17. Jay

17

JAY

D etective Kett was kind enough to drive us back to Cade's newly purchased witch's cottage. I sat on the edge of the unmade bed in the primary room, hugging myself and rocking. I needed some alone time. Time to process this new reality.

Somewhere deep within, Cade's theory made sense, but it also had me enraged. Why my boy? How the hell was I supposed to protect him? Help him? My brain was spinning. How could Cade think my boy could be a reaper? Death. It was all too much. And the one thing that kept going through my head over and over again was — I cannot do this.

How the hell am I supposed to continue to raise Sam? Do I do all the things I've done before? Is that enough? Will the ghosts still come? Are they going to be angry? Is he in danger?

A tear ran down my face. What parent ever considered having to deal with shit like this? I mean, everyone goes into parenthood thinking they're going to royally fuck up, and that your children will make some therapist rich one day for all the horrible things you do to them when, really, all they are trying to do is raise a functioning member of society.

Apparently I was raising the next guardian of the dead…or something. I didn't understand it completely.

I gripped hair in both my fists and squeezed.

The prickling sensation on my scalp hurt, but it was grounding me. Pain was real. Ghosts were not. They couldn't be. None of this could be real. It all had to be a fucking nightmare.

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Jay, it's Cade. Can I come in?"

I didn't answer.

A few minutes later I heard mumbled voices and then the closing of the front door. Cade walked down the hall toward the room where I had retreated. The knock sounded again.

"Please, Jay, I know this is all crazy as hell, but I promise you, I can help."

"Why the hell would you want to help me and Sam? You don't even know us." As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted saying them. Yes, Cade was a very new introduction into our lives, but considering his skill set, and the current situation, a bit of a serendipitous introduction. Perhaps having Cade around would be a boon.

"I know, Jay. This is all so new. It is for me too, partly, but—" He stopped for a moment. A long painful silence ensued. "—I like you. Jay. I know it's only been a handful of days, but I see something special in you that I want to get to know. Sam is a great kid. You've done a hell of a job raising him. I want to help him too. He's so young, and he doesn't have anyone around him who can help him with all this supernatural hooey. I can do that, Jay. I want to do that. I had that when I was growing up. I had an entire community. I can offer that too. I know my family will swoop in here and lift both of you up. They'll take care of you like one of their own and make sure Sam gets all the support he needs. But if, and I do mean a big if , he really is a reaper, he's going to need the help."

"And I said I liked you, right?"

I sighed. All of this was too fucking much, but I also couldn't deny that Cade had wormed his way under my skin. I liked him as well. Having him around couldn't be so bad. And if he could protect Sam better than me, maybe shutting him out wasn't so smart.

"Yeah, you mentioned that."

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

The door squeaked as it opened, as you would have expected from an older house, but not a remodelled one. Leaving the door open to the hallway, Cade strode in and sat next to me on the bed. He wrapped his bearish arm around my shoulders and pulled me in.

"I promise you I won't leave. Regardless of whatever happens between the two of us, Sam needs my help, and my family's help. Romani are like that. We like orphans and societal cast-offs. And Uncle Gally has always wanted kids. Sam will love him."

I let my head rest on Cade's shoulder. It was big enough to carry the weight I had, and this burden wasn't something I was confident I could handle alone. I shivered.

Cade noticed.

"You cold?" he asked.

"I'm scared, Cade. I'm terrified of this supernatural garbage. Something I wouldn't have even put stock into a week ago I now find out is real, and what's worse? It can kill." I snuggled into Cade's side. "I can't protect Sam from it. But can you?"

It was a valid question. He kept saying he could. That he knew how, or had the resources to pull from, but I needed reassurance.

"I know we can. All of us, together. If I'm right. I'm still working on a theory here."

"Is he safe right now, Cade? Please tell me he's safe."

"I'm not sure I can answer that. I hope so. That's not going to make you feel much better, but he does have my grandmother's amulet. That's something. And we did tell him to call us if anything were to start happening. I think…I hope that maybe me coming down to Camrose and looking for a house happened early enough that we have some time before the entire spirit realm in this area know that it's Sam they're looking for." Cade squeezed me tight. "He should be okay for now. It's going to get worse. I can't lie. But hopefully, before that happens, we can give Sam the skills to deal with the angry dead."

"This is insane." I shivered again.

"It is. I won't deny that. If you're still cold, a long hot shower will do you good. Being spirit-touched can chill you to the bone." Cade patted me on the shoulder, then pulled me up. "Come on. I'm going to start the water for you. I bought brand new fluffy towels."

Cade dragged me into the en suite, reached into the shower stall and pulled the lever to start the water. It didn't take long for the room to fill with steam.

"Okay, strip and get in. I'll wait out in the living room for you. Take all the time you need." Cade pulled me in and kissed me on the forehead. He got to the door to the en suite that led into the bedroom before I called out.

"Don't go." I shivered again. The chills wouldn't leave. I pulled my shirt off and dropped it at my feet. "Stay with me. Don't leave me. I don't want to be alone. What if…" My gaze darted around the room. I undid my jeans' top button.

"I think it would be fairly odd for another possessed individual to waltz in here and accost you."

My pants fell to the floor.

I had no underwear on.

Cade stared, then licked his lips.

"Please stay." I walked over to him and pulled off his shirt, then started unbuckling his belt. "I'm not asking for sex, Cade. I don't feel sexy in the least right now. But what I want is you. Contact. Skin to skin. I need to know you're here. I need to feel okay. Safe. I can't be there for Sam if the rest of me is flailing."

Cade's pants fell to the floor. His tight white boxer briefs hugged him in the most flattering way. He didn't have an erection per se, but he wasn't completely soft either.

