Spirit Caller 01 - Spirits Rising

just taking a break. Listening to my sister talk about her daughter’s pooping habits calms me down,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Besides, I wasn’t on there all night.”
    “I didn’t say you were.” He gave me his signature wide grin. Eternal ancestors, that smile made my stupid heart pound faster. “I just figured you could use some coffee. Tim’s is still open late for the tail end of the tourist season.”
    I motioned for him to come in. “You drove twenty minutes to bring me a coffee?” I said, arching an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be at your girlfriend’s house?” It came out snarkier than I had meant. I stammered to add, “I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble hanging out here.”
    He slipped his sneakers off. “Donna’s in Corner Brook. Her grandmother’s in the hospital, so she’ll be there for a few days.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said and I meant it. As much as I wanted to hate Donna, she was just too nice. Like, romance novel nice. Perfect, even. And so perfectly nice that I couldn’t even hate her out of principle.
    I sighed.
    Jeremy shrugged and walked into the kitchen. After pulling out a chair, he sat down. “I talked to Donna before I came over. She doesn’t mind. Besides, I haven’t really seen you in a month.” He motioned vaguely in the air. “With all the spooky stuff going on, I thought I could lend a hand.”
    “Thanks, I could use it.” I said and pulled out of a plastic bag some molasses cookies Mrs. Saunders had made for me.
    I put the plate down on the table and we slipped into an easy silence, the kind that only good friends manage with each other. I didn’t look at him and instead concentrated on sipping the lukewarm coffee.
    I ignored the mental chiding my inner voice gave me. I didn’t renew my work contract so I could take a month off in Mexico to get that man out of my head. Seven thousand dollars, a second-degree sunburn, and a one-night stand with a cross-dressing accountant who wore yellow panties but I was too drunk to care, and still I was letting this idiot back into my life.
    Get a grip, Rachel.
    “Any idea how you’re going to fix all this?”
    “Nope,” I said bitterly.
    He eyed me. “You called your mother, didn’t you?”
    “Yup,” I said and reached across the table for the scotch and poured some into my coffee. I motioned to question if Jeremy wanted some. He shook his head.
    “She still giving you a hard time about not working?”
    “Yup. It was hard to convey the doom and destruction while defending myself.” I sipped my coffee. The back of my throat burned and I gave a little shudder.
    “Three years on the rock and you still can’t handle your liquor?”
    I scowled at him. “Listen ’ere, me b’y, I’se can talk like ye Newfs and I’se can ’andle me liquor.”
    Jeremy snorted. “You sound like you’re down ‘’round the bay.’ ”
    “Oh, right. There’s only two kinds of people in Newfoundland: those from St. John’s—”
    “Townies,” Jeremy confirmed.
    I grinned. “Townies, and those from the bay. Even if they don’t live near a bay, they’re still from the bay.” I shook my head. “That makes no sense.”
    Jeremy shrugged. “I only enforce the rules, I don’t make them.”
    Silence fell between us and as we sipped our hot beverages.
    “So, zombies,” Jeremy said.
    “Zombies,” I repeated once more, “aren’t real.”
    “Whatever. Can you fix it?”
    I leaned back in my kitchen chair. “Well, I’ve done some research on the spell Manny downloaded off the Internet. He didn’t even take it off one of the big Wiccan sites. This spell is about stirring up the spirits of anything in an area.” I looked at Jeremy. “This place is full of powerful spirits.”
    “That’s why he ended up with Vikings?”
    I nodded. “We’re what? Twenty clicks from a friggin’ world heritage site where Vikings once had a bloody town. And the entire western coast of Newfoundland has seen several groups of natives over its history. The place is alive with, well, dead things.”
    “Are you sure your . . .banishment didn’t work?”
    I shook my head. “Nah. I’m not very strong. My mother is. She could swoop in here and scowl the spirits back into the grave. Me?” I sighed. “All I can do is know they are nearby and throw pebbles at them. I’m worse than useless.”
    Jeremy shot me an annoyed look. “You’re not useless.”
    I ran my hand through my hair. “I’m just frustrated. I