Evie swallowed. Her throat ached. “Sure. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I guess that’s why we’re chasing ghosts.”
Will rose and came to stand awkwardly beside Evie’s chair, his hands in his pockets. He reached out and patted Evie’s shoulder as if he’d read it in a manual on how to be a human. No wonder he’d needed Rotke.
“I’m sorry, Evie. Truly, I am.”
Evie shirked away. This whole conversation had been a mistake.
“Why? It’s not like you killed anybody,” Evie said, and closed the door behind her harder than was necessary.
On Friday evening, after the week of experiments had left the Diviners tired and grumpy, Sister Walker brought out a plate of cookies. “Not to worry, I didn’t bake these. My neighbor did. So they are perfectly edible,” she said with a wink to Memphis and Isaiah.
“What did you do with Diviners before, when you worked with the Department of Paranormal?” Sam asked between slurps of steaming tea.
“Oh. We talked to people like you. We wrote down your stories. Asked questions.” Will dunked a cookie half into his cup while Evie watched in fascinated revulsion.
She wrinkled her nose. “Honestly, Unc,” she said, accidentally using the affectionate nickname she’d given him ages ago. He smiled at her, and she was immediately angry at herself for the slip. After the argument they’d had earlier in the week about James, she’d determined to be aloof with Will. As usual, she was an utter failure at holding a grudge.
“I suppose you got to know those Diviners pretty well, then,” Ling said.
Will brushed his hands of crumbs and took out his silver case, wedging a Lucky Strike between his lips. “We got to know what they could do.”
Ling frowned. “That’s not the same thing at all.”
“Did you test them like you’re testing us?” Isaiah asked.
“Yes, we did. Some people had a small amount of ability and some had quite a bit more,” Sister Walker said.
“What about me? How much do I have?”
“A great deal. And there’s more in there we haven’t even explored yet,” Sister Walker said, and Isaiah broke into a huge grin. “That goes for all of you.”
“You, uh, ever experiment on those Diviners?” Sam asked cagily. “You know, did you look under the hood, see what made ’em tick? Did you take blood samples or anything like that?”
He avoided eye contact with Evie, but he could sense her leaning forward.
Sister Walker put down her cup. “From time to time.”
“Why’d you do that?” Isaiah asked. He shuddered. “I don’t like needles.”
Will exhaled. The smoke floated in front of his face like a veil. “We wanted to know if there was an hereditary difference in Diviners that caused their powers. Was this evidence of an evolutionary leap? What if Diviners, with their connection to the supernatural, were the key to unlocking untapped human potential?”
“So, these Diviners you tested,” Sam asked. “Can we talk to any of ’em? I mean, if we’re all needed to fight off this spooky showdown …”
“Spooky showdown?” Evie repeated, eyebrow raised.
“Just seems odd we’re not reaching out to them is all.”
“We can’t,” Sister Walker said. “Our files were destroyed when the department was shut down. We have no way of reaching them. I’m afraid it’s down to the six of you.”
“Any runner in Harlem would tell you those aren’t great odds,” Memphis said.
“Why did they shut you down?” Ling asked. “If you were doing important work.”
“The war ended us.” Will spoke as if each word cost him dearly. “The war and its horrors. It was no longer an age for mystery and miracles. It was an age of industry and weapons and the industry of weapons.”
“So,” Theta said after a moment of uncomfortable silence, “in all this investigating you two did, you ever meet a bad Diviner?”
Sister Walker warmed her hands against her china cup. “There is always the capacity to abuse power,” she said evenly.
“Must be pretty rotten if you won’t even talk about it.” Theta’s palms prickled.
Sister Walker sipped her tea, then set her cup down. “There was a Diviner once who could pull the life out of things.”
“Holy smokes!” Sam said on a gasp.
“He could kill people?” Isaiah blurted.
“That’s some power—”
“Who’d he kill? How many?”
“He didn’t kill anyone that I know of,” Sister Walker said. “But he could ease an animal’s passing or wilt a rose in a vase.”
“Can we meet him?” Isaiah asked. “Or do they keep him in a special jail somewhere?”
“I don’t know where he is,” Sister Walker said with a note of sadness. “He left us one day. We never saw him again.”
A hush fell over the table. The wind thundered across the roof like a ghostly herd, drawing everyone’s eyes for a moment to the painted expanse of ceiling—bewigged Founding Fathers surrounded by spirits and magic and mysteries.
“Kinda funny when you think about it,” Sam said around a mouthful of cookie.
“What’s that?” Will asked. He’d abandoned his cookie in favor of a cigarette.
“Me and Isaiah. Evie. Memphis. Ling. Henry. And—” Sam quickly stopped himself from saying Theta. “Us. We got a Jew, two Negroes, a half-Chinese-half-Irish girl. Coupla Catholics. Sounds like the start of some really awful joke the stuffed shirts would tell behind closed doors.”
“What’s your point?” Ling said.
“Well, people like to say we’re not true Americans, whatever that means. But we’re the ones with these powers.” Sam shrugged. “It’s just kinda funny is all.”
He caught Sister Walker throwing a meaningful glance Will’s way. It was quick but noticeable. But then Sister Walker was putting aside her tea and standing to her full height, smoothing down the front of her dress as if to announce that no wrinkle, no flaw could find purchase in her. “Time to get back to work. Sam, Henry, and Ling, let’s see what you can do together.”
Henry slurped down the rest of his milky tea and wiped his mouth. He winked at Evie. “We who are about to die salute you.”
Evie put a hand over her heart. “I’ll remember you fondly on your birthday,” she said with mock-solemnity. She was suddenly aware of Jericho beside her.
“Meet me in the collections room,” he whispered in her ear, making the skin along her neck buzz. And just like that, everything about him that she’d tried to put away came flooding back.
Evie waited until a new test was under way, and then she slipped out of the library. Her stomach had begun to flutter. Don’t you dare, she scolded, but her stomach wouldn’t listen.
“Hi,” Jericho said with a shy smile as Evie entered the collections room.
“Hi,” she said back. Steady, she thought.
“You, ah, looked like you might need a rescue.”
“Thanks.” Evie laughed, relieved that she didn’t have to pretend otherwise. It was one of the things she liked about Jericho. Around him, she didn’t feel the need to pretend. There was a certain loneliness in Jericho that she recognized, a twin to her own. The way he looked at her from time to time, like a searchlight that had found what it sought, made her go a little dizzy.