Grayson starts walking again, but I stay where I am. “Wait, can’t we help him somehow? I mean, there must be something we can do.”

  Grayson stops and turns. “What do you feel?”

  It seems a cold response, but he’s right. There’s not one sign telling me there’s anything I can do. Magic doesn’t flare to life within me. My solar plexus doesn’t heat up, and no electricity courses through my veins. My skin doesn’t even tingle. There’s nothing telling me I can open the veil, when at the other times I always know. As sad as it seems, maybe the trapper remains only aware of that one moment in time, or he feels nothing at all.

  I look back once more before I start walking. “So, the time slip thing. Is that like another dimension?”

  Grayson runs a hand through his hair, pulling it back from his brow. “We think of it more like a bubble within this dimension. Both here and not at the same time, as strange as that might seem.”

  Suddenly, it feels like the world stops. I hear Maggie’s words within my mind. Maybe she’s not actually here. My mind replays Julia’s words too. It’s almost like she’s here and not at the same time. It’s a stretch, I know, and probably a huge one, but I can’t ignore the timing of these things converging in my life. Especially not when I’ve been having these other strange experiences. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Julia, it’s to never ignore gut instincts.

  “What else do you know about dimensions?” I say. “Is that something the Shadow Order deals with?”

  Grayson shrugs. “Sure, in that sometimes ours is breached by another. We at least try to investigate.”

  I notice that he doesn’t say they try to do anything. Maybe they can’t? After all, that’s a veil witch thing, so it could be we have powers that even mages don’t. “What about you?” I say. “Have you been to any other dimensions?”

  Grayson stops walking. He turns to face me. “No, I haven’t.” He looks at me curiously. “Have you?”

  I hesitate, maybe as much afraid of admitting it to myself as to him. But, I have, haven’t I? Isn’t another realm the same thing? “I think I might have been,” I say. “I’m not sure.”

  Even as I speak, I hear the denial in my voice. At first, maybe I could convince myself that I was just insane or hallucinating, but that ship has sailed.

  “What did you experience?”

  Again, I hesitate, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so careful not to worry Autumn, my mother, or Julia. But I have to tell someone eventually. So, I tell Grayson about that place I’ve visited now several times, about the men on their horses and the girl, about what I imagined might even be a dragon. It all comes spilling out in a rush. By the time I’m through, I realize just how much I’ve been dying to tell someone.

  Grayson stares back at me, his expression intensely curious. He speaks softly. “It can’t be. No one can go there, not that we know of.”

  My pulse starts to escalate at the idea that he might possibly have an understanding of where I’ve gone during those times. “Go where?”

  “To the fae realm. That’s what I think you’re describing.”

  I stare back at him, hoping I heard wrong. “By fae, I’m assuming you mean faeries.”

  It’s not like I didn’t notice the strangeness of those men, and the way their ears tapered to points. And it’s not like the rest of the bizarre aspects were lost on me. Still, I just figured there had to be some other explanation, one existing outside of legends, storybooks and nightmares.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

  “You’re sure no one can go there?”

  Grayson shakes his head. “So far, we've encountered no one who's been able to visit that realm. Although, some accounts indicate it might be possible. In fact, we’ve been seeking someone with just that kind of magical legacy.”

  Suddenly, a chill ripples down my spine, as I encounter another coincidence way too big to ignore. My mind flashes back to that moment at Grimoire, when I laid my hands on Lauren Flannery’s Book of Shadows. Again, I hear her message piercing through my consciousness.

  Beware the Seeker!

  I look over at Grayson, who keeps walking, oblivious to the fact that all of my warning bells just went off. Somehow, I manage to keep walking beside him, even as my blood runs cold. I take a breath to steady myself, and then say, “This has definitely been interesting, but I really should think about getting home.”

