\u201cYou want me to abandon my post,\u201d \u00c9riu said softly, shock openly displayed on her face, ghostly eyes wide and jaw slack.\u00a0 \u201cHow could you ask me to leave them unprotected at a time when they are so vulnerable?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll three of them are smart, strong women,\u201d J.T. said.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019ll be fine while you\u2019re gone.\u00a0 It won\u2019t be for that long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t take that long,\u201d <\/i>\u00c9riu snapped.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t understand, Jameson.\u00a0 I can\u2019t.\u00a0 I can\u2019t leave them.\u00a0 There\u2019s too few and if they\u2019re corrupted or lost we might as well give up <\/i>all hope.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
He stared at her ghost.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 No one\u2019s bothered to explain any of this to anyone, so yes, I\u2019m having trouble seeing why you\u2019re refusing to go and save a man\u2019s life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery spirit who lingers is lingering for a reason,\u201d<\/i> she said, her voice faint and strangled.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t ask me to abandon my reason.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t be abandoning anything,\u201d J.T. snapped.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t think that Phelan\u2019s damned important to the future of those children?\u00a0 You don\u2019t think that they\u2019ll<\/i> need him the way you did when you were small?\u201d\u00a0 The last bit was a gamble, but one he was willing to make.\u00a0 He knew that she and Phelan were close.\u00a0 Odds were good that it was a relationship developed from childhood on.<\/p>\n
He refused to believe that she\u2019d be so callous as to refuse to help someone who loved her and she loved in return\u2014a brother, an uncle, a father.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhelan needs you now and those kids will need him someday.\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell me you can\u2019t do it because you\u2019re afraid something bad might happen here while you\u2019re away.\u00a0 There are a ton of us who will still<\/i> be here to make sure that nothing bad happens to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFine,\u201d<\/i> she said.\u00a0 \u201cBut you have to guard them for me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t trust anyone else.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s you, Jameson, or I remain here and you find another ghost for this job.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cDone,\u201d he said without thinking.<\/p>\n
\u00c9riu nodded and vanished into thin air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYou want me to abandon my post,\u201d \u00c9riu said softly, shock openly displayed on her face, ghostly eyes wide and jaw slack.\u00a0 \u201cHow could you ask me to leave them unprotected at a time when they are so vulnerable?\u201d \u201cAll … Continue reading