Had to be a delayed reaction to the caffeine. That was the only explanation, unlike the sounds in the house. My analytical mind told me the plumbing was the reason for what I kept hearing, but the plumber assured me the pipes in my house were is pristine condition. That’s when my grandmother’s influence reared its head and I conjured spirits as the real reason.
Did I piss the ghost off? Talking to myself and declaring the house likely made me insane, but my mind reacted before I had time to censor what came out. Gritting my teeth against the continued flood of energy, I refused to back down. The house was mine, as was everything in it. I inherited it from my grandmother, and I intended to do proud by her.
Lights flashed all around me and it seemed as if I was swept up into a funnel. It became even harder to breathe. Am I having a heart attack? It didn’t feel like it. Women’s symptoms of an acute MI were nausea, heartburn, dizziness, cold sweats and being unusually tired.
The sweat that dripped down my back was the devil’s ass crack hot, and my gag reflex wasn’t pulsing at the back of my throat. Next thing I knew, black spots danced in my vision as the pressure built in my body. My eyes slipped closed and the blackness took over.
“Fiona! Fiona, are you okay? You have to wake up.”
“Ughh,” I grumbled at the frantic voice. My head was killing me and I wanted to sleep some more.
“Oh, thank the Gods. I thought you were dead.” The voice was familiar, but my mind was slow to process other than the fact that someone was in my house.
My eyes flashed open and I sat up in a rush. My hand went to my head while I scanned the room. “Aislinn? What the hell happened?” My blood felt thick as it rushed through my veins. My mind was sluggish, and I was having a hard time focusing on anything at the moment.
Aislinn sat on the floor next to me and sighed deep and heavy. “I have no idea. I came over to see if you wanted to go to lunch with me. When you didn’t answer your door and I saw the old beater that you bought off George in the drive, so I checked the lock and came inside when it turned in my hand. I found you unconscious on the floor.”
As if in response to her observation, my back started bitching loud and clear. My side ached and my shoulder hurt, like a mother-trucker. There was no doubt I had been on the floor for some time. God, it was no fun getting older. If I sat anywhere for longer than five minutes, I needed a crane to get me up.
“I was electrocuted.” I felt my hair, surprised it wasn’t a frizzy mess.
Aislinn tilted her head and glanced at the outlet closest to us. We were in the middle of the living room at least five feet from every wall with no appliances or lamps nearby. “Ummm. That makes no sense. What exactly happened?”
My shoulders lifted and fell. “I was convinced a few minutes ago the house was haunted and for a second thought maybe a ghost attacked me, but that makes no sense.”
Aislinn chuckled and got to her feet. “That’s not how ghosts work. They aren’t capable of producing energy like that and they aren’t conductors either. They barely have enough vitality to manifest most times.”
I accepted her hand and grunted as I got to my feet, as well. She made it look so much easier than it actually was. “What do you mean they don’t have enough power? Are there actual ghosts?” I recalled all the stories my grandmother told me, but none of them revolved around spirits.
Aislinn watched me closely for several seconds. The silence coupled with the way she was looking at me was highly uncomfortable. “Ghosts exist and I have thought for weeks now that your grandmother must be hanging around in some form. It’s the only thing that makes sense. You haven’t shown power until now and something has to be keeping the protections in place.”
A million thoughts and questions scrambled through my mind at once. What did she mean grams was still around? And, what power? I couldn’t decide which question to ask first, so I headed into the kitchen and grabbed the tea from the cabinet. After filling the kettle with water, I put it on to boil.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to find Aislinn had followed me and was sitting at the island like I used to as a kid. “Ok. You’re going to have to explain this to me slowly. I know something is going on here, but ghosts don’t exist. Right? Whatever it is I want to understand.”
Aislinn smiled and bobbed her head. “I’m probably not the best one to explain all this, but I’ll do my best. Violet is at the bookstore or I’d call her over to help me. You know magic exists right? And, you have it.”
“No, it doesn’t.” The scientific part of me spoke up. I wanted to guffaw and dismiss her outright before asking the crazy lady to leave. But I forced myself to truly consider her words. “Since moving here, I’m not so sure that’s right. Stuff keeps happening that I can’t explain.”
She had to be wrong. I’m nothing more than an ordinary middle-aged widow. Something niggled at my mind from when I was a kid. Unless my memory was playing tricks on me my grandmother used to light candles with a snap of her fingers. And then there was the time she turned the pond turquoise. For the longest time I believed she was a witch. Then I started high school and went to college and realized she’d used some kind of dye to change the color.
“Your grandmother was one of the strongest witches in our town. She surpassed anyone else, and we all expect you to as well. Although, I admit some have assumed you’re nothing more than a mundane seeing as you haven’t displayed any abilities or produced potions to sell at Staves and Stoves.”
I grabbed two mugs and placed tea bags in them. “Grams was nothing more than a normal, but eccentric, grandmother. What is Staves and Stoves? And what do you mean by potions? I’m not into home remedies. I’m firmly on the side of modern medicine. Although I admit many plants have healing properties and are used in many medications.”
Aislinn chuckled and shook her head. “One thing at a time. First, have you ever done something odd or made something happen when you were angry or scared?”
I paused the racing thoughts and considered her question. There was no truth to what she was saying. Or was there? “Does blowing up tires count?” My tone was teasing as I picked an unrealistic phenomenon only to realize the reason that I selected that very particular example was because of an incident I couldn’t explain from college.
Aislinn lifted one eyebrow as she smirked at me. “Now that you have to explain.”
The kettle started whistling and I poured the hot water into the mugs then handed her one. I added three spoons of sugar and a splash of milk while I tried to recall everything and silence the denial screaming over everything else.
“When I was in college there was this girl that lived in my dorms. She believed the world should revolve around her. One day she asked my husband Tim, only he wasn’t my husband at the time, to meet her at the restaurant where she worked and take her out dancing after her shift. Neither knew I was listening from my car that was parked two stalls over from hers. I was so mad I wished her tire would go flat and she’d miss work. To my surprise a few seconds later her tire popped, sending her on her ass.”
Aislinn was laughing by the end of my explanation. “That’s definitely magic. Tires don’t just explode like that. You made that happen. It seems like you did inherit your grandmother’s magic after all. I was right. And, the rest of what happened this morning is probably because you were just appointed as the new Guardian. But there’s more. Or I wouldn’t have felt the flux earlier.”