Sorry if the update is rough!

I felt more exhausted coming home from Court than I did when I was there. I felt like I needed a break from reality and the world around me. I knew that I needed to get back to working with Jerry, but he understood that I needed a few days.

Much to my dislike, I had agreed with Tilly that I would work on controlling my more dangerous skills. I needed to be prepared. After Lissa…I needed to be ready for anything.

I stood in the shower and sighed, leaning against the tiles as the hot water rolled down my back. I was practically choking on the steam, but the hot water was soothing.

"I'm glad to know some things have never changed."

I jumped and slipped, falling onto my side with a loud thud.

"Jesus!"

"Sorry," Lissa said, "I forgot that you may not have been able to hear me."

I pulled myself to my knees and ripped the curtain back enough to peer out, seeing her perched on the counter across from me.

"Thank you for the heart attack," I grumbled before standing back up. There was a sharp knock and then the door swung open, Gabriel poking his head into the room but not looking at me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Lissa scared the crap out of me," I said holding the curtain in a way that he couldn't see my body. He squinted his eyes before looking at me, relaxing his face when he saw I was covered.

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure. It sounded like it hurt."

"Oh, I'm going to have a massive bruise," I mused and he nodded before shutting the door.

"Do you always shower with the door unlocked?"

"It's better than him breaking the door down if I slip. None of us actually lock the door unless we are using the toilet," I said as I pulled the curtain back and continued to wash my hair.

"What hasn't changed?" I asked, tilting my head up so I didn't get shampoo in my mouth.

"You showering in water hot enough to run through River Styx," Lissa said and I could practically hear her rolling her eyes.

"Anyways; how are you coping?"

Lissa was quiet for a moment. "It's very strange. I feel horrible that I can't see Christian, to comfort him. I know that this must be hard for him."

I rinsed my hair, grabbed the deep conditioning treatment off the rack, and turned off the shower. I put the treatment in my hair and then grabbed my robe, pulling in off the hook and into the shower so I could put it on. Not that Lissa hadn't seen me naked, but it was the principle of it. I stepped out of the shower, and she was looking at her nails and smiling at me when I sat on the closed toilet.

"Your family?"

"Upset that I was dead, but comforting as much as they could. It was strange seeing so many people after they had died. It's strange, but I'm sure you understand that."

I nodded and grabbed the nail clippers from the drawer next to her leg. She smirked at me as she crossed her ankles.

"Look at you; owning a nail care set," she teased. I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up. I apparently have very brittle nails and they snap easily. It's nice to have long nails until they snap at the side," I said, taking the cuticle clippers and snipping off my hang nail.

"Despite what happened, how are you doing? I know that going to Court wouldn't have been easy."

I shrugged. "It sucked, but I wasn't missing your funeral."

"I'm touched, but that was dangerous."

I shrugged again. "Did you see who killed you?"

She sighed. "No. I mean, it was a Guardian, but I don't know who he was," she explained and glanced to the side, as if she was looking past the bathroom door, "Who's the woman in the next room?"

I pointed to the room on the other side of the shower, and she nodded.

"Gabriel's mother, Savannah-Mae," I said and she frowned.

"You have so many ghosts here," she whispered, and I nodded. That was the understatement of the year!

"Don't I know it?"

"I tried walking into your room, but it was like there was an invisible barrier?"

"When you died you were full of power, but now you're relatively weak. In a few days, you'll be stronger, and you are good energy. It's to protect me while I sleep."

Lissa sighed and licked her lips, her blond brows coming together as she thought. It was uncanny how easy it was to forget that I was talking to a ghost. That's what made things so difficult for me.

"Can Gabriel sense the ghosts?"

"I don't think so…why?"

Lissa shook her head. "We can sort of just appear wherever we want, but I was walking through the house and when I walked by him, he turned like he heard me."

"You could have brushed him," I said, "It's a weird feeling. Cold, but not really there."

Lissa nodded her head. "It's possible. Does it ever get weird that he can hear everything?"

I snorted a laugh and there was a sharp rap at the door.

"Yeah?"

Emily opened the door with a sordid expression and extended the phone towards me.

"It's Jerry's wife," she said. I swallowed and stood up to take the phone from her.

"Gladys?"

"Hi sweetheart, I'm sorry to call so late."

"It's okay. Is Jerry okay?"

"He's not great. He fell down the stairs and I took him to the hospital. He needs to have surgery, but wanted me to make sure you knew beforehand."

"Oh God," I said quietly, "What kind of surgery?"

I heard Gladys giggle to herself before she cleared her throat. "He broke his hip."

"He's fifty years old," I said and understood why she laughed. Jerry was very healthy physically, often going on jogs with me to get me to take without getting hyper-focused and anxious.

"Has he gone in yet?"

