He’d threatened Penny. As James and Bradley drove her back to Celia’s house, Lacey explained in shaking terms what had happened. Just like Cody, Edward Clayborne’s spirit had shown up at her house, fully materialized and enormous. He’d told her to come with him. And if she didn’t, he’d kill Penny.

James didn’t think that it was possible for him to do so. The protections they’d put up at Celia’s house were strict and strong. But Lacey didn’t know that. So she’d followed him out the back door and walked across Leominster under his orders, leaving her phone behind and staying hidden as she went. He’d told her to get in that room at the back of the barn, then locked her in there. The amount of strength it must have taken for the spirit to do that had James shivering despite the heat.

“Is Penny okay?” Lacey asked again as they passed through downtown, the traffic finally lessened as they drove past the brightly lit restaurants and stores. 

“She’s fine,” James said. “Your parents are too. They’re all worried about you, but they’re okay.”

Lacey nodded, looking out the window as she wiped away tears. James watched from the rearview mirror, then turned his focus back onto the road. Beside him, Bradley looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. James appreciated that. Even if it wasn’t anything awful, James just wanted a moment of quiet. Not only did his head hurt now, so did every other inch of his body. He wanted to fall back into bed and take the rest of his sick day. Maybe three or four of them in a row.

As they got to Celia’s, Lacey’s parents came running out of the house. She was barely out of the car before they had her in their arms. Behind them, he could see Celia, Cody, and Penny waiting on the porch. James gave the Renfro family some space as he moved around them and up the porch steps. 

“If you have a Tylenol, you’ll officially be my favorite cousin,” he said to Celia.

“Follow me.”

She led him into the house, leaving Bradley standing awkwardly on the porch with Penny and Cody. “She’s okay,” James said. “They’ll want to get her checked, but she was locked in a small closet in an old barn.”

“You look like you got in a fight in a barn,” Celia said.

James laughed and it didn’t sound too healthy, but she looked stressed enough that there was no way she was calling him on it. Instead, she got him some pills and a glass of water. “Thanks,” he said, then took them.

He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror she had hanging in the hallway and could see exactly what she meant. His blond hair was caked in dirt and there were scratches on his cheek that he hadn’t even felt until now. But it beat getting a pitchfork through the face. 

The police came back to talk to Lacey and her family, then they left to bring Lacey to get checked at the emergency room. Penny hugged her before they left. Then, clearly thinking no adults were watching, she kissed Lacey and hugged her again. Lacey buried her face in Penny’s shoulder and James walked away to give them some space.

Bradley was sitting in the living room with Celia, who slipped James a pair of vinyl gloves from her enormous first aid kid. He took off his ruined ones and put them on with relief as Penny and Cody came in. “Hey, Amelia,” he said over comms. “Mind if we debrief here?”

“That works for me,” Amelia said. “Graham’s on overnight tonight with Bradley, so he’s going to take over once we’re done with this. Are you heading home?”

“Yeah, I need to go back to bed.”

“Want some dinner first?”

“Yeah.”

“Bradley, come have dinner with us after.”

Bradley shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. “I need to take the overnight.”

“I can-”

“Fuck off.”

The kids exchanged a look and James didn’t even bother. They sat down on the couch across from James and he put the comms unit on the coffee table so that Amelia could join the conversation. “Alright,” he said. “At the end of every case, we debrief. Talk about what went well, what didn’t, what we can do better next time. Things like that.”

Penny and Cody nodded, clearly trying to contain their excitement despite everything. “So, things that went well,” James said. “We got him to cross over. Burning the belongings got rid of what was connecting this man to Earth after his death. That’s a good thing, that’s peace for him and for us. Even if he wasn’t a good person in life, I like to think peace is a good thing? But that goes into all kinds of esoteric things I don’t know about. People way smarter than I am can discuss that.”

Penny smiled, then looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap. “We had a couple other branches helping us out,” James continued. “Hillsborough County in New Hampshire was watching for her and the captain of Essex County was actually out on the beach searching based on a lead we had there. So good communication and cooperation among teams. That’s important. And when the day comes that other teams need it, we’ll repay those favors.”

