Miles was trembling all over.
Bella closed the book before placing it on the small table beside the chair. She leaned forward. Her skin prickled.
The air had changed again. Before, the tension pulsed behind sealed curtains. A silent hostility that was kept under wraps -unaddressed. But now, it slowly seeped out.
One wisp after the other. One breath and her stomach coiled tighter than before.
"I- I usually h-ave nightmares." He repeated it again like he was struggling to find the right words to say.
"What are they usually about?"
Miles swallowed. "Mom....
an-d dad. Espe-cially dad."
Mom. Of course. Her lips curved. Their mother's disgust for Miles had been apparent from the beginning. She didn't even try to hide it.
"Bella's friends are coming for a play date today. I don't want you anywhere near them, am I clear?"
But for dad? Her stomach coiled tighter than before. She steeled herself. The truth would come out eventually.
Better now than never. Despite that, her throat tightened.
His face paled. For a moment, he looked completely weak. Like he'd faint if he pushed too far.
"Hey, you don't have to say this if you're not ready-"
"No, I will. I a-m." Miles swallowed again.
"I called Set-h yeste-rday. I... I want-ed to see a gh-ost."
Her eyebrows raised.
"I met him at Grays-tone. He ga-ve me a chain that he-lps you see g-hosts."
The fact that this ghost topic was being effortlessly exchanged between them made her feel like they had gone completely nuts.
Everything really had changed.
"So, I d-id see the gho-sts. It was... baffling to be hon-est." Miles laughed but it fell flat too quickly. His eyebrows pinched together again.
Bella had a feeling that the ghosts had nothing to do with his breakdown.
"Then, I saw da-d."
"I frea-ked out and ran away. You kn-ow the rest..."
Bella nodded slowly. Despite the information that now lingered in the air, the holes were still too many. Too many unfilled gaps.
And she was sure that the elephant was still here. Unaddressed. Silent.
Yet very, very tangible.
His eyes glazed over for a second. Then he swallowed again. A line of sweat spilled down his forehead.
Miles didn't speak for a while. Bella finally took the initiative when the silence stretched too long.
"You said you freaked out when you saw dad. Why?"
Do you really want to know this?
Ignorance is bliss.
This must be bad.
"I-" Miles paused, cracked his knuckles before sighing again.
"After the divorce, dad was fur-ious. He bare-ly spoke to me. For days, his eyes were alw-ays glued to his phone -calling, scrolling, hunt-ing for a good lawyer."
"To win custody of me?"
Miles nodded. A knot twisted beneath her sternum.
"But when he lost cus-tody. When he lost you. He was m-ore than furious-he was deva-stated. And that w-as only the beginning."
He inhaled shakily.
"He tur-ned to drinking. Got wast-ed in alcohol. D-ay in. D-ay out. The only time he wasn't dru-nk was when we had visitors. He always ma-de sure he knew ahead of tim-e. To get me to clean the house. Wipe the cou-nters. Hide his stash of alco-hol."
"After all, it's so impo-rtant to save face. Make a good name. With ou-r neighbors. The sin-gers. With my classmates. " Miles let out a bitter laugh.
But not him....
Bella finished quietly. Now, Bella could see the parallel between her mother and father. Something she once thought unthinkable. Forbidden.
Yet, here it was.
The cotton shirt suddenly clung a little too tightly.
Her tongue slid over her dry lips.
"I saved you from him. There were so many red flags. So many warning signs. I had to take the initiative. To save you."
"To save us."
Could her mother have been right all along?
"He got t-he walls soundp-roofed. Replaced the shutt-ers with thick curt-ains. Changed the car-pets. I never took note. At the time, I just d-idn't care. As lo-ng as no one was paying attention to me I was be fine -."
His right eye squeezed shut and the right side of his lips twisted. Bella stood up and walked to the chair before placing an encouraging hand on his shoulder.
Miles took a sharp breath.
Watching him crumble before her made her chest clench. She couldn't remember ever seeing him cry. No matter what. Not from her childhood friends ridiculing him. Or their mother downgrading him.
Or even her own badmouthing.
But here he was. She bit her lip.
"Everything changed when he ret-urned home one night. Sw-eaty. Drunk. Angry."
Despite the fact his hands were shaking, he was still able to maintain a level tone. As though it were something he had to repeat. To ponder.
To relive.
The saliva in her throat soured.
"That was the fi-rst time he hurt m-e."
"Hurt? What do you mean hurt?!"
Miles was quiet for some seconds before he lifted the hem of his shirt and turned his back to her.
Bella gasped.
Scars stretched down the length of his back. They were in different sizes and shapes. Some formed long arches. While others were thin. Small. Little.
Bella had always heard about abuse. She'd seen the newspapers. Heard the latest gossip. Read it in the tabloids.
