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  He held the door for her, and Hecate stepped inside. She toed her shoes off and stepped into the Fisher home.

  Hecate kept her astonishment to herself. The house looked like a cozy two-story, but inside, it was an expansive grand home.

  There was an open concept to the main floor, and the rear of the house was panelled with windows. Bright light illuminated the gathering of middle-aged folk sitting around a large table in the center of the open space.

  Everyone got to their feet as she entered the space, and the woman with blue and silver hair came toward her with a smile. “Hecate. I am so happy to meet you.”

  Leo’s mother came to her and hugged her. “I am so glad that you came today. We have been wondering about you.”

  Hecate could only find one human soul in the room, and it belonged to the woman with the brown hair sitting next to the elf.

  She returned the hug and smiled. “I am glad to meet you, Mrs. Fisher.”

  “Laura, please. This is my husband, Verne, Seesee, Miklos, Abby, and Xander. Abby is the reason we have all been gathered here.”

  Hecate smiled. “Abby is the only human. She’s a powerful human but still human.”

  Abby smiled. “How do you know?”

  “Your spirit is human. There are also pieces of it in the immediate vicinity.” She frowned. “They are under the table?”

  Abby laughed. “Come on out, guys.”

  Seven small figures emerged from under the table. Garden gnomes who were most definitely flesh and blood.

  Laura stepped away, and the gnomes surrounded Hecate. She looked at them, and each one had a tiny piece of Abby’s spirit and something bright that Hecate translated to be magic. Everyone in the room was glowing softly, but Abby was the only person who flared and flickered brightly with the aura of a human.

  “They are part of you. You made them.”

  Abby raised her brows and nodded. “They can also speak, in their own ways. Watch out for Harby. He is the one in black leather.”

  Hecate looked the small gnome in the eye, and she gave him the same look she gave to stubborn ghosts. The look said that she had seen and done everything. He gave her a look that said she hadn’t seen anything like him yet, and she was startled into a grin. Their challenge had been issued, and each was satisfied that the other would be a good opponent.

  Abby was staring in surprise. “You two just had a showdown, and neither of you moved. Well done.”

  Hecate smiled. “We understand each other. I won’t turn my back on him, and he will watch to make sure that I don’t do any weird things with the human part of his spirit.”

  The gnomes nodded in agreement with her.

  “Or their spirits. I couldn’t anyway. Unless the spirit has been severed from life, I don’t do anything to them.”

  Seesee raised her eyebrows, and her hair shifted slightly. “Is it true? You are a ghost hunter?”

  “That isn’t quite accurate. I am a ghost extractor. I don’t hunt them. I don’t hunt anything.”

  Miklos smiled. “How do you extract them?”

  “The method varies. Sometimes I can just speak with them, sometimes I have to physically pry them away, and other times, I use force, but I am always invited to the site and always speak with the living and the deceased before I proceed.”

  Xander cocked his head. “How do you transport them?”

  “In a poppet. A small featureless doll. They can stay in there during transport, or they can leave along the way, but they are locked away from the one they have haunted.” It felt for all the world like a job interview.

  Verne asked, “Have you ever dealt with the ghost of a werewolf?”

  “No. It is outside my purview. I stick to humans. I don’t need to deal with the mage spectres and all the rest. They work on a different frequency than I do.”

  Abby smiled and nodded to Laura. “Enough. Let her sit down, and we can have a nice chat. We have already spoken with Esmy and explained a little of what we are. Imagine our surprise when she was ready and able to believe what we said with only minimal demonstration.”

  Hecate smiled. “I desensitized her. It took years.”

  Laura laughed and brought her over to the table where Leo sat next to his father, and Hecate was slightly set apart from everyone. It was fine. She was used to it.

  Seesee smiled. “We left room between you and Miklos so that my daughter could come and have a seat when she finishes taking care of the little ones.”

  Hecate nodded and said, “Babies?”

