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Gabriel stares at me and Grammy’s cackle rings out loud and clear. Weird stuff is happening and I need answers.

“Why can I hear Grammy?” I demand, even stomping my foot. “Are you messing with me? Do you have a recording of Grammy somewhere and you’re pranking me?”

Gabriel stands to his full height, hands help up as if that’s going to calm me. “Brenna, you can hear Grammy because she’s right here. With us.”

“No, she’s not.”

“Um, yup, sweetie. I’m right here.” Grammy’s voice is loud and clear and then I smell her.

Her mix of florals, talc and something just a little bit spicy. It wraps around me and for the first time in a year I feel her. Her slightly boney arms wrapping around me, holding me just like they have ever since I was a kid.

“Grammy!” I sob, pressing my face into her shoulder, holding on for dear life.

She’s here, but she’s not here. I can feel her, smell her, hear her, but I don’t want to open my eyes in case it’s all a cruel trick.

“It’s not a trick, sweet pea,” she whispers and I pull back a little, slowly cracking my eyes open, just a slit.

My vision is met with a pink blob so I blink the tears from my eyes before yelping and jumping back a little. “Grammy?”

“Hey, Bren.” She grins and waves at me, then smiles up at Gabriel who looks freaked the hell out.

“Why are you freaked out?” I demand. “You said you spoke to dead people. Shoot, I should be freaked out because I’m a normal person and in the space of one night I learn my crush talks to dead people and my dead Grammy has been hanging out with you. Like, what the hell, man?” I can’t control my arms, so they flail all over the place.

“Oh she’s big mad,” Grammy whispers. “She only curses when she’s super mad.”

“You!” I wave a hand at Grammy. “Why are you in this apartment? Shouldn’t you be haunting mine?”

“Ah, she’s not exactly haunting anything,” Gabriel says before slamming his jaw shut with a clack.

I may be love and light Brenna, but that doesn't mean I’m an idiot or don’t have a temper. “Explain. Both of you. Now.” I move to sit on the bed then think twice. “In the kitchen. I need sugar to get through this.”

I lead the way and try to ignore the way my lips curl up as Gabriel and Grammy bicker under their breaths all the way down the hall. I don’t know what’s going on, how the hell my Grammy is here, why she’s been hanging out with Gabriel, if Gabriel is legitimately blessed or nuts and for some reason, I feel fizzier and zingier than I ever have.

Chapter 9

Gabriel

After Brenna’s not-so-bad reaction to finding out I’ve been rooming with her deceased grandmother and then her demanding an explanation, things have turned a little awkward. We’re all sitting around the counter, half eaten cupcakes littering my mismatched plates, staring at each other.

“OK, maybe start from the beginning,” Brenna offers. “Like, how did you and Kristie meet? I know she’s your sister, but I figured she’s your sister of the heart.”

I smile, because she’s right. Kristie is my chosen family. Her and Mama Celene and Maddigan before he passed, they’re my real family.

“The mother of my heart found me when I was thirteen years old. Prior to that I’d been sent to mental doctors, hospitalized once or twice, bullied and beaten because for as long as I can remember, I’ve seen and talked to dead people.” I clear my throat. “Souls, to be exact.”

Brenna reaches over the counter, her hand resting on mine. “Thank you for telling me that. I know that those memories must hurt.”

I shrug. “They’re just memories now, Brenna.” Clearing my throat, I carry on, “Miss Fanny is my oldest memory. She helped me navigate my gift from the time I was a little boy through until Mama Celene found me. Then I was able to put her to rest.”

Brenna nods, her brows furrowed. “So, are they ghosts that find you?”

I shake my head, eyes on my half eaten cupcake. “No, their souls. I mean, I can see everyone’s souls, but when the physical body passes on, their souls usually find me. Most have something they need to do before they can pass on to the other side.”

Brenna fidgets in her seat a little, before staring at Grammy. “Once your business is done, you’ll leave for good?”

Grammy cups Brenna’s face and rests her forehead on Brenna’s. “You’ll always feel me, sweetheart. And remember, you’ve never been alone.”

Brenna gives Grammy a watery smile, before hitting me with the same one. “Right. So you see, and talk to dead people. But why can I see Grammy and why can I hear everyone else that you’ve been talking to?”