Free Celeste Files: Unlocked by Kristine Mason Page A

out-of-focus figure emerged. “Yes. I can’t tell who, or if they’re a man or a woman.” Another figure showed itself. “Wait, there’s someone else here.”
    “What do you sense, Celeste?” Maxine asked, her voice soothing and keeping her more grounded than the scribbles. “What do you feel?”
    She gasped. “Desperation. Fear. Wait—”
    “And whose fault is that?” This voice was stronger than the other had been and, although it echoed over itself, she knew without a doubt that it was a woman’s. But was it Lea’s? “Maybe if you hadn’t gambled our money away, we—”
    “Me?” A dark-gray aura moved in the shadows. “You’re the one who wanted to live here and said we could afford it.” As the voice became clearer, she realized it belonged to a man. “How could you put us in this position?”
    The woman moved. So strange. Celeste could see the subtle outline of her figure, but she hung in the air contorting like a wisp of black smoke in a funhouse mirror. “If you were half the man you bragged to be we would be—”
    “I make good money.”
    “It’s not enough,” the woman yelled, her figure becoming reddish-black.
    “It never was.” He snorted, his aura turning to a mustard color. “That bitch spoiled you, and now you think you deserve anything you want.”
    “When that bitch dies I will get what I want. Three hundred thousand dollars will not only cover the bills you’re so worried about, but—”
    The man laughed—the sound harsh, cruel. “You keep telling yourself that. But you and I both know we can’t count on that money.”
    The woman’s smoky black figure moved toward him. “Why do you say that?”
    “Because your bitch of a mother hates me. She doesn’t want me touching her money. Remember when I asked her for a loan?” His aura turned brown. “She humiliated me.”
    The woman drifted closer, her blackness touching him. “Let it go. It won’t be long before she’s gone.”
    “You said that months ago.”
    “It’s only a matter of time. We can get through this until she’s gone.” She caressed what Celeste assumed was the man’s face. “I don’t want to talk about her anymore,” she said, her tone seductive. “I want you on the bed and in the position. Would you like that?”
    “Yes,” he said, his voice an eerie echo.
    “Good. Go upstairs and get ready. If you’re not in position by the time I get up there your punishment won’t be easy. Do you understand?”
    His aura changed colors—fading from brown into a dark red. “I understand.”
    He disappeared. Celeste gasped and quickly searched for him.
    “Celeste, what’s wrong?” Maxine asked, her voice filled with concern.
    She ignored her mentor and placed all of her energy on the woman left in the room. The woman moved around as if locking a door and shutting off lights, then stilled.
    Celeste stared at her, trying desperately to break past her barriers and hear her thoughts. The piercing behind her eye grew excruciatingly painful. “She won’t let me in,” she said, hoping Maxine could hear her.
    “Compel her. Call to her,” Maxine ordered. “Remember, what you’re seeing isn’t real. It’s a plane of the past, present or future. She won’t know you. Hurry. Do it now.”
    The woman began to move again.
    “Who are you?” Celeste asked.
    When the figure didn’t stop, she shouted, “I asked you a question. Now answer me. Who are you?”
    The woman paused. The black smoke that made up her body undulated, twirled, then twisted into an unnatural smile, before shooting up. Celeste followed her, then sucked in a breath. The woman’s blackness coated whatever was above them. It moved, bubbled and, in some places, burst.
    Celeste jumped back when black sludge dripped around her. Afraid it would touch her, infect her with the evil she sensed, she willed herself to return to the safety of Maxine’s parlor. She was met with laughter. Coldness enveloped her. She turned to run back into the