  Abby wrinkled her nose. “Pixies. They broke out of their migration pattern with all of this climate shift stuff, and now, they are filling my back yard and annoying my dryad. They put out a ton of tactile magic, but they are rather frisky and very vocal. Gaia calms them right down. As for children, my youngest is eight. We aren’t planning any more for a few years.”

  Hecate left that weird statement hanging in the air.

  Seesee snickered. “We don’t age at the same rate as humans, and that means that we have to stick to human schedules. When we chronologically age, we have to alter our appearances. Every thirty years or so, we get our identities updated, and we can resume our natural appearances. Well, mostly.” Her hair writhed and twisted in a series of loops and coils.

  “Okay, that is very interesting. What are you?”

  Abby chuckled. “I am sure that Leo has told you a few of the characteristics of the inhabitants of Oak Point Way.”

  “A few. He did not mention the gorgon or the vampire or the elf. He did explain his parents.”

  Verne chuckled. “That would be a first. I can barely explain us on a good day.”

  Xander moved his fingers, and the tea service lifted up, and a cup slid itself over to her. The teapot followed suit, and soon, the sugar container and the milk had taken up residence. She took two lumps of sugar and stirred the cup. “I am still a little confused as to why you want to speak with me. Sure, Esmy is marrying into your little grouping, but she and I only speak when absolutely necessary. My calling won’t affect her place in this community.”

  Abby looked around, and then, she leaned in, “Why don’t you talk to Esmy?”

  “Oh, it isn’t that I don’t talk to her. I have always been too weird for her. It is difficult to be around the paranormal when all your family is normal.” She sipped at her tea.

  Abby smiled. “I understand better than you can imagine. My mother took the opposite tactic, she tried to haul me into every event, service, and gathering that she could find. She was trying to shape me into what she considered normal, but I never quite fit.”

  Hecate sipped at her tea, focusing on it intently. “That sounds familiar.”

  “It happens to hedge witches, wild talents. We all start life where we don’t fit, and the more we struggle to get into society, the weirder our personal image becomes. We want you to know that if you need to talk about anything, we all know how it feels to not fit in.”

  Hecate turned to Leo and fixed him with a cold stare. “We have only just met today, you are about to become my brother, and you start by arranging an intervention?”

  The group laughed, and Leo blushed.

  Hecate slowly smiled and reached over to pat him on the hand. “Nice choice.”

  Leo exhaled and pressed his forehead to the table. “You just scared the hell out of me.”

  “Good. I don’t like working with demons. They get a little handsy.”

  That set the group off on another round of giggles.

  Her phone chirped, and she hadn’t realized she brought it in with her. She excused herself, checked the call, and then, sighed. “I am sorry, folks, but I have to take this call. Do you mind if I go outside?”

  Laura smiled and led her out through one of the glass-panelled doors. “Take your time, pet.”

  Hecate had never been called a pet before, but she spoke to the panicking man on the other end of the line. His wife had died the
previous year, and everything was fine until he started dating someone new. Now all of the appliances were mad, and even the kettle didn’t boil water properly. He was convinced that it was his deceased wife. So, she gave him the payment information, and she waited.

  She looked around, and a cloud of something vague and glittery approached her. It was moving in fast, and there was a woman walking with it.

  As the woman got close, Hecate spoke out, “You must be Gaia.”

  “I definitely am, and if you don’t want to get covered in pixie dust, you will get indoors. They are really messy.”

  Hecate looked at the incoming cloud, and she bolted for the house. She held the door for Gaia, and the woman laughed as she ducked inside, and Hecate pulled the door shut tight.

  The splattering of small people against the door was amazing. Hecate watched the flattened creature push away and fly off.

  Gaia grinned. “You must be Hecate.”

  Hecate shook the woman’s hand and came away with her hand full of glitter. “Does this wash off?”

  Gaia laughed. “You don’t feel a rush of power?”

  “No. It just feels vaguely sticky.” She made her face. “Right. Not so vague.”

