Page 80 of Demon and the Raven

“Holy shit,” Lorne gasped, rushing forward, ready to join the fray.

“Wait,” I cautioned, bolting to reach him, taking firm hold of his arm.

“We have to help.” The look on his face, in his eyes, told me he was panicked.

“I know,” I soothed him, “and we will. But we first need to make sure the girl is safe.”

He didn’t understand, I could tell from the furrowed brows, but he didn’t insist on answers, instead following me quickly to the others.

Father Dennis immediately went to the young woman on the ground, dropped to his knees beside her, and patted her gently to get her attention. She screamed loudly, but once she opened her eyes and saw him, a priest, possibly the best person to see in the terrifying situation she found herself in, she fell sideways into his arms. I wanted to make sure he stayed safe, but I had my hands full with the girl in a trance in front of me.

“Be ready to catch her,” I directed Lorne, and then, instead of explaining anymore—which my grandfather, whom I loved very much, had always tried to do mid emergency, driving me crazy—I turned and blew into the air.

Two things happened instantly: first, the girl in the dream state fell into Lorne’s arms like a puppet with their strings cut, and second, the two men froze, staring at me wide-eyed, the guy with the holy water stopping mid spritz, while the one with the flashlight shone the beam right in my face.

“Could you not,” I asked, hand up to shield my eyes so I wouldn’t be blinded.

Dropping the light, letting it simply slip from his hand, he started to hyperventilate. I understood. Sometimes when you went from terrified to not, the transition was a rough one.

“Peace,” I bid both them and the spirits, pulling out the drawstring pouch full of dried lavender flowers and pouring half the contents into my hand. I then cast them in every direction, repeating the word.

“Who the hell are you?” the guy with the flashlight yelled at me.

“Keep your fuckin’ voice down,” Lorne snarled at him, and I saw the stranger jolt in fear. “He’s trying to make everything safe and normal so your friend can wake up.”

I was always astounded by Lorne’s ability to read a situation correctly even when it was brand-new to him.

“All is well,” I intoned, spreading the remainder of the flowers, then replacing the bag in my pocket before pulling the mixture I’d prepared at home from the other.

I walked over to Father Dennis and the woman leaning into his arms and went to my knees beside her in the grass. I smiled at her, and she sat up and stared at me. Slowly, she stopped sobbing, but there was still a lot of sniffling and catching of breath. I really wished I had some tissues so she could blow her nose.

“Turn around and look,” I directed her, my voice soft.

Doing as I asked, she saw her friend—I was guessing she was friends with the men as well—in Lorne’s arms. He was being very careful with her; that was obvious.

She slapped her hand over her mouth, and I gestured for Lorne to bring the unconscious woman over.

The two men followed Lorne, and once he sank down to one knee, with the others crowding around, I turned to the guy who’d been sprinkling the holy water, because he was the only one breathing normally.

“Are you the paranormal investigators who were supposed to meet with Father Dennis?”

He coughed, tried to speak without success, held up a finger, cleared his throat, and that time his voice came out in a raspy croak. “Yeah, that’s us. I’m Jeremy, and this is Liam,” he said, indicating the guy who was now bent over, panting. “This is Meijun, and the one who’s passed out is Shelby.”

“This is Father Dennis, I’m Xander, and this is Lorne MacBain, the chief of police.”

Jeremy tried valiantly to smile, managed to look at Lorne and Father Dennis, then returned his gaze to me.

“Good,” I sighed. “Now tell me, is Shelby clairvoyant?”

Meijun spoke up. “I thought—I mean, we all thought she had some gifts,” she said, sniffling loudly, “but we didn’t think she would react like this when we got here.”

“Why didn’t you wait for Father Dennis?”

“We didn’t think anything would happen. We were here last night, and everything was fine, though we did sense something, which is why we asked Father Dennis to meet with us tonight. We were hoping to get a sound bite with the priest for our documentary.”

I took a breath. “Did you take the cemetery tour with Oliver earlier in the week?”

All three nodded.