Delinquents Turned Fugitives - Ann Denton Page 0,105
around. He wanted to see their child.”
“So, he chose to stay? Did he say that?” Malcolm’s eyes gleamed with fascination.
Lysa nodded. “It’s why I thought maybe my mother would choose to stay. I was very hurt when she didn’t. But I’ve spoken with Petronella and then a few years ago, there was one man who came through the bar. He was a Darklight and we got to talking. He said that of the ghosts he’d seen in his lifetime, only those with a true ache to stay here do so.” She gave a pained grimace. “That didn’t feel good to hear. But Petronella’s husband stayed for an unborn child. She said he stayed three years, until their son was killed in a car accident. Then she never saw him again. His reason for staying had gone and so had he.”
My chest grew swollen with tender emotions. Then had Mom been the reason that Dad had stayed behind all these years? Had he been waiting for her? A tiny bit of hurt pinched my insides that he hadn’t stayed for me or Matthew. But I shoved it down.
“What did the Darklight say?”
“He said that the way to get someone to stay was to be their light. And the way to end them was to extinguish their light.” Lysa gave a bitter laugh, tossing the lower half of her hair, the pink and purple strands, back behind her shoulder. “I told him I didn’t want damn poetry. But he slammed down his drink and said he didn’t want any lip.” She leaned back in her chair. “He was a funny guy, I’ll give him that.”
“Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. It’s not much, I know. It’s probably not even helpful.”
“It’s better than salt and sage,” I told her, tossing my elbow on the table and lifting my hand to circle the rim of my coffee cup. “Does a light have to be a person? Or did he mean it literally?”
I knew shadow repelled them. But, this sounded different. Claude could pull away from my shadows. He could disappear and reappear. Shadows could fight him but not defeat him.
Lysa wrinkled her forehead. “Okay, I’m trying to remember. The guy said that, somehow, whatever a ghost gave their light too … it made their own soul incomplete? So … I mean, I think for most people, it would mean a person. I don’t think he meant it literally.”
Who in the holy fuck would Claude stay to see? I wasn’t his light, that was for damn sure. I was more like a thorn in his side, the gum under his shoe. He hadn’t stayed for mom or Ginny. They were both gone. What about that other dude? The ghost pirate? Could a ghost stay for another ghost?
“I don’t know if it has to be a person,” Lysa admitted. “But you said this ghost is a jerk right? It would make sense if his light wasn’t a person, but a thing.”
“A thing would last longer than a person,” Malcolm added.
Lysa grinned. “Worked for Voldemort didn’t it?”
That made us all laugh. But Lysa’s words had a ring of truth to them. As we finished up our coffee, I checked my watch and turned to Malcolm. “We have a little time. You up for a field trip?”
He shrugged. “As long as it’s short.”
“It’ll be short. And it will involve things that go boom.”
His eyes lit up like a little kid.
“Alright, I’m feeling like that was an innuendo. So, I’m gonna take that as my cue to go.” Lysa slid her chair back.
I thanked Lysa profusely for her information and Malcolm stood, shaking her hand and slipping her a diamond we’d lifted during our heist. Gray’s people had pried it out of its setting and cleaned of spells. “For your time,” he told her.
She’d stared at it with an odd look in her eyes, before looking up and giving us a tight little smile. It was a strange form of payment. But far less traceable than the serial numbers on cash.
“Not a problem,” Lysa said. Then she’d turned and walked away, climbing onto a bike down the street. The woman from the coffee shop followed behind and got into a car as Lysa pulled out into traffic. I watched until they both had disappeared from sight.
“She’s cool, but that was weird, right?” I asked Malcolm, trying to get his read on her. He was a far better human lie detector than I was.
“Yeah, it was weird,” Malcolm’s response was distracted