  The glitter on her hand turned liquid and formed droplets that ran together until they were a large pearl of something on her palm.

  The ballerina gnome tapped on Hecate’s knee and held her palms up. Taking the hint, she poured the drop of pixie leavings into the hands of the ballerina.

  The gnome sprinted to Abby, and Abby picked up the small object, turning it into a hard and shimmering pearl.

  “Put it with the rest, Ruffles. Thank you.”

  Hecate rubbed her hands together. Gaia carefully moved to the chair set aside for her. She took in a deep breath and exhaled it, making all of the glitter disappear.

  “Hecate, please, have a seat again. This is Gaia, my eldest.”

  Hecate looked at Seesee, Miklos, and Gaia.

  Gaia grinned. “I am adopted.”

  Hecate opened her phone and pulled out an image of her own parents when they were young and engaged. She showed Gaia. “I am not.”

  Gaia grinned. “You have his features. Esmy looks more like your mom.”

  “She does. Mom says she was so happy when Esmy arrived and so surprised when I did.”

  Gaia took Hecate’s hand and squeezed it. “My mom wasn’t expecting me either, but she knew I was hers the moment she held me. I am pretty sure that your mom felt the same.”

  Hecate smiled. “She knew I was hers; she just didn’t know what to do with me.”

  Seesee exhaled. “I can second that one.”

  The gathered folk laughed, and conversation turned toward wedding prep. Esmy wasn’t going to marry a man, she was marrying his community. She was going to be extremely lucky.

  * * * *

  Gaia watched as Hecate drove Leo home. “No magic. None whatsoever. She repels it. That is fascinating.”

  Seesee wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You are sure?”

  “I am sure. I tried to draw magic out of her, but there was nothing there. However, it is that she does what she does, it isn’t magic. It is something a lot older.”

  Seesee nodded. “That is what I figured as well. Even my monster didn’t know what she was, but it recognized it at the same time. Whatever she inherited, it is very, very old.”

  She looked over at Laura. “Are you happy to have her in the family?”

  Laura smiled. “I love Esmy with all my heart, but there is enough space for someone like Hecate. She needs to know that she has someone to call on. I don’t think she has ever had that before.”

  Verne sighed. “She won’t call on us for help. You know she won’t.”

  Abby smiled. “But we can offer her information on what she is. Everyone, start your research into ghost hunters. She might not hunt, but someone in her family did.”

  Xander looked at his wife. “I think I know just who to contact.”

  Gaia smiled at the group effort that was coming in to play. Hecate might not be aware of it, but it wasn’t just her sister who was getting another family. That was the joy of the Nexus Guard of Oak Point Way. They took you in and made you part of them.

  Chapter Six

  Four hours after seeing Leo to his car, Hecate was wondering how to answer the question that Esmy was sending her.

  She finally settled with. He’s a good man and will make you an excellent husband.

  Exhaling, she went to take a walk on the property and check to see some of her older guests.

  Amber came up to her and said softly, “Mr. Hiller is gone. His wife passed, and he went to be at his side. I had to use some of the emergency funds.”

  “That is fine. Thank you. He has waited for quite a while.” She smiled softly. “Good on you for knowing what he needed.”

  “He was acting weird and saying that she was going. Once I figured out what was going on, I knew what to do from all the times you ran drills with me.” Amber smiled, her translucent face bright.

  “You knew what to do, and you took action.”

  “Yes, just a pity that I couldn’t be like that when I was alive.”

  Hecate focused and gave Amber a hug. “You mean, assertive. That is something that comes with age, but you need it when you are young, it is one of life’s ironies.”

  “I hate irony. If I had been assertive, I wouldn’t have been in that car.”

  “We all do things when we are children that are dangerous. It is only luck that pulls us away in one piece. Not everyone has that luck all the time.”

