Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 12
© Denise Bossarte
The doorbell rang not long
after Grace got back from DL’s. She walked to
the door, minimizing the movement in her shoulder as the tattoo was tender. DL
told her the site would be sore for several days and to expect swelling. But
the tattoo came out looking great, and she was happy to suffer a few days of
discomfort for it.
Grace opened the door to find Sophie on the doorstep. Sophie
held out a folded piece of paper for Grace to take.
“I got the answer,” she whispered.
“Answer?” Grace asked as she took the note, not following Sophie.
“To your request,” Sophie said while glancing around her.
“Ok, Miss ‘cloak and dagger,’ come on in,” Grace said, motioning
Sophie into the house.
Sophie slipped into the hallway, her body language relaxing once
Grace closed the door.
Grace unfolded the note and read the name and address written
there. The time penciled in below was for the next morning at 11am.
“This is the guy?” she asked.
“Yes, my cousin Anthony works for him at the theater. He got a
meeting for you.”
“Tomorrow morning?” Grace asked mentally checking her schedule
and confirming she was available.
“Yes, Mondays are their off days. It was the best time to meet
with Eli,” Sophie explained. “Can you make it? It wouldn’t be wise to get the
appointment and then not be there.”
“No, I can be there,” Grace said, trying to put her friend as
ease. “And thank you for doing this. I know it wasn’t easy for you to do, and
put you at some risk. Thank you from both me and Danny.”
At the mention of Danny’s name, Sophie brightened. “Is he here?”
she asked.
“Not right now,” Grace answered.
Sophie didn’t ask for an explanation, for which Grace was
grateful. It was one thing to share Danny was still a part of her life. It was
another thing to talk about Danny’s ability to visit his fellow ghost friends at
the Universities.
“Grace, you need to be careful at this meeting,” Sophie
cautioned her.
“What do you mean, ‘be careful’?”
“Be careful what you say and how you act. Be respectful. Eli is
a powerful man in our world. You don’t want to do anything to upset him or put
yourself on his bad side.”
“You make it sound as if I should be afraid of him,” Grace
quipped.
“This is serious, Grace,” Sophie said. “In our world, Eli’s word
is the law; what he says goes. If he doesn’t like what you’re doing, he can
make sure you stop doing it, for good.”
“Are you saying I could get myself killed if things don’t go
well?” Grace asked.
“No, no, I’m not saying that,” Sophie said. “But there are means
of getting Paranorms to do what they want.”
“What ‘they’ want? I thought we were only talking about Eli,
here.”
“Eli and his Family,”
Sophie corrected. “There are ways of making sure we do what The Family wants.
They can block a Paranorm’s power if one becomes a problem. That’s worse than
death for most Paranorms; never being able to use their gift again for the rest
of their lives.”
Grace stopped in the middle
of forming her next question when it sunk in what Sophie was saying. If it didn’t go well with Eli he might cut her off from her new abilities.
A part of her felt relief at the idea of not having to maintain control over
her abilities at all times. But a gut level fear replaced that elation when she
realized what it meant for her and Danny. She would not be able to see him or
speak with him. Nor would he manifest and be in her life. It would be like
having him die all over again.
“Is this the only way? It has to be Eli, no one else?” Grace
asked, hoping for a different answer from Sophie.
“I’m sorry Grace, but this is how you can officially enter our
world and find out what you need to learn.” Sophie replied, regret coloring her
voice. “I can’t get you a meeting with the head of the Family, but Eli is one
of the most powerful members of The Family and can help you. Are you sure you
want to do this?”
“Yes! I need to move forward and stop living blind about all
this. I need answers for us, and to understand how to use my abilities to make
a difference. It’s a done deal.”
“Ok,” Sophie accepted. “Anthony will be there tomorrow to do the
introductions. They are old fashioned in that way.”
