Memories of the great times we’d had as kids and teenagers had bombarded me all night. I couldn’t seem to dredge up even one bad memory with Kholt in it. But he was still part of Balance of Light, and I didn’t want anything to do with that. That was a trauma wound I wasn’t sure would ever heal, and one I was being very careful not to open again. At least not to the point of bleeding.
Even with all of that going on, though, the way I felt didn’t seem right. The entire time I’d been on my run, I’d felt as if someone were watching me. I’d even taken a different route and loitered around the Market just to waste time and stay away from home. Something in me—something almost magically instinctual—had told me that I shouldn’t go home. It’d gotten so insistent that I’d finally hailed a cab. The minute we got lost in the crush of rush-hour traffic, that weird feeling had snapped like a rubber band being pulled too taut. I’d have to meditate on that more later.
I hopped in the shower and got ready for the day. After my confessions yesterday, the team had gone over the research plans. We were doing pre-production walk-throughs today. Aaron and James would get a bunch of glamour shots to be used as filler for the episodes when everything was edited and put together. Sky would take environmental readings to be used as a baseline for both properties. Dakota, Dev, and I would get a feel for things on the metaphysical level, and Padre would be there to tap into anything demoniacal if there was anything to find. I didn’t get that sense from this investigation, but given our last one . . . we couldn’t be too careful.
Hanlen wasn’t coming today. Dev had her and Harper digging into the properties’ history, based on some intel that Burke, our resident ghost historian, had dug up. We actually didn’t know much about this property other than its base history, and I was interested to see who had owned it and what’d happened with it between then and now.
Turner had sent a text on the group thread that he was taking a sick day. I thought back to how he’d looked yesterday after I’d relayed my truth and still couldn’t figure out what had happened there. Maybe he’d been feeling unwell already.
I took a little extra time with my hair and makeup, adding some beachy waves to the copper strands and a little extra eyeliner, and slipped into a casual, green, off-the-shoulder maxi dress that made my eyes pop. I knew I was doing it just in case Kholt showed up today. I couldn’t even lie to myself about that. But I wasn’t going to feel weird about it either. Something about seeing him again, going on a date again, had reactivated a feminine piece of me that I hadn’t even realized I’d been missing.
I gave Phantom a good rub where he lay on his favorite spot on the couch. “Hold down the fort today, ‘kay?” He looked up at me with his big, gold eyes and purred. “Yeah, you’re one scary watchcat.” He rolled over onto his back, showing me the little spot of white he had on his abdomen, the only thing on him that wasn’t completely black. I scratched it until he grabbed my hand and bit me playfully. I gave him one last ear rub and then snagged my stuff and headed out.
We were lucky that we had plenty of parking spots available for this investigation. Both manses had drives, and each of the attached buildings had parking, as well. Not to mention the grassy areas closer to the levee. I might be a little bit early, but I figured if I were, I’d just take a walk around the grounds and see what I could pick up until Dev or someone arrived with the keys.
I parked in 503’s driveway, shutting off the engine and taking in the sights. With the sun shining the way it was, the icy turquoise paint of the façade almost glowed. This one had more landscaping than the sister house had, and the trees’ branches cast interesting shadows that I wanted to get lost in. It made me feel invited somehow, beckoned. I felt the mystery of the grounds and the enigma of the building like a physical caress.
Damn, I loved beautiful architecture. It was something that Sky and I had in common. She was a sucker for it, too, and we spent a lot of time chatting about our favorite features. I always figured if the show ever spun off and expanded beyond Louisiana, I might have to talk Dev into doing shows in places like Charleston or Savannah. Or even upper New England. There’d be nothing like doing a ghost hunt in a life-sized, lime-green Victorian dollhouse. I smiled at the thought.
I got out of the car and grabbed my kit, just some witchy items I might need, my Handycam, and my voice recorder. We wouldn’t be delving too deep the next couple of days, just getting the lay of the land.
