The red digital numbers on the bedside clock burned 11:56.

Too late to call.

Tomorrow.

“I promise, I’ll call tomorrow,” she said to the voice.

Fumbling in the drawer for her eye mask, she stuffed her ears with earplugs and settled into the bed. She left the TV and lights on.

Something skittered through the leaves.

No. Someone.

Roused from a long, dreamless slumber, all attention was drawn to the figure walking through the trees, whistling, blissful.

Another figure emerged from behind a pair of gnarled oak trees. A boy.

He joined the other. A girl.

While they walked, both now whistling a tuneless song, the air electrified in their wake, a low, rippling current that kissed the bark of the trees, traveling down to the roots, through the moldy earth.

Wake up! Wake up! Look!

I can see them! Can you?

Yes!

Where are we?

A man’s voice cried out. The boy and girl stopped, smiling. They yelled a reply, running away.

Home.

Jessica woke up at eight feeling like seven shades of hell. Groggily looking at her phone, she saw a text from Angela saying she’d knock on her door to go down for breakfast at nine. One hour to regain some form of stasis. She chucked her eye mask and earplugs on the bed, stumbling into the bathroom. The full-length mirror that was the width of one of the walls did little to lift her spirits.

Even she didn’t recognize herself, and it had little to do with the visible scars of her hangover. Not only had her hair changed. Her physique, skin tone, and if possible, even the structure of her face had transformed her into a different person. She was all sharp angles and well-defined muscle, a bottle blond with haunted eyes that kept men at bay.

She scraped the gunk from her tongue against her teeth, spitting into the sink. “Morning beauty queen.”

The shower helped clear the fog in her brain. Changing into clothes that weren’t designed for heavy duty work helped regain a sense of femininity that had been fading bit by bit as she traversed the country.

With twenty minutes to kill, she eyed the phone on the night table.

Who do I call first?

If she called her Aunt Eve, she was sure to be on the phone for an hour, at least. Even she had to admit she owed Eve that much.

Eddie it was. At least it would be short. She’d see to that.

His number was programmed in her phone, even though she’d forbidden him from knowing her own. It rang four times before he picked up.

“Jess?”

Christ, he sounded like he was in even worse shape.

“Why are you calling my aunt?” she said, hiding zippo of her displeasure.

He coughed on the other end, holding the phone away from his mouth. It sounded like he swatted a twelve pack of empty cans around the room.

“It’s nice to hear your voice too,” he said. Well, at least he hadn’t lost his sarcasm.

“I told you to stay the fuck away. Some people might construe your calls as harassment.” She sat on the edge of the bed, one leg crossed over the other, bobbing to a death metal beat.

“You know, you hold on to anger like other people cherish fond memories.”

“Did you get that from a song?”

He breathed heavily into the phone.

“I was only trying to help,” he said, softly, hoarsely.

“Obviously I didn’t want it,” she said.

“Obviously.”

He groaned. Sheets ruffled in the background as if he was shifting in bed.

“Look, I haven’t got all day. What do you want?”

Eddie cleared his throat. “It’s not what I want. It’s what someone else will want.”

She pulled the phone from her ear, glowering at the display, wondering if she should just tap the End Call icon. “I’m not in the mood for riddles. Say what you have to say and let me live my life.”

“I have your father to thank for thrusting me into your life,” he said sharply.

“Hey, asshole, leave my father out of it.”

He immediately sounded apologetic. “Stop taking everything I say the wrong way. I’m the one who has never felt like my choices are my own. I’m the one who should be pissed off.”

Hearing him mention her deceased father made her cheeks and ears grow hot. She’d watched the man give his up life to save her and an entire cabin full of strangers. Years later, through Eddie’s incredible medium abilities, he’d connected with Jessica’s father seemingly out of the ether. In fact, her father was the one to initiate contact, pointing the gifted Duke grad that had overwhelmed The Rhine Center’s greatest expectations in Jessica’s direction. Hers and Eddie’s brief partnership sent them into the heart of a maelstrom that made her question everything she’d done with her life up until that moment. The fact that Eddie hadn’t been able to get her in contact with her father following those events was the first crack in their paranormal inspired union.

Their trip to see a frightened New Hampshire family three years ago brought them both face-to-face with harsh realities that neither was, even now, prepared to take on. It wasn’t the teen girl’s doppelganger that had unnerved her, so much as the discovery of her own latent abilities that nearly helped shatter an innocent girl.

For reasons unknown to her, Jessica could banish an EB simply by saying its name and commanding it to do so. It was something she learned about at an early age and came in handy when doing her one-woman paranormal investigations.

What she didn’t know was that she was also a beacon for the dead. Her presence was a sort of psychic power plant, giving strength to EBs, whether they were well intentioned, indifferent, or, in her last case, pure evil. In hindsight, it explained a lot. How had she never considered the incredible evidence and interactions she received when she immersed herself in a “haunted” location? She was young and cocksure and so wanted to pick up where her father left off. The why of things didn’t matter. What did was the act of doing something that felt like her legacy.

Eddie wanted to teach her to harness it, to find a way to make it work in her favor.

The problem was, she didn’t want to do anything with her strange curse. The more Eddie insisted, the further she drew away. Things got ugly in the end. Real ugly.

“Let’s just agree that we’re both pissed and move on. Say what you have to say. I have to meet Angela in a few minutes.”

Eddie replied, “I’m glad you still have her in your life. She’s good for you.”

Jessica picked at a loose thread in the comforter.

He continued, “I don’t know how else to say this other than being straight with you. Someone is looking for you. It’s gotten so I can’t even sleep. Something has everyone on the other side riled up, Jess. Whatever it is has you as part of its plans. I don’t know whether I’m supposed to warn you or help you.”

“Was my father one of your messengers?”

He paused, then said faintly, “No.”

“Then I really don’t give a rat’s ass what the other side is telling you.”

His breath blew into the phone. For once, she had him at a loss for words.

“It was real nice talking to you,” she said, thumb hovering over End Call.

“Wait! There’s one more thing.”

She sighed heavily, staring at the ceiling. “What?”

“There are kids involved. Kids like you.”

“What do you mean, like me?”

“I’m pretty sure they’re young. Real young. They’re using them as bait.”

Jessica’s stomach balled into a tight fist. Her extremities went cold, numb. “Are you going to be around later?”

“I will.”

“Good. Answer when I call.”

Chapter Five

Eddie Home looked at the disaster that was his apartment, considered getting out some paper towels and cleaning supplies, thought better of it and crashed on the couch. He ordered a pizza and watched The Omega Man while he waited.