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Thefor me at the hotel desk was short and concise: Either you coland with bona fide proof of a spiritual entity, or you needn&039;t bother returning to the office There&039;s no rooned by my boss, and the head of the western US division of the United Psychical Research Association, Anton Melrose II

"Well, isn&039;t that just Jie as I crumpled it up and tossed it into the appropriate receptacle, situated at the end of the reception desk, wishing as I did that I could Suh to scare the bejeepers out of ood money to see him eat his words"

The woman at the desk smiled as she passed me the key to my room "I&039;m sorry, Miss Telford; we&039;re not responsible for the quality of the es We have to deliver them no lasses I wore everywhere "That&039;s okay; it&039;s justto worry about Is there a computer free now, do you know? I&039;ll only need fifteen minutes"

Tina, the receptionist at the St Aloysius Hotel in jolly old London, checked the log for the two computers kept in a small, dark room for the use of those businesspeople who couldn&039;t live without an Internet connection "It&039;s all yours"

I gathered upthat came from within, and mumbled my thanks as I limped down the short hallway that led to the computer room One of the two co man of about twenty, who raised one pierced eyebrow as I carefully setdown next to the chair of the second colass bottles was loudly evident

"It&039;s holy water," I told hihosts Nothing drinkable That is, you could drink it, but I&039;ve had it on the best authority that holy water tastes like tap water that&039;s oxidized for a couple of days"

He blinked at me

"Bland," I explained, then turned my attention to the computer I waited until he was busy with his own screen before pushing lasses up so I could better see the co quickly into the e-mail account I&039;d set up for those rare times UPRA had seen fit to send me outside of the Sacra the sixto e rates, e- to do with furry barnyard friends that I&039; le Well, it&039;s nice to know I&039;ed off his co up a briefcase that had the name of a major software cohosts, then?" he asked as he stood and shoved in the chair

I pushed ave hiret "So many I hardly have a moment to myself They&039;re very simple-minded, you know Really no different from a puppy Just a kind word or two, a little pat on the head, and they follow you around forever"

He stood staring at me for a moment, as if he couldn&039;t decide whether I was serious or not

I held up both hands to show hihosts to date"

He looked relieved, then ed to twist his relief into a fanored hilasses off as I scannedit to be answered later before I clicked on Corrine&039;s

Allie: This is just a re is at the new Hartwell&039;s store in Covent Garden toht, 7 p so horrible to you, I legally cannot put it into writing Hope you&039;re having fun! I don&039;t suppose you took my advice and left the shades at hoive Dante the key chain Iit tookpattern And don&039;t forget to ward it! I doubt if I will ever live down the embarrassment of the time you handed over an unwarded key chain to Russell Crowe!

"Mmm What a shame The C J Dante key chain was ed off and popped lasses back on just in case I ran into anyone in the hallway For ato the sounds of the hotel and the noise outside theof London on a busy winter afternoon Anton&039;sbut add toon the wall for the last six months - "Produce or else" was hisin the proof department

"This is it, Allie," I said aloud to the empty room "Put up or shut up tis for an unproven Summoner are pretty slim"

My voice echoed in the roorim future It almost seemed like tooof tricks upstairs to the slance atto the bed that proness before I had to go off to a haunted inn and hunt ghosts

The dream started even before I felt httih an ee and unsavory things thatloudly as I , a place, somewhere I was supposed to be Se of vision in every roo behind ? I wondered as I let ers trail over a dusty banister that led me downstairs into a dark pool of inky blackness Fearless as I never was in real life, I pushed opened the door at the foot of the stairs and saw a man stretched out on a table

A man? Even in my dreaod, a perfect speci black hair spilled onto the table, a halo of ebony against the light wood His eyes were open, dark, but not as dark as his hair, alany in color, rich with browns and reds and even a bit of gold flaring around the edges of his irises The long, chiseled lines of his jaw and squared chin were still, as if he were sleeping, but his eyes followed me as I moved into the rooroin, his body striped hat looked to be hundreds of s slowly from the wounds onto the floor beneath the table

I approached hi to heal theht and held ra," he said, his eyes dark with torment "Help me You are my only hope"

I reached out to touch him, to push a lock of his hair off his forehead, to reassure him that whatever it was he needed, I would do, that I wouldn&039;t let hier I would send hiers touched his heated skin, I woke up, gasping for air, sitting bolt upright in the bed indespite the fact that I had cranked up the heat just before I settled down forin the daytime?" I reached for the carafe of water that I keep at my bedside I&039;ve found that while water can&039;t wash away the foul taste night terrors invariably leave inthe length of htly trial

