Page 16 of Twisted Fates
I nodded and realized I was talking to a ghost. I was getting an explanation of what happened from a fucking ghost. I was losing my mind, except, apparently, so was Damian.
“I don’t get any of this, the ghosts. Do you have…what? Magic powers or something?”
Damian laughed. “Do I get a wand?” he asked Orville, whose eyes shot open. “I should say not. You aren’t a witch. You’re a wizard. Wand indeed.”
“I like wands,” Damian said, and I snorted at how preposterous the whole thing was.
“Okay, I need a drink. Damian, I’ll see you later.”
“Wait,” Damian said. “Don’t go. I-I wanted to spend time with you, and now you’re the only person I know who’s experienced all this,” he said, waving his hands around the room, “except me. It helps me feel less crazy.”
“Your predecessor left a very fine scotch in the library if you’d like to share that with your guest,” Orville said, gesturing toward the room to his right.
“Do you like scotch?” Damian asked.
I laughed. “Not that much, but right now, it sounds good enough.”
“Good enough,” Orville spat out then seemed to catch himself. “We have other spirits as well,” he said, leaving us in the entryway. I looked at Damian, and both of us snickered.
“They do indeed,” Damian said.
Chapter eleven
Damian
When we’d toured thehome yesterday, there had been no liquor in the cabinets. Now, however, when Orville opened them, they were full. “Wow,” Owen said. “We looked in there yesterday, didn’t we?”
Orville smiled. “We weren’t sure who you were yesterday, so we hid the contents of the house, just in case Mr. Ericson’s solicitor would see fit to meddle.”
Owen laughed. “I am officially one of Damian’s solicitors, so you guessed correctly.” He studied the contents of the cabinet and smiled. “I’ll have a whiskey. To be honest, meeting ghosts seems to require the hard stuff.”
“As you wish,” Orville said formally, pouring Owen a drink. “You, sir?” he asked me, and I shrugged.
“I think the same is fine.”
Orville poured my drink and replaced the bottle. “If you need me, sir, just call my name. I need to console Alice,” he said, glancing at Owen as if he were frustrated that Owen’snose had been broken by the ghost woman slamming the door in his face.
It was all so strange. When Orville disappeared, I reached out and placed my hand over Owen’s. “Are you okay?”
Owen shook his head while pursing his lips. “Oh no, not even remotely okay. I had my nose broken by a ghost. Then you healed my nose with some weird juju magic. Then another ghost served me some pretty amazing whiskey, a brand my uncle drinks, but only on special occasions. I know for a fact it costs a fortune. In fact, Damian, I recognize most of those bottles, and they all cost a fortune,” he said, pointing toward the closed cabinet. “You have bougie ghosts serving bougie drinks in your bougie house. For real, do you think I’m going to be okay?”
I laughed. “Does it help that I’m just as weirded out as you? Apparently, I’m some storybook wizard thingy.”
Owen turned his hand over and took mine. “Okay, so this is very strange. At least you now know who fixed the vase yesterday. How many more ghosts are here?”
I choked. “I don’t think I want to know, but luckily, I won’t have to do anything to keep the place up. They have gardeners, people who keep up with maintenance, um, dead people, but they all have jobs. It’s weird.”
“They don’t scare you?” he asked.
I shrugged. “At first, yeah, but to be honest, I’ve met a lot of them today, and they don’t seem scary. I can also tell whenthey’re in the room, so, like now, it’s just us. If I couldn’t, I’d be more paranoid.”
“Yeah, can you do your wizard thing so I can do that too?”
“Sure,” I said without thinking and waved my hand. Owen’s eyes glowed this time instead of mine. I don’t think he noticed, and I honestly didn’t mean to do it. It just came out. I knew how to, and without thinking, I did.
Just then, Alice came back into the room. I could tell she didn’t mean to be seen, but both Owen and I turned toward her. “Oh, um, sorry, I…Orville said I should speak to Mr. Owen again. To ensure he is okay.”
“I’m fine, Alice. I know it was an accident now, but thanks for checking.”