James rubbed his aching eyes. “What else?” he said. “Bradley got to burn things. Nice fires, Bradley.”

Bradley glowered at him. “And, while it was all a mess, Pen, you guys did a good job calling us for help the other night. That was the right thing to do.”

She nodded, her face red. “Now, on to things that weren’t so good,” James said. “Penny, if I ever hear about you summoning anything ever again, I’ll kick your ass myself. Understood? Cody, that goes for you and Lacey too.”

“Yes, Uncle James,” Penny said quietly as Cody nodded and mumbled, “Yes, Uncle James.”

“This is dangerous work,” he continued. “If you want to consider it as a career when you’re older, it can also be good work. When you are older. Learn as much as you want now, but you do not summon, you do not conjure, you do not scry, you do not do anything until you are older and have proper training. Because we got very, very lucky. And I need you guys to understand that. People die attempting these things all the time. Or they kill innocent people and have to live with that fact for the rest of their lives.”

The two kids looked much more somber now. “And don’t take things from case sites. And don’t ever lie to me again. I’ll leave it at that because I think you learned what you needed to learn here.”

“What happens next?” Cody asked.

“Paperwork,” Bradley said before James could answer. “Lots of boring paperwork that I then process and send to the Foundation so it can sit on someone’s desk until the end of time.”

Penny looked at James curiously and he nodded. “It’s not a glamorous job,” he said. “We’ll fill out the reports, then go home.”

“Do you live together?” Cody asked.

“Hell, no,” Bradley said, a little too quickly for James’s liking.

“Do you have anything to add, Amelia?” James asked.

“No,” she replied. “Nothing that hasn’t already been said.”

They left a few minutes later. As James staggered out the door, he heard Penny call him.

“Uncle James, wait!”

He turned and suddenly she was throwing her arms around him. Blinking hard, he hugged her tightly. “Take care, Pen,” he said. 

“Are you going on Sunday?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

She let go and looked up at him. “Love you.”

“I love you too.”

As they left, the stars now peeking out around the last of the rain clouds seemed to be pulsing in time to James’s headache. “Want me to drive?” Bradley asked.

“Please.”

“We’re heading back, Amelia,” Bradley said as James climbed into the passenger seat.

“Got it,” she said.

James looked at the floor of the passenger side and swore. “What?” Bradley asked.

“My crowbar. I left it in the barn.”

“Want to go get it?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m impressed you managed to break the lock with that,” Amelia said.

James shrugged, closing his eyes. “I like playing baseball,” he said.

“Yeah, I fucking noticed,” Bradley muttered. 

As they were driving, James remembered he’d felt a text come through as he’d been staring down that pitchfork. He pulled out his phone, expecting McGovern.

MEREDITH

Are you free tonight? I’m sorry it’s last minute, I’m home for the wedding and wanted to see you.

He should tell her no. He should get some sleep tonight and maybe go to work tomorrow.

“What’s McGovern want?” Bradley asked.

“It’s not him, it’s Meredith,” James said, reading the message over again. “My ex. She’s asking what I’m doing tonight.”

“Oh.”

“Wait, what?” Amelia said excitedly over comms.

“I’ll answer her in a second.”

He set his phone down, then leaned back against the seat, closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them a few minutes later, they were passing by Fairview Hills Cemetery, the headstones all shrouded in shadow. James took out his phone again.

“Fuck it,” he murmured.

JAMES

Getting home from work in 10 minutes. I’d love to see you. Want to come to my place?

“Were you guys thinking of getting takeout at our place?” he asked Bradley and Amelia. “Meredith might come over, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine,” Amelia said.

“Actually, I’m probably going to head home until it’s time to start the overnight,” Bradley said. “Graham said he’d give me a ride to get my car.”

“No, come on,” James protested.

“I have things I need to do. Thank you for the invitation, though.”

Weirdly polite, but he was probably exhausted from the terrible schedule James had put him on this week. A text came through and James checked it.

MEREDITH

I’ll be there in 20

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 26