“Yes, I can hear her too,” he confirmed.
“Well that’s inconvenient,” muttered Aunt Ro. “Does this mean that all afterlifers can see me now? Is it just me? Or is it all ghosts? This will definitely put a hitch in things if upper management gets an eye on us. I am not cut out for paperwork, Cass. You had better fix this,” she groused, then she turned and walked down the hallway and into the living room.
Kushiel started to follow her, but Cass gently held him back, causing Kushiel to look at him.
“Are you alright? Do you feel alright?” Cass asked.
“I feel fine. Confused, perhaps, but totally fine otherwise,” Kushiel confirmed.
Cass let him go then and led the way into the living room, where Kushiel gave a start again, because Aunt Ro had changed. Her hair was in some type of updo and her dress was still old-fashioned, but it was fancier and had large blue flowers on it now.
“You look different,” Kushiel stated.
“Well give this one a medal,” she huffed.
“Aunt Ro, be nice,” Cass chastised. “He can hear you. Mind your manners. I know you have them, because you certainly taught me how to behave.”
She only huffed in response, but Kushiel figured if she disagreed she’d have said so. She didn’t seem the type to hold her tongue if she thought she was right.
“Kushiel, take off your scarf,” Cass ordered.
Ah. Yes, Kushiel supposed that made sense. He unwound it from around his neck and held it in his hands, and he still saw Aunt Ro. He handed it over to Cass, and suddenly the space where Aunt Ro had been was empty.
He looked at Cass and nodded, and Cass handed him back the scarf. As soon as he had it back in his hands, Aunt Ro was back, and she was apparently mid-tirade.
“...while you two are busy playing with outerwear!” she complained.
“Yes, it must be the scarf,” Kushiel confirmed, looking over at Cass. “I can hear and see her again, and I could do neither without it.”
“Hmph,” she muttered.
Cass looked at Aunt Ro. “No panicking necessary. It’s just Kushiel who can see you, and only with the scarf. Nice touch on the dahlias, by the way.”
Kushiel looked at Cass in confusion, and he just laughed.
“Dahlias mean discovery. They also mean balance and being true, although that isn’t what my message was,” Aunt Ro conceded. She then asked, “Where did he get such a thing, anyway? If someone is out there giving talismans to afterlifers so they can see us… Well, we ought to do something about that.”
“You meanIought to do something about that,” Cass grumped.
“Well I can’t be seen by just any riff raff, Cassius. I’ll not have some two-bit charlatan blowing my cover,” she scoffed.
“I wouldloveto see you tell Lilith that she’s some ‘two bit charlatan,’” Cass laughed, adding, “Besides, this isn’t some Mission Impossible thing—you don’t have a cover, Aunt Ro.”
“I do plenty of undercover work, young man,” she defended. “But yes, I suppose if Lilith gave it to him thenperhapsthere is a reason, and I trust she isn’t doing such things for just anyone.”
Cass looked at Kushiel and whispered, “She knows better than to go up against Lilith. Evensheisn’t that dumb.”
Kushiel wasn’t sure why he whispered, because clearly Aunt Ro was standing right there and could still hear him. She just gave Cass a dirty look, though. It was interesting to see the two family members interact, and although they grumped at one another, Kushiel could clearly see that they cared deeply for each other. It was heartwarming. Kushiel thought that was what it must be like to be a part of a family, but he also thought he might need to get them back on track or else they’d tease each other all afternoon.
“This ought to make things easier in our search, I would think,” Kushiel stated, bringing up the task they had ahead ofthem. “I won’t be such a burden now that I can also see the spirits.”
“K, you haveneverbeen a burden, and I can promise that you never will be,” Cass insisted.
“K? Like ok?” Kushiel asked, getting stuck on that one word, because it was easier than focusing on the rest of his statement, which made that fluttery feeling come back.
Cass laughed. “No. K. Like the letter k. Short for Kushiel. I mean, I could go with Kush, but you don’t strike me as a Kush. And using the last part of your name doesn’t really work either. But the first initial works for a shortened version, no? I can stick with Kushiel if you don’t like it.”
“Ah, so we’re at the nicknames stage, are we?” Aunt Ro asked, and Kushiel felt like he couldn’t keep up with her, because where she had been glowering and seemed predisposed to strongly dislike him before, she was now smirking at him and looking rather pleased. She even sidled a little closer and winked at him, which made him look over to Cass for guidance.
