Five

The relief I felt was immense as I relaxed into Bran's arms and let him take some of the stress I'd been holding in for weeks. I still hadn't told him everything, but I told him what was important for now.

"Let me go check I've put everything away and that I have what I'll need, then we can go to lunch. It'll do us both some good to get out of here," Bran said, before a quick kiss. I watched as he hurried back to the morgue and thought how lucky I was that he was willing to help me with such an unusual problem. I still didn't understand most of what his power was, and I didn't know how to do any of the multiple spells and rituals he was well-versed in. But he'd spent most of his life with his mother and she'd exposed him to magic at a young age, both white and dark. I was more than thankful for his knowledge, and the fact he hated the dark side of it.

I stared at Edith's medical records for a moment before putting the computer to sleep. "Edith, if you really want help, we're going to give you a chance to speak. I suggest you use that time communicating rather than yelling." I glanced around the room but didn't see or hear anything, like usual.

"Ready to go? I have everything we'll need so no need to stop by the house," Bran said as he walked out with a smile.

I forced myself to return that smile and we walked away from the chaos of the hospital into the warm sunshine. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down while the two of us walked to Bran's car.

"Jordan, how long has this been bothering you?" Bran asked as soon as we buckled in.

"If you mean Edith, it's been more than a month. At first, I thought it was just a dream. I haven't seen a picture of her, and you know how much I dislike looking at the bodies. So, I really had no idea what she looked like."

"Do you think she's trying to tell you there's more power out there for you?"

"I'm not sure. I don't feel afraid of her when I see her in my dreams, but she speaks in riddles and expects me to just know what she's talking about." I'd racked my brain for weeks now and I was not any closer to figuring out what Edith wanted, even with the help of Janis. "Janis told me to talk to you. She said you'd know what needed to be done."

"Did she?" Bran asked, and reached for my hand. "When we get back to the office, we'll set up a summoning circle and see if we can get her to speak, but I won't allow her the freedom to drop in anytime she wants. It's odd that all the time she's been at the morgue she's never tried to tell either of us anything. The first time I saw her she was asking where she was, and why she was there. After that it was just lots of yelling."

"Maybe something stopped her," I said, and he glanced at me but neither of us spoke. We drove to a little pizza place nearby and both chose two slices of pizza and ate outside in silence—besides the street noises. I forced myself not to focus on what we'd be doing later, but what we were doing now. Bran and I were at lunch together and I needed to enjoy all those little moments for what they were, a little bit of happiness in a chaotic world.

An hour later we were in the morgue. We'd moved everything aside to give Bran room to do what he needed to allow Edith to speak to us.

"I'm using ash infused with negative energy. You don't want to know where I got it," Bran explained as he poured it to make a circle in the center of the autopsy room. We'd found we could do anything in here and no one would disturb us since no one really wanted to see what was going on here. Which worked for us, but I agreed with them. It was creepy here and I didn't want to see it either.

He finished the circle and added a few crystals around the outer edge before standing and checking notes he'd made in a notebook.

"Is it ready?" I asked.

"Yes, sit here." He directed me to sit across the circle from him and took both my hands in his while murmuring a few words I didn't understand. "This way you'll be able to see whatever I see."

I nodded and he started chanting. I didn't recognize the words and thought maybe they were in a different language, but as I watched a fog began to coil around the inner edge of the ash. At first it swirled lightly like a puff of smoke from a cigarette, but as Bran chanted it grew thicker. Then I recognized a shape forming.

"What do you want with me, necromancer?" the same voice from my dreams asked. It floated in and out just loud enough and clear enough for me to make out what it was saying.

I looked up and was shocked to see the barely-there image of the old woman I knew as Edith.

"We have a few questions for you," Bran started.

"I've tried to contact you for months and you ignored me." Her lips curled in obvious discontent and annoyance while she stared down at Bran.

"If you had tried to speak to me, I would have listened, but all you've done is scream in my face. That's why I banned you from this area."

The spirit shimmered for a moment as though her connection to this place was fading before she looked at me. "You are a seer. There is so much more to your abilities than you know. You have inherited all the powers of your ancestors from the spirit you are reincarnated in the image of."

I forced myself not to react to her words as Bran calmly watched her but didn't talk. "It's true I'm an empath. But I can't see spirits or speak to them. I can only hear and see you now because Bran has made it so," I said to her, and once again her spirit shimmered and faded.

She leaned as close to the edge of the circle as she could and met my eyes. "You are far more than an empath. You are reincarnated from one of the most powerful pagan leaders from the past. The power you have at your disposal would challenge that of the necromancer. You only need to see," she said, and her words were frantic, and I met Bran's eyes to find him already looking at me.

"What is he supposed to see?" Bran asked while never taking his eyes off mine.

"Everything." She stood then and for a moment didn't move at all.

"I'm willing to allow you to enter here again, as long as you agree to speak to me and not scream. If you start to do that again I'll send you away for good." Bran was serious and while I wanted to stop him, I also understood how thin his nerves were stretched. "And no more bothering Jordan in his dreams. If you need to speak to him then do it during the day. I won't have you harassing him while he's sleeping."

Edith's spirit shimmered but remained silent as she turned her head to meet my eyes once again. "I will do as you ask. But the seer must come to power, or you won't be able to defeat the wraith."

"What do you—" Before Bran could finish his sentence she'd faded away. "Do you think she means the wraith we've been warned about?"

"How many wraiths can be out there?" I asked. "Never mind, I don't want to know. Come on, let's finish so we can leave early."