New Winslow S8E36
Iris actually had a few customers in the few hours she was open the next day. But she hurried them along faster than Andrew would probably have approved of and locked the doors midmorning. Noah was back at the shop by then, this time with Cleo. Andrew and Olivia were handling insurance meetings apparently, and since Anna and Missy had not yet found anything of Billy’s, they were going to give this one more shot.
As soon as she took the wards down in the shop, Iris could feel the energy of both Billy and Samuel in the space, sickly and distant. They didn’t have much time left, either of them.
“Samuel,” Iris said yet again as she sat in the circle, Noah with her and Cleo just outside of it, watching carefully. “Samuel, please, we need you. We need you to talk to your mother, we think she’s the reason for the curse. Find your mom and help break the curse. I’m sure she had a good reason for it, but please just help us reach her.”
“He’s too gone.”
She looked at Noah, who had his eyes closed. “What?”
“Samuel is too far gone.”
She wasn’t sure if she was speaking to Noah or Billy right now and that thought was deeply and unexpectedly unsettling. “What do you mean?”
“He’s not going to talk to you. He can barely hear you.”
“Samuel, it’s alright,” Iris said, trying to keep the frustration and fear out of her voice.
“He’s too far gone.”
“Are you Noah or Billy right now?” she asked.
Cleo raised her eyebrows and Iris tried not to get flustered. Noah sighed. “Um…” he said. “Noah. Mostly, I mean.”
Well, that was new. Or maybe not so much, since she remembered him saying something similar under hypnosis. But he wasn’t hypnotized now, he was acting as a vessel for Billy with the still-open door in his mind. “What do you mean?”
He opened his eyes, and she could tell he was himself as he looked at her. “I mean, he’s kind of coming in and out. And it’s on his end, not mine. But Billy can sense that Samuel is too far to reach. Or if he’s not there yet, he’s close. He’s scared.”
“Billy or Samuel?”
Noah didn’t answer. “Samuel,” Iris said, her voice soft as she closed her eyes again. “Samuel, it’s okay. We want to reconnect you with your mom. You miss her, don’t you?”
“He’s afraid,” Noah said quietly.
She focused on the space around them, trying to find Samuel’s presence within it. There were traces within the circle, if she could just…
“He’s afraid.”
The presence slipped through her metaphorical fingers as Noah spoke again. Iris took a sharp breath, trying to let go of her irritation. She needed to focus on Samuel first, then they’d focus on Billy. She breathed again, reaching out.
“He’s afraid.”
“Noah, I know that,” Iris snapped finally. “Just give me minute so I can actually-”
“Iris!”
Cleo’s sharp tone made her open her eyes. Billy was looking at her through Noah’s eyes again, moving in and out of focus like it was a struggle to stay in control. His eyes didn’t change much, that light blue remaining consistent, but she could see the way Billy flickered behind them. “Ma’am,” he said softly, body trembling. “Sam’s afraid.”
He looked up toward the ceiling and Iris looked over at Cleo, who motioned exasperatedly toward him as if to say, See?
“It’s okay,” Iris said into the surrounding space, trying to reclaim that gentleness again. “I know you’re scared. It’s okay to be scared.”
Iris didn’t spend much time with kids. Not that that should matter, because Samuel Alderidge had been in his early twenties when he died. And she was only about a decade older than him. But he needed her to be gentle. She looked over at Noah and could tell it was Billy watching her right now. He nodded at her and she closed her eyes. “Samuel, I’m here if you want to talk to me,” she said. “I know you don’t trust me and I’m sorry. I pulled you back into this world with no clue who you were, and I didn’t really care either. That was wrong of me and I’m so sorry. But Billy’s here too, we’re going to help him find rest and we want to help you find your mom. Do you think you can help us talk to her?”
There was silence, but she glanced over as she felt Billy’s presence disappear again. “Thank you for telling me, Billy,” she said, hoping he could hear her too. “I wouldn’t have known that without you.”
It was humbling to say that to the ghost of a teenager when she was supposed to be the expert here, but she wasn’t lying. If Billy hadn’t been able to tell her that Samuel was scared and fading out, then it wouldn’t have occurred to her to apologize. She could feel the familiar presence of Roland, but it was quieter now, calmer. He still wasn’t going to talk to Billy through her. But maybe now he didn’t need to.
She looked over at Noah, who looked queasy. She nodded at him and said goodbye to both spirits, her head throbbing as she closed the door and opened the protective circle. Like before, Noah slid off his chair and Cleo moved toward him. Andrew or Noah must have told her to expect it, because she wasn’t panicking over it. And a moment later, with her help, he sat up and shook his head dazedly. “He’s not stable,” Iris said, rubbing at the pain in her own head.
“I know.”
She expected an argument, but none came. “We shouldn’t do that again.”
“Okay.”
“But I think Billy was able to connect with him. If not directly, then close enough. Enough that we could help them both. You did it.”
“Sure, okay.”
“I’ll drive us home,” Cleo said.
He followed her out and Iris watched them leave, wondering what was going to happen next. They’d established contact with Samuel, she could feel the connection in the air. It felt like Roland, but there was something else under it, something more secure. Not stable, necessarily. But she also felt confident she’d never actually speak to Billy McBride again.
That feeling was confirmed when her phone rang about thirty minutes later. The shop was open again and she’d been watering some plants she had on display near the counter. “Forest Charms, this is Iris.”
“Iris, it’s Missy.”
“Missy, hi!”
“Do you think a book would work to bury your spirit?” Missy asked.
Iris considered it for a second. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t?” she answered finally.
“That was my thought,” Missy said. “But I’ve never dealt with quite this situation before. But I don’t have any other options for you so far. It seems like the McBrides got rid of all of Billy’s belongings when he died. The only reason I know that this book is his is because of an archive card that lists him as the owner. But you can pick it up any time.”
“Let me talk to the others and I’ll call you back,” she said.
She hung up and immediately called Andrew, more relieved than she expected to be. After a few minutes of discussion, both between them and on his end of the phone, he said that Noah would pick up the volume at the Countess this afternoon while he was out of town.
She hung up and sat back down on her stool behind the counter. There were no customers and probably wouldn’t be any for the rest of the day. But the shop felt more peaceful than it had in weeks.
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