“Negative energy? What are you talking about?” Shay frowned. “That’s not some sort of weird bong, is it?”
Alison laughed. “Aunt Shay, how could you ask your friends that?”
She shrugged. “Just asking. I have no idea what the hell that thing is, and I don’t want your dad yelling at me later.”
The three women laughed.
Kara grinned. “It’s not a bong. It’s a smudge pot. I’ve already got sage in it. We need to do a smudge cleansing of the negative energy of your home.”
Shay stared at the smudge pot. “Which consists of what, exactly?”
“We light the oil in the pot and burn the herbs. It’ll make a lot of smoke, and the herbs will help clear out the negative energy. We’ll take turns.” She patted her purse. “Got some crystals in here to help spread the positive energy and absorb residual negative energy. Chanting and a little dancing will help, too.”
Shay rubbed the back of her neck. “That thing looks pretty big. Can’t we get something smaller or just burn some incense?”
Kara shook her head. “Nope, we need serious power for a serious cleanse. It’s like getting the oil changed in your car, and since you don’t even know about it, that means you’ve built up more negative energy than I can sense. You’re lucky we got here when we did.”
Shay shot a glance at Alison. The teen shrugged and smiled.
Yeah, if there were negative energy in my place, she’d be able to see it, but no reason to be a bitch about it to my friends. They are only trying to help in their own weird way.
The tomb raider eyed the smudge pot. “That makes sense. Negative energy, huh?”
“Prepared to be seriously wowed by the power of smudging. This is really ancient and powerful stuff. I’m kind of surprised you haven’t heard of it before. I’m pretty sure the Oricerans invented it.”
Shay shrugged. “I’ve heard of using herbs to spiritually cleanse an area, just not smudging.”
The tomb raider managed not to burst out laughing. For all her concern with the truth and acceptance of the power of many magical rituals in light of Oriceran, some things still remained ridiculous, and since moving to California, she’d found she ran into the ridiculous at a higher rate than she had in New York. If all it took was a little incense and a few crystals to remove negative energy, the magical world would have been a much different place, and people like James wouldn’t even have a job.
Plus, it was hard to even think the word “smudging” without being amused.
Couldn’t they have at least given it a different name?
Shay grimaced at a sudden realization. “I’m gonna have to turn off my smoke alarms, though. Don’t want the fire department showing up to ruin my house cleanse and add more negative energy.”
“Good plan,” Janelle commented.
I can’t believe I’m agreeing to let them fill my house with smoke. Sometimes friendship’s a real pain in the ass. Or smoke in the face.
Kara furrowed her brow. “It does create a lot of smoke, but it’s for the best. Can’t let that negative energy build up. If you do, it can attract evil spirits, and with all that magic flowing around, that’s more of a threat than ever. My cousin didn’t smudge enough, and they ended up with an honest-to-goodness ghost, I swear.”
The tomb raider’s few encounters with ghosts had been more annoying than frightening, but she wasn’t about to let her friends know about that. She also doubted that Kara’s cousin’s ghost had anything to do with not smudging enough.
Shay gave Kara a solemn nod, trying her best not to laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure ghosts hate smudging. Scared little white-sheet assholes.”
The faint smirk on Alison’s face told Shay she was enjoying this as much as the tomb raider. The girl, after all, was half-Drow and even her basic sensory experience was centered around magic. Her school days were dripping with actual enchantment and wonder, not just West Coast wannabes waving crystals.
Shay cleared her throat. “Before we start chasing out any negative energy, let me give you a quick tour of the place. We can open the windows as we do it. Two birds. One stone.”
The women all nodded, eager smiles on their faces.
Fifteen minutes later, they finished a thorough tour of all the rooms on both stories of the converted brownstone. They praised Shay’s interior decorating skills as they reiterated the dangerous build-up of negative energy that must have occurred during her time living there. Kara stressed that a poltergeist might manifest soon if they didn’t smudge.
“Especially since you’re an archaeologist,” Kara commented as they came back into the living room.
Shay blinked. “Huh? What does being an archaeologist have to do with negative energy?”
“I know it’s for science and all, but you’re always digging up old bones and stuff. There have to be a few ghosts around. They won’t always get why you’re doing it.”
Not as many ghosts as you might think, but you’re more right than not. Wonder what they would say if I told them I faced off against a demonic chicken?
They would probably find that harder to believe than the ghosts. Shit, I was there, and I still barely believe it. I think I’d rather deal with more ghosts than evil poultry or weird-ass frogmen.
The tomb raider almost snorted. Her friends might not know what she did for a living, but they’d gotten closer to the truth with some of her problems than she would have ever expected.
Kara marched over to the smudge pot. “It’s time to get our smudge on.”
Alison grinned. “This ought to be good.”
Kara looked at the girl. “Have you ever participated in something like this?”
The teen glanced at Shay then back at her friend. “Not this, but at my boarding school they worry about