"Yes, he said he will send someone out to help you while he's in recovery," she explained. I tsked and glanced at my hair in the mirror, poking my tongue out at Lissa.

"Let me know when he's allowed visitors?"

"Of course. I know that he will be anxious to see you," Gladys said before she hung up. I sighed and set the phone on the counter.

"Never a dull moment?" Lissa asked.

I shook my head and reached into the shower to turn it back on, pulling the shower head down so I could rinse my hair.

"Never."

I could hear my pockets clanking together as I walked, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about that. Jerry was in a hospital, and hospitals were gathering places for the dead.

I nodded at one of the nurses as she slipped by me, standing close to the wall to make space for her and the wheelchair she was pushing.

"I hate hospitals," Bryce whispered as we walked.

"Same," I said with a frown. He had to see a doctor while he was here, so I gave him a lift. He wouldn't say what for, but that was his business. We split off in different directions and I made my way to the floor Jerry was on.

I shifted the plant in my arms and tapped on the door, smiling at Jerry. There was a woman standing beside his bed, and Gladys was sitting in the chair on the other side.

"I can come back if you are busy?"

"No, come in please," Jerry said with a tired smile. I stepped in and set the plant on the windowsill and came to the side of the bed, gripping his hand tightly.

"How you feeling?"

"I'm okay. The medication they gave me is taking the edge off," he said. His eyes showed how tired he was, and the way he was leaning to the other side indicated that he was in a lot of pain.

"Hunny, could you see if I can have a cup of coffee?" he asked Gladys. She nodded and stood up, patting his cheek. As she walked around the table, she squeezed my shoulder affectionately before leaving the room.

"Julies; the door," Jerry said. The woman beside me left the bed and shut the door, coming to stand at the end of the bed. I looked between them and furrowed my brows.

"What is it?"

"That entity that you saw with Gabriel paid me a visit. I didn't trip down the stairs, it shoved me," Jerry explained, and I felt my blood run cold. I stared at him and shook my head.

"No."

"It is very clear just how angry Robert is with you," he said and I shook my head again.

"I can't believe he went after you."

"I think he knew that if he tried to take out the person teaching you to harness your power, it would leave you vulnerable," Jerry explained and gestured to Jules, "Jules will take over while I'm recovering. She is very powerful, almost as strong as you."

I nodded at her, took the pouches out of my bag, and set them on the bed.

"Leave it to you to bring crystals to the hospital," Jerry chuckled, picking up the pouch and weighing it in his hand.

"You use crystals?" Jules asked. I turned to her and nodded. She didn't look much older than me and had brown hair with green eyes.

"I find they help take the edge off, at least with the negative energies."

Jules nodded and looked back at Jerry with a smile.

"I get what you mean now. I can feel it radiating off her."

"Feel what?"

"Your power," Jules said, "It's extraordinary. It's so raw and unbridled. With a little bit of work, we could harness the extent of your powers. It'll be scary, I won't lie, but it'll be worth it."

"I take it Gladys doesn't know why you 'fell'?" I asked.

"No," Jerry said when the door opened, Gladys holding a tray with coffee cups in it.

"You're a gem," I said as she handed one to me.

I blew a breath out from my lip and ran my hand through my hair.

"This feels really wrong."

Jules smoothed her hand over the blanket she had set on the grass.

"I know. But this is the only place that you will feel this pull aside from a hospital. At least here, nobody is really going to bother us," Jules explained, and I sat on the blanket next to her. The sun was high in the sky and it made everything look vibrant and cheerful, but there was nothing cheerful about sitting in a cemetery to contact the dead for practice.

"But why do we have to do it here?"

"Because being close to their remains makes it easier to make contact with one," Julies said as she perched her sunglasses on top of her head. I nodded and cleared my throat, looking at the name on the tombstone.

"So, I've never actively called on a spirit before. Any time I've seen them, they've come to me."

"It's simple actually. Just call out to them, either out loud or in your head. Visualize someone coming to you with that name. It may take a few tries, but it'll happen."

I nodded and cleared my throat, squinting as I read the name on the tombstone. Hamish MacDonald.

I closed my eyes and called out to him in my head, almost like repeating a thought over and over. I opened my eyes when Jules brushed her hand over my knee. There was a man standing behind the stone. He didn't look very old, but the clothes were something that would be worn now. I looked at the date on the tombstone and nodded to myself. He died in the seventies.

"Hello," I said quietly.

"What do you want?" he asked, a thick rolling Scottish accent masking his words.

"I'm helping her learn how to control her abilities. I know that this may have been an inconvenience to you, but I promise we won't keep you long," Jules said softly, "We are just learning how to control her callings."

Hamish squinted at me and his bread ruffled in the wind.

"You're one of those hippie dippie kids?"

"The term is a necromancer," I said, "And no. I don't do drugs. I died when I was fourteen and was brought back to life. When I was seventeen, I started seeing spirits."