Faint whispers of the dream stayed with me as I showered, brushed my teeth, and dressed in a pair of black wool pants and white silk blouse I frowned at myself as I pinned my ordinary brown hair out of my eyes, and applied theses under et a lot worse if I start drea the day, too," I told my reflection The Allie in the ht I kne she felt - sleep was precious enough; if the only tiht was taken fro zombie in just a couple of days

I poked around the hotel rooital voice-activated recorder needed new batteries, a bottle of holy water had coainst the thernetic force) counter was almost out of its leather case, which would have scratched the front of the ion analyzer) I strapped the motion detectors down firhtscope was secure, and replaced the daed ultrasonic eht that afternoon

"Too bad none of this stuff see sadly It declined to answerat the clock There was still an hour to go before I had to head out

"No time like the present, I suppose," I said as I plucked a thick piece of chalk froive it another shot What&039;s the sense in being put in a haunted hotel roobut the vision of an open door, I traced a circle before host after I Summoned it, until I either Released it to its next existence, or grounded it into the here and now

That was the theory, anyhow I hadn&039;t actually ever successfully Suh I did have a nasty run-in with a chill wind in a on coast that was supposed to be haunted by a timber baron Still, as Anton was the first to tell host make, which left me more than a little desperate My job with UPRA was at stake, and although I knew England was just teehosties had chosen to stay away from me

A bit jadedly I intoned the words traditionally used to Su to work," I told my toes as I finished the invocation "It never works I&039;le successful Su under my belt, and that&039;ll be the end of ional Suhosts You&039;d think the least they could do is to show up for an out-of-town visitor!"

I fingered the vial of dead ht with me just in case Dead man&039;s ash, for those of you who don&039;t dabble in Su tree lirave - there&039;s no actual dead h I like the colorful na dead man&039;s ash, so I opened the bottle and sprinkled a little of the gray ash out ontoas I held it over the circle, then released it with theto allow all of the possibilities

The air within the circle shi away bits of ash that afting out of the circle and straight towardin the circle?

The air was definitely shih ever so faintly I batted at a fewtoward my face and wondered if I should sprinkle more deaditself as if it wanted to for, but couldn&039;t make up its mind just what that was

I took in a deep breath preparatory to repeating the words of the Su out a bit of ash that had runtled-looking three-legged gray-and-white cat stood in the circle, glaring at me with yellow eyes My jaw hit the floor as I realized I could see right through the cat&039;s hazy body to the bed behind it

The skin alongon end as I realized what I was looking at - a ghost! "I did it! I&039;ve Suhost! Oh, my God, I can&039;t wait to tell them back at the office You, little kitty, have just saved my job!"

I bounced up and down as I beahost"

The cat twitched an ear at my voice, and sat down to lick its hindquarters

"Well, okay, you&039;re not alive, but you&039;re a ghost! A ghost cat! Who&039;d have thought this room was haunted by a cat? This is so cool"

I reached into the circle to see if I could feel any sensation around the cat, but it wavered and broke up like a bad TV picture

"Oh, right, I can&039;t break the circle unless I ground you first" I crawled over toaround in it until I found ! I can&039;t believe I did it! A ghost! Anton is going to be pea green with jealousy Okay, pussycat, just sit tight there and I&039;ll ground you so you can leave the circle Let&039;s see uo"

The procedure to ground a Sus were, by the very nature of Su them simply meant that they could not slip off to any other plane of existence without the Su the within me," I told the cat It looked unimpressed at my prose and continued to lick its rear end "The power of death binds you to me Until death overtakes life, you will heed my command By my words, you are thus bound"

It was short and simple, not much to it at all, but as I spoke the words and traced protective syure of the cat slowly solidified until it looked like a translucent gray-scale picture of a cat licking its butt I reached hted to note that the cat&039;s irounding works," I told it as h the cat&039;s host cat felt like well, air Slightly tingly air

"Pictures!" I shouted, scrabbling in the bag I pulled out ers a few times until the cat looked at ot a few shots before it stood up and hobbled off to investigateto believe this back home," I es I&039;d just taken The cat was faint and a bit fuzzy, but clearly visible I could have hugged it, I was so happy