friends believe me. My parents definitely thought I was just being defiant at first, and then legit insane. Obviously, I had trouble concentrating in school because ghosts are distracting when you’re a kid. I didn’t get the best grades and got in trouble for not paying attention in class. My mom was positive I had ADHD, and I saw so many different doctors who never diagnosed me since I don’t have it. Eventually, I learned to deal and stopped mentioning that I could communicate with the dead. It worked for the most part, but then Jessie Martin’s seventeenth birthday party happened.”
“What happened at Jessie Martin’s party?”
“Someone thought it would be fun to have a séance. We all got in the circle, and Jessie said we should summon her cousin, Jason, who’d recently died in a fire. Well, I got a vision, I guess you would call it, of him sitting in his bedroom. I described everything in perfect detail, from the color of his eyes to the design of the wallpaper. I even saw his girlfriend, and she was holding onto her necklace. It had two rings on it. Turns out, after he died, she wore his class rings on a chain around her neck. I knew what kind of music he liked and could tell you his hobbies. Everyone freaked out and Jessie’s mom called my mom to come pick me up. Needless to say, Jessie never invited me to another party again.”
“You got all that from a vision?”
“Yes and no. I don’t just see pictures, it’s like I download a file or something. I see an image and at the same time know a lot, and sometimes random, information.”
“I never knew how it worked.”
“Have you met other mediums?”
“The Order has worked with some over the years.”
“Are they witches too?”
“Some believe they have a witch in their family line years back, but they can’t perform spells or anything.”
“Interesting. I don’t mean to complain or say my life was rough, because it wasn’t. I never went without, but lying and never being understood just sucks sometimes. Most times I just feel like a loser who talked to a ghost thinking he was my blind date and then the real blind dates shows up, and I realize I’ve been talking to no one.”
Ethan laughs. “Sorry. It’s not funny but it is.”
“I can laugh now. And the ghost was a much better date than my actual date, who only went out with me because I reminded him of his sister, who was also a redhead.”
“That’s messed up.”
“Right?” I let out a breath and shake my head. “What about you? What was it like growing up in the Order?”
“It was my norm, but it’s isolating too. We traveled a lot, going from job to job. I couldn’t tell anyone who wasn’t in the Order the truth, of course, and being in the car with just my dad for hours on end got old fast.”
“Your sisters didn’t come with?”
“Sam and Julia aren’t my sisters through blood. Their parents were friends with my dad, and when they were killed by demons, my dad legally adopted them so they wouldn’t end up in foster care. They’ve been with us for ten years now.”
“Oh, wow. That was really kind of your dad.”
“We grew up hunting together. They felt like family before they legally became it.”
Ethan tells me a bit more about growing up in the Order, and I can tell he’s feeling the same sense of relief that I am. It’s so fucking nice to be able to open up like this, without having to worry the other person is going to go home and gossip about how looney-tunes you sound. We stop talking about demons and ghosts by the time our food comes, and it’s like how it was when we talked on the phone.
Ethan is easy to talk to, and he makes me laugh. Things seem so normal between us I almost forget he knows my secret of being a medium. And he’s okay with it.
“What are the chances I’ll get attacked in my sleep tonight?” I pull my keys from my purse, glancing at Ethan as we walk to my front door.
“If you stay inside and keep everything locked up, I’d say low to medium.”
“That’s reassuring.” I make a face and hesitate before I stick the key in the lock. “Do you want to come in?” I ask. I know exactly how my question sounds, and yes, I do want Ethan to spend the