“I can’t do that if you’re not with them. You’re the conduit,” Linda said, her face dropping.
“I know, but are you sure?” Karma rubbed her cold arms. “You’ve always concentrated on the girls and me. Can you go anywhere you want in, well, ghost world?”
“Ghost world?” Linda rolled her eyes, and they kept going like spinning tops.
Karma gagged and looked away. “Stop that. For goodness’ sake, I do not want to vomit. Stop it.”
“Sorry.” Linda sighed. “Sometimes I can attach myself to people you’ve been around, but it has to be recent. I just tried to find the girls, and I couldn’t do it. They might be farther away from here than you think, and oddly enough, spatial relations do seem to matter.”
Karma had never interacted with a spirit to this degree, and perhaps that had been a mistake. Except she didn’t want to spend a lot of time with ghosts. They all left sooner or later. “I need you to try to find Terre. He’s spent enough time around me that you should be able to locate him if he’s somewhere near here. Right?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I can try,” Linda said.
Karma studied her wispy form. “Are there other ghosts nearby? Do you have interactions with anybody?”
Linda looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Of course not. There’s not a special town with ghosts who refuse to cross over. Frankly, there aren’t many channelers, either. I think most people ignore the gift, as you would like to do.”
Karma couldn’t argue that point. Normally, she’d love not to deal with ghosts. Many were just angry, which kept them from passing through for at least a little while. Sure, she’d helped some spirits say goodbye to this world in one way or another, but her ability to interact with them had been limited. What if she were free? Would she be able to help more spirits? She liked that idea, but it was probably not to be.
Unless she could get her girls free. That, she had to do. “All right. Please do me a favor and go see if you can find out where Terre is.” She leaned forward and tried to calm the hope in her breast. “See if the girls are anywhere near him. Perhaps if you find Terre, you will also find the girls? It’s doubtful, so do not be disappointed. But there is still a chance.” She bit her lip. “Can you read documents?”
“Yes, I just can’t lift them.” Linda reached for the bedspread, and her hand went right through. “See? I’ve been practicing, but I can’t get hold of anything real. Anything in your world.”
Karma kept her voice low so Benjamin wouldn’t hear. “Please stop procrastinating. We must discover if you can be of help or not.”
A tear slid down Linda’s face, dropping into nothingness. “What if I can’t be of help? We don’t know where the girls are.” Her emotions wafted from her, lowering the temperature of the room even more.
Karma straightened her posture. “Then we shall find another way to get our girls free. Together, we should be unstoppable.” Yes, they were a Kurjan Soti and a ghost who couldn’t touch this world, but they loved those girls, and that would have to be enough. “Let’s try this first.”
“Okay.” Linda shut her eyes and winked out of sight.
The room instantly warmed up again. Karma waited and then waited some more. Finally, she snuggled down in the covers and closed her eyes to get a little rest. Who knew how time moved in the spirit world.
Her dreams were fluid and calm until she was jerked upright by a loud whisper. “What?” She sat straight up, her brain still in a dream about dolphins.
Linda sat on the bed. “I saw Terre and Jaydon. We found them. We can do this before I’m forced to cross over, Karma.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Benny burned for the stubborn female in his guest room. The way she’d stood up to him earlier about returning to Kurjan territory was plain and simply sexy as hell. Karma might’ve practiced meekness for the last century to survive, but the female had a will of iron. Man, he liked that. In fact, he liked her.
He tipped back another glass of Scotch and headed outside to stare at the moon so he wouldn’t knock on her door. She was an innocent, and the things he wanted to do to her, with her, were anything but pure. She was an old-fashioned lady, and she wouldn’t consider a short-term fling. In addition, she apparently had two little girls. He had no clue what to do with little kids. No doubt he’d scare the heck out of them just by being himself.
He rubbed his chest and took a seat on his sprawling deck, admiring the way the moon glinted off the sleepy river. It was fall, the river had slowed down, and he liked this place. Mercy had left after helping him with a project, and now he wished she’d stayed for a while to talk.
Ragged breath sounded, and he moved to the edge of the deck to see Garrett running along the river. The kid stopped. “Scotch?”
“Yep.” Benny ducked inside for the bottle and another glass, joining his friend on the deck. “You’ve been running for the last four hours?” It had to be about midnight.
“Yeah. We couldn’t find Sam, so I thought I’d take a break before Logan and I came to blows. We’re not going to find Sam tonight.” Even though his tone was casual, Garrett’s eyes were tortured.
Benny handed over a full glass of Glenfiddich.
Garrett accepted and dropped into the adjacent wooden deck chair, his bare chest and black gym shorts sweaty. While the fusing of his torso wasn’t visible from the front, the back looked like a massive tattoo of solid ribs. “Thanks.”
Benny sat. “Kid, you need to tell me what’s going on.”
Garrett downed half of the glass. “I’m middle-aged for a human, Ben. Maybe it’s time to stop calling me ‘kid’.”
Middle age for a human was still young, very young, for an immortal. “We’re brothers now, and I’ve never had a younger brother until you and Logan survived the Seven ritual.” God, it had been difficult watching them both barely make it through the devastating journey. “I’d like to keep the ‘kid’ for a while.” Though he’d stop if Garrett insisted.
“You do you,” Garrett muttered, taking another deep drink.
“Thanks.” Benny grinned and sipped, eyeing the young Kayrs. He looked remarkably like his father. Talen had the same wide chest and ripped muscles, and they both had an air of being relaxed even when they were ready to spring into action. “Doesn’t your dad have the ability to halt the enemy in battle?”
“Yep,” Garrett said. “Before you ask, I’m finally developing it, which is pretty cool. Dad said he didn’t learn how until he was older, so we’ve been working on it when we get together.”