It was something she'd discussed over a hot cup of tea as her friends gushed over the latest rumors. She'd always thought they were lies.
Why would a father do this to their child? She'd heard of girls pull false tales for attention. Seen girls who'd crashed the careers of innocent men with such stories.
She'd believed it was a lie.
No matter the evidence. No matter the fact. They were all the same.
At least that was what her mother made her believe.
Yet, here was proof. That this was real.
Very real.
There was no way. He couldn't. He wouldn't.
The room began to spin. Slowly moving as her mind latched onto any crack of reasoning. Onto any memory. The flowers. The mud. The laughs. The odd jokes.
His terrible cooking.
But that isn't who he is now. Now, he's a liar. An alcoholic. A murderer.
An abusive father.
He abused Miles.
"No." Bella held her head in her hands. Now, she felt sick.
Everything now made sense. The coldness. The way he avoided topics concerning their father.
And she'd been a fool. She'd assumed he had enjoyed all the good things that their father had to offer while she had been slaving herself to make her mother rich.
But in reality, he was being beaten up like an animal. The realization made her earlier selfishness and bitterness seem so foolish.
How could she have been so blind?
"How long has this been happening?"
"As long as I liv-ed in that hou-se." He spat with barely concealed venom.
"When did you leave?"
He unclenched his hands. "I ra-n away when I w-as 16."
At 16, she had been traveling all round. Signing autographs. Whining about how the butlers couldn't seem to get her tea right -as she liked different teas in her different moods.
She pulled her hair. "But didn't anyone know what was going on? Why didn't they get the police involved?!"
"Because no one kn-ew. He was g-ood at covering up his trac-es. Lies. Besides, everyone already thought he w-as a hero for ta-king care of me."
"But the injuries?"
"I treated the-m - my first aid classes came in handy. He alwa-ys made sure to hit me where my clothes would hide the banda-ges."
"Besides, he threa-tened me seve-rally. Said tha-t if I told anyone he'd ki-ll me. An-d with all he'd already done, it wasn't har-d to imagine the possibi-lity."
Bella ran a hand through her hair. How could he?
She tried to catch her breath. To face the facts. But it felt like swallowing a bitter pill. Her mind vomited it back. Lifted memories. Lifted the good times. The laughs. The dreams.
She shook her head. And Miles? What was she even supposed to do? Apologize? Lighten the mood?
"I'm sorry yo-"
"Don't."
"What?"
Miles turned to her and looked her dead in the eye. "Don't pity me. I'm not sharin-g this for you to apol-ogize. You did-n't do it. So don't."
She took in a deep breath. "I think you should go for therapy."
Miles chuckled darkly. "Now y-ou think I'm brok-en too? Save it. I'm fine-"
"I'm not stupid! I know you'll be fine eventually -but now you've got to stop lying and start facing the truth! You need help." She slapped his shoulder harder than she intended to.
"Bu-"
"No. You're going to do it."
Miles gritted his teeth. "You're not my moth-er."
"And I don't want to be." She finished, rolling her eyes at him. "And if it helps I can tag along with you."
Miles gave her a strange look. "A-nd why wo-uld you do that?"
"Take this as my repayment for allowing me to live here rent free."
He regarded her for a few seconds with that strange look before shaking his head. "Has any-one ever told you that your kindness is we-ird?"
Bella gasped dramatically. "That's such a horrible thing to say."
"Is it rea-lly? At lea-st it's the truth."
"Yeah." Bella huffed. "I'd rather have that than have mother in my business. She always acted like I'd die without her. It was crazy!"
Miles snickered. "I can ima-gine."
"Yo-"
Miles phone rang, cutting Bella off.
Seth was calling.
They both shared a look before he picked the call and put it on speaker.
"I know who she's going to kill next."
***
Miles was back to normal.
Cold. Calculating. Stubborn.
Despite trying to get him to stay and shutting the door, he'd just pushed her out of the way before walking out the door.
This wasn't rest. Why couldn't he take a break? Would it kill him?
But Bella didn't voice out her raging concerns as Miles and Seth were conversing in front of her.
"How do yo-u even kn-ow this?" Miles asked as they entered back into the cave. At the side of the tunnel opening, a rock suddenly jutted out. Then rolled down before completely sealing the cave shut. The three interlocking spirals at the top of the rock continued glowing, humming in the lifelessness of the cave.
Bella shuddered. This place only got weirder and weirder.
"I can see into the revenants mind. But not as far as I'd want though." Seth led them down to the middle where the platform with the crystal ball was last time.
Now there was a long table that looked older than the man himself. A chest sat beside it. And of course, a flower.
"How come?"
"Some revenants, like Claire, have more negative energy so are harder to read than others. "
Seth motioned to the seats opposite him. They walked to the other side and sat down.