  Her thoughts dwelling on the past as they always did with Amber. Hecate’s heart had tripped in her chest when she had been called to collect the teen. Thessa had been losing her mind, and Hecate was the last resort before she ended her own suffering at losing her only daughter.

  Hecate never charged to collect children, and so, Thessa’s sister was trying to convince her that Hecate was a fraud. Hecate had simply gone into Thessa’s room and picked up her favourite lipstick, twisted the bottom, and tapped out the joint that was hidden inside. She gave the grieving mother two words. “She knew.”

  Thessa kicked out her sister and spent the rest of the hour asking Amber questions. Hecate broke one of her own rules and gave Amber enough of her own energy to be seen, heard, and touched by her mother for that one hour.

  Hecate had been exhausted by the end of the hour, but when she called time, Thessa had a soft and serene glow about her, as did Amber. They had the bit of time they needed to sort out unfinished business, and Hecate expected Amber to leave.

  Amber did not leave. Her mother’s depression had created an anchor, and now, they were bound until Thessa naturally left the living world. So, Hecate took Amber home and gave Thessa an open invitation to the property. She carried a booster stone with her, and it let her see Amber in a visible form.

  Hecate let her go and smiled. “Were you comforting me, or was I comforting you?”

  Amber chuckled. “I think we both needed a hug. Are you all right? I know they stress you out.”

  “I am fine. I actually got a proper calorie count in today. I feel nearly warm today.”

  They started walking through the paths in the woods.

  Jolene Beckhurst walked out of the trees. “How did you manage to get a proper meal?”

  “I met my new brother-in-law to-be, and he treated me to a proper lunch in order to get to know each other. His idea.”

  Jolene narrowed her glowing eyes. “Was it?”

  “Nothing skeevy. He’s a paranormal himself, and since Esmy finally told me that, it was time to meet him. He’s a werewolf.”

  Jolene gasped. “They are murderers.”

  “Who says so?”

  “I heard about it from a ghost near the river who heard it from someone out of town.”

  “They don’t kill humans. They tend to work within family feuds and o
ther paranormal grudges. If there was a ghost killed by a werewolf, it was just like any and all of the ghosts I have met who have been murdered by other humans. We are far more deadly than other species.”

  Jolene frowned, and Hecate didn’t need to remind her that she had left the living world at the hands of her husband’s brother. It had been a light affair that turned deadly and had hurt everyone concerned. For Jolene, it was fatal. She was now waiting for her son to finish college, and then, she would be on her way. Two more years to go.

  “I also met a Nexus, a gorgon, an elf, a vampire, and a mermaid this afternoon. Also, I think I met a nullifier. She pulls magic in.”

  Amber’s glowing eyes were wide. “Really? An elf? In Manitoba?”

  “Yes. Really. Weird thing. None of them have ghosts. Spirits, whatever. Well, one of them did, but none of the true paranormals had a spirit that I could see.”

  “Wow. So, they are really different.” Amber was rather excited.

  “Really.”

  “Do you think that they might ever come here?” Amber was a little eager. Her aura was vibrating the way only a teenager’s could.

  “I think that I could ask them to come for a visit after the wedding.”

  “All of them?”

  “Sure. We have space. We could set up some tables and have a barbeque during the spring.”

  “That is so far away!”

  “Not to be mean, Amber, but you aren’t getting any older. You can wait. The wedding is in a month, the cake flavour is final, though I am pretty sure I just confirmed a decision they had already made.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want to stress Esmy during the first few months of her new marriage.”

  Her phone rang, and she slumped her shoulders. “And this is exactly why.”

  She looked at the number and didn’t recognize it. That meant a new client. “Hello, ghost extraction.”

  She spent the next ten minutes with her new and paid client sobbing in the speakers of her car as she hit the accelerator and engaged what she called the ghost drive. She was going to need her whip for this one.

  Her car was loaded with its complete capacity of a dozen ghosts, and they transformed the matter of her vehicle into something that they could move through human space. In emergencies, it cut her travel time from an hour to less than five minutes.