Page 51 of I Will Break You
I shouldn’t be here, hiding out from my stalker, but I don’t know what else to do. After a week of taking my meds, he’s still messing with my life. There may or may not be a ghost, but someone has been in my house. I’m too much of a coward to confront him while home alone, but if this is a haunting, maybe he’ll speak to me through another séance.
Relaney’s bony hands land on my shoulders, and she marches me to the table. “Sit, sit,” she says, her voice breathy with excitement. “We tried to summon the spirit again several times after you left, but it didn’t answer our call.”
I lower myself onto the cushion beside Chappy, who gives me a broad smile.
“Good to see you back, babe. Hope you brought the spirits.”
I’m about to reply when Sparrow and Wilder walk in through the beaded curtains and take their places at the wall. Nobody seems to care that Sparrow was throwing bottles into the street, so I focus my attention on Relaney.
“You have a very powerful aura,” she says. “Such great potential for mediumship. I could teach you.”
“It’s not really my thing,” I reply with a shake of my head.
Her face falls. “What’s wrong?”
“I think my spirit doesn’t want me to write a book. Can you ask him why?”
Her brows pull together. “Of course. But you should reconsider my offer. We could go places with your spiritual power.”
I try not to wrinkle my nose. “Maybe later.”
Chappy takes my hand. “We can learn together,” he says, his voice lowering several octaves. “I can help you.”
My gaze darts to Relaney, who gives me an encouraging nod. When Ezekiel cracks a smile, I wonder if this trio has ever managed to speak to the dead. They seem so eager for me to join their little cult.
Pulling away my hand, I rub the back of my neck. “Could we start the seance?”
With a nod, Relaney asks us to link hands again, and she talks us through the same meditation as before. This time, I ignore Sparrow and Wilder’s snickering. I sure as hell didn’t hallucinate the sex contract, empty filing cabinet, missing manuscript, and Xero’s one-word note.
He’s stopped sending me texts, and I need answers.
“Is anybody out there?” Relaney asks.
The lightbulbs in the lamps all flicker and pop, making me suck in a sharp breath. Darkness descends across the room, and every fine hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
“Wonderful,” Relaney says, her voice quickening.
My stomach dips. “Is that you, Xero?”
One knock.
“Yes,” Chappy says, sounding triumphant.
“Don’t interrupt,” Relaney snaps.
Beside me, Chappy flinches. One of the brothers standing by the wall chuckles. I’m too invested in what Xero will say to crack open an eye.
“Continue, Amethyst,” she says.
My tongue darts out to lick my dry lips. “Did you delete my manuscript?”
One knock.
“Why?”
I fall silent as he makes a series of knocks, and Ezekiel translates them into letters.
“M… Y… Space. P… R… O?—”