  CHAPTER 26

  As soon as Grayson drops me off, I come back out of the apartment building, get in my car and drive over to Grimoire. Normally, I’d walk, or catch the bus if it’s raining, but right now I’m in a hurry. Once again, I tell myself that these things I’ve experienced could be coincidences—what Grayson said about the trapper ghost, as well as how he’s been seeking someone who could enter the fae realm. But I also think about what Maggie said a few days ago, and now I have to know.

  As I come through the door, Maggie looks up from where she sits behind the counter. She smiles at seeing me. “What are you doing here? I was just about to close.”

  I look around to be sure we’re alone. “I need to know more about that book.”

  Maggie’s frown deepens. Understandably, since we’re literally surrounded by books.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, trying to collect myself. “The Book of Shadows you asked me to put away the other day. You said you found it left lying out. Do you remember?”

  Maggie thinks for a moment. “Oh, that one. Yes, that was strange. I found it sitting right here when I came in that morning.” She raps her knuckles against the counter for emphasis. “Almost like it was waiting for someone to find it.”

  That’s what I’m thinking too, and I wonder if that someone might have been me. “You said it belonged to someone named Lauren Flannery.”

  “That’s right. Why?” Maggie turns her key in the register, locking the drawer for the night.

  If this was the normal world, I wouldn’t know what to say. But it’s not. Maggie is a witch, as am I. I don’t have to pretend the world isn’t full of things that, to the uninitiated, would seem impossible.

  “I’m pretty sure her book has been trying to talk to me.”

  Maggie nods. “Then I guess you’re the one it must have been waiting for.” She gestures to the room out back. “Did you need to take a little time?”

  There’s no going back from this, I know. Sure, I could try to ignore it. I really wish that was possible. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that pretending something isn’t there doesn’t mean it’s not right next to you. “If you don’t mind,” I say.

  “Not at all, dear,” Maggie says. “Please remember to lock up when you leave.”

  I see Maggie out, and then lock the doors behind her. I slowly walk toward the Special Collections room. I ready myself, as best I can, to hear the rest of the message that someone I never met, and who’s most likely no longer alive, has been trying to deliver.

  CHAPTER 27

  By the time I pull up in front of the Cauldron, Julia sits waiting in her car. She gets out as I do, and we meet on the sidewalk. Naturally, she looks both confused and alarmed at my sudden call to drop everything and come over.

  “What’s going on?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” I say. “Thanks for coming.”

  Julia’s eyes bore into mine, her face even more pale than usual. “Sure, no problem.”

  What she doesn’t say, and doesn’t have to, is that she’s scared. I see it in her expression, and in the way she holds herself. It occurs to me, not for the first time, that it’s my fault her world has changed the way it has. I literally changed her entire life. There’s nothing I can do about that now, but that doesn’t mean it’s fair.

  As we go inside, I hear voices coming from Anna’s and Lissette’s apartment. Shit, I totally forgot. I knock, then crack the door open just enough to stick my head in. “Hey, guys,” I say. “Something came up. I’m sorry.”

  Despite my attempt to sound casual, both Anna and Lissette pick up on my stress. That’s witches for you. Sometimes I suspect that half the reason we receive magic is because we’re sensitive enough for it to find us.

  “Everything okay?” Anna says.

  I force a smile. “Family stuff,” I say, “no biggie.” Thankfully, they let me beg off without having to make any more excuses.

  Julia and I get inside my apartment, I close the door, and she crosses her arms over her chest. “Okay, spill it.”

  “Sit,” I say, gesturing to the love seat.

  I plunk down on the sofa, and wait until Julia sits across from me.

  “There was another veil witch,” I say. “Here, not that long ago.”

  Julia shakes her head in confusion. “I thought you guys—”

  “I know. Me too. Everyone says there hasn’t been a veil witch around here for at least a hundred years, maybe more. But that’s not true. There was. Somehow, she kept everyone from knowing. Well, almost everyone.”

  Julia perches forward. “Who? When? How do you know?”

