Read Online Devoured by Amanda Marrone - Free Book Online

and leans back in her chair. “Your sister is searching for something,” Nona says. “She won’t leave until she finds it. I’m picking up helplessness from her—and fear. Great fear.”
    Nona pulls some tissues out from her cleavage under the housecoat and mops her face. “Luka, I need to lie down and rest before my afternoon appointments. Can you help me?”
    Luke nods and helps Nona stand. “I can’t lead your sister to the light; she won’t see it until she finds what she’s looking for. You come back again, and I will see if I can talk with her when I’m feeling stronger.”
    “Don’t go,” Luke says softly to me, and then he leads Nona out of the room.
    “What are you looking for, Remy?” I whisper, watching her rocking back and forth on her heels.
    “Hey, let’s go outside where we can talk,” Luke says when he returns. I follow him out through the back of the house to a gazebo surrounded by tall grass and wildflowers.
    “How are you feeling?” he asks as we take a seat on the cushioned bench.
    “I don’t know why, but I actually feel better than I have in a long time. I thought talking about the accident would make me feel worse, but …”
    Luke nods. “Among other things, Nona’s an empath— she takes away people’s pain. It’s not permanent or anything, and it really knocks it out of her, but you should be feeling pretty good for a while.”
    “Oh, great, so I pretty much beat up your grandmother?”
    A half smile creeps across his face and he runs his fingers through his hair. “Pretty much, but she asked for it.”
    My shoulders slump. “I am so sorry. I never would have let her do that if I knew. I just came here to see you. I was hoping you could help me with Remy.”
    He looks up toward his house, and then back at me. “About that. I want to help you, but I have to be careful because Nona doesn’t actually know I inherited the spooky gene. As far as she’s concerned, I’m as psychic as the ceramic kittens hanging on the side of the house over there.”
    I stare at him incredulously. “But how can she not know? From what I just experienced, I’d be surprised you could hide anything from her.”
    Luke looks at the house again and shrugs. “I guess I’m a pretty good actor. There’ve been a few close calls—it’s not easy pretending not to notice nasty stuff racing around a room.”
    I give him a look. “Tell me about it.”
    Luke smiles. “Yeah, I guess you know what I’m talking about.”
    “But I don’t understand. I have to pretend Remy doesn’t exist so I don’t get put under heavy sedation and carted off to the loony bin.” I shake my head. Given what happened last night, I should probably be on alert for ambulance drivers lurking in the bushes, waiting to ambush me. “But all this ghost stