Page 21 of Mack's Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town
“Get Beau on the phone, I bet he has a great idea of what a newbie needs, and come out to the car with me,” he said. “I probably have most of it, and we can grab what’s missing while we’re out today.”
I’d be a fool to pass up his help. I followed him out the back door to the very tiny parking lot while I also called Beau.
Beau answered. “Hey, boy, we’re closing in on ya. About six hours or so away now.”
“I’m delighted to hear it. For more reasons than one.” I quickly filled him in on what had happened so far this morning.
Beau made an incredulous sound. “You telling me Brandon literally tripped over this girl?”
“In a nutshell.”
“I’ll be damned. And you just talked about this last night?Universe decided you were serious, I guess.”
“Tell me about it. Anyway, I’m with Booker at his car, he’s offering to make her a kit. You know, an essentials workbag so she’s got something to work with.”
“You know, I’ve never met Booker, but I like him already.”
I winked at Booker, who could hear clearly. “You are on speaker, so you can tell him yourself.”
“I’ll accept the compliment,” Booker drawled, smiling that little quirk of the mouth he did. “Can’t wait to meet you both.”
“Same here. Heard lots of stories about you three. Now, as for what this poor child needs, she’ll of course need the basics. Salt, flashlight, extra batteries, portable lantern if you’ve got one—”
I watched, suitably impressed, as Booker opened bags or rolling carts and hauled things out as Beau rattled them off. He even had an extra FBI messenger bag to put it all into! He traveled with this kind of luggage? Their bag fees must be insane. Beau’s list didn’t surprise me at all, but he did add a few things that made sense. First aid kit, wet wipes, and hand sanitizer. I’d had to clean off problematic sigils drawn onto surfaces, so I really should have thought of the wet wipes.
“Can do everything but an extra charger and power bank for her phone.” Booker poked his head into the bag a little. “There’s not any room for it, but we need to find room, as those are essential.”
Truly, a Medium getting cut off from their team, with a dead phone, was never a good thing. People had been incredibly hurt and traumatized because of similar situations. Not as if I planned to let Gwyn out of my sight on a case, but no one planned to get lost, either. Oh, come to think of it, we’d need to get her a new phone. Her parents would likely cut her current one off. I made a mental note.
Still, I stared at Booker, completely impressed. He’d even hadsnap lightsin here, like…the hell? How did he fit everything into two suitcases? Was he magic?
Actually, Booker being magic made a lot of sense.
It also made sense why Brandon and Booker were such good friends. They shared the need to overprepare. Considering their overpreparedness had saved me on several occasions—including now—I absolutely wasn’t complaining.
Hannah piped up, her voice a little distorted over the road noise. “How is she, skill-wise, if she’s not able to fend off a single ghost?”
“She wasn’t allowed salt in her house, so…odds are nil she has any skills.”
Beau muttered some choice words, Hannah right there with him.
“We’re probably shifting hotels and towns, as this hotel is way too visible for her parents, and we don’t want them to realize she’s still in the area for now. That’s a fight I just don’t want to entertain. So hang tight. Sylvia will reach out when the new hotel is picked.”
“All right by us. I wasn’t too impressed by the pictures I saw online.”
“It’s not better in reality. Rooms are small. Anyway, stay tuned.”
We disconnected at that point, and I had Booker carry the bag. I wasn’t taking credit for something he’d done. I felt it was a good icebreaker for him and Gwyn, anyway.
We went back up to their hotel room and found Eli and Gwyn on the bed, with Quinn and Brandon on the other double bed, looking at a paper map of the area. The girls seemed to be having a fun time chatting. Gwyn’s body language had been closed since I met her, with her usually sitting a bit hunched in, arms wrapped around her waist. Now, she sat upright, leaning in a little toward Eli, expression open and almost on the verge of a smile.
“—and Brandon said you and your husbands live nearby?”
“We do,” Eli confirmed. “Moved there on purpose, actually, as we’re great friends and wanted to stay close. Well, and Mack’s often saving my ass when I get in over my head. We work together a lot.”
“Oh, so I’m going to work with you guys on more than just this one case?”
“For sure. Really, about half my cases, Mack’s with me. If you can’t go to Mack, for whatever reason, come to me, okay? We all safeguard young Mediums while they’re training. We don’t want you in danger.”