  I don’t blame her for barraging me with questions. I can hardly believe it either. As far as Autumn and I have been told, veil witches all but stopped existing long ago. At some distant time in the past, depending on the culture, we were the shamans, seers, sorcerers and mystics. And, yes, the psychopomps. According to legend, we faded along with mankind’s belief in monsters.

  “Her name was Lauren Flannery,” I say. “She lived here.”

  Julia’s eyes go wide, and she points at the floor. “Here, as in this same building?”

  I nod, still feeling dazed from what I’ve learned. “A little over fifteen years ago. She was a witch, obviously. Only witches have lived here for a long time. But she managed to pass herself off as a hedge witch. No one ever found out. Well, someone did, but everyone else never knew.”

  “Was that the ghost I felt?”

  “It had to be,” I say.

  I tell Julia about what I read in Lauren Flannery’s Book of Shadows. Like the others I’ve read, hers was a history of the magic she’d learned during her lifetime. Although Lauren’s book was different than any other I’ve encountered, in one way. At the back, I found blank pages, which of course isn’t unusual. In fact, I was about to close the book when a sudden surge of energy travelled up through my fingers, and then up my arms. I felt sparks dancing along my skin, lightly jabbing me, warming me as the current flowed through me. It spread within my chest, lighting up my solar plexus. Veil witch magic. I’ve never spoken of it to anyone but my sister, and I’ve heard no other witch describe their magic in quite the same way.

  In that moment, I knew instinctively that I’d just connected with one of my own, somehow from beyond the grave. Then, the pages filled with words. And those words, meant only for another veil witch, told Lauren’s story.

  “Someone found out about her,” I tell Julia. “Somehow. But she didn’t realize it at the time. She trusted him.” I reach up to wipe my eyes, the pain from Lauren’s account coming back to me. “She loved him.”

  Julia knots her fingers together, her foot tapping at the floor. “Who?”

  Lauren’s last scrawled words appear within my mind again. He’s not who he said he was. That person, if he ever existed, I’ve never met. He’s a changeling. I’m sure of it. I didn’t believe in them before, but now I do. That’s why I didn’t feel, didn’t instinctively know, he wasn’t human. These might be my last words entered here, but if you’re reading this, then you’re a veil witch like me. Please, beware the seeker. I can’t say what face, or name, he or she might have. But, please, beware the seeker!

  I look into Julia’s sky-blue eyes and say, “I think I know, but I need you to help me.”

  CHAPTER 28

  The plan I have might be risky, and possibly insane. But, fine, insane is basically my calling card. After all, my life has been one long string of crazy. The reason I remind myself of this is because of the look in Julia’s eyes, as she says “Is that even possible?”

  I try to sound casual, even though that’s not even close to how I feel. “Sure it is. We did it before, right?”

  Julia hesitates. “Well, yeah, sort of. I mean, not deliberately.”

  I’ve calmed down enough that I can crack a smile. “Listen, I promise not to stay.”

  “You know I’m not worried about that.”

  And the amazing part is that Julia means it. She’d put up with me again, even after everything we’ve been though. The girl is a saint.

  I go over it again, just in case. “I know next to nothing about what we might be dealing with, but if it’s what I think it is, we might just have a chance of cracking it if we combine our magic.”

  The thing is, I keep thinking about the look on Grayson’s face when we encountered that trapper, and the way he quickly changed his expression. Something about it really bothered him. More importantly, he didn’t want me to know. He made the time slip phenomenon sound like some sort of supernatural accident. And maybe it is, in most cases. But what if sometimes it’s no accident at all?

  Julia’s cheeks go red. “I don’t have magic. You have magic.”

  “You’re a first-class psychic,” I say. “You’re beyond psychic. As far as I’m concerned, that qualifies as magic.”

  A smiles spreads across Julia’s face. “But I can’t, you know...”

  I lift an eyebrow. “Shoot an orb across the room to take out a vampire? Shove somebody through the veil? Because you don’t need to. Think of yourself as the brains, and me the muscle.”

