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“And then Gabe told you that he sees and talks to dead people?”

I look over my shoulder at Gabe, giving him a quick peck on his stubbly chin before turning back to Kristie. “Yup.”

“You know that’s not normal right? So it would make sense that hanging out with us, some of that not normal could rub off on someone who already held a gift.” Kristie leans back with a satisfied smile on her face. “Or something like that. I don’t know. I’m not nearly as good at this shit as Mama and Dima.”

Dima drops a kiss to the top of her head, then shares a look with Mama Celene who leans forward. Watching me for so long it makes my butt cheeks clench a little. Then get restless. I want to squirm in place but I hold steady.

“You always had the sight, bebe.”

“What?” Me, Gabe and Grammy say in unison.

“I’ve never seen dead people. Until last night.” I frown.

“Never said you saw dead people,” she says, patiently. “Said you had the sight. But ain’t one kind of sight in dis world.”

“Oh,” I whisper. Trying my hardest to understand, but falling a little short. I should understand this stuff, right?

Yeah, you kinda should.

I let out a frustrated little growl at myself but before I can tell inner me to shut it, Gabe pulls me closer, pressing his lips to my crown.

“Your Gabriel, he sees what’s gone. What crossed over but ain't gone where it needs to go. But you, bebe?” Her faint brows raise, “You see what’s missin’. What folks need. What they got an empty place waitin’ for.”

My breath catches, her words tumbling around in my brain like wet clothes in a clothes drier.

You know what she says is true. You’ve always known what people need.

“Ah, now you see, huh? That gift been yours since you came into dis world. Maybe before.” Her gaze shifts to over my shoulder, just like Gabriel’s used to. Just like Dima’s. I look back, expecting to see Grammy or someone else, but I don’t see a thing. “Souls got a funny way of findin’ each other, cher. Some can go a lifetime without meetin’ the one that calls to theirs.” She tips her head toward me and Gabe. “But you two? You were always gon’ meet.”

“Really?” I whisper.

“Mmhmmm. His soul knows yours. Yours knows his. Knew each other before either one of ya knew what to call it.”

“Fucking knew it,” Gabe rumbles behind me.

I grin goofily, until I remember the reason we’re here. “Wait, so why am I seeing ghosts?

“Because my Gabriel opened a door in you that was already there,” she says like that makes sense.

“Do you have any clue what she’s talking about?” Grammy whispers to me. “Cos I don’t.”

Gabe snorts and I give her a little head shake because nope. No clue. Mama Celene must know because she chuckles.

“His gift gets close to yours, makes yours reach farther. And yours does the same to his.” She waves between the two of us, a smile on her face. “Two candles burnin’ close enough, bebe, pretty soon you can’t tell which one throwin’ the light.”

Gabe tenses beneath me and I look over my shoulder, catching the concern on Gabe’s face. I know he thinks part of his gift is a curse. I see what he does as necessary.

“Are you saying she can do what I do?” Gabe asks through clenched teeth.

“Did I say that?” Mama Celene sasses, brow raised.

“No,” Gabe mumbles and it’s kinda cute how this tiny woman put such a big man in his place.

“Your gift is still yours. Her gift is hers. But where they touch? Well, that’s something new entirely.”

Gabriel

Shit. Shit. Fuck. Shit. I don’t want Brenna to see the dead. Hear the dead. Be haunted by the dead. That is not her path, that’s mine. She’s too happy for this. She doesn’t need ghosts with gunshot wounds finding her, demanding she pass on their messages. She deserves to live her happy, colorful life without all this shit attached to her.