“Come on, we’re done here. They’ve made their choices,” Ethan said sadly. “Let them damn themselves.”
Even as we pushed our way out of the crowd, more and more town people were flocking to the blue and lavender driftwood flames. It felt so wrong walking away but this was way beyond any of our expertise. We couldn’t save someone who wouldn’t listen or save themselves, yet there were still other lives at stake, including anyone who came into town as a tourist.
“What do we do?” Ryker asked when we finally parked at the inn.
“Meeting. Now,” Lincoln answered. “Whatever we do, it has to be before the ghosts get the full brunt of that power.”
“I’m calling Astrid,” I said, praying she’d have the answers we need.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Brea
My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for Astrid to answer the phone. I couldn’t get the fire out of my mind and the energy we’d dissipated from town was right back to intense levels.
“Hey Brea!” Astrid answered excitedly. “How goes the beach?”
“Not good. We need help… again,” I said quickly.
“Oh no! Hold on, you’re going on speaker,” she said before I heard Callie, Emma, and Grandma Rose call out greetings.
“You won’t believe the crazy energy in this town. Then tonight we went to a festival and they made a huge fire, burning offerings to the dead here,” I said. They all groaned, knowing just as well as we did that was a terrible plan.
“They didn’t,” Emma gasped. “No wonder it’s so chaotic there. We’ve caught a few streams and we already talked about sending some things if you called. We didn’t want to impose.”
“You’d never impose,” I promised. “But we can’t leave the town like this. There’s an entity here hell bent on staying. Troy and Sully helped a bunch pass on, but this one won’t budge. He’s physical too. I’m afraid tourists are going to get hurt.”
“You’re kind hearted. Good thing for that company,” Rose snarked. “Otherwise they’d have a lawsuit on their hands and no real explanation in their defense.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I said. “Is there anything we can do to ward off this spirit? It lifted me in the air and if the guys hadn’t caught me I’d be in a hospital at this point. He’s intimidating us, and before we got to them, he was trapping these spirits here like his own personal army.”
“Okay, I need you to go to the beach and find a large, flat stone. Something that fits in your hand but is big enough to carve on. I’ll email you two images, one for each side. The runes will protect the town from malicious intent and one will neutralize excess spirit energy. It won’t be forever, and you can’t bury this one. I’d put it at a high point in town, somewhere undisturbed but where it can cast a net of protection over the town. It has to be at a high point.”
“The lighthouse?” Sully suggested. “Guarantee we can hide it somewhere up there.”
“Perfect,” she agreed. “And nice to meet you, Sully, dear. Take the offer.”
“Uh, thanks?” he choked out, eyes wide. I had no clue what the offer was, but apparently it was the right choice for him. The Polterguys all looked down at my phone like it was possessed.
“Now, go find that stone while I draw this up and get it sent to you. And you kids be safe,” she ordered. Astrid’s voice cut back in.
“Okay, you’re off speaker,” she said quickly. “If you need anything else you call me, okay?” The worry in her tone was a bit unnerving.
“You know we’re safe, we never go anywhere without our witchy protection. Thanks, Astrid, I’ll let you know how things go,” I promised before hanging up. Our protection didn’t do as much here, but I wasn’t about to worry her more.
“Why don’t a few of us head out to find a stone while another group goes to get some tools? I don’t want anyone traveling alone,” Lincoln said.
“We’ll grab the stone,” Gavin offered. They looked expectantly at Sully and he turned to us.
“I’ll go to the store with you guys,” he said quickly to me. I didn’t miss the look of disappointment on their faces as they walked off.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I asked. “You alright?” Sully let out a long breath and rubbed his temples.
“No? Yes?” He laughed incredulously. “This is all such a huge mindfuck. But I also need to talk to you guys about something apparently.”
“Does this have to do with the offer Grandma Rose mentioned?” Ethan asked.
“First of all, what the hell was that?” Sully said as he threw his hands up. “Witch friends but also a psychic?”