A Gift of Ghosts (Tassamara) Read Online Free PDF Page A

dentist. It all seemed very
typical. But there was something off about it. It was like a tourist town, but
smaller, dustier, not as brightly colored or as artificially friendly. How did
the town survive?
    “My, what a beautiful aura you have, my dear.” Akira
automatically glanced in the direction of the voice, but then looked away,
hoping the ghost wouldn’t think anything of her response. A small woman—smaller
even than Akira herself—dressed in a flowered muumuu had stopped and was
staring at Akira. “It’s lovely. Why, that blue is almost iridescent. I don’t
know that I’ve ever seen such a shade before. Do you have an unusual gift,
child?”
    “Hello, Mrs. Swanson.” Meredith had opened the door to the
realtor’s office and Akira stood, surprised. So the little woman wasn’t a
ghost?
    “Hello, Meredith, dear. How’s your mother doing? I’ve been
meaning to stop by.”
    “Oh, she’d be delighted to see you. She’s been a little
better lately, but she always likes to hear what’s going on in town.”
    “Have you noticed your friend’s aura? It’s really quite
remarkable.” The little woman reached out as if to stroke Akira, but instead
patted the air near her arm. Akira shifted, uncomfortable, but not wanting to be
too obvious about her retreat. She threw a desperate look at Meredith but the
realtor was smiling.
    “What does it tell you?”
    “Why, I’m not even sure. I was just asking her if she had a
gift. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an aura like this before.”
    “This is Akira Malone. Akira, Mrs. Swanson, one of the
long-time residents of Tassamara. She owns a small business a few blocks down.
Akira’s a new scientist with GD, Mrs. Swanson. I’ve just been showing her
houses, and she’s rented the old Harris place.”
    “A scientist? Well, that just seems wrong. But it’s a
pleasure to meet you, child.” The woman reached out and took Akira’s hand in
both of her own, clasping it in an almost handshake, while gazing at the air
around Akira’s head.
    “I, um, likewise, I’m sure,” Akira mumbled, trying to retrieve
her hand and succeeding.
    “Akira needs to come in and sign her lease now, Mrs. Swanson,
so we’ll see you later.” Meredith waved and Akira nodded a good-bye as she
entered the realtor’s office.
    “Is she—was that—what does she do?” Akira asked. Was there a
polite way to find out if Mrs. Swanson always accosted strangers on the street?
    Meredith walked around to the other side of her desk and took
her seat. “She’s an aura reader, of course.”
    “A what?”
    “She reads auras.” Meredith said the words matter-of-factly.
    Akira looked out the window at the departing back of the tiny
woman and then at Meredith. “Are you serious?” Akira asked, as she sat in the
chair in front of Meredith’s desk.
    Meredith looked surprised. “Of course. We’re no Cassadaga,
but Tassamara is a town of psychics. That does make us a bit unusual.”
    “A town of what?”
    “Psychics. Cassadaga, of course, is famous for their
spiritualists. We’re much more private here.” She leaned forward, lowering her
voice, and added, as if confidentially, “I think we have more of the truly
gifted here, too, but I shouldn’t really judge.”
    Akira’s face felt frozen. Meredith pushed the lease across
the desk to Akira and dropped the keys on top of it, smiling.
    For a moment, Akira paused. What had she gotten herself into?
But, biting her lip, she picked up a pen and signed the lease, then scooped up
the keys.
    This town might be crazy.
    But then, she might be crazy, too.

CHAPTER THREE
     
    The black car was empty. Akira was surprised by the stab of
disappointment she felt. Ghosts disappeared, she knew that. She had never known
what exactly happened to them, but one day they’d be there, the next they were
gone.
    As a physicist, she’d theorized, although—with the exception
of that one academic-career-destroying paragraph in the Energy Review
Quarterly