Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 36
© Denise Bossarte
There were several vehicles
already parked outside the warehouse when Grace arrived. She was happy to see a
group of people gathered by the cars. With luck, it meant the Paranorms
followed her instructions and had touched nothing in the warehouse. Danny had
reassured her the Glamour’s knife would be safe where he hid it, but
she wouldn’t be comfortable until she had it in her possession.
Grace parked her car near the others and hurried to join them. Danny
got out of the car a block away to get to the warehouse on his own. Anthony
knew about Sabra’s ghost and might have told Eli there were
ghosts at the site. They didn’t want to take a chance another clairvoyant
Paranorm was present. Grace didn’t want to risk Danny being seen when she
arrived.
The group ceased their
conversations as she walked up to then. All eyes turned to stare at her, most
with cold appraisal. There was a general murmuring amongst them as they caught
on to the fact she was wearing the earring.
But they did not say anything loud enough for her to hear it.
Grace realized the strong wave of negativity she felt from them was due to the
stigma of being an Aperto Rotto. As Eli warned her.
“Hi, I’m Grace Bishop. Who’s in charge?” Grace inquired,
figuring it was best to keep this as business like as possible.
This was her case and her crime scene. She needed to deal with
their top person up front and establish her authority there.
The group all turned to look
at a lanky redheaded young man dressed in a flannel shirt, blue jeans, and
hiking boots.
Grace was surprised this person was the leader. There were older
Paranorms there and others dressed in a more professional manner. But she was
learning appearances could be deceiving when it came to Paranorms and their
powers.
“Good to meet you Grace.” the redhead said, taking her by
surprise when he held out his hand to her in greeting.
As Grace took his hand in a firm grip, he continued. “I’m
Christophano and I am in charge of this lousy group of no accounts. But you can
call me Fuoco.”
He gave her a broad smile as he pumped her hand with enthusiasm.
It was a wonder the rest of the Paranorms took what he said about them in
stride. The main reaction being a few rolling eyes.
“Fuoco?” she asked when she could get her hand back.
“Yep, that’s what everyone in the family calls me. I’m a
pyrokinetic. They nicknamed me ‘fire’ for short.”
Grace grinned back at Fuoco’s continued heartiness. He at least didn’t appear to have a
problem with her being there. Or her being an Aperto Rotto.
“Hey, speaking of the devil, welcome to the family!” He said his
demeanor getting even more jovial, if possible. “Sophie called me before I got
on the plane. She filled me in on you becoming an official member of the family
here.”
Grace realized with disappointment Fuoco was not a local
Paranorm. He came from somewhere else to help out today. There went having
another ally in town. But maybe his enthusiasm for her would rub off on the
other Paranorms. Then she realized the way he mentioned Sophie’s family was
somewhat odd.
“The family ‘here’ you said?”
“Oh! I guess they didn’t have time to get you completely up to
speed, given everything that’s been happening. Sophie’s family is the one here
in the Midwest. My family is the one out West. I work for a different member of
The Family there, too.”
“There are different Paranorm families in the different parts of
the states?” she asked.
“Sure, Grace. Different ones in various parts of the US. There
are different ones in various parts of the world, too. The Family we all work
for in the states is only one of The Families across the Globe.”
Grace’s mind reeled a bit at the revelation. She never considered
what the Paranorm world would be like beyond her doorstep. She was the close to
overwhelmed at finding out about the Paranorms in Sophie and Anthony’s family
and about Eli’s Family. Now she was discovering the world of the supernaturals
was much larger than she imagined.
“You look shocked, Grace,” Fuoco said, his voice lowered for
only her ears as he reached out to squeeze her arm.
“It will take some getting used to, now we’ve dropped you like
Alice in Wonderland into our world. I’m on Sophie’s and Anthony’s side, your
side, in all this. Don’t let the other knuckleheads get you down!”
Grace fought back tears at
Fuoco’s endorsement. It had been a rough couple
of weeks for her getting acclimated to a new world view. It was satisfying that
not everyone was against her, or as believing of the stereotypes of the Aperto
Rotto.
“Thank you, Fuoco, I appreciate it,” she replied, gathering
herself to address the reason they all were there.
Before she could begin, Fuoco jumped in himself.
“We’re all here today to
help Grace deal with what happened in this warehouse. Several girls were
kidnapped and brought here to be tortured and killed. Our job is to do a
thorough investigation of the premises, and a cleanup of the mess left by the
person who did this. Grace will tell us what went on here in detail, once we
get inside. I will coordinate with Grace. But what she says goes. Everyone got
that?”
All the Paranorms nodded
their understanding. Although with the glares some of them threw Grace’s way it was obvious they didn’t all like her being in charge of
the operation.
Grace was grateful Fuoco did
not call the girls “Norms,” which would emphasize to the
Paranorms they were dealing with people outside their group. They understood
the basic scenario that a Paranorm did this to the girls. But she was pleased
Fuoco focused them on the atrocities of what happened there, rather than the
type of people to whom it was done.
Grace cautioned as she turned
to speak to the group. “I’m going into the building alone at
first. Several ghosts of the victims were here the last time we came. I don’t
want to scare them by bringing in a group of Paranorms unannounced.” Although
she figured Sabra, if she was still around, had figured out there was a whole
legion of them outside already.
“Are there other clairvoyants here?” she checked.
To Grace’s relief, a round of “no’s” was the response. Eli must
have decided it was a waste of man power to send another clairvoyant to the
site if she would be there. Thank goodness for ‘corporate’ efficiency!
“Danny, are you inside,
yet?” she reached out.
“Yes. Sabra already
accosted me. She’s fit to be tied there is a pack of ‘dose peoples’ outside the
door. I take it the Paranorms showed up as requested?”
“Yes. I talked with their
leader. He’s to be on our side, thank goodness. I can’t say that for the rest
of them.”
“One convert at a
time, Gracie,” Danny reminded her. “They’ll need to come around at some point. We’re not going away. I’m
sure if you are your usual charming and witty self it won’t take them long to
change their attitudes!”
“Thanks for the vote of
confidence, kiddo. Would you let Sabra know the Paranorms are with us? I’ll be
coming inside by myself first to tell all the ghosts about what’s going on
today.”
“Sure, see you in a sec.”
Grace turned to give instructions to Fuoco.
“Ok, give me 5 minutes to get the girls’ ghosts updated on what
we’re doing here. Then you can come in and I will walk you through what must be
done.”
When Grace got inside, she found Danny had gathered the ghosts
to hear what she had to say about the Paranorms and what they were doing there.
“Is this all of them?”
she asked, wondering at the small number of girls relative to the number of
mounds of concrete out on the floor.
“All who are left and
willing to listen to you. Several of them moved on once the creature was
destroyed, and a few refused to listen to anything I said. This is everyone who
we’ll be able to reach.”
Grace turned her head to take
in each of the fifteen ghosts ranging, at her best guess, in ages from 14 to
18. Some of them looking small and frightened. A handful, including Sabra, were
not happy with the visitors waiting outside in the parking lot.
“Danny and I were part of
a team who destroyed the creature the Glamour was making from your bodies. The
Glamour got away and is still out there, ready to harm other girls. Outside are
people who want to help me stop this guy from doing this to anyone else. I
would like your permission to allow them in to help me. Would it be ok for them
to come in and do their work?”
“What de gonna do ‘ere?”
Sabra was the first to ask.
“They will do a thorough
forensic investigation like the police would. Plus they will be using their
abilities to get more information about the man who did this to you. They will
not be interacting with you.
I’m the only one
here who can see and talk to ghosts. You don’t need to have anything to do with
them. Please let them do their jobs without interference. Once they finish,
they will destroy the evidence. No one else will know what happened here.”
“Ya mean get rid of
all of us, dontcha?” Sabra asked, pointing to the various
figures around the room hidden under the concrete.
“We need to get rid of
anything that could expose to the world what happened here. We need to handle
this ourselves. One of our own did this and we must take care of him ourselves
without putting others in danger. My friend Billy was hurt trying to stop this
man. I want no one else to be danger.”
“So wha’? Ya jus’ gonna
come in ‘er and erase us, like we neva live?” Sabra asked.
Danny stepped in as things escalated.
“Grace, I don’t think Mom
and Dad would mind if we buried the girls with them, do you?”
Grace was grateful Danny was
this openhearted to understand the fear and anger the girls must feel at the
idea of losing their connection with their bodies. He had the wisdom to find
the ideal solution.
“No, you’re right. I think
they would be pleased with the company.”
Turning to speak to the girls, Grace made the offer to them.
“My mother and father are
buried in the Birchmore cemetery. They’re in a wonderful spot on a small hill
with a beautiful tree watching over their graves. We could take you there and
have you buried with them.”
“Der space der for all us?”
Sabra asked, glancing at the multiple graves in the room and the ghosts
standing together with her.
“One person outside can
control fire. He can cremate you. Once you’re cremated there’ll be no evidence
you were here. We can transport the remains to the cemetery to join my parents.
The remains will be small enough there will be room for all the girls on the
hillside.”
Sabra motioned for all the
girls to gather tight around her. She was arguing vehemently for one side. Pro
or con Grace couldn’t tell for sure as she was trying not to
listen in on their conversation. After a few minutes of discussion they came to
a mutual agreement, and they gathered around her and Danny again.
“Fine. We ok ta go be with
ya momma ‘n’ daddy.” Sabra conceded, the other girls nodding their assent
as she spoke.
“It’s ok for me to let the
others in and begin their work?” Grace asked to confirm.
“Ya, dey ok ta start,”
Sabra agreed, turning to lead the girls off into another part of the building.
“Thanks for coming up with
such a great solution, Danny,” Grace said with relief. “I thought for a moment we would be at an
impasse, here.”
“Mom and Dad would be
happy to have them if they knew,” he agreed with a touch of sadness in his
voice.
But he turned back to business. “I’ll go hang out with the girls while you work. Try to keep them
distracted while their bodies are cremated. I’ll also check on the knife while
I am at it.”
“Sounds like a solid plan.
But no manifesting until we’re sure all the other Paranorms are out of the
building. We still need to keep that ability of yours under cover!”
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