Soul Cage by Phaedra Weldon

her
sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. "So…this is an all
powerful program, eh?"
    Alice gave a long, drawn
out sigh.
    The temperature dropped
but did remain warmer than before. "I seem to have miscalculated
once again."
    "What does that mean?"
Maureen asked.
    "The Guardian has lost
consciousness."
    Maureen glared at Alice.
"I always said programs were only as smart as the gits who write
them."
     
     
    •••
     
    Jason waited with Nona and
she appreciated his attentiveness. He treated her no different now
than he had when they were lovers, no matter that she was much
older now, with a solidly larger body and wrinkles. He still looked
at her as if he were looking at the Nona of thirty years
ago.
    They were in the kitchen,
Jason and Nick preparing a meal for herself and Joe. The cop had
come in not long after the initial surge of magical use ended.
Though exhausted from the day, he'd felt it when he walked in the
house. Entering the kitchen, he'd given Nona a kiss, then attempted
to kiss Jason, who dodged before Joe could succeed. She'd noticed
the two had a more than close relationship, more of what Zoë called
a bromance. She just wished Daniel and Dags could get along as
well.
    Joe set a rock on the
counter.
    "What's that?"
    "When Zoë packed a few
things up for her new place, I put that rock inside the box. I had
no idea that was Tim's rock. But the box ended up at my place—so
he's been with me ever since she moved."
    Tim abruptly appeared and
looked at everyone, his large dark eyes darting from face to face
to face, then he looked around him. "Whoa…where am I?"
    "The new Society House,"
Nona said as she slipped off her stool and opened her arms wide.
"It's good to see you."
    Tim grabbed hold of Nona
and squeezed. He and Steve had practiced at becoming corporeal over
the past year—especially around Zoë. "Oh it's good to be seen." He
stepped back, nodded at Jason and Nick, then looked around again.
"Where's Zoë?"
    "She's in Montreal," Jason
said. "With Daniel."
    "Daniel—?" Tim narrowed
his eyes. "Frasier?"
    "Mmhmm," Nona said.
"Daniel wanted to take her on a short vacation. You know, get her
away from Dags and Rhonda."
    The ghost's face darkened.
"What is up with Rhonda doing that them? I thought she was Zoë's
friend. And why was she at the house last week?"
    "The house?" Nona sat back
down. "You mean the store?"
    "Yeah, she came in there
while everyone was gone."
    Nona pursed her lips.
"Alone?"
    "I didn't think so at
first—cause I could hear her talking. So Steve and I watched her
from the wall. She was alone, but talked to herself the whole
time."
    Nona pursed her lips.
Morgan mentioned this as well. She and Manuel both said Rhonda was
talking to herself quite a bit.
    Odd. "She wasn't speaking
to a First Born?"
    "Doesn't work like that if
she was alone," Nick said. He moved his cutting board and mound of
carrots and potatoes to the counter in front of Nona and Tim. "A
Revenant would have to be nearby. The only way they can communicate
long distance is with each other."
    "Yeah," Jason said. "I
knew what Morgan was doing because Mephistopheles told me, not
because I could hear Morgan."
    "I've never known her to
talk to herself. Ever." Nona chewed on her lower lip. "What did she
do?"
    "Grabbed a few books, a
few other things here and there. Nothing much. I watched her put
money in the register so I figured it was just things she needed.
Then she left."
    It was still odd. Rhonda
rarely ever took things from the house unless she spoke to Nona
first. Mostly because it was Nona's house.
    Joe had stepped into the
corner to make himself a cup of coffee with the Keurig and went to
the fridge to grab milk. "Rhonda's been a bit squirrely ever since
that night at the old house."
    Nona frowned. Jason turned
from the stove. "You mean that night Nick and I showed up to help
get Dags out?"
    "Yeah," Joe poured milk
into the cup and then slipped a spoon in. He leaned against the
stove. "It was after that—when Dags