“Ghostbusters?” Poppy asked, only half joking. If there was a crisis group for newly minted paranormals, why couldn’t there really be a group who busted ghosts?
But January didn’t laugh, and neither did Calamity nor Rick, which didn’t bode well, she suspected. “I need to do some research on the obscure, but while I do, I want you to promise never to stray far from anyone. You can’t be alone with this entity.”
“Done deal,” Poppy agreed, hoping she didn’t sound desperate and petrified, even if she really was.
But the doctor gripped her hands harder. “I mean it, Poppy. Keep someone with you at all times until I figure this out. This isn’t something to play with. You need someone who can help, or at least call for help if it attacks again. The ladies are tough as nails, don’t get me wrong, but this doesn’t just require brawn. It requires a spell or a summoning, or… I’m not sure. Something stronger than I’ve got, that’s for sure. Are we clear?”
“She won’t have to worry about that, January. I’ll stay close.” As if to prove his good intentions, Rick wrapped an arm around Poppy, pulling her to his side.
“Okay?” January asked again, peering into her eyes.
Poppy nodded outwardly, but on the inside, the inside not torn up by this aura she’d puked, she was terrified. “Okay.”
Squeezing her fingers one last time, January rose, smoothing her skirt. “I need a laptop from someone, please.”
“And coffee, I’ve no doubt, Mistress January,” Arch, Johnny-on-the-spot as always, offered.
She smiled and gripped his upper arm, running an affectionate hand over his battered ascot. “You’re a prince among men, Arch. Yes, please. Coffee is necessary if I’m going to keep my eyes open.”
Arch and January scurried off into the kitchen, picking their way over the strewn throw pillows and overturned end table.
“Calamity? Ladies? Let’s see how we can aid January,” Wanda suggested, giving Poppy’s head a stroke of her hand before she left for the kitchen as well.
Nina chucked her under the chin. “Jesus, that was something. All that green and yellow puke comin’ out of your mouth like some freight train bound for hell. And look at you—still walkin’ and talkin’. You’re the shit, kiddo.”
Green and yellow puke certainly was a testament to one's constitution. She grabbed Nina’s wrist and squeezed. “Thanks for catching me. I owe you one.”
“You owe me shit. Glad I was there,” she muttered before taking her leave to join everyone else, so clearly uncomfortable with praise.
When it was just she and Rick left, the silence didn’t become as uncomfortable as she’d thought it would after their conversation about Yash. Instead, he kept his arm around her and pulled her back to lean against him.
“Was it really green and yellow?”
“I think there was some red in there, too. But I can’t be sure. It all happened in a split second of sound and color.”
“You think anyone thought to YouTube it?”
His laughter rumbled deep in his wide chest. “Feel like that might create some widespread panic, you know?”
Relaxing, Poppy inhaled a soothing breath. “Yeah. That’s fair. I think I might need to go brush my teeth.”
“I think I’d support that choice.”
Now she laughed, letting her head fall to his shoulder as she looked up at the cracked ceiling. “Ever tasted an aura?”
“Can’t say I have.”
“It’s far more disgusting than your Brussels sprouts. In fact, I’d rather eat a barrel of those green balls than puke an aura ever again. But my eternal thanks for making that thing let go of me. How’d you do it?”
“I think it was us a whole, Poppy. It’s the only explanation. I’ve never had that much power before. I think what January says is true. Our power together is strong. I felt the current.”
“But I didn’t do anything but flail helplessly like a fish out of water.”
“But did you feel the magic?”
“I felt the burn on my tongue like a nuclear bomb had gone off in my mouth, but I can’t pinpoint the same feeling I had when I turned you to stone. I think I was too caught up in the pain of my intestines being ripped from me via my throat at that point.”
He squeezed her tighter. “It was there, Poppy. I felt it.”
“And you’re admitting it?”
He sighed, turning her to him so her cheek lay on his chest. “I’m admitting it. I don’t have a choice but to admit what was right in front of me. That aura could have killed you. The hell I’d let that happen.”
His words warmed her in a place deep inside where she’d never felt this kind of warmth before, and it left her almost breathless. “I appreciate you protecting me, but I don’t want you to go against your principals on my account.”
“This thing with magic, my dislike of its use, goes back to my parents…”
“Doesn’t what puts us on the therapy couch always lead back to our parents?” she teased, hoping he’d see his explanation didn’t have to be a tense conversation.