Read Spirit Caller 01 - Spirits Rising for Free Online Page B

molasses cookies Mrs. Saunders had made for me.
    I put the plate down on the table and we slipped into an easy silence, the kind that only good friends manage with each other. I didn’t look at him and instead concentrated on sipping the lukewarm coffee.
    I ignored the mental chiding my inner voice gave me. I didn’t renew my work contract so I could take a month off in Mexico to get that man out of my head. Seven thousand dollars, a second-degree sunburn, and a one-night stand with a cross-dressing accountant who wore yellow panties but I was too drunk to care, and still I was letting this idiot back into my life.
    Get a grip, Rachel.
    “Any idea how you’re going to fix all this?”
    “Nope,” I said bitterly.
    He eyed me. “You called your mother, didn’t you?”
    “Yup,” I said and reached across the table for the scotch and poured some into my coffee. I motioned to question if Jeremy wanted some. He shook his head.
    “She still giving you a hard time about not working?”
    “Yup. It was hard to convey the doom and destruction while defending myself.” I sipped my coffee. The back of my throat burned and I gave a little shudder.
    “Three years on the rock and you still can’t handle your liquor?”
    I scowled at him. “Listen ’ere, me b’y, I’se can talk like ye Newfs and I’se can ’andle me liquor.”
    Jeremy snorted. “You sound like you’re down ‘’round the bay.’ ”
    “Oh, right. There’s only two kinds of people in Newfoundland: those from St. John’s—”
    “Townies,” Jeremy confirmed.
    I grinned. “Townies, and those from the bay. Even if they don’t live near a bay, they’re still from the bay.” I shook my head. “That makes no sense.”
    Jeremy shrugged. “I only enforce the rules, I don’t make them.”
    Silence fell between us and as we sipped our hot beverages.
    “So, zombies,” Jeremy said.
    “Zombies,” I repeated once more, “aren’t real.”
    “Whatever. Can you fix it?”
    I leaned back in my kitchen chair. “Well, I’ve done some research on the spell Manny downloaded off the Internet. He didn’t even take it off one of the big Wiccan sites. This spell is about stirring up the spirits of anything in an area.” I looked at Jeremy. “This place is full of powerful spirits.”
    “That’s why he ended up with Vikings?”
    I nodded. “We’re what? Twenty clicks from a friggin’ world heritage site where Vikings once had a bloody town. And the entire western coast of Newfoundland has seen several groups of natives over its history. The place is alive with, well, dead things.”
    “Are you sure your . . .banishment didn’t work?”
    I shook my head. “Nah. I’m not very strong. My mother is. She could swoop in here and scowl the spirits back into the grave. Me?” I sighed. “All I can do is know they are nearby and throw pebbles at them. I’m worse than useless.”
    Jeremy shot me an annoyed look. “You’re not useless.”
    I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m just frustrated. I can’t figure this out. Mom believes an expression of faith might bridge the gap between this side and the other. She suggested using old stories and songs to communicate with the Beothuks, at least. The Vikings might respond, too.”
    “That’s not much to go on.”
    “Nope.”
    We were quiet for a moment. “How are you doing with all this?”
    “I believe in ghosts and all that weird shit. I saw one when I was a kid.” He shrugged. “There’s just a difference between that and seeing what happened out there.”
    I nodded. I understood what he meant. My own powers started developing when I was six. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that’s my earliest memory of my abilities. I didn’t tell anyone until I was fifteen, and that was after a three-month stint at a mental hospital in Ottawa. Teenage hubris, thinking I could handle it on my own.
    “Mom says most of us experience one supernatural event in our lives, but very few will accept