Chapter 21

The stragglers didn’t arrive until an hour later. The three of them were watching a movie on one of the Fiji TV channels when there was a knock at the door.

“Why didn’t you just teleport in.”

Nina said, irritated when Brett pressed pause on an interesting scene, to go to open the door. He answered her when he came back.

“They can’t. He…”

He thrust a thumb back at Cagilaba, who was standing behind them, peering over their shoulder.

“…was warded against coming in here.” Brett said with relish.

Cagilaba just grunted, his eyes still stuck to the TV.

She thought he hadn’t heard what Brett had said.

His answer was a revelation when he finally did reply nonchalantly a few seconds later.

“Oh, you mean that? That’s child’s play. I could have broken in, but I didn’t want Nina to be scared. She is more important than a show of power.”

She heard Brett growl beside her, as she gaped at Cagilaba.

“Seriously?” She asked, astonished at his audacity.

He was challenging an angel of God.

He just grinned back at them all.

“Yep…” He said, not one whit worried.

Restless, Brett jumped up to stride angrily to the TV. He manually switched it off, then turned to confront Cagilaba. The lounge Semi and she were sitting on was a barrier between the two angels. But that wasn’t a deterrent to the ferocious scowl Brett leveled at Cagilaba.

She noticed at that same moment his hand was sparking.

“Say that again to my face, you poor excuse for an angel.”

The words were muttered, his eyes murderous.

“Oh. Oh…”

Adrenaline pumping, Nina jumped from her seat to place herself between them. In her peripheral vision, she spied her aunt standing in total stillness a few steps in from the door. She didn’t acknowledge her then, as her attention was more caught up in the showdown between these two. She had died the last time that happened.

She wasn’t allowing anything to happen this time.

Be it their obliteration. Or something.

Not on her watch.

“No…no…no…you’re not going to do this again. Not in here. You can go do what you want in some outer dimension or something. But not here. You’re not hurting another human being. And we need a place to stay. Don’t wreak this one. Now. Go to your corners.” She gritted at them.

She was spitting mad but controlled enough to speak.

They looked surprised, then resigned looks settled on their faces.

Cagilaba had a soft, fond smile on his lips.

Brett had a slight frown on his face.

“Darling, you got to stop getting between us.” Cagilaba murmured.

The slight frown turned to a ferocious glare; in the millisecond it took for the endearment to register on Brett’s consciousness.

“Don’t call her that.” He thundered.

Nina sighed.

“Oh, why not?” drawled Cagilaba. “Again, I don’t have to ask your permission.”

“Shit, this is getting ridiculous. You both need to grow up. Honestly, this is like a pissing contest in a school yard.” She shot at them, incensed.

Brett had the grace to look embarrassed. The slight blush on his cheeks, and the tips of his ears telling her that. Cagilaba, on the other hand, just gave his cheeky grin. He seemed to find pleasure in riling Brett. Brett’s easygoing attitude had vanished overnight, and in its place was this forbidding, ferocious, raging angel.

Nina wondered about that.

Brett had been easygoing from the beginning. Had a great sense of humor. Right up until the time they became lovers.

‘Was that it?’ Did becoming my lover change him?

She hoped not.

But if that was the case, then everything else between them had been a lie. She didn’t regret any minute of it though. She was grateful she had known him, in every sense.

‘Hmm, his body is to die for…’

Her greedy eyes traveled down his body. Her mouth watered.

Yep, he was a splendid specimen.

She was catapulted abruptly back into the conversation when he spoke. Embarrassed, she hoped no one had noticed where her wayward thoughts had taken her.

“Okay, we will call a truce. Let’s do what we have to do. After which, we shall examine this topic again.”

She knew he wasn’t concerned about a truce. He was just doing it because he had no choice.

For the time being.

“Right.” Cagilaba sounded just as insincere.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that one under control. What now? Do we just wait for my body to be discovered?” Nina asked, sad all of a sudden.

“Nope, I have a better idea.” Cagilaba said.

He took a step towards Brett, who tensed as he neared. His body relaxed slightly when Cagilaba said something that only he could hear. Nina scooted closer, but she was out of luck. Semi just shrugged in confusion when she raised an eyebrow, querying him without words. Her aunt who had crept in to sit on one of the two armchairs in the lounge, shook her head when appealed to next.

“Can we ghosts hear what you’re whispering about?” She asked Cagilaba in a sarcastic voice.

