Free Blood Revolution (God Wars, #3) by Connie Suttle

linked with them and allowed them to see the vision of John's spirit through my eyes. They could hear him, too—through me. John's brother, Chris, stood nearby, and since I didn't want to alarm him, I left him next to the coffin and unaware.
    "I don't know the names," John said. "All I saw were faces."
    Visualize the images , I silently requested. Images filtered into my mind. Opal gasped softly. She recognized Oscar Forde just as easily as Bill and I did. The two humans I didn't recognize, but with an obsession and without a scent, I couldn't identify them, either. I figured one of them had dumped the body, and at least we had faces to connect to the crimes.
    "Do you have any message for your family?" I asked aloud. "Give me something only your brother might know, so he'll believe," I added.
    "Tell him we set the grass on fire behind the garage after we stole the old man's cigarettes to smoke," John said. "Nobody ever found out about that."
    "All right. What do you want me to say after that?"
    "That I love him. That this isn't the end. We'll see each other again."
    "I'll tell him," I nodded.
    "Thanks." John faded away.
    "Chris," I turned to John's brother, who looked very much like John except he didn't shave his head, "John says to tell you he loves you, and that this isn't the end. You'll see each other again. And just to make sure you believe that he said those things, he also said to tell you that he remembers stealing cigarettes from your father, smoking and setting the grass on fire behind the garage."
    "What?" Chris gaped at me. "How did you know that?"
    "He told me," I said, shrugging. "He really does love you, but he's made the walk to the other side, now. That doesn't mean he won't check in now and then, because he probably will."
    "To the other side?" Chris wiped away tears.
    "Honey, he needs the rest and support he'll get there. Let him leave all this behind for a little while, okay?"
    "I don't know what to do," Chris wept. My heart broke for him, and then I did something I hadn't done since I was tiny. I sent Love to Chris. He wrapped me in his arms, sobbed once and then pulled away, staring at me through his tears.
    "Oh, my gosh," he whispered reverently. "Thank you."
    "You're welcome. Just remember, John will always be a part of you. If you need anything, let Hank know. He'll pass the message to me and I'll do what I can."
    "Thank you. You just made this day bearable."
    "We'll get through this," I squeezed his fingers in mine.
    "Yeah."
    * * *
    "What was that you did—was that a ghost?" Opal blinked at me as she, Bill and I sat at a table in The Lean Bean.
    "I guess you could call it a ghost. It was John's spirit." I knew this conversation might come, and I didn't want to upset or frighten Opal or Bill. More than I had already, anyway. And I wanted to explain about the Sirenali, too.
    Hank had gone with John's family to the cemetery in Oakland. Bill and Opal took charge of me and we ended up at my favorite coffee shop. Bill wanted to discuss Oscar Forde's involvement in John's death, and he and Opal both wanted to know about ghosts.
    "I've seen some strange things, and figured I'd seen ghosts a few times, but I could never prove anything," Opal shook her head.
    "I've only seen a few—most of them head to the other side as soon as the way is cleared. Some wait a while. Some refuse to go at all."
    "Weird," Opal sighed.
    "Yeah."
    "Is that the only information on Oscar Forde?" Bill asked, lifting his cappuccino to drink.
    "I haven't gotten any prior news about him being in the area, so yeah. It is," I watched Bill's face as he digested the news.
    "I figure Keir Arthur isn't far away," Opal said. "At least that's the idea I got when we were in Austin—that they usually stayed close."
    "There's something else you need to know," I said, toying with my cup. I should have been proud of myself—my hands were only shaking a little.
    "What's that?" Bill set his cup down and studied me carefully.
    "What's behind all