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Category: Fantasy
Description: Ghosts, mystery lights, suspicious deaths, afterlife secrets. Daisy Hammel-Kavanaugh's life just got more interesting. Her new medium powers frighten her but that's nothing compared to what followed her back from the afterlife. Until Daisy can neutralize the murderous hitchhiker spirit she unleashed on the living world, she must delay searching for the necromancer who soul-napped her mother and started this whole afterlife business in the first place. But this Arizona witch is just a novice medium and knows zilch about handling the dead.
eBook Publisher: SynergEbooks, 2012 SynergEbooks
eBookwise Release Date: August 2012

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [494 KB]
Words: 110859
Reading time: 316-443 min.

Prologue

Twenty-Two Years Ago

Bridgette and Liam zigzagged through the small crowd as they left the funhouse. Many people headed toward the exit, since it was ten-thirty and the place closed at eleven. Music still played from the various carnival rides but most had only a few patrons now. Bridgette hadn't been able to hear anyone's thoughts for the past two hours, thanks to the booze Liam had scored for them. Being a witch was cool, but having telepathic abilities sucked sometimes, and even with special instruction from some of the most potent telepaths in the country, she still didn't have full control over her powers.

Enjoy the peace while you can, Bridgette, my girl. The buzz will wear off soon enough. She just had to be somewhat sober before going home so her mother wouldn't ground her again. At fifteen, she wasn't legal to drive, much less drink, but that hadn't stopped her from taking her mom's car. She looked older, so the cops never gave her a second glance. Besides, she'd already passed her driver's ed classes. So what's the big fucking deal?

She stopped beneath the shadow of a palo verde tree, bringing Liam to a halt with her, flicked her cigarette to the dirt and ground her toes on it. She didn't smoke regularly, but boys seemed to think it made her look cool so she kept a few around for date nights.

A garish neon sign caught her eye. "Oh my gawd. Look." She laughed as she pointed to the sign above the small, striped tent.

"Oh now, this is just too damn easy, Liam." She leaned close to his tall, lanky frame, one of the few boys her age who matched her in height. "You want to have sex with me, right?" He gave an enthusiastic nod. "Then time to show me more of your fun side." Bridgette lifted her chin toward the tent. "I dare you to use your powers in there."

His gaze moved up to the sign then drifted toward an opening in the tent that let a sliver of light outside. "No way. Not that. How 'bout we make out in the House of Mirrors again?"

"I know you're not some goody-goody. You pick the lock on your dad's liquor cabinet." That's how we got the booze in the first place.

"That's different."

"Oh, come on, Liam. She's a fake. She's scamming people. Gives us paranormals a bad name. You can teach her a lesson."

"No one knows about us anyway so what does it matter if she's fake?"

"Okay, if you don't want this." She took one of his hands and placed it on her breast. They were standing beneath the tree with their backs to the receding crowd. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so brazen in public. Liam grunted as his hand gave a gentle squeeze. "Come on, Liam. We'll act like customers. Then when we get inside, you call up a real ghost. Scare the shit out of her. It'll be fun. And she'll probably never scam anyone again. A two-fer."

"Well..."

"Oh, come on. The place is closing soon. This is our only chance to have some real fun here." She pressed her body against his, running a hand through his thick blonde hair, and felt him grow hard. "And you get laid. Tonight."

Liam chuckled deep in his throat this time. "Okay, okay. I'll do it. But you have to promise never to tell my parents about this or they won't buy me that awesome car I want."

Bridgette grinned and made an X over her heart with her forefinger. Boys are so damn easy. She pulled him toward the tent and pushed the flap aside.

Patchouli incense met her, along with light from several candles. A round table stood in the middle of the tent, which looked larger in here than it appeared from the outside. A crystal ball sat in the middle of the table next to what looked like a real human skull.

Gross. She leaned close to Liam. "Whatcha bet she's wearing gypsy clothes." He smiled at that.

Before Bridgette could make a comment about the colorful beads that hung from the tent ceiling, a curvy, middle-aged woman stepped through them. Sure enough, she was dressed like a gypsy, down to the headscarf and the plastic bracelets that clanked together on her wrists. She smiled through bright red lipstick. "Hello, I'm Madam Zenar." Her fake Eastern European accent almost made Bridgette laugh. "You wish to contact a deceased loved one?"

Bridgette worked very hard to keep a straight face. "Yeah, we do." Liam started to snicker when the woman made a sweeping motion to sit in her chair and Bridgette elbowed him in the ribs. "We want to contact my, um, uncle."

"The dead are fickle but I'll do my best to coax him here, child. Please, sit. That'll be twenty dollars up front. No refunds."

Why am I not surprised? Well, seeing her piss her pants'll be worth it.

Bridgette dug into her pocket, pulled a twenty out, and laid it on the table as she sat next to Liam. She'd inherited several million from her father after he died but she hated wasting it on stupid crap. Liam hadn't said anything more and she suspected he was already trying to contact the other side. For all Bridgette knew, there could be several spooks in the tent right now. With Liam's help, they could show themselves to her. And most important, to Madam Zenar.

The big fat fake.

Madam Zenar's bracelets clanked together as she took the twenty off the table and tucked it between her ample breasts. Bridgette wondered if those were fake too. "Is your friend all right?"

Bridgette's gaze flicked to Liam, who had his eyes closed now. Time to bring on the bullshit. "Oh sure. He's just really into this stuff. We saw a seance on TV last night. Don't we close our eyes?"

The woman smiled and seemed to buy what Bridgette spouted. "It's not necessary." Madam Zenar held out her hands toward them, palms up. "Hold hands, please."

Liam opened his eyes and took her hand in one of his and Bridgette's in the other. He gave a sly look to Bridgette and nodded. He'd already made contact with someone.

Good. Let the fun begin.

Madam Zenar made a show of mumbling and rocking in her chair as she gazed into her crystal ball, which Bridgette guessed was just cheap glass. Again, she had to stifle a laugh. Of course, this fake medium was so into her own act, she probably wouldn't have noticed a monsoon if it blew her tent away.

Eyes, heavy with dark liner, came up and locked onto Liam's gaze. The two stared at one another as she continued to chant. Liam's hand trembled in Bridgette's. She started to say something when he began to sweat.

Suddenly, Madam Zenar and Liam let out ear-piercing screams. The woman grabbed the skull from the table with trembling hands and fled before Bridgette could stop her.

Liam's eyes and head rolled back and he shook with convulsions. Then he collapsed.

Bridgette reached out for him as he fell. "Liam!"