Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

followed Bo out the door and trooped toward the kitchen. “Are we psychic, you think?”
“Christ, I hope not.”
“Me too.”
Their eyes met, and they shared a moment of perfect understanding. Sam had felt strange things before when others hadn’t, heard and seen things that others didn’t, but he’d always assumed he’d simply been in the right place at the right time. He’d never considered the possibility that he might have powers of perception other people didn’t have. The half-curious, half-cringing expression in Andre’s eyes said he’d just had the same revelation about his own experiences.
Amy turned and gave them both a concerned look. “You guys okay?”
Andre smiled and wrapped an arm around her neck. “Yeah, babe. We’re fine.”
Amy beamed up at him, slipping her arm around his waist. Andre shot Sam a quick glance over his shoulder, and Sam remembered what the other man had said the night before. We’re gonna have to pay close attention to everything. I don’t think anybody else can feel it like we can. It was still true. Cecile, in spite of what David had told them, clearly hadn’t felt the same level of malice he and Andre had.
She hasn’t spent time in the nursery yet, whispered a little voice in Sam’s mind. That’s where you felt it, and she hasn’t been there. No telling what she’d sense in that room. Maybe she could even bring it out of hiding.
The thought was at once terrifying and intriguing. “Maybe,” Sam muttered out loud.
“What?” David dropped back to walk beside him. “Didn’t catch that.”
Sam smiled. “Just talking to myself.”
David grinned and slapped him on the back. “Better watch that, Sam. People might think you’re crazy.”
Remembering all the things he hadn’t told people over the years for that very reason, Sam laughed. “Don’t I know it.”
Chapter Seven
    Bo and Cecile still hadn’t come downstairs when Sam and the others finished lunch an hour and a half later. After a quick discussion, they decided to continue the day’s work. Sam and Andre cleaned up the remains of the meal then headed off to sweep the downstairs with still cameras and audio recorders. Amy and David returned to the library to review video and audio. By unanimous consensus, the group agreed that everyone should keep their radios on at all times. Sam was relieved. The idea that his jumpiness might have a physical cause spooked him, and keeping everyone connected by radio seemed like a good safety precaution.
    Sam followed behind Andre, snapping photos every couple of minutes. He could hear Andre asking questions of the space around them, but he wasn’t really listening. His mind was racing. Wondering for the first time if he could sense things others couldn’t. If he could do things others couldn’t. It was a disturbing idea.
    They’d just finished the dining room and moved into the parlor next door when Andre switched off the small audio recorder and frowned. “Hey, Sam?”
    “Hm?” Sam took a picture of the arch into the foyer.
Andre was silent for a long time. Sam gave him a curious look. “Andre? What is it?”
Andre’s expression was troubled. “Is this freaking you out? That we might be psychic?”
Sam drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yeah. I don’t like thinking that maybe I can sense things other people can’t.”
He didn’t voice the half-formed fear niggling at the back of his brain. The fear that maybe it didn’t stop with sensing things. The vision of his first kiss haunted him like it hadn’t done in years. Bruises and raw, bloody furrows appearing like magic on the skin of the boy’s chest.
Sam never again wanted to see that level of terror in another person’s eyes, especially if he was the cause of it. Once was more than enough.
Andre fell silent, staring into the middle distance. After a moment he turned the recorder back on and started asking questions again. What are you, what do you want, are you dangerous? All the mysteries they wanted answered.
Sam’s guts twisted when Andre asked whatever inhabited the unseen dimensions of the house to give them a sign of its presence. “Andre, don’t.”
“But we have to…” Andre broke off, going stockstill. “You feel that?”
Sam nodded, unable to speak past the mingled fear and anticipation rising in his chest. It wasn’t as strong as before, but it was definitely there. That sense of a strange presence, a mind so alien they could never hope to understand it.
The hairs