Page 63 of Spirit Witch
‘Sir—’
‘I told you!’ he screamed in my face.
Alrighty: perhaps he was being serious about the no-talking thing. Winter nudged me with his elbow, which was pretty unnecessary. I had the message, loud and very clear.
Chapter Seventeen
There was no waterboarding or strip searches. No mention of a lawyer or even a single question. Winter, Brutus and I were simply dumped unceremoniously in a cell together and left to cool our heels.
Unfortunately, we were not alone. I’d been enjoying the spiritual peace and quiet, so it was alarming to see how many ghosts were hanging around. I guess word had got out that they had a captive audience.
‘I heard,’ a plump woman shouted, ‘that you don’t care about Grenville’s list. That you’re helping less worthy spirits to pass.’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘Well, I died before my time. Anaphylactic shock. I’m not even supposed to be dead, let alone cursed. My son was barely seven when he said he wished I’d never find any peace in death and that was only because I asked him to clean his room.’
‘That was your own fault, Martha!’ bellowed another woman, who had a knife sticking out of her back. My eyes were drawn unwillingly towards it. ‘You deserved it.’
‘Don’t listen to either of them,’ advised an elderly man. ‘I’ve been stuck here for over three hundred years. Grenville’s list makes perfect sense. I’m near the top. Just help me and…’
‘You bastard!’ The two female ghosts rounded on him. ‘You only died last month! He’s lying.’
I put my fingers in my ears, closed my eyes and sang, ‘Lalalalalalalala.’ Then I opened one eye. Damn it – they were still there although they’d stopped arguing in favour of staring at me as if I were mad. Brutus and Winter had the same expressions as the ghosts pasted on their faces. ‘Look,’ I said. ‘I will help you out when I can. But can’t you see that I can’t do anything right now? I have bigger problems to worry about.’
‘Bigger problems?’ the plump ghost shrieked. ‘Bigger than death?’
‘You’re already dead,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘I’m sorry, but there it is. I can’t change that. There are others who are still alive who might soon be dead like you if we don’t stop a killer in his tracks. I will help you pass over but not today. Come back at a later date.’
‘You have to promise. You have to promise to help us.’
I sighed. ‘I promise.’
She pouted. ‘But…’
‘Let’s go, Martha,’ said the other woman. ‘Another time.’
‘Yes.’
‘You won’t help us today.’
‘No.’
‘But you will another time.’
‘Yes.’
There were several grumbles but they all vanished. I breathed out and turned to Winter. ‘This sucks,’ I told him flatly.
He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah.’
‘We could magic our way out of here,’ I suggested.
‘There are witches here. They’d stop us in heartbeat.’
Actually, they wouldn’t. Both Winter and I were stronger than any of them, even in our weakened states. I picked at the drying vomit on my top and flicked it off, vaguely disgusted with myself. He was no doubt blaming our incarceration on his flagrant rule-breaking. That showed what he knew.
‘If I hadn’t broken that mirror, we wouldn’t be here now,’ I said.
‘Bitch,’ Brutus muttered. Just this once, I was tempted to agree with him.
‘The mirror had nothing to do with it,’ Winter said.
