Who Killed Sarah Foster?

26. Stop Talking

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"It's kind of a funny story. After all this..." She gestured to the big study and all the research papers. ".. my grandfather was a baker."

Calum raised his brow, an amused look on his face. "You kidding right?"

"Nope." She laughed.

"That is so unexpected!"

"Not to the people that knew him!" She said. "Not even to my parents. The only living souls who know about my grandfather's true identity are Grandma, me and you. Even his own mother and younger son didn't know when they were alive... OHHH!!" She suddenly looked up, remembering her discovery from early morning. "I was reading through the books early in the morning and I came across something!!" She exclaimed, sitting up excitedly.

Calum narrowed his eyes. "And I wanted to talk about it; I thought we were supposed to do it together!"

She shook her head, slapping his arm lightly while continuing, "That's not it! Listen, I read through this book and found out why Sarah can go out of her threshold – I mean, technically she isn't going out of her threshold – but I found out why she can leave the school unlike Paul or my brother who can't leave the house."

"Okay, why so?" Calum asked, equally excited to know.

"Because along with the school, I am also her threshold." She stated.

Calum looked at her confused. "Um... what?"

Leah chuckled. Of course, he didn't understand. He was not a ghost neither a vessel.

"It means, Sarah can go anywhere I go." She said. "She is in the house as we speak."

"What?"

Leah looked around, trying to use her paranormal vision to feel their presence. "But I have no idea where the four are or what they are up to."

"What?"

Leah turned to Calum who looked so confused and shocked that she sighed, placing her chin on her palm as she waited for him to grasp what she had just said.

"You know your exorcist s**t is way beyond my understanding!" He finally exclaimed, rubbing his temple.

"It is not everyone's cup of tea. Hence the secrecy." She said, a small smile on her face but then she quickly narrowed her eyes and added. "And that's a vessel thing, not an exorcist thing."

"Okay okay, so how did it happen?" He asked. "Like, your brother and that ghost at school, Paul, can't do it, right?"

She nodded. "From what I read, it is a glitch from having hosted her before her final rites, though I don't know if there are any consequences."

Calum and Leah sat there for some more time, letting it all sink in for the poor normal teen.

"This is so insane!"

"I know. I could write a book about it."

"And it will be a hit. Probably have a series based on it."

"But there are so much I don't know." She sighed. "Paranormality is so vast. The person who is standing next to you in the queue in Walmart could be a demon and you wouldn't even know it. It's insane!"

Calum gulped. "Okay that's enough freaky stuff for today."

Leah shrugged, her smile resting on her face as she turned to the books once again.

"Is there anything in particular we are looking for?" He asked after a while of relaxing himself with memes on i********:.

Leah looked up and nodded, "I am looking up how to use my paranormal vision without being so obvious. I want to activate it with my eyes open and it would be nice if I could be aware of my humane surroundings while I am at it."

He nodded, getting the basic idea. "I think I get it."

She smiled at him and they threw themselves into the mission, trying to figure out the crazy unknown that was to become a part of their lives.

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"Nothing. Absolutely nothing!" Calum exclaimed in frustration as he put down the big fat book in his hand.

Leah was sitting on her grandfather's chair, her head resting on her hands as she massaged her temples.

"Your eyes glow in the dark." The blinds were closed and the room was dimly lit, and Leah had gotten so agitated and frustrated that she had removed her contacts and now had her icy blue eyes glowing in the dark.

"I know. I own them." She rolled her eyes. Her eyes were like that of cats' and dogs' – they glowed in the dark though she had no idea why. Were vessels and exorcists of animal origin?

"Does your parents really not know about them?" Calum found that very hard to believe them. "You were seven when you got your powers right?"

"Six. I went back to stay with them when I was seven." She corrected, super pissed and almost cranky from the disappointment.

"Yeah, and your parents never even doubted something was going on with you?"

"Obviously, paranormality is not the first thing that crosses someone's mind when someone else is being strange, now is it?"

"No, but-"

"Stop talking." She finally growled out, her patience running out.

She sat up taking in a deep breath.

"Calm down Leah." He sat up too, realizing that she was internally freaking out. "We will figure it out!"

"Yeah sure. I mean, it's not like we don't have enough leads to work on!" She gritted her teeth and then looked up at him. "I know you find all of this very fascinating but you were supposed to go dig into Sarah's past, not waste your time here. You wasted a day here. You could have gotten some other lead the human way."

Calum wanted to ague but he knew that this was her frustration and disappointment speaking and that she was right to an extent.

"Alright, we will try that way starting Monday." He said. "I will do as you say, okay? Now, is there anywhere else we could search for the info we need?"

"The basement." She said after a long pause. "Or the dungeons, that's what it was back in the days."

He nodded. "Maybe we should take a break before that."

She nodded. She knew she really needed it. Maybe it was the disappointment, maybe it was the room, but she felt as if she was being manipulated, as if she was being eaten up inside.

"Let's go for a drive. I hear there is a gorgeous spring nearby."

"Too many ghosts there." She sighed.

Calum blinked. And he suddenly felt bad for her. When others saw the beauty of nature there, she had to see the remnants of death there. No wonder she lost the happiness in her life, the light in her eyes!

Leah sighed yet again. "Sometimes I wish there was a switch I can flip on and off so that I don't have to see them all the time." She confessed. "I am lucky the ghosts I am acquainted with are good complete ghosts. But, there are ghosts that are beyond repair – they are dangerous and scary and my vessel abilities completely shut down around them, like my soul is saying that they should not be hosted in my body."

"Being a vessel is exhausting. It mentally and physically exhausts me to do hosting but being an exorcist is even worse, it's like I am ripping away a part of my soul when I am pushing that deceased soul away from me and anything alive. Every small act of exorcism scars you for life."

Calum listened carefully not speaking or letting out the slightest sound. And when he was sure she had finished her little speech, he asked,

"Have you ever performed an exorcism?"

She looked over at him, a small sad smile on her face before she nodded.

"Who?"

She looked over to the side and his eyes followed, falling on the grand portrait on the wall.

His eyes widened as it darted back to her.

"Samuel Wayne, my grandfather."

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