Grace could tell, none of the spirits were making themselves known. Not like they had the day she’d shown the house to Gigi anyway.
“Maybe I should just go continue my research,” Joy finally whispered to Grace.
Grace nodded. Who knew how long this would take? And why should her friend have to stay for the most boring ghost-hunting event ever?
Hope cleared her throat and motioned that she was going to go with Joy.
Grace nodded and whispered back. “Raincheck on tonight? I have a new client this afternoon, and I don’t know how long it will take.” As soon as she was done with Isobel, she needed to meet Lucas. Since he’d said to not say anything to Hope just yet, she hadn’t been sure how she was going to slip away without lying by omission. Grace didn’t like keeping things from her two best friends, but she would keep Lucas’s secret for the moment, considering he was a client and an old friend.
“No problem,” Joy said while Hope nodded her agreement.
Grace watched her two friends leave and then sat back and waited for Isobel to do her thing.
Eventually Isobel got to her feet and then spent the next half hour running her fingers over every surface of the old house. By the time she made her way back into the living area, they’d been there for over an hour.
Grace, irritated that she was paying by the hour for the woman to do next to nothing, crossed her arms and asked, “Did you see anyone?”
Isobel shook her head. “Nope. They aren’t showing themselves today. If you want me to come back and try again, I can probably find time later in the week.”
“Um, no. I don’t think so.” Grace was already fishing her keys out of her bag. “Sorry to waste your time, but instead of checking out the other houses, I think it’s best if we just call it a day.”
Isobel blinked. “Really? You don’t even want to know what I learned here?”
Grace raised one eyebrow. “I thought you said the spirits weren’t responsive.”
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t get a read on this house.” She gave Grace a knowing smile. “I bet you were thinking I was going to have an EMF reader or perform some sort of spell to make the spirits appear, right?”
“Um, maybe?” Grace felt her cheeks go warm with embarrassment. “Is that not how this works?”
“Oh, sure. For the people who can’t inherently hear and sense spirits, it’s a way of communicating. But that’s not how I work.” She placed her right palm flat on the front door and closed her eyes. A silver shimmer coated the door, and Isobel nodded as if she were satisfied with whatever she felt. “Did you see that?”
“Sure. You coated the door with magic.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I didn’t do anything except call the magic that is already embedded in the wood. The front door and the entire front porch area of the house are heavily saturated with magic. That’s probably not surprising since you can see how fast the conditions are deteriorating. But what’s interesting is that the rest of the house has hardly been touched.”
“Okay. So what does that mean exactly?” Grace asked, frowning.
“It means that while the spirits here are actively trying to keep people out, they aren’t necessarily interested in terrifying anyone. In other words, the spirits aren’t dangerous. They’re just particular about who they want living here. In order to sell this house, you’re likely going to need to find someone they approve of; otherwise they’ll continue to make their displeasure known by being a nuisance.”
“Gigi,” Grace said. She’d loved the house, and the house seemed to love her… right up until her husband arrived.
“Who’s Gigi?”
“The perfect buyer for this property. Unfortunately, the house hates her husband. Once he arrived, the spirits were really active and obviously not pleased.”
“What did they do?” she asked, her expression full of excited curiosity.
“There was a peacefulness and a rightness while Gigi was here. But when her husband showed up, that energy vanished and the spirits kicked up a lot of forceful wind. Nothing dangerous, just enough disruption for the spirits to make it known they were not pleased.”
“Yes. That tracks with what I sensed here,” Isobel said.
Grace let out a heavy sigh. “Do you know how long it will take to find someone who the spirits accept? Is there any way that you can get them to leave? We tried smudging but—”