"So w-ho is she plann-ing to kill next?"
Seth brought a photo and placed it on the table. "This is Gideon. Gideon Hayes. He lives in tideglass way. She's going to kill him in three days."
"And d-o you have any id-ea who he killed?"
Seth shook his head. "For now, no."
The man in the picture had a wild beard. Red rimmed eyes. Wrinkled, pale skin.
He almost reminded Bella of the man that lived next to their father's house that they had asked questions initially while trying to dig more into his death.
Bella shuddered as she remembered the way he had winked at her.
Men.....
"Now that we kn-ow who she's going to kill. How do we st-op her? Is that even possi-ble?"
"Of course it is. With the right spirit." Seth chuckled.
"What?" Bella gave him a quizzical look.
Seth turned to her. "You know you can only fix a ghost problem with the right phan-tasy."
"Now y-ou're not-"
"And solve a ghost mystery with the right blue-clue! See, what I did there." Seth smiled cheekily at them, shaking with barely contained laughter.
"That didn't make any sense."
"Can we get ba-ck to the sub-ject?"
Seth looked between them before groaning. "You're no fun."
"And you are?"
"Of course. When you're caught in a world like mine, you gotta do everything within your power to stay sane." Seth chuckled again before he coughed.
What an idiot.
Seth reached over and opened the chest. It groaned on opening. He lifted the objects before placing them on the table for them to see. They ranged from orbs to chains to small life sized blades and other things Bella couldn't name. They were all dull gry with hints of brown ringing sharp edges and curves.
They looked like they belonged to a completely different time.
Maybe centuries ago.
"This is your answer." Seth held up a blade. It was blunt. It looked like it would break if it wasn't carefully too.
"These weapons are made from umbracite. The metal that's found on the night of the Ash moon." Seth passed the blade to Miles to see. Bella peeked at him before turning her attention back to the weapon.
"So... It only affects the dead?"
"Yes. By draining negative energy. Because you can't kill the dead- phantom or revenant- again. Instead, the goal is to drain enough energy to contain them in a jar."
Jar?
Seth then held up a small jar marked with the same interlocking spiral that was on the wall of the cave.
"This is suppo-sed to contain th-em? What are these signs?" Miles pointed at the spirals, voicing out the question that was already bouncing through her head.
"Lockglyphs. It's a conduit -if you will- that allows ghostreaders to channel their energy into objects and allows us to manipulate them at will."
Bella slumped in the seat. The headache was only getting worse.
"So the jar would contain her. Then we'd do the cleansing ritual which would rid her of the rest of the negative energy before she would transition to the ghost plane. Forever. Simple as that."
Simple?
Annoyance crackled underneath her skin.
"Yo-"
"If it's that easy why do you need our help? Do it yourself."
Seth shook his head. "I would if my body could handle that amount of stress - but it can't."
"It can't or you won't."
Seth raised both his hands in surrender. "I won't gain anything from lying to both of you. Hear me out."
"The reason why we ghostreaders even reach out to our... human counterparts -police officers or anyone else for that matter- is because our powers have taken a toll on us physically. We can't face a phantom or revenant head on. That's the point of these collaborations. That's the point of this."
"You can decide to walk away if you really want to. It could end very badly. You are facing a revenant after all. But I'd be there. I can teach how to fight. To defend yourself. To contain her."
"Please, time is of the essence. Lives depend on it."
A thick silence stretched between the trio in this cave. Bella peeked at Miles. He was staring into space. Thinking. She could almost see the gears turning in his head.
He better not-
"I'll d-o it."
"Miles." She hissed. "Do you want to die?" Bella refrained from slapping him as Seth was watching them in unconcealed amusement.
"Let me leave both of you to sort out your differences." Seth stood up before limping away, resting heavily on his cane. As soon as he was out of range, Bella snapped.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"The right th-ing." Miles hissed back.
"Miles, I don't see a hero. I only see a man who's digging his grave!"
"I wo-n't die. I'm a police of-ficer. Dan-ger is already in m-y blood." He tried to joke but Bella was taking none of it.
Blood roared in her ears. "Stop acting so tough. You and I both know you're weak. You aren't capable of handling this. You need to rest. What is it with you and the constant grind?!"
"Do-n't tell me w-hat I can't do." His eyes flashed.
"But that's the truth. You know that. Your body is failing you. Your mind is failing you. Is it until it's too late that you'll finally listen? And you're risking your life for what -a couple of murderers? Why not let her kill them? They've going it coming anyway-"
"That's the easy w-ay out! They should see what they've done. The effects they've caus-ed. The suffe-ring they've inflicted."
Bella groaned. Why does she even bother? He wouldn't listen. He never listens.
She inhaled. Then exhaled.
"Fine. But I'm going to help you. And that's final."