The Wailing Town (The Other Investigator Series 2)

By Auden Johnson

At night, everyone screams.

Kiran Ava hears ghostly calls all the time. Spirits drag her out of bed in the middle of the night. She only wants to recover but they won’t give her peace. Her partner, En Libore, suggests they need a vacation.

Shida, with its wards, history and isolation, was supposed to be safe. Why do the residents scream when darkness falls? Kiran is curious but in no condition to investigate. Spirits, though, don’t care. They guide her away from everyone into the Dark Hills, a mountain range haunted by an old monster. Kiran sees things, hears things that could drive her to madness.

She is by herself in darkness but she is not alone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Auden Johnson
• Release date: Oct 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005227647

Auden Johnson

As a kid, Auden created her own books by folding several construction papers in half and stapling them down the middle, adding her own illustrations. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get away from writing. She holds a B.A. in English, an M.S. in Library and Information Science, an M.S. in Publishing Digital and Print and she studied Creative Writing in England. She is an Author and Social Media Consultant for Aubey LLC and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. She’s written several short stories and novellas as well as two novels in her Merging Worlds Series. Look out for Book 3 of the Merging Worlds series coming soon. She’s also written a world building guide. Find her books at aubeyllc.com

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Description

At night, everyone screams.

Kiran Ava hears ghostly calls all the time. Spirits drag her out of bed in the middle of the night. She only wants to recover but they won’t give her peace. Her partner, En Libore, suggests they need a vacation.

Shida, with its wards, history and isolation, was supposed to be safe. Why do the residents scream when darkness falls? Kiran is curious but in no condition to investigate. Spirits, though, don’t care. They guide her away from everyone into the Dark Hills, a mountain range haunted by an old monster. Kiran sees things, hears things that could drive her to madness.

She is by herself in darkness but she is not alone.

Her neighbors often sounded like a force of nature but they were never this bad. The noise jolted Kiran Ava out of her first restful night’s sleep in weeks. Why did her mattress feel like concrete? Whoever was flashing lights across her eyes was going to die.

Kiran.

That was En Libore’s voice. Why did he sound far away? A slow throbbing across her body turned into a sharp ache then a blaring pain. Mostly in her legs, feet and ankles. Kiran needed to open her eyes. Something was wrong. Her body wasn’t listening.

The voices were louder now but still too muffled to understand.

Kiran pushed open her eyes to En’s bottomless black pupils. Even his glasses couldn’t diminish the creepiness. He turned to someone out of sight. Kiran was on the ground with En kneeling over her. His fingers brushed her face almost as an afterthought. A larger hand rested on her other arm. Leria Rani’s voice turned her magical chant into a soothing lullaby. She stopped casting and smiled at Kiran.

A crowd of gawkers and authorities gathered in the distance. Night turned lights from buildings and cars into piercing attacks on her eyes.

Kiran clicked her tongue. How far had she walked this time? Her emergency backpack made lying on the ground a special kind of uncomfortable. At least that part of her training was working. A spirit probably lead Kiran out of her apartment but her still recovering body stopped working before they reached their destination.

Fortunately and unfortunately, En and Leria branded Kiran’s name and emergency contact on a copper bracelet she wore at all times.

Where am I? She asked.

Harrison and Court, Leria answered.

No wonder everything hurt from the waist down. That was miles away from her apartment.

Kiran closed her eyes. She didn’t feel any foreign presence in her anymore or a pull guiding her someplace.

She pushed herself into a sitting position. Then stood on legs and ankles that didn’t like the idea. En roped his arm around her waist to keep her upright. Leria handed her a pair of pants and shoes. Kiran was thoroughly under-dressed having been led out of her bed. At least she didn’t sleep naked.

It took hours for human and Other authorities to finish asking questions, look her over and let them go. Through it all, En remained silent with his arm around her. Kiran leaned against him. Keeping her eyes open felt like work.

Finally, finally they climbed into En’s car. Leria drove while En practically sat her in his lap in the back seat. She’d yell about his clinginess later.

How long was I gone? She asked.

En flinched.

I noticed a couple of hours ago. Leria emphasized that first word.

En hadn’t been home when she went to sleep. He apparently hadn’t returned by the time she left. An ugly, bitter pain twisted through her chest. She resisted the urge to pull away from him. She was too tired for another argument.

Leria, for some reason, was never too tired for a fight. She seemed to make it her job to remind En of his constant absence. Kiran was so happy to have her around.

We need to find a better way to track you, Leria said. Even with your radio, it wouldn’t have helped since you hadn’t regained consciousness by the time we found you.

Tracking usually meant another ward symbol on her body. But, as Kiran was recovering from magic poisoning, she hadn’t been cleared to wear any more magical tattoos. She was allowed to use her powers outside of the hospital, though.

A pain born from an irreplaceable loss spilled from an unknown place inside her. It suffocated every light. All her work meant nothing. She was nothing. Everything was and had been pointless. They butchered Jaya and Solun. He thought she could save them but she hadn’t. He hadn’t been able to save them.

Fire and anger burned those pathetic feelings. Being good didn’t matter. If he’d killed them and took the children, none of this would’ve happened. Hands grabbed her face. Kiran wanted to break those fingers. She wanted to reach down the person’s throat and kill that annoying voice.

Then it all stopped.

Kiran opened eyes she didn’t realize she had closed. She was talking. She got the feeling she had been for a while. A spirit. No magical power. A human. He was a ball of rage and hate. One day, when she finished her training, she would know how to push spirits out. Right now, conflicting emotions battled inside while the spirit poisoned her with its anger.

This would’ve been a good time to experiment if she didn’t feel as if she’d been walking all night.

She not sick, she’s a beast, the spirit made her say.

En’s mouth twitched. He was about the say something stupid.

Kiran’s a beast but she’s not a monster.

Kiran jerked away from him, gathering power behind her eyes.

Say that again and I’m destroying your face.

En leaned in and kissed her. Welcome back.

This was the happiest she’d seen him in weeks. He kissed her again and pulled her to his chest.

I woke in the middle but I don’t remember much, she said. What did it say?

Nothing that made much sense, Leria answered. He sounded like he needed help but it failed.

Kiran closed her eyes. He was probably the same spirit that had been making her walk for weeks now. Was it still attached to her? She focused on what she could remember. On the angry and lonely feeling. She focused on the spirit who loved dearly someone who just died.

Her vision was narrow, cloudy around the edges. Blood and body parts practically covered the entire floor. Grief opened a hole inside her chest. Kiran couldn’t breathe. He had tried everything. She was strong. This should’ve worked but she hadn’t wanted to help. No one wanted to help.

Kiran opened her eyes but she still saw red.

Could she have prevented the massacre if she hadn’t been so weak?

She wiped tears from her face.

I’m so sorry, my dear, Leria said. We’ll figure something out. Once you start training, this won’t happen anymore.

She hated being a Sensitive.

Kiran never felt one way or the other about hospitals. As a child, she got to know doctors and nurses far too often for Mom and Dad’s peace of mind. She liked the staff but the building or office had always been just that. She still found the staff decent enough. But the building was now the problem.

Her neck tingled as she headed for the hospital’s front door. Kiran looked at the road behind her and the large garden. She had to stop doing that. Something was always looking at her.

She was a Sensitive. Her second power awoke a little over a month ago during the Unburned Island case. She sensed and attracted spirits far more often than normal Others. Morningside General Hospital had wards built into the foundation to make Others like her more comfortable. Unfortunately, they didn’t work on Kiran. Doctors and nurses assumed she was more sensitive to spirits than average but they wouldn’t know until she started training.

Five