  Julia relaxes a little. “I can’t believe I’m going along with this. But, okay. Let’s go.”

  “Cool. Let’s get to it.”

  I lay back on the sofa and stretch out. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, evenly, letting myself fall into a meditative state. At the same time, I call upon my magic, telling myself that if I can open the door for others between this plane of existence and the next, then I can open a different type of door within myself. The weird part is that I soon feel it happening, even when I wasn’t sure it could be possible. But then it’s not just anyone sitting across from me. It’s Julia, the person with whom I was once symbiotically combined. I’m also a veil witch who’s had the experience of both leaving, and returning to, her body in the past. Before long, I feel myself rising weightless, as within my mind’s eye I see a glowing orb of energy nearby. I know that energy is Julia’s life force, and I imagine myself floating toward it through the darkness. Soon, I experience the sensation of returning to the place I once thought of as home, even as I leave my own body behind.

  Okay, I’m here.

  “No shit.”

  I hear an all too familiar combination of warmth and mirth in Julia’s voice.

  Did you miss me?

  “Get serious,” Julia says. “I gained ten pounds because of you.”

  But she says yes without words. She feels yes.

  Missed you too, I say, without words, but she feels it too.

  Weird, but that’s just the way it is. I’m sure someone out there is having a similar experience. It’s an amazingly complex, magical, multidimensional world, after all. But, right now, it feels like just us.

  “So, what do we do now?” Julia says.

  You’re on. Reach out to her like you did before. Let's see what you get this time.

  In the past, this has always been a part of Julia's consciousness that we didn't share. It was the same for both of us, in that no one can live without keeping some aspects of their personality private. I never once asked her to bring me into this part of her, just as she never pried within my personal memories or feelings. Now, though, Julia opens that door for the first time, and I feel sensations unlike any I've felt before.

  Maybe for Julia, having been psychic all her life, these sights, sounds and feelings are routine. Just a part of how she perceives the world. For me, the blended input is all but overwhelming. Images of faces suddenly rush at me in a dizzying blur, along with feelings of concern, love, compassion and joy. Who or what we're feeling, I just don't know, and I imagine squeezing my eyes shut within Julia's consciousness to try blocking some of it out.

  As I have many times in the past, I hear Julia speak with her inner voice. I know, it's crazy at first. Hang on while I try to filter some of it out.

  Shit, this is normal for you? You're not a psychic, you're a mutant.

  Julia laughs, and speaks out loud. “You get used to it.”

  No thanks.

  “Here, try this. Any better?”

  Maybe it always starts that way for her, as she plunges into the collective consciousness, but the miasmic symphony of emotions starts to fade, a sense of quiet taking its place. What did you do?

  “Drew in my focus to what's just around us, here in the building.”

  I feel a sudden sense of amusement bubble up inside me, as well as the urge to laugh, but I know it’s coming from someone else. I imagine myself spinning around to see where it came from.

  “Not behind us,” Julia says, evidently picking up on my attempt at focusing. “Downstairs. Anna and Lissette maybe? No, wait …”

  Right, it's not just them. Wendy's there too, and someone else. I clearly feel that there are four of them downstairs now, in the same moment that I feel a burst of laughter again. They must be playing the card game. Damn, this is amazing. Who else is with them? Is that Jerome?

  Julia pauses. “Yes, that's his name. He lives here too, right? He's thinking about someone. Robert, I think. Or maybe it’s Bobby.”

  Right, Bobby. That's his boyfriend. Bobby must be at work. Otherwise, there's no way he wouldn’t be playing the game.

  “Okay, let's narrow it in some more.” A few moments pass and Julia says, “There. Do you feel it?”

  And I do, definitely. The energy just completely shifted. Instead of amusement and companionship, I feel a sudden sense of isolation. A loneliness that grows stronger as Julia continues to home in. Soon, the feeling becomes difficult to bear. Along with that comes the buzzing and tingling I always feel when a ghost draws near.

 

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