Grace stifled a groan. She had seen Sophie’s drop dead gorgeous
cousin around the community on occasion. Walking around with his nose in the
air and a new handsome boy toy following and hanging on his every word. Grace
didn’t object to the boy toys, only Anthony’s arrogant attitude toward them and
everyone else. A minor, temporary inconvenience, she consoled herself. He’d do
the “introductions” then she could get answers from Eli on her own.
“Right,” Grace acknowledged. “I’ll meet Anthony at the theater
at 11 tomorrow.”
“And Grace,” Sophie said, moving to leave. “When I said be
careful with what you say, I meant don’t tell Eli too much, especially about
Danny and his ability to be real.”
“You didn’t tell anyone about Danny?” Grace asked, surprised.
“The only thing I shared is you are a new Paranorm who can see
and talk to ghosts. Nothing about Danny, and definitely nothing about your
ability to bring him into the world physically. And I won’t say anything to
anyone about it either,” Sophie said.
“You are my friend and Danny is like a younger brother to me. I
may need to tell them about your clairvoyant abilities to get you recognized as
a Paranorm, but I will NOT do anything to put Danny in danger. I won’t!”
The vehemence in Sophie’s voice took Grace aback. She hadn’t
considered Sophie’s fondness for Danny in all this. Nor about the position it
put her in to be aware Danny was a ghost and around still. It wasn’t anything
she anticipated when she agreed to share Danny’s situation. Grace hoped this
wasn’t going to lead to trouble for Sophie down the road.
“Is this something Eli might use to control me?” Grace guessed.
“Control you; yes, but also control Danny. Maybe do something to
harm him. I don’t know what they could or would do. But I’d rather you not take
a chance,” Sophie said grasping Grace’s arm in her urgency to make sure Grace
understood the gravity of the situation.
Grace laid her hand on top of Sophie’s and gave it a gentle
squeeze.
“Don’t worry, Sophie, I’ll do everything in my power to make
sure Danny stays a secret and out of harm’s way. It sounds like my instincts
were spot on up to now. But you’ve given me solid reasons to keep doing things
the way I have when it comes to keeping Danny secret.”
Sophie nodded. “I know you’ll do fine, Grace. You thrive under
pressure. Keep your cool and watch what you say and you’ll be ok. Good luck on
getting those answers. I wish I could do more for you, but this is the only way
forward.”
“No, you’ve done more than enough. It’s time for me to do my
part.”
Sophie gave Grace a quick hug and left the house. Grace finished
shutting the door right when Danny appeared next to her.
“What’s that?” he
asked, pointing to the note she held.
“The information for my
appointment with Sophie’s contact.”
“Was she here?”
“Yeah, you missed
her by a few minutes.”
“Shoot, I should’ve
come back earlier!” he said.
“She didn’t have
time to stay and chat. She was only stopping by to give me the information on
the meeting,” Grace clarified.
“Oh, ok. When is
it?”
“Tomorrow morning,”
Grace said, her voice flat.
“Great! I can’t
wait to meet more Paranorms!”
“I’m going to this meeting
on my own, Danny.”
“Going by yourself? No
way, I’m going with you!”
“You think it would be
exciting to meet other Paranorms, but it’s too dangerous for you to be there
with me.”
“Why would it be
dangerous?”
“Danny, we can’t trust
other Paranorms will be as welcoming and helpful as Sophie. Sophie knew us
before I became a Paranorm and you became a ghost. We have a relationship with
her that goes beyond the supernatural aspect of our lives. We won’t have that
with other Paranorms. This guy, Eli, sounds like someone we don’t want knowing
our secrets.
We’re better off
having you work with the professors to learn more about mind controlling
abilities than exposing you to anything at the meeting. There are too many
unknowns with these people, and I’m not willing to put you at risk, period.”
She watched Danny struggling with what she said. But his
critical thinking soon came to the forefront as it always did when faced with a
problem.
“Ok, Gracie,” he
acquiesced. “You go to the meeting
without me this time and I’ll do what I can to get us more information on mind
control. Be careful and take care of yourself for me.”
“I plan on doing
exactly that,” she agreed.
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