"How did you die?"

"Car accident. It killed my friend's family. I died at the scene and then came back because she had an ability that she didn't know existed," I explained and he nodded, stroking his beard.

"That must have been difficult."

I nodded and I glanced at Jules. She smiled and nodded her head before looking at Hamish.

"Thank you for the conversation, Hamish, for speaking with us today," Jules said with a smile. He nodded and stood there for a moment before looking at me with a puzzled look.

"You've never sent one away, have you?" Jules asked with a smirk.

"Only the way that isn't good. And by force," I said sheepishly. Julies smiled at winked at Hamish.

"I want you to visualize him fading into the background and then disappearing. It allows them the ability to leave. Without 'releasing' them, they are sort of stuck until the connection grows weak," she explained and I nodded again. I did as she instructed, and it took a few moments before Hamish faded from view.

"Did I do it right?"

"You did very well," Jules encouraged. I nodded and sighed in relief.

"Was what you said true? You died in a car accident when you were fourteen?"

I nodded and looked at her, catching a figure standing behind her.

"See the blonde woman behind you?"

Jules turned and looked over her shoulder. Rhea realized we had both noticed and she waved, but kept her distance.

"That's Rhea. Lissa's mom," I explained, "Her husband Eric and her son Andre died that night too. Lissa was murdered two weeks ago."

Jules frowned. "I'm sorry. That's rough."

I nodded. "How did you get your ability?"

"I was born with it like Jerry. I lived next door to his mother. He was the one who told me that I wasn't going crazy," she laughed, "But I have to say I had the advantage growing up with it. Learning it after living a normal life is a bit of a shock."

I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. Alright, what's next?"

"We're going to try again with someone else," she said but something caught her attention. I followed her gaze and saw that there was a funeral happening. Jules gestured towards it, and we packed up our stuff. We walked slowly towards the gathering, hanging back a few feet so we didn't disrupt them.

"Can you tell which one is dead?" Julies asked. I looked over the people gathered and then shook my head.

"No. How can you tell?"

"It comes with time, but spirits almost have a clarity to them. Like when you are used to watching a box TV and then upgrading to a good quality flat screen. Does that make sense?"

I looked over the crowd again before noticing someone that stood out. She was watching everyone else, but she wasn't grieving the way everyone else was. She looked up and I knew she noticed us. In a blink she was gone.

"You can see me?"

We both looked over our shoulders and saw the woman behind us. He was in her early fifties, blonde hair that was cut short to her jaw. She was short and had a sweetness to her voice.

"Yes," I said, "I'm very sorry."

She was bewildered that someone could see her, and she simply shook her head. We watched the service quietly before I noticed just how many spirits were lingering around. And as I noticed them,, I noticed it as well.

"Jules?" I whispered. Her eyes followed my line of sight before she tensed. I could feel it from across the field. That cold, sickening dread that always accompanied it. Emily once said it sounded like a dementor, which made no sense to me until she showed me what it was.

"This would be a good opportunity to practice releasing and banishing. It's not good to banish, but it could help keep it away for a time," Jules whispered. The last time I had 'banished' a spirit was at that kid's house, and I felt horrible for days after. But I was tired of this thing following me.

I took a slow deep breath and tried to do it, but the harder I tried, the more of a pushback I got. I wasn't sure if it was because there were so many spirits around, or if that thing, but I kept trying. But the harder I tried, the worse I felt. When I opened my eyes again, it was as if everything had gone grey. It reminded me of the incident on the plane while I was at the Academy. And in that moment, I knew I wasn't in control anymore. It had only happened once, and that was when I shoved a spirit back into a body.

The spirits in the cemetery were starting to gather as if being pulled together by an invisible string.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, but I could feel the swelling feeling in my chest. I wasn't sure if Jules could sense it, but her eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, but you need to go," Julies said to the spirit beside us. The woman was gone just as quickly as she appeared. Jules gripped my wrist and pulled me away from the gathering and back towards the car. I let her lead me away, noticing the gathering of spirits behind us. They weren't there when we were standing there.

"What just happened?"

Jules didn't speak until we were back to the car and shook her head.

"I have never met someone so tethered to the other side," she said in disbelief. "I could feel you calling out to them."

"But I wasn't doing it on purpose."

"I know, but Jerry had warned that you had once accidentally put a spirit into a recently deceased corpse. I get it now. You draw power in on yourself. I'm actually a little jealous and terrified at the same time," she said with a chuckle, "We've got our work cut out for us. You are very powerful."

I rubbed the back of my neck.

"That feeling I was getting?"

"There was a recently emptied corpse right in front of us. They sometimes call out in a sense to the dead. Kind of like 'hey, empty vessel here, come and get me'. You unconsciously started pulling spirits towards it. We will need to work on that."

I grimaced. Great.