“Oh, is that all?” I asked, exasperated.
Ian leaned back on the desk and cocked his head, a small smile creeping across the right side of his face. “No, actually. It isn’t.”
The room chilled, and as I watched, Ian grew less opaque, more like the essence of Ian rather than a figure standing in my room. “I want to do it with you.” Ian’s voice came from some random point in space. “I want us to do it together. I know they want to talk to me. It isn’t like I don’t hear them. Some days they never shut up. And I’d like to have a word or two with them as well, actually. I just want to do it in my own time. In my own way.”
I knew Ian was telling the truth just as I knew what it would mean if I went to the Guild and told them I could consult with St. Hilaire’s most notorious and currently elusive ghost. “Why should I trust you?” I wanted to scream the question, but instead, my voice was soft, as if Ian had already won and this conversation was something we had to get through first.
I waited for an answer. And then I waited some more. But the only thing I heard was the wind howling outside the suddenly open window.
Chapter 42
Russ
I finally agreed to let Ian possess me after Alex showed up at my house and handcuffed himself to the Mustang.
My father was explaining how a replacement piece for the old train was being cast in Europe and would be shipped to St. Hilaire later in the week, when we were interrupted by an eerie howl. I’d peeked through the blinds to see Alex rattling the cuffs against the car and Garmer pacing back and forth whining.
I wasn’t sure which was worse, Alex or the dog who might actually be Ian. Either would be trouble. I ran outside, closing the door tightly behind me, picked up a stick and threw it far into the woods. “Fetch.”
The dog cocked its head before sticking its tongue out of the side of its mouth and running toward the trees.
One down.
“I’m not leaving,” Alex said.
I was determined not to give in, but when Garmer came running back with the stick, his fur covered in burrs, and a drooling smile on his face that looked too familiar, I figured I had no choice.
Which is how I found myself in the Mustang at the edge of the woods near my house, waiting for the eldest and youngest Mackenzie brothers. I’d brought the vials, just in case, but was pretty sure I wouldn’t need them this time.
I licked my lips and said, “Let’s get this over with,” to the empty car.
“You know, they say that patience is a virtue,” Ian said, leaning his head in through the passenger door. “Don’t you ever wonder who they are?”
The appearing and disappearing thing was as annoying as it was amazing. “Not really. And sorry if I’m not eager to continue spending time making sure Alex doesn’t blow up St. Hilaire. Or himself.”
“Yes, that could get messy.”
“So, how do we start?” I asked.
“I think we just do it. I mean, unless you want to light some incense or bang a tambourine.” Ian offered. “But then, I don’t remember you being the type who needed atmosphere to perform.”
I rolled down the window simply for something to do. Alex was supposed to meet me at noon. Since using the radio was no longer a possibility, we didn’t have to be in the car, but I liked the idea of being able to escape, if escape was necessary.
And surprisingly, Alex was right on time.
Ian moved into the back of the car as his brother opened the front door and threw himself down in the passenger’s seat.
“You better not be dicking me around,” Alex said.
Ian laughed in the back seat. I suppressed an urge to throw both of them out into the woods.
“Look, Alex,” I said. “Let’s get this straight. I’m doing this to get you to leave Dec and his piano alone, not because this is my idea of a good time.”
“Oh,” said Ian. “This is definitely not your idea of a good time.”
This was going to be more difficult than I thought.
Alex crossed his arms and slumped back in his seat. “Are we doing this or not?”
I glanced at Ian, nodded, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. Allowing Ian to speak through me meant lowering every mental defense I had. It would have been a great time for a shot, just to take the edge off. And I wasn’t sure what Ian could see or hear while he was in my head. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. But after so many years of keeping people at arm’s length, I was disturbed and, I had to admit, almost excited, to let someone in.
I thought back to the short lesson we’d learned about possessions in school and imagined jumping into a frigid pool. Checked off the symptoms: breath burning in my lungs, limbs going numb, thoughts swirling like a funnel cloud. I saw Ian lift my arms. Stretch my muscles. Crack my neck. It was like watching a movie from the front row. Everything too close and intense.
“Hey A,” Ian said and flicked Alex under the chin. “How’ve you been?”
Since the Guild didn’t condone possessions, they didn’t talk about it much. But one thing we had been taught was that mediums weren’t “present” during possessions, although that wasn’t necessarily true in this case. I couldn’t hear Ian’s thoughts, but I could hear their conversation as if it were taking place underwater. The younger brother’s doubts. Ian proving it was really him by recalling exploits from their childhood. Confusion about Colin’s newly intense and inexplicable relationship with Willow Rogers. But when Alex got to the real reason he’d been freaking out and started whining about his mother wanting to send him to reform school because now that Ian was gone, they didn’t have enough mediums in the family to justify them staying in St. Hilaire, I checked out.
To distract myself, I classified my grandmother’s plants. Angiosperms were plants that produced flowers. Gymnosperms were plants that did not produce flowers. Dicots had two seed leaves. Monocots only had one. On and on.
Eventually, I started feeling my fingers again. Smelled the leather seats. Was irritated by the grating sound of Alex’s voice.
I shook my head hard enough to make sure Ian was out of it and glanced in the rearview mirror. The back seat was empty.
“What?” I asked Alex, who I was sure, had been saying something.
“I said that we need to do this again sometime. I knew Ian would be able to tell me how to handle Mom. But there are still some other things he wouldn’t tell me.”
“Speaking of answers.” I hadn’t meant to throw an additional price on top, but it never hurt to ask. “What did Sheridan have to do with all of this?”
Alex glared, wide and hungry. “Guess it doesn’t matter now, right? I had the goods on him. David was hanging around outside Eaton Hall when Ian told Clive Rice he thought Dec’s parents were going to bite it. I said that if he didn’t help me, I was going to rat him out to Dec.”