“No.” Will drew on his cigarette.
Evie leaned into the chair, letting its comfort cradle her. “The comb showed me the soldiers playing a guessing game with cards. James knew the card one of the soldiers held. He knew it was the Ace of Spades without even seeing it.”
Will blew out a thick cloud of smoke. “Could’ve been a lucky guess. Or he could’ve seen the card beforehand and not told.”
“I suppose so. Except…”
“Except?”
“When he guessed it, one of the other soldiers said, ‘Right again.’ That suggests James had done it before. Doesn’t it?”
“Evie, where are you leading with this?”
Evie sat forward. “Do you think it’s possible that James had special powers, too? I was so young when he died, I can’t remember him doing anything, well, Diviners-like. Do you?”
“Mostly, I remember that he loved baseball, especially the Chicago White Sox. I don’t think that makes him exceptional. I think that made him an American kid,” Will said, tapping ash into an overflowing brass tray.
Evie liked hearing stories about her brother. Why had they never talked about James before? “What else?”
Will pulled on his cigarette again, smiling at some private memory. “He once stole a pie your neighbor had baked from off her kitchen windowsill, where she’d set it to cool. He took it into the woods and ate the entire thing with his hands.”
“His hands?”
“Indeed. And then he vomited all night. Your mother told him it served him right.”
“She would.” Evie laughed. “I can’t believe he didn’t share any with me.”
“You were only two or three, if memory serves.”
The record spun out. It wasn’t jazz, but it was pretty. She wondered what James would think of the Hotsy Totsy, how fun it would be to take him there. How she wished he could’ve seen the girl she’d grown up to be. Would he be proud of her? Disappointed?
“I dream about him all the time,” Evie said, her smile fading.
“I understand.”
Almost automatically, it seemed to Evie, Will looked over at the framed photograph of his dead fiancée that he kept on his desk. Evie had caught glimpses of Rotke when reading over Sam’s mother’s mementos, so she’d picked up bits here and there—Rotke seemed warm and happy. “What was she like?”
“She was clever,” Will said after a long pause. “So very smart. And a Diviner.”
“She was?”
“Her powers weren’t as strong as all of yours. But she could read people. She could read me. And I suppose I needed reading. I didn’t even understand myself. Not as well as Rotke did.”
“You never really said. How did she die?”
Will drew slowly on his cigarette, letting his answer out with the smoke. “It was an accident. In the lab. There was nothing that could be done.”
Evie wanted to know more, but she also didn’t want to pry into her uncle’s private pain. “About Bob Bateman’s comb,” she said, bringing the conversation around again. “I’ve been thinking: What if James is trying to send me a message from beyond?”
“Oh, Evie…” Will started.
“But what if he is? I dream of soldiers all the time—”
“That doesn’t mean anything—”
“The same dream. Over and over—”
“Evangeline. Don’t do this to yourself—”
“They’re in a forest. And James is trying to tell me something important. He’s trying to warn me and—”
“James is dead, Evangeline!” Will thundered, bringing his fist down on the desk, rattling his papers. “He is dead! And the dead. Must. Rest. Let him go and move on.”
Will’s words hit like a fist. Tears pricked at Evie’s eyes.
Will raked his fingers through his hair, his nervous habit, and took in a settling breath. “I’m… I’m sorry, Evie. I shouldn’t have shouted. I know what it is to lose someone. But when they’re gone, they’re gone,” he said quietly. “We learn to live without them. To let go. To move forward.”
Evie swallowed. Her throat ached. “Sure. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. I guess that’s why we’re chasing ghosts.”
Will rose and came to stand awkwardly beside Evie’s chair, his hands in his pockets. He reached out and patted Evie’s shoulder as if he’d read it in a manual on how to be a human. No wonder he’d needed Rotke.
“I’m sorry, Evie. Truly, I am.”
Evie shirked away. This whole conversation had been a mistake.
“Why? It’s not like you killed anybody,” Evie said, and closed the door behind her harder than was necessary.
On Friday evening, after the week of experiments had left the Diviners tired and grumpy, Sister Walker brought out a plate of cookies. “Not to worry, I didn’t bake these. My neighbor did. So they are perfectly edible,” she said with a wink to Memphis and Isaiah.
“What did you do with Diviners before, when you worked with the Department of Paranormal?” Sam asked between slurps of steaming tea.
“Oh. We talked to people like you. We wrote down your stories. Asked questions.” Will dunked a cookie half into his cup while Evie watched in fascinated revulsion.
She wrinkled her nose. “Honestly, Unc,” she said, accidentally using the affectionate nickname she’d given him ages ago. He smiled at her, and she was immediately angry at herself for the slip. After the argument they’d had earlier in the week about James, she’d determined to be aloof with Will. As usual, she was an utter failure at holding a grudge.
“I suppose you got to know those Diviners pretty well, then,” Ling said.
Will brushed his hands of crumbs and took out his silver case, wedging a Lucky Strike between his lips. “We got to know what they could do.”
Ling frowned. “That’s not the same thing at all.”
“Did you test them like you’re testing us?” Isaiah asked.
“Yes, we did. Some people had a small amount of ability and some had quite a bit more,” Sister Walker said.
“What about me? How much do I have?”
“A great deal. And there’s more in there we haven’t even explored yet,” Sister Walker said, and Isaiah broke into a huge grin. “That goes for all of you.”
“You, uh, ever experiment on those Diviners?” Sam asked cagily. “You know, did you look under the hood, see what made ’em tick? Did you take blood samples or anything like that?”
He avoided eye contact with Evie, but he could sense her leaning forward.
Sister Walker put down her cup. “From time to time.”
“Why’d you do that?” Isaiah asked. He shuddered. “I don’t like needles.”
Will exhaled. The smoke floated in front of his face like a veil. “We wanted to know if there was an hereditary difference in Diviners that caused their powers. Was this evidence of an evolutionary leap? What if Diviners, with their connection to the supernatural, were the key to unlocking untapped human potential?”
“So, these Diviners you tested,” Sam asked. “Can we talk to any of ’em? I mean, if we’re all needed to fight off this spooky showdown…”
“Spooky showdown?” Evie repeated, eyebrow raised.