“The planets will be in a better conjunction at eight,” Gracie said soothingly. “It’s almost time.”
Evie could tell the poor kid needed a hug, but her own spirit was too agitated to provide calming elements.
Jax and his testosterone hovered like an evil presence over the estrogen-laden atmosphere of the Malcolm family gathering. Fortunately, he’d not called in theteamboth Pris and Iddy had checked out. For all Evie knew, though, the house was surrounded by kidnappers or cops. Psycat prowled as if sensing the tension.
A five-o’clock shadow darkened Jax’s square jaw. He hadn’t changed from his paint-splattered camouflage and bicep-revealing black T-shirt. He didn’t belong in her front room. Just his body language screamed negativity and rejection. He’d taken one of her aunt’s chrome dinette chairs from the kitchen, propped it against a wall as far from Evie as he could get, and straddled it as if he were watching a play unfold.
He was every authority figure Evie had ever despised—judgmental, narrow-minded, unimaginative... She had all the words written in her journal from adolescence.
And still she wanted to earn his approval. Probably some deep psychological need for the sperm donor who had been her father. She really needed to be focusing her befuddled mind. If she didn’t talk to Loretta’s spirits tonight, she’d blame it on Jax.
Ignoring Jax’s hovering presence, sexy Idonea fed her raven from a cereal bowl. Pragmatic Gracie was on the phone with her daughter. Evie winced. She was supposed to be babysitting so her sister could attend a PTA meeting.
Priscilla drifted in with the wind. One never knew what Pris would be from one day to the next. Tonight, she’d streaked her mouse-brown hair with pink and blue and layered on purple eye shadow. She wore her vague, attuned-to-the-whispers-of-the-universe mien. For all Evie knew, Pris could be planting telepathic suggestions in Jax’s mind to follow her home. Or she could be communicating with Martians.
Beneath that harmless candy-colored camouflage, Pris was pure menace.
Mavis passed around a tray of gingerbread and served coffee and tea. Evie didn’t take either. Somehow, she needed to find her focus before the clock chimed eight. Instead of finding her center, she noted that Jackson didn’t seem interested in I’m-too-sexy Iddy, mother-figure Gracie, or blissful Pris. The only person he scowled at was Evie. So nice to be the center of attention.Not.
What would happen if she couldn’t speak with Loretta’s ghosts? Would he grab the child and run?
Evie shifted in her uncomfortable chair at the card table as the clock on the mantel clicked closer to the hour.
Sitting on Evie’s left, Iddy had settled the Siamese on her lap and the raven on her shoulder. On Evie’s right, Pris admired the candlelight on the crystal ball—or her own colorful reflection. Sitting across from Evie, Gracie had a tarot spread out on the green vinyl. She was amusing herself flipping the cards without hands. She had her back to Jax so he couldn’t see the silly trick, or Evie suspected he’d be checking for strings.
Mavis took a seat next to Loretta by the fireplace, protecting the child with her sturdy breadth. An Indigo child could be an open invitation to trouble. Evie had a suspicion it was Loretta’s energy that fed the spirit following her. Spirits usually left Mavis alone.
When the mantel clock chimed, Mavis switched off the floor lamp. Taking a deep breath, Evie waited until the others had their fingers on the planchette before she leaned forward to add hers. She was always reluctant to use this form of communication since it opened a path to all spirits and not just the one she wanted. But surrounded by the various protections of her family, she was as shielded as she could be.
Jackson moved his chair forward to watch.
“Identify yourself,” Evie called to the aura immediately coalescing over the board.
The planchette moved. Mavis usually jotted letters on a notepad as the arrow jerkily pointed them out on the Ouija board. Often, the spirits hesitated, and it was difficult to tell if they meant to point out a particular letter or not. Evie’s mother had learned to circle the questionable responses. Without trying to read what was forming beneath her fingers, Evie concentrated on channeling. She closed her eyes, confident her family would catch any clue.
The sharp slam of the lawyer’s chrome chair hitting the wall and Loretta’s cry of startlement jerked Evie back to the moment.
Opening her eyes, she caught Pris’s slide toward the floor, and Jackson’s dive to catch her. Only then did she realize the room was illuminated by a blue light that didn’t come from candles or electricity.
Seven
Cursing under his breath,Jax dumped the spaced-out cousin on Evie’s couch, into the competent hands of the gray-haired witch. The weird blue glow evaporated as quickly as it had formed. He snapped on the nearest lamp to ascertain that Loretta was safe.
He found the kid underneath the card table, examining it for rigged devices. He’d known the kid was smart. He had just feared the need for family might undermine her intelligence.
Before he crouched down to check for himself, he couldn’t resist studying Evie. She was still seated at the table, but the way she wrapped her arms around herself spoke volumes he couldn’t translate. Shouldn’t even try, or he’d be caught up in this web of deceit. As he knew from experience, it was much too easy to allow emotions to overrule the brain.
Feeling uncomfortably large in the confined environment, surrounded by women, he got down on his knees to examine the table with Loretta.
Above their heads, the blond teacher spoke to no one in particular. “It could have said L-A-C-K-L-A-N or L-A-C-K-L-A-N-D or maybe it’s two words, L-A-C-K space L-A-N-D.”
Jax nearly knocked his head on the table at the name. His gaze caught Loretta’s owl-eyed expression, and he made a face. “I don’t suppose it could saylack mind?” he asked in an undertone.
Loretta smiled hesitantly and relief swelled. She was a sensible kid with a good brain, kind of like his baby sister, and he didn’t want her hurt by all this mumbo-jumbo. He backed out from under the table.
“Lakeland,” Evie murmured, now cradling the Siamese cat that had leaped from her cousin’s lap to hers.
The genie looked exhausted, Jax realized. He hadn’t noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes earlier. But redheads had translucent skin, so it was probably just the miserable light in here. Blowing out the sputtering candles, he looked around for another lamp.