“Yeah. It takes a lot out of him, but he can do it in a pinch. Why?”
Booker lifted his head, dark eyes studying me as if I possibly held an answer. “It’s not a common talent among mediums. We’ve been looking for a support team to go with us on the rougher cases, but most of the mediums who can exorcise either refuse adamantly to do it or they have their own…groove, I guess is the right word. They handle specific cases and not much else if they can help it.”
“We’re also rather impressed with Mack,” Quinn pitched in with a sigh as he set the weights down with a loud clank. “We’ve been on cases where shit hit the fan, and the other medium we were working with didn’t immediately come to help. They had to be told to, and even then sometimes told twice. Mack dropped everything and ran to Eli. He’s had her back ever since.”
I glanced at the two of them, not sure where they were going with this. “Surely that’s not so rare?”
“People are good at their jobs in the division, don’t mistake me. But not everyone has the same knee-jerk reflexes in dangerous situations.” Quinn sat up and eyed me the same way I was studying him. “You reacted just as quickly as he did. Best yet, you’re still helping us out. Like now, giving us a chance to breathe and regroup after last night’s shitshow. It’s not often we like people as much as we do you and Mack. I suppose what we’re asking is, if we have one of the rougher cases handed to us, can we call on you as support?”
This startled me, that we’d made such a positive impression on these two that they wanted to work with us again. But at the same time, I felt rather the same way about it. I liked them. I liked Ken and Falisa, too, but it wasn’t the same kind of feeling. “Sure. I think it’s fun to work with you three. I can only speak for myself, though.”
Both of them were super pleased at my answer, if their mile-wide grins were anything to go by. “Then let’s clean up and go ask your partner,” Quinn suggested.
We were done anyway, and a shower was definitely in order. “Yeah, sure.”
I got back to the room to find it empty, but I heard a suspicious amount of giggling coming out of the room across the hall. Mack had apparently gone to visit Eli at some point. I took a shower, enjoying the heat, and dressed in what was probably my last clean outfit. Laundry was definitely in order.
Coming out of the room, I almost bumped right into Ken, who was heading out. “Hey, Ken.”
“Hey,” he greeted. “Falisa and I thought we’d find lunch in the next hour or so. You want to join us?”
“Sure,” I agreed easily. “Let me grab everyone else, too. We all need to eat.”
“That we do. You seen Eli yet this morning?”
“Not seen, no, but that’s her and Mack giggling.”
Ken shot the closed door a relieved look. “Then she’s feeling better. God, that scared me, seeing her down like that. I thought maybe after lunch we could buy some Super Soakers, get some water blessed by one of the local priests.”
“I like the way you think.” It would probably look stupid, grown ass men running around with Super Soakers, but I didn’t question things that worked. I found it interesting, too, he’d mentioned only Falisa and not Delaney. The guy was probably still sulking in his room.
Ken went on his way, and I knocked before sticking my head into the other room. “Hey, you all decent in there?”
“Well, we are,” Mack returned suggestively.
I rolled my eyes and came all the way in. Sure enough, he and Eli were snuggled up next to each other on the bed, the laptop straddling their thighs, and The Witcher audibly playing. “You’re re-watching the bath scene aren’t you.”
Eli beamed at me. “I hadn’t actually watched the show. We started at the beginning. Mack just jumped ahead a little to show me the delights of Geralt of Rivia.”
“Uh-huh,” I deadpanned. “Well, Ken’s invited us all out to lunch. We thought we’d do some shopping for Super Soakers and get some more holy water blessed afterwards. Eli, you up for that?”
“Sure, I’m feeling better. The painkillers are doing their job, too.”
She did look better. Less pale, and the pain lines around her mouth and eyes were easing up. Eli struck me as the resilient type. “Okay, then put the nice sexy man down.”
“He’s a complete and utter spoilsport,” Eli complained to Mack.
Mack waggled his eyebrows at me in a ridiculous way. “Not always.”
Well, these two were in a fine mood. I offered Mack a hand and hauled him off the bed. He took the laptop with him, and we stepped out of the room long enough for him to retreat to ours and find shoes. As he put sneakers on, I stole the moment of privacy to relay, “Quinn and Booker asked if we wanted to possibly team up with them more often.”
Mack lifted his head, blinking up at me. “You guys sure got into a serious discussion while getting sweaty.”
I shrugged, not denying it. “I think they were taking advantage of having me to themselves, yeah. But what do you think?”
“I’m surprised they’re asking one day into knowing us.”
“It’s a mix of things on their end. They were super happy we didn’t look at them sideways because they’re poly. They’re also very impressed with you. Apparently not every medium jumps to Eli’s rescue when something goes wrong. They don’t want to wade into the fray if even an exorcist is struggling. You immediately running to her last night really impressed them.”
Mack shook his head sadly. “I understand why mediums would hesitate. Exorcists are the big leagues, after all. If they can’t handle it, odds are it’s super dangerous. But still, to leave a colleague stranded in a bad situation without even trying to help extract her?”
“I was also a little horrified by what they were saying. So do you see now why they asked?”
“Because I’ve already proven to have her back. Their backs, I should say.” Mack finished tying his shoelace and stood up, his expression thoughtful. “I don’t mind working with them when they need a medium. I like them. Eli is a riot, I’d love to be friends with her.”
I personally thought having a medium friend other than Beau would be really good for Mack. He needed more friends who understood him. “Then let’s tell them yes.”
Mack nodded. “And go find a priest willing to bless Super Soakers. I feel like that latter’s going to be the challenge.”
Laughing, I shrugged. He was probably right.
19
No one quite understood why ghosts were weaker during the day. If you listened to some, they claimed the moon and the witching hour gave them power. If you listened to others, it wasn’t that they were weaker in the day, it was just that there was less noise and light at night, so you saw them more easily. I really didn’t know which theory was correct, and it didn’t really matter. We (probably) had an advantage during daylight, so daylight it would be.
We all had a good night’s sleep, rendezvousing over breakfast in the hotel dining room. Since not all of us were awake—we were used to being night owls—there wasn’t much in the way of conversation.