Looking up at the structure in front of me, I fell into its aura a bit. Buildings, especially those with history, had auras just like people did. And just like with any living beings, it was intensely personal. The energy could be affected by environmental things or the people who inhabited a space. What I felt was a mixed bag. There was a lot of light, but I felt some darkness there, too.
I decided it might be nice for us to have a visual, so I took out my phone and brought up the app that Lennie had worked with me to design. It wasn’t quite as accurate as doing the metal contact plate and Polaroid print aura photos based on the work by electrical engineer Semyon Kirlian, where the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharges was captured. But it did a decent job of documenting energy fields—even in inanimate objects, which wasn’t quite as easy. I snapped the photo, waited for the app to do its thing, and then brought up the result.
I saw some yellow, likely the whimsical natures of the house coming through, something I didn’t think would ever fade. I also saw lots of blue and indigo, which led me to conclude that this would be an interesting investigation. The domicile itself was intuitive and sensitive—as much as a housecouldbe—but what I got most out of that was that it was expressive. There was also a bit of green, which I interpreted as the manse being tied to those it had been connected to. With that said, I had a feeling we’d have a nice array of spectral interaction.
What I didn’t like were the smears of black and gray I saw randomly throughout the sphere of colors. That indicated that not all with the house was sunshine and rainbows. There was some darker history here, and we’d have to dig up the specifics in order to understand better the things we encountered while filming.
I took a walk around the yard, opening my senses and letting whatever wanted to come through, come through. I got snippets of Captain Doullut and his son as they designed and built the homes. I got psychic flashes of the subsequent owners as they mowed the lawn, did some gardening, and walked with their kids along the levee. I mentally cataloged the feelings and mental images I received so I could cross-reference it all later with what we picked up during the investigation and uncovered during the research.
When I got around to the other side of the house, I saw that there was a truck parked on the street outside the fence. I hadn’t seen it from my place in the drive. I recognized it from Saturday.
Kholt was here.
I felt my stomach flop a little and swallowed hard, but then straightened my spine and soldiered on. I couldn’t unravel whether my nervousness was about the dangers still surrounding me or just seeing Kholt again.
I headed through the gate and up the walk, checking out the vibes from this side of the house, as well. It felt . . . darker for lack of a better word over here, and a lot of the energy seemed to be coming from the attached building.
I looked in that direction and immediately felt a bit faint as if whatever was there didn’t want me prying too hard. I decided not to push just yet. I’d just gotten started, and nobody was even here yet. Nobody but Kholt, anyway.
I knocked on the door and pushed it open, listening for any obvious sounds from inside. It was quiet at first, and then I heard some hammering from an area we had been in the other day. I headed that way and saw that Kholt was adding some two-by-fours to some of the less structurally sound areas and had put down some sheets of pressboard to cover a bit of the floor damage.
“Good morning,” I said, feeling suddenly lighter at seeing him at work. He looked up.
“Good morning to you.” He smiled, and I felt a little flip in my belly. He’d always had the greatest smile. All teeth and warmth with crinkles at the corners of his eyes. He had glasses on today, and it made him look studious and sweet, yet no less sexy.
“Nice specs.” I pointed.
He blushed a little, and it made him even more endearing. I remembered that being a regular thing with him when we were kids. I used to make fun of him for it then. Now, I kind of liked it. It felt honest.
“Thanks. I ran out of contacts and didn’t feel like trying to wear an old pair. Figured I could handle the glasses for a day or two. Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to have the extra eye protection anyway.”
I nodded. “Everything going well?”
“Yeah.” He stood and stretched, looking around the room. “Almost finished in here. I still need to do the other big house, and the side buildings need some extra TLC, but you guys should be fine to do whatever you need to do during the day. It’s your filming nights that I’m more concerned about. I just need to make sure everything is as safe as it can be while you’re trudging around in the dark.”
I felt a little thrill. “You told me the other night that you’d never watched the show.”