“Hey, guys,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Hey, little brother,” I said, flashing him a smile and a wink. “You ready for this?”
“More than,” he answered and rocked back on his heels.
“Okay, then. Let’s get this show on the road.” I grabbed Kholt’s hand, leading him over to an area near the group as Turner clicked on a penlight and climbed the steps to go inside the house, likely to take his spot in Control.
“We ready, boss?” I asked Dev, and he gave me a thumbs-up.
“All right, gang, let’s do this. Aaron, can I have you over there?” I pointed to an area behind me and to the right. “And, James, can you head there?” I gestured in front of me to the right. “Everyone else, gather round.” Everyone did as I asked, forming a circle, including Myst, who sat like a good girl between her owners.
I cleared my throat and prepared myself to adopt my TV accent, then held up a hand with three fingers, ticking them off for James and Aaron.
When I got to a closed fist, I looked into James’s camera and began.
“We are gathered tonight at one of the city’s most recognizable locations. 400 Egania Street, better known as the Captain’s House of Holy Cross. A unique piece of architecture, built by riverboat captain Milton P. Doullut in 1905 to resemble the vessel he so loved. Over the years, both this and the sister mansion across the street that Captain Doullut built for his son, Paul, have been the source of many a ghost story. TheHaunted New Orleanscast and crew are here now to spend seventy-two hours unlocking the mysteries of the mansions and their occupants.”
I paused for dramatic effect and looked at my gathered group. “But first, as always, let’s ask for a little help from our friends.” I glanced at Kholt, who stood to the side just out of camera range and saw him staring at me with a look of utter awe. It gave me courage, and I felt my magic rise in response.
“Please, join hands,” I said, and everybody on the cast did. “I ask the Lord and Lady to bless this circle we’ve cast so that we may be free and protected within this space.” I ran my athame down the opening of the circle that Dev and I had ritually set earlier. We’d decided the entire thing didn’t need to be on camera this time. We would already be doing a lot of creative editing since we effectively had four buildings to investigate and fit into a seventy-two-hour timeframe that could be aired in an hour of television programming.
“The circle is now cast, sacred space is made, and all within its boundaries, both living and not, are under the protection of the maiden, mother, and crone until the circle is broken. So mote it be.” I returned my gaze to the others and saw Padre whisper an “amen,” and Dakota a “blessed be.”
Dev walked up the steps and stopped at the front door, knocking three times. He took out his supplies from his mesh bag and knelt, drawing a veve on the porch in chalk and going through the steps to open the way. He lit the candle, blew out some rum, offered tobacco and coins, all the while doing the ritual that was becoming as familiar to me as one of mine.
“We beseech you to open the way for us and come through today,” Dev said and whistled, smacking the veve in its three points of power. “Open the way.”
He stood with a nod and turned to face all of us, a knowing grin on his face. “The way is now open. The lwas have tribute. This one’s going to be good.” He looked into Aaron’s camera where he stood at the bottom of the porch steps and gave the viewers a thumbs-up.
We all walked into the house, and the guys cut the cameras once we reached the room we were using as Control. Turner was already there with Lennie, Van, and Harper, the four of them and the equipment ringed in LED lanterns. He gave me a thumbs-up.
“Looking good, sis,” he said, a look of pride crossing his features. “Boss.” He turned to Dev, and I saw the respect he had for the man. “That looked and sounded great on the monitors.”
“Excellent,” Dev said. “Okay.” He looked at his notebook. “Padre, Sky. I want you guys up in the pilot house with the JumpBox. Try to make contact with Milton, Paul, or Mary. I know Lark saw Mary in the 503 house, but she could be anywhere.”
“On it,” Sky said and grabbed her gear, Padre following with his Handycam and a flashlight.
Dev turned to the rest of us. “Dakota, can I get you and James in the front of the house? Use your psychometry today and see if you can pick up anything from the building itself. I’d bet those columns have a story to tell after all the flooding. We set up a chair in there for you, too, if you want to try to tap in and do some automatic writing or just do a medium session with the voice recorder.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said and grabbed her sketchbook and bag, nodding at James to follow her back to the front of the house, his camera light leading the way.
“Hanlen, Myst, and I are going to take the yard and do a blind spirit box session,” Dev said to me. “We want to try to make contact with Lisbet, the woman who hung herself from the oak.”
I nodded. “That still makes me so sad. If you didn’t plan to reach out tonight, I was going to ask you if I could. I’d love to learn more and see if we can help her find peace.”
“Agreed.” Dev nodded. “So, that leaves you and Aaron. I want him with you, and I want you to take the back of the house off the kitchen and the walkway to the adjoined building. Head on into the addition if it feels right to you and seems natural to do so. But be careful. We might be able to pick up the kids again or contact someone we haven’t seen yet.” He glanced at Kholt where he still stood near Turner. “Kholt, you feel like tagging along?”
“Always,” he said, looking into my eyes and moving to stand next to me. My heart galloped a little as I remembered all the times he’d answered that same way, and I couldn’t help myself; I reached out an arm and looped it around his waist, hooking my thumb in his belt loop and tugging him closer. I saw Dev smile and couldn’t stop one of my own from gracing my lips.
“What equipment do you want me to use?” I asked.
“The new Ghost Grid is actually set up back there. Give it a whirl.”
“Ooh, yes, new tech. I am all for that.”
“You good with how to use it?” Dev asked.
I nodded. Usage wasn’t much different than your average laser grid machine, you simply set up the laser pointers to create a grid across where you wanted to investigate, and if anything not seen by the naked eye broke the beam of light, you knew you weren’t alone. The Arnot twins had made some serious advancements, however. No surprise. They’d rigged it to turn the disrupted light into a shadow image and then cast it onto a projection screen. All the pieces were also equipped with video cameras, so each level of the discovery could be captured. In essence, if we caught something in the laser grid, we’d get the shape and dimensions of the anomaly on the screen for all to see. The viewing public would absolutely eat this up—as long as it worked like we all hoped.