounded by it. We live with vampires. Sasha is nearly his second dad. Sorry, third dad.”

Neil shakes his head. “Fourth dad. Trust me, Bris counts. I often think about what would have happened if we didn’t lose twelve years. I would love to have sat in on Bris’s version of the birds and the bees.”

My life is complex, but I know the type of magic Shy is talking about. “Any number of beings have some form of death magic. It doesn’t mean they kill everything in sight. So we’re fairly certain it’s not demonic in nature. Their magic isn’t the same.”

Demons aren’t dead. Technically Daniel is. My hand goes to my belly. I’m carrying proof that no matter the technicalities, Danny’s alive in all the ways that count.

“I don’t even get a hint of brimstone,” Neil replies.

Shy shudders slightly. “No. It’s definitely not demons. Demonic energy is like ants crawling on my skin. At least the kind I’ve been around. Even Kelsey’s husband gives off the slightest bit of it. Not enough to make me really uncomfortable, but I feel it.”

“He’s a halfling, though he takes after his human side.” We’re talking about Grayson Sloane, the dark prophet who witnessed Shy meeting my son. I don’t hear anyone coming so I lean against the bookcase and hope I’m not bisecting Anna. “Does this Anna person have anything else to say?”

Shy sighs. “Not anything important. She thinks my leggings are going to attract the wrong attention. Also, she wants me to tell Tinna to stop selling sage. It disturbs her. She doesn’t understand the whole the-bookstore-needs-to-make money thing.”

Neil’s eyes sparkle in the low light. “Does she say anything else? She sounds like a fun ghost.”

Shy’s head shakes. “She’s not. She’s really salty. She thinks the queen should cover up more and you should find a nice girl to settle down with and then you’ll be a better man. Sorry. She’s super old, and the dead can be cranky.”

Neil smiles. “See, I’ve been in Frelsi for way too long. I haven’t been judged in forever. I forgot how good it feels to be all morally superior. And Z, don’t listen. The girls look magnificent. Anna, do you know how old this woman is? She is in her damn forties and looks this good. She should show those puppies off as often as she can.”

Shy’s lips turn up. “I am not saying that.”

I’m curious. “Is she from here?”

“Yes,” Shy replies. “She was a housewife, and then her husband died and she lived out the last of her years in an apartment above the bookstore. Her sister still lives there. I’ve met her. She’s pretty salty, too.”

“So she’s Icelandic.” I want to know more about Shy’s power. “Did she speak English in life?”

Shy seems to understand where I’m going. “Oh, I’m sure she thinks she’s speaking Icelandic, but I hear English. Harry told me it was something unique to my power. I understand all of them. One time I came across a ghost chicken and even then I got some images. Hence me entering my vegetarian era. It was not pretty.”

“But that’s not how most mediums work.” I knew a couple in the day, and the hardest part when they weren’t in their native countries was dealing with translations. One of them learned how to say “go into the light” in twelve different languages. “Ghosts speak the language they did when they were alive. Mediums aren’t like vampires. Vamps learn languages quickly.”

“I don’t know Icelandic. If a living person spoke Icelandic to me, I would be lost,” Shy admits. “I don’t know. My mom was a medium, but we didn’t travel a lot. She told me she wanted me to take either French or Spanish in high school. We lived in Texas but had a lot of relatives in Southern Louisiana, and some of them still speak some form of French. I don’t think she had this ability. I don’t know why I’m different. Harry told me I was born that way. It’s been really helpful. That’s what Sasha says. I can absolutely understand Fae languages, too. Rhys thinks I’ll be helpful in Faery. At least with the dead.”

I’ve made her uncomfortable. If we have some time to talk, I’ll take it. “Are you okay?”

Shy seems surprised at the question. “Of course. I’ve felt magic many times before.”

“She’s asking if you’re okay with all the questions. And if you’re okay with Rhys. That was a heavy scene back home.” Neil gestures my way. “She knows what it means to have some dude think he owns her, and she’s real expensive, if you know what I mean. The funny thing is that dude was Danny and not Devinshea. Dev actually figured out pretty quickly she wasn’t going in a cage and behaved accordingly. If only he put that knowledge to use when it comes to his daughter.”

Didn’t I know it, but there are some differences. “Dev didn’t meet his goddess before he attained maturity.”

“By maturity she means before he got his freak on with half of Faery and a whole lot of the Earth plane,” Neil adds helpfully.

Shy frowns at a space to my left. “You do not have to be so judgmental. He’s a Green Man. Do you know what that means?” She pauses. “I don’t think faeries can carry syphilis.” Her head is shaking as she looks back at me. “Sorry. She was really old and set in her ways when she died. You know some ghosts revert to the form they were happiest in. Some stay frozen the way they died. Anna apparently likes being a mean old biddy.”

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