The spirit box lifted into the air like Brea did, before slamming into the wall. It shattered on impact, electronic bits raining down onto the ground below.
“Fucking hell, it’s always my equipment,” Ethan groaned. “That makes, like, the sixth one.”
“I ordered five after the last incident, so we’ve got spares,” Ryker reassured him as they both dropped down to clean up the shards and toss them away.
They walked away but I was rooted in place, staring at the empty hall we didn’t even get the chance to investigate. It seemed our ghosts were divided, many wanting to stay and keep using the power that clung to this town.
Our jobs just got a lot more complicated.
ChapterThirteen
Brea
“So… I’ve got an idea.” The guys all groaned as I approached. They knew my eager look all too well.
“This isn’t going to be pretty, is it?” Ethan accused, but I saw the grin he was trying to hide.
“I’ll bribe you with licorice,” I sang out, grabbing them from my bag and tossing it over.
“I’m in!” he agreed easily as he tore it open.
“You were just attacked last night, Brea,” Lincoln argued. “Maybe we should just wait for the Polterguys?”
I shook my head. “No, absolutely not. I’m okay if we avoid the museum for now. But I want us to go to the ship. The room I woke up in and had that vision in particular. It’s something that’s been replaying in the back of my mind since it happened.”
Lincoln cut me off. “The ship where we all woke up in separate rooms for no fucking reason?”
“Yes,” I said simply. “We’ve talked about it, no one has an explanation and I doubt we ever get one.”
“It was one of the crazier experiences I’ve ever had,” Ethan said grimly. “But at least the Inn is peaceful. We can separate the ghosts from our personal time.”
“We can’t just avoid the ship,” Ryker agreed. “We’re not sleeping there so it shouldn't be anything like that night.”
Lincoln glared at us for a moment before letting out a long breath and nodding for me to continue.
“In all the information we’ve found, they never mention how the crew died. Only that the ship came to shore and the navy investigators came in and handled the rest.”
“They’d never release it either,” Sully pointed out. “That shit would be locked down tighter than the fucking White House.”
“Especially if they were at fault or their mission was already under wraps,” Lincoln agreed.
“See, now I want to know even more!” I protested. “Don’t make me beg.”
“Oh, but I like when you beg, Sunshine,” Lincoln teased. I was just glad he was lightening up a bit after his earlier frustration.
“So we’d all be going together again?” Sully asked, giving Lincoln a mock glare.
“I think we should,” Ben said quickly. “Especially after the last investigation. The ghosts made it very clear that some of them want to stay and aren’t happy with us getting involved.”
“We can’t force them all to move on,” I said. “Hell, I don’t even know how to help them, we’ve never dealt with anything of this magnitude. But we’ll figure that out once we have some more answers. None of that matters if we don’t figure out the cause of all this.”
“And you think it’s connected to the ship and its crew?” Ryker asked. I snorted at his question and grinned.
“Nope. Not at all. I’m just curious,” I admitted. “This is totally unrelated Brea randomness.”
“Fine, we’ll do it,” Lincoln grumbled. “But I want two people on comms. If shit goes down we need someone watching our backs.”
“I’ve been waiting to get out of the fucking chaos and back to my screens,” Ryker said with a grin.