The Spectral City. Leanna Renee Hieber

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      Chapter Four

      Antonia Morelli was the next to return, taking her seat silently, young Jenny behind her; the last of their medium quartet.

      Eve didn’t need to say a word or send a wire in times of an emergency. All she had to do was open herself in a certain, clear and unmistakable way—a psychic alarm, a siren’s wail let the souls connected to hers feel her concern and they would, almost always, take their natural places around the circle as soon as was possible.

      Eve and the girls didn’t know much about Antonia’s past. All they knew and cared about was the striking night they had all met, which was telling in and of itself.

      Antonia had knocked on the door mid-séance, in the middle of a hunt for information about an abusive doctor. When Eve snapped out of her trance to answer the bell, there was tall Antonia, brown-black hair swept up into a bun atop her head, dressed in a lace-collared shirtwaist and a plain black skirt, sporting a bruised cheek and a half-smile. She’d worn a hint of rouge and lip color, and her hazel eyes framed by long black lashes were sharply focused.

      “Hello . . .” Eve had begun, but before she could ask if she could be of service, the young woman—perhaps Eve’s age, but it was hard to tell, as it was clear the soul inside was an elder one—had explained herself in a soft, tremulous voice.

      “When I . . . wasn’t what was expected, the spirits said to come here. And . . . I wasn’t in a position to argue. Sorry to interrupt you. I’m Antonia. I wasn’t born so by name, but I am Antonia. I’ve no family, as the sex they assigned to me upon my entrance into this world is not who I am and I had to part ways with them for my safety.

      “The spirits told me Eve wouldn’t mind and, if I spoke forthrightly, would take me as I am, without question. You’re Eve?”

      Antonia had stared at Eve, boldly willing her understanding, and Eve’s senses had warmed to this clearly feminine soul who was so very much like herself—elegant and fierce, brave enough to presume, in fact, demand her safe passage as the woman she had become.

      “I am,” Eve replied. “And who am I to argue with Providence? I’m looking for a new hire, and the universe provides. Welcome,” Eve said, gesturing her in. “We’re in the midst of a séance.”

      “I know,” Antonia replied with a smile that won Eve over entirely. “May I please join and prove myself?”

      * * * *

      That was how they’d begun. Antonia dove in and got right to work. During the séance her first night, Antonia identified and communicated with the spirits of two missing persons, one having fled home only to die of illness and one murdered. This closed two of Eve’s open cases before the precinct had even been officially codified.

      Due to her nearly preternatural understanding of others and their needs, Antonia got along with everyone. The Precinct gave her purpose, belonging, and a safe haven. Now she was here at another critical juncture, and her whole being was alertness.

      The same had been true of eight-year-old Jenny Friel. She had simply arrived, a bright-eyed, bronze-haired little girl in a calico dress, escorted by the ghost of her mother who had drowned in a boating accident with her Catholic parish. Jenny hadn’t been on the boat, but the trauma of losing her mother after having already lost her father when she was a baby back in Ireland cut her voice to the quick and she barely spoke.

      When she had arrived on the stoop and Eve opened the door, Jenny looked up at her, wide green eyes sad but determined, her light brown hair bedraggled. Her Ma floated to her side and explained to Eve the situation, asking if she could help, as the only family she’d had here went down on that boat.

      “Fellow spirits told me my girl would be understood here,” her mother said in a gentle Irish lilt. “Not just because she’s got the gift of Sight, but because she’s gone right quiet . . .”

      Eve had told the spirit that her own mother stopped speaking after the death of her maternal grandmother and they were well equipped to understand and even to teach sign language if need be. Eve opened the door to little Jenny and that was that.

      Lady Denbury, Eve’s mother, suffered from selective mutism when she was a child. She had been sent off to the Connecticut Asylum to learn American Sign Language. Her voice had recovered, but she instilled the value of Sign in her daughter, saying that she had a feeling she’d need it. It had proven quite true. Gran also spoke Sign, maintaining that after having learned five vocal languages she had felt it high time to learn a different kind. That had been the initial connection between Natalie and Gran; their ability to converse. Being understood created families out of orphans and the disenfranchised, communication being a shelter for a heart and mind battling the elements.

      There was no taking away little Jenny’s immense grief, but at least she was championed. Natalie had agreed to teach Jenny American Sign and Jenny was eager to learn and to take her mind off the pain of loss.

      Much like Eve, Jenny had grown up hearing spirits and didn’t know any different. Antonia and Cora had both opened to the gifts at thirteen. Altogether, the quartet was equally haunted and equally understood. Jenny’s face on this night, facing another loss as she strode in behind Antonia into the front foyer, was stoic.

      “So our Maggie is mysteriously gone?” Antonia asked.

      Eve nodded confirmation. “I don’t even need to be upset, Zofia is beside herself enough for all of us,” Eve said, trying to force a smile.

      Jenny signed to Eve that she could hear Zofia’s sob from what felt like a mile away. Eve nodded.

      “Don’t worry,” Antonia said to Jenny. While Antonia hadn’t fully learned Sign, she had taken to Jenny like an older sister and the two were intuitively connected. “I know you and Maggie are close.” Antonia gestured towards the direction where Zofia had wafted. “I know she’s like your sister too. We’ll find her. She’d never go on to the undiscovered country without telling СКАЧАТЬ