“I’m twenty-two,” she said, her voice soft but confident. “I may look fifteen, but I can handle your problem. How about you do a walk through with me. We can start in the garage and work our way through the house.”
“Sure, yeah. This way.”
I led her and Orion to the garage and unlocked it.
“But after the walk through, I need to be by myself to do the cleansing,” she said.
As I opened the door and waved Kora and Orion inside, hesitation bloomed. I wanted to trust Orion. I did trust him, more or less. But as my father pointed out this morning, I didn’t know him all that well yet. Or his foster sister. I wasn’t sure I wanted to let a stranger roam free in my house without me there. “Can I just wait in the kitchen or something while you work?”
Kora drifted into the garage space, looking around. Orion walked over to the sunroom and gazed out at the back yard. “I need to work alone,” Kora said. “I won’t touch your stuff or anything. It’s just my process.”
“She makes weird noises,” Orion said, walking over to join us. “Really weird.”
Kora slapped his arm, then nodded at me. “He’s right. I do. And sometimes when I’m ejecting spirits my body temperature rises so I have to strip down to my underwear.”
“I’ll wait in the back yard.”
“Thank you. Hey, what happened over there?” She pointed toward the built-in shelves I’d recently put in on the wall to my left.
I glanced over. “What do you mean?”
“Circles. Circles falling. You had activity in here.” She walked over to the shelves. “Was there a table here before?”
I strolled over. “My work bench, yeah. Oh!” My breath caught. “There was a jar of washer rings that I found knocked onto the floor one morning. My cell phone was lying on top of them. I thought it was an animal that got in.”
“It wasn’t an animal,” she said, and continued on.
I waited as she wandered around the suite. Orion followed her and they mumbled to each other occasionally, but I hung back, knowing I’d have nothing to contribute. I’d told no one about the spilled washers. And she’d gone straight to the exact location it happened. This gave me hope. Maybe this girl knew her shit after all, and I’d get my damn house back, spook-free.
Kora announced she’d seen enough of the garage, so we walked across the path and I took her through my house. She didn’t spend much time in each room, just walked through and looked around a little. When we got upstairs, I cringed because I hadn’t bothered to clean up this morning. She stopped outside the guest room Orion and I had spent the night in, the bed unmade, blankets in disarray. “Who the hell salted this doorway?” Kora asked.
“I did.” Orion gave her a little shoulder-poke, the affectionate way he did to me sometimes. “Why? Salt works. Chapel uses it.”
“Not on Spites,” she said. “They bleed in and out through the walls. Don’t be going amateur hour on shit not in your wheelhouse, Orion.”
“Listen Miss Snotty-pants,” he said, “I was trying to help my friend here. I improvised based on shit I’ve seen my weird siblings do.”
“Your friend, huh? Why does it smell like margaritas and sex in here?”
I coughed, and Orion smirked at me over Kora’s shoulder. “Um…the salt has lime shavings in it,” I said. “I haven’t had a chance to clean up, sorry.”
Kora looked at me, then Orion, rolled her eyes, and started down the hall toward my bedroom. Orion jabbed my side, then grabbed my ass. “Stop,” I whispered.
His big dark eyes danced with mischief. “Make me.”
“Later.”
“Promise?”
I had to physically, albeit gently, push him away from me, because just that quick exchange had my cock swelling. Kora had entered my bedroom, and was looking down at the spilled items from the dresser, still scattered on the floor after this morning’s incident. I was about to apologize for the mess when suddenly she gripped the edge of my bureau and let out a sound that gave me goosebumps—it was like a cross between a donkey’s bray and a death metal singer’s guttural scream.
“It’s okay.” Orion grabbed my arm. “It’s just the weird noises we told you about. Means she’s sensing something.”
Still gripping the bureau, Kora’s chin dropped to her chest, shoulders rising and falling as she took several deep breaths. Orion and I both jumped at the sound of glass shattering—the lightbulb on my bedside lamp. Without looking up, Kora said. “Oh yeah. You got Spites.”
“Hang on, I…I’ll clean that up,” I said. “Let me get a dustpan.”
“Leave it!” Kora said. Suddenly her eyes lifted to the ceiling as she let out a howl, which then transformed into that death metal scream again as her body spasmed.
“Jesus Christ,” I blurted out.
Orion clasped my hand. “Kora, you good? Kurt looks like he’s gonna shit himself, I’m gonna take him outside.”
The weird scream ceased, and she nodded, wiping her brow. When she turned to us, her face was flushed pink. She removed her glasses and set them on the bureau, then unhooked her overall straps. “I’m gonna start in here,” she said. “I’ll come out when I’m done.”
I turned away quickly when Kora began to take her shirt off. Orion was silent as he followed me down the stairs, but when we reached the kitchen and stepped outside via the side door, he began snickering.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as we walked into the back yard. “A fucking light bulb just exploded!”
“I know. It’s the Spites reacting to her presence, probably. But the look on your face when Kora started with her noises. I thought you were gonna pee.”
“Well…what the fuck. She’s a little weird. Sorry.”
“Most people close to me are a little weird. Hey, can we go sit by the pool?”
“Sure.” We walked over and I sat on a lounger. Orion hesitated, staring at the water, threading his fingers through his hair and lifting it off his neck. “You warm?” I asked.
“Warm? It’s fucking hot.” He removed the gold tasseled vest.
“Yeah, I bet it’s uncomfortable in that crazy getup.”
Turning around, he grinned at me. “Do I hear judgement?” He tossed the vest onto a nearby chair, then took off his boots and socks. “Don’t like my sexy fortune teller clothes?” Sliding his jingly bracelets off, he dropped them on top of the vest.
“I like your sexy fortune teller clothes very much. They’re just not suited for the hot weather.”
“Like me better without them?” He unbuttoned his shirt.
Whatever snappy comeback I might have made died on my tongue when he slid the shirt off his smooth, strong shoulders. The sight of him, barefoot and shirtless in nothing but those black jeans and ebony beads…I was unprepared for it. A soft breeze rustled through the trees and sent Orion’s hair fluttering wildly around his face, like nature wanted to make the image extra sexy just to torture me.
“What’s wrong?” He smiled slyly as he ran fingers through his hair, tying it back into a loose ponytail.