14 Christmas Spirit Read Free Page B

place.
    "That isn't a ghost in Three Men and a Baby ," Darcy pointed out.  "That was an actual flesh and blood kid that got caught on set during filming.  The editors missed it in the final cut.  No, this was something different."
    "What?"
    She had to pick her words carefully.  Partly because she didn't want to scare Jon.  Partly, because she simply didn't know.
    It was a ghost, that much was certain, but Darcy had never been contacted via DVD before.  How was that even possible?  What did it mean?  Those were the things she didn't know, and it scared her because it could mean something wicked was coming their way.
    Again.
    Jon had been wonderful about accepting Darcy for who she was.  The whole talking to dead people thing spooked a lot of people.  Darcy's friends in town knew she could do things that other people couldn't, knew that she knew things sometimes that no one should be able to know, but none of them knew the full extent of her abilities.  If they did, Darcy was fairly sure that most of them would never speak to her again.  Jon wasn't like that.  He loved her, and nothing about her would ever change that.
    Just like Meet Joe Black told its audience, that was true love.
    "Maybe it's one of your deleted scenes?" was his next suggestion.  "Maybe the DVD got confused and started playing the wrong segments."
    "No, Jon.  That was a ghost.  Can we both agree on that much, at least?"
    Jon opened his mouth to argue again, the remote in his hand ready to rewind the film one more time and search for something that just wasn't there.  With a heavy sigh, he tossed the remote aside onto the couch and nodded his head.  "Yes.  I suppose I have to give you that one.  So.  A ghost just popped up on our television.  What do we do about it? And for that matter how come I was able to see her if she is a ghost?"
    "I don’t know… And what do we do about it? We help the ghost, of course.  Isn't that what we usually do?"
    "Uh," he chuckled, "I don't think there's any such thing as usually for us."
    Which was true enough.  Every spiritual apparition was different, even if some of the paranormal techniques Darcy used were the same in each case.  "Well, I suppose I could try calling the ghost up in a communication," she said.  "I mean, it won't be easy because I don't even know who to call to, but there might be enough of an echo on the DVD itself for me to reach out to her.  Whoever she is."
    "An echo?"  Jon rubbed at his forehead, and waited for her to explain.
    Darcy started twisting the antique silver ring around the finger of her right hand.  It had been her great aunt's, an heirloom that Darcy had always valued for sentimental reasons.  Turned out the ring was a talisman of amazing power.  She might never need to use it for its special, hidden powers again, but it was still a source of comfort for her when times got tough.  Or crazy.  Or both.
    "When a ghost has been to a certain place," Darcy explained carefully, "that ghost leaves behind an echo of itself.  It's kind of like setting down a soda can on a hot day.  When you lift the soda can away, there's a ring of condensation left behind.  Replace condensation with spiritual energy, and that's kind of what I mean when I say a ghost leaves an echo wherever they go."
    "So, you're going to look for this ghost's soda can," he said, deadpan.
    She rolled her eyes and twisted her ring harder.  "Sort of.  Yes.  See, ghosts like Millie, who are always around?  I can always sense when she's in the room because her echo is stronger than most.  I can usually find her just by feeling for her, because she's layered her echoes over and over until someone with my talents can feel them.  It's kind of like walking through spiderwebs.  Sort of.  You might not see it, but you feel it.  At least, I do."
    "Okay," Jon said after a moment.  "I sort of understood that one.  You want to give it a go and try to sense out our ghost now?"
    No, Darcy thought to