Page 35 of Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places
Identified feeling(s): competitiveness, exhaustion. No visible response.
Properly chastised for “not respecting a borderline historical monument,” they moved into the library. Turned out, Rebel was a reader too, and that was how their day ended—both curled up in an armchair, reading together with soft jazz playing at a soothing volume.
Identified feeling(s): contentment, happiness.
“We should head out,” Maverick said, checking his watch.
Rebel glanced at Lucky and then asked, “Can we spend the night?”
“Absolutely not. Get your stuff.”
“Fine.” Rebel grumped as she stood up. “Can I borrow this book, then? It’s about a super smart girl with really mean parents who develops superpowers.”
Lucky said, “As long as you bring it back when you’re done.”
“I will. I always return my library books on time.”
“She does,” he confirmed.
“I’ll walk you out,” Lucky said, completely missing the two purple flowers on the windowsill. She walked right by them as they softly glowed in the early-evening sunset.
•••
That night, Hennessee left the lights on for Lucky.
“How considerate. You wouldn’t happen to be cousins with Motel 6?” she joked. Suited and booted in her gear, she traversed down the stairs to investigate the first floor. Her expectations for finding anything interesting were low, so she revised her initial plans to involve talking to Hennessee.
Sentient supernatural activity had been confirmed ten timesover. Establishing a reliable method of communication was the next logical step.
“Is it okay if I open this curtain?” she asked while in the sitting room. “Are you hoping people would ask first? Ooh, are curtains your eyelids and we’re just ripping them open every day? But not this one—this one is yours?”
Silence.
She didn’t care how silly she sounded. Pride had no place in her experiments.
“If you’ve been rummaging around in my brain like everyone suspects, you’ve probably found my memory palace by now.” She walked into the dining room, the last place of confirmed activity between them, and leaned against the wall. “You’d also know that I read first impressions of people. If you showed me your eyes, or what you consider to be your eyes, I could try to read them. You know me and I’ll get to know you. It might give us a better understanding of each other.”
Lucky’s phone rang loud as all hell, interrupting her moment. “Aren’t you sick of me yet?”
“Not even close,” Maverick said, rolling with it. “Besides, you have to know you’re easy to talk to.”
“Occupational hazard. You can’t bullshit most kids and survive in the childcare industry. Before I knew it, I developed a skill I could use whenever I wanted.”
“It works. Rebel really likes you. She recapped her entire day withyouas if I weren’t there the entire time.”
“I have that effect on kids. I think I give off intense big sister energy.”
“No, that’s not it,” he said, confidently. “I have a question foryou. I’ve been trying to puzzle through something, and I can’t quite figure it out.”
“About me?” she asked, intrigued. “All right.”
“What are you aiming for? You’re obviously choosing to be there for a reason, but I think everything I’ve come up with is wrong.”
“Aww, did you think I was trying to beAmerica’s Next Top Medium?”
“Yeah, right up until you panicked. I’m not new to this. I know what it looks like when people are trying to fool me and show out for the cameras. That’s not what you’re doing,” he said thoughtfully. “What’s your goal? Why Hennessee House?”
Lucky tried not to smile but being seen so clearly, by Maverick of all people, was exhilarating. Her heart reacted as if she’d suddenly sprinted around the block. “Well, this is an opportunity for me to discover and possibly define something new, which I love,” she said honestly. “I’ve already figured out I’m not interested in ghosts, cryptids, and a host of other phenomena through experiments just like this—putting myself on the line. The only way out is through.