I glanced up to meet his stare.

His face held nothing but kindness. Radiantly sexy, but there was no mischievousness, no hot longing desires. But what was there? A sense of comfort. A safe space. A refuge. He shimmied out of his underwear, dropped them by his feet, and then drew me up in his arms and held me.

His furry skin rubbed against me and radiated heat. A warmth I desperately needed.

We stepped into the shower. The cascading water pummelled the back of my neck and shoulders, melting away the stress and at least some of the fear. Cade took a bar of soap, lathered it up, and began washing my back. It was a small piece of heaven in a short time frame that had definitely been a pit of hellish frights.

After several minutes of being looked after, cared for, attended to, and being warm and safe, my chest relaxed. The tightness eased.

I settled.

I stopped shaking.

I breathed in a huge breath and let it out slowly.

"Come here," Cade whispered. He stood beneath the showerhead, water flowing off his nose like some monstrous bear-human gargoyle. His arms were open wide. I snuggled into him, closed my eyes and drifted off. His beastly mitts for hands held me.

For the next thirty minutes, we revelled in the safety of the glass cubicle, the close proximity of each other, and shared an intimate setting where I allowed him to get close to me, to care for me, to protect me.

He didn't disappoint.

After we dried off, we made up the bed. Glancing at my phone, the time read past eight o'clock. Sharon would have picked Sam up from school and had already taken him home. Friday night dinner meant pizza, Sam's favourite. We hadn't heard a thing from either of them, which also added to my sense of ease.

I texted Sam.

Hey, champ. Hope everything is good. Don't forget your science project!

I didn't see the blinking dots which meant Sam was either busy with his mom, playing video games, or actually working on his schoolwork, so I pocketed my phone.

Perhaps Cade had been right. The ghosts were used to a certain setting and rarely strayed from it. Although that didn't explain the possession of Billy Hycha and having him walk right into Cade's new witch cottage. Cade had shared his impressions on that.

"It's wild. In all my years of dealing with the dead, an instance of possession is so rare. A spirit has to be very powerful in order to pull that off."

"Yes, but Cade, they are aggressive, confrontational, and violent. That kind of emotion fuels humans to do crazy and horrible things. Why should it be any different for the ghost world?"

"That's fair. I hadn't thought of it like that. But you're not wrong. I just hope we don't see any more possessions. It's rare for a lot of reasons. Not only does the ghost have to know what they're doing, the body has to be a proper receptacle. Not everyone can be possessed. People with strong personalities tend to have a better resistance to being taken over. Shy people, quiet introverts, those with mental health issues…they are easy targets."

"Half the people I know fall into the "could be possessed" category, Cade."

My bear cocked an eyebrow as he rolled his eyes and nodded, conceding my point.

"There's a lot of dead walking around right now. I don't need half the world becoming possessed." Cade grimaced.

After what we'd witnessed today, and the other night with Pam, I had to agree. I would be good if I never saw a spirit leaving a body ever again.

"Okay, I have a question for you," I said.

"Shoot."

"Okay, well, we all have souls, right? Spirits?"

"Yes."

"When we die our soul doesn't rip itself out of our bodies, so why now? Why are the possessed getting torn apart?"

"I don't know. I really don't. You're right, a spirit can enter the body without causing destruction — sort of — so it should be able to leave too. I suspect the ghosts are not finding what they want, get angry, and feel it necessary to leave a trail of death and destruction behind them."

"Sort of? What do you mean sort of?"

"Oh, um, well, there's a couple of different ways a flesh and bone body can house an entity. When someone dies, their soul leaves the body. For a few minutes that empty shell can be possessed if a passing ghost knows how to enter the body and reanimate it.

"But when the ghost enters a body where the soul hasn't left, the haint evicts what has been in the body. Essentially shoving them out, and a soul without a body can't exist on the physical realm, so they are immediately pulled into the in-between, purgatory, where they should meet a reaper and then transition on to the next realm, whatever that will be."

"Damn. That's brutal. Instant death."

"Yeah, possession is messy."

"Yeah, okay, but what about the movie, The Exorcist ? The body housed the demon and the human soul. Or is that just Hollywood?"

"No, you're right there. But the difference is the demon. They want chaos; they want to torture and torment. What better way than to take over a body, capture the soul, and then have them watch as you decimate their physical shell.

"A demon will feed off the hate and fear that the possession creates, not just for the host, but for all the people around the host as well." Cade explained.

"That's insane," I said.

"The spirit realm isn't all fairies and twinkle lights. It can be harsh, cruel, and deadly." Cade said.

"I'm starting to see that, which is now ramping up my anxiety and got me thinking about Sam. How is he going to do this? He's fucking ten years old!"

"That I don't have an answer for. Remember? Just a theory. But I'm hoping…" Cade trailed off.

"Hoping what?"

"Tomorrow's meeting with Shirley. Witches are different creatures. They see and sense the world much differently than you or I." Cade started.

"Cade, I think it's safe to say that your perception of the world is vastly different than most."

He chuckled. "Okay, that's fair. But witches are different. I see the dead. That's just having access to a completely different energy level. Witches can sense nature's energies, collect them, reprogram them, and then send them off into the universe to accomplish their own goals. They manipulate the world around them. That's extremely powerful and very dangerous."

"So, Great-Grandma Shirley was?—"

"Not someone to trifle with. Look at this house." Cade glanced around. "For whatever reason — and don't get me wrong, I think she had all the reasons — she had this home built to withstand an onslaught of the dead — the spiritual kind at least."

"The spiritual kind, as in zombies are a thing too? Please, dear God, no."

"Well…welcome to my world?" Cade tried to smile, but it came off as a grimace.

"I may never sleep again."