Gypsy Magic - J.R. Rain Page 0,45

best to ignore her.

“Thank you so much,” I said, facing RJ and trying my best to ignore Darla who was now weaving around him, her arms extended so she could feel every inch of him with her ghostly fingers. I noticed goosebumps cropping up on his skin and he glanced around himself a few times, as if he could tell something was going on. Guess he’d never been felt up by a ghost before. “What’s your hourly rate?”

RJ waved my comment away with a small smile. “No charge. Marty says you’ll be helping us with some potions. That’s payment enough.”

I nodded. “So RJ, what part do you play on this team? Besides fixing appliances?”

“Well, I’m not just another pretty face,” he said with a big grin. His voice was deep and resonant.

“RJ is way more than another pretty face,” Henner agreed.

RJ smiled at him. Then he looked at me again as Darla continued to assault him. “I got a degree in comparative religion. Then I took it a step further and deep dived into the occult sciences, mythology, and conspiracy theories.”

“Conspiracy theories?” I repeated.

He nodded. “They’re not all bunk. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that all those cryptid stories are actually real. There are monsters out there in the…”

Marty threw his elbow into RJ’s side and motioned to Finn. RJ grunted but he took the hint and didn’t finish his sentence. Finn was frightened of ghosts. I’d never get him to leave the house if he thought the lunch lady was a ghoul.

“RJ’s also an aficionado on Big Foot,” Henner added.

“You are?” I asked RJ.

He nodded a few times. “Sure am.”

“Big Foots are real?” Finn asked.

“Of course!” RJ almost sang back to him. “I go on sasquatch expeditions every month or so.”

“Have you ever seen one?” Finn asked.

“More than once… at least I’m pretty sure I have.”

“That’s so cool,” Finn said, smiling finally.

“Oh, and look at this one,” Darla continued, oblivious to our conversation.

She’d floated just behind Henner. And just like she’d done to RJ, she ran her hands over Henner’s chest, like she could feel him up through his clothes. I knew she couldn’t interact well with the mortal world, or at least that’s what she’d said. As a ghost, if you had enough power to manifest at all, you were still limited. She’d compared it to touching objects through a thick, wet towel. Apparently, she didn’t care at this point. Not that I could blame her, exactly. It had been over ninety years since she’d gotten any, and now she was surrounded with attractive men.

Henner shuddered when she stroked the bare skin of his face. That meant he had to be, at least, a little sensitive to magical energy. Not that I was surprised—he had a witch in his family line. That meant he’d be more sensitive to things that went bump in the night than other humans would be.

“Now, you stop that!” Henner muttered, and I was pretty sure he was addressing Darla.

Hmm, interesting.

Darla’s hands wandered even further south, crawling like pale spider legs down toward his groin. That was when I remembered I wasn’t the only one watching her. Finn could see her, as well.

“Darla!” I snapped, glaring at the spot above Henner’s shoulder with a reproachful glower. It had to look like I was snapping at Henner. There went my reputation. “Stop it!”

Finn had turned away with a cranberry-red blush, mumbling something about needing something from his bedroom. Then he fled. I was betting he was going to retrieve a banishing potion, if only to keep Darla away from the hunky men in the kitchen. At this point, I applauded his judgement. It did leave me alone in the room with RJ and Marty staring at me with clear questions on their faces. Henner looked unperturbed. It seemed to be his default state.

“You can see the ghost?” RJ asked.

“I... erm...” I began. Should I lie? No, that would probably make me look unhinged. And it wasn’t as though they weren’t going to believe me. It was just… I didn’t like most people to know the extent of what I could and couldn’t see and do. That subject was one of those things better kept to yourself—I’d learned that from experiences. I sighed. “Yes, I can see spirits.”

“Can your son?” RJ asked.

I nodded. “Yes, Finn can too. It’s a lingering trait from our Traveller blood.”

“Yeah, Marty told us all about how you’re a gypsy and you’ve got special abilities,” RJ said with an impressed