“Should I not be showing you then?” I give him a sideways glance.
“I told you, you can trust me.”
“Which is exactly what someone I shouldn’t trust would say.”
“That is true.” He opens the book and twists to look at me. “If I wanted to hurt you, I would have, Anora.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“It’s true.” He goes back to the book, turning another page. “You said the spell to light the demon on fire just popped into your head?”
“Yeah, and I…I…” I close my eyes, letting my mental shields drop for a second so I can try to get a read on Ethan. I like him and find him attractive—very attractive. He knows more about demons and magic than I do, and if I want to get through this alive, I’m going to need his help. But trusting him? It seems just as risky as going back into the woods alone looking for more demons.
“You what?”
I open my eyes, not sensing anything malicious coming off Ethan, though, I’ll be the first to admit my desire to find myself naked and under him is overriding my sensibility at the moment.
“I think I used to be able to do magic, but I can’t remember it.”
“What do you mean?”
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I shake my head. “I don’t really know, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve had these dreams about walking through the woods, going through some sort of portal, and now I’m getting flashes of being taught how to do magic. I met my aunt before when we were kids, and my brother said she used to babysit us while our mom finished her residency, but I have zero memory of that. And what I can remember is all wrong. I remember going to a café with my grandma, and I described it perfectly, but in my mind it was in Michigan overlooking the lake, not in Indiana,” I rush out. “Nothing makes sense. Why are chunks of my memory just missing? Why are the few memories I have all mixed up? And why the hell did my aunt leave her entire inheritance to me, including this spell book?”
“It’s all connected to her.” He straightens up and tips his head as he thinks. “Too bad we don’t know a medium to try to contact your dead aunt.”
My lips part, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier, especially since Aunt Estelle said she’d explain everything—even now. “You want to have a séance?”
“Yeah, but done the right way. Séances are dangerous, as you know.”
“I do.”
“So?” he asks. “What do you think? Want to try it?”
My lips curve into a smile. “Yeah. I do.”
Chapter Fifteen
So much for my house not being haunted.
“This brings back memories,” I say as I set a white candle in the middle of the coffee table. “Of when I worked as a medium, I mean, though I’m not wearing my uniform, if you could call it that.”
“You had to wear a uniform to tell fake ghost stories?” Ethan asks, sitting on the floor across from me.
“Hey, the stories I told were never fake. Which is why I got fired.”
“What kind of uniform did they make you wear?”
“A Victorian-styled black dress.”
“That’s not cliché at all.”
“Right?” I smile and pick up the lighter. “Oh, I should probably put Romeo back in his cage. When I ask for a sign and he knocks something over, I’m going to be disappointed.”
“Good thinking.”
I light the candle and go into my room, feeling a little bad when I pick up Romeo, who’s sleeping on my bed, and stick him in the hammock in his cage. He goes right back to sleep, at least. I leave the door cracked and rejoin Ethan in the living room. He grabbed a few things from his Jeep just in case things go sideways. Two canisters of salt and an iron fire poker are on the floor next to us, and he clicks on an EMF meter.
“That’s almost insulting,” I tell him, raising my eyebrows. “I don’t need that to know if there are spirits around.”
“Don’t get cocky now,” he shoots back with a grin.
“This is my specialty. Remember, I used to do this for a living.”
“And then you got fired.”
“Yeah, for being too good.”
Ethan laughs. “Then I expect this to work.”
I put my hand on the coffee table and lean forward. “I will knock, but I cannot guarantee who will answer,” I say in what’s supposed to be a spooky voice,