Oh, it’s not that big of a deal. Cagilaba suggested you be one of those seeking ghosts. You’re going to your uncle’s place to tell him where to find your body.”

She was shaking her head halfway through Brett’s explanation.

“No…no…no…I told you all I didn’t want to become that. Never. Ever. Nope…No sirree.”

Her words ended in a shout.

“Just hear me out, darling.” Cagilaba interjected. Brett turned on him. He shoved him back as he growled out.

“I warned you. Stop calling her that.”

Cagilaba shoved him right back. Before they could get into a shoving match, she stepped between them.

Again.

They both sighed in resignation.

“You can’t go a minute without getting into this cock fight. What’s wrong with you two?”

Their quarrel diverted her thoughts from becoming a seeking spirit.

They glanced at her with suppressed grins.

“Cock fight?”

They looked like mischievous schoolboys with their identical grins.

Oh boy!

She realized the distraction worked. Her repugnance at becoming what she hated had stopped being such a big deal.

She became aware of one overwhelming fact. They were almost identical in their dealings. But Brett was not Cagilaba, or vice versa. She was in love with one. Wanted him with an overwhelming addictive passion. The other, she was attracted to, but repulsed as well.

‘I need a ghost psychiatrist.’ She smiled to herself.

Her reverie was interrupted by Semi.

“I think that is a great idea. That way she can somehow avert an investigation into her death. Allay suspicions, so to speak.”

Her blood ran cold.

“Et tu Brutus. How could you?” She accused Semi.

“No, sis.” He implored her.

“Please, don’t think I’m betraying you. I’m not. But I think it is a great idea. Besides, you will be doing it only the once.”

No, he wasn’t betraying her. She knew that. Nevertheless, she still felt betrayed.

Her brain started ticking over with all the pros of why she should do this.

They were right. She had to. It was imperative to speed the process. After a few seconds of deliberation, she finally made her mind up.

“All right. I’ll do it.”

Nina suddenly wanted this over and done with. She needed a moment of hiatus. A time to sit and process things. At the rate everything was going at present, she couldn’t even take a breath.

‘Gosh, if I was still alive, I’d be so stressed out, it would end up with me having a heart attack.’

“Okay, let’s go.” Semi’s voice was jubilant. He was certainly looking forward to this. To her surprise her spirit lightened. She felt carefree. Like the times she and Semi got up to shenanigans during their youth. All those fun-filled, sun-soaked days came crashing in.

Semi looked at her, she at him, their thoughts in sync.

“Remember that time we scared those kids…” Semi began.

“Oh yes…” She laughed out loud.

Pretending to be ghosts, they had scared the crap out of some kids at their village. To this day, as far as she knew, those kids, grown up now, still believed they had seen real ghosts.

“This will be for real.” He laughed. “Do you still remember how to be a ghost?” He joked.

She guffawed.

“Now that I’m a real one, I don’t know how to be one.”

They bent over with laughter, holding on to each other.

When they straightened up, their mirth under control, the looks on the other three’s faces, set them off again.

Semi snorted with laughter. The snort got them going.

“Are you two hyenas’ done?”

Brett’s icy voice didn’t faze them.

“Oh yes. We’re done.” Nina answered with mirth lacing her voice.

“We’re well done.” Semi had a coughing fit.

She grinned at Brett’s lowering eyebrows.

They were becoming hysterical, but she needed to bolster her lagging courage. She wondered at the back of her mind, whether she could pull this off. She hadn’t realized she had spoken aloud, until Semi answered with confidence in his voice.

“Oh, yes you can, doll. You can do anything you set your mind to. You’ve done it before, and you can do it again. You’ve always had a one-track mind when you set out to do anything.”

“Thank you, darl, for the vote of confidence. You have always had my back. That’s how I could do things.”

She was emboldened by his never-ending support. A snort from her aunt’s corner didn’t lessen the confidence Brett, Semi, and even Cagilaba, instilled in her.

“I’m ready.” She told Brett. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

He offered his arm to Semi, who took it. He wrapped his free arm around her waist.

She blinked.

They were outside her Uncle Jo’s house. He was a distant relative, but Semi and she, always called him uncle.

Brett led her into the house through a wall.

She was stunned.

She could go through walls now?

“Oh boy…” She exclaimed aloud “Who’s there?”

Her uncle’s frail voice came from an armchair in the room. He raised himself up as he spoke. Nina couldn’t believe her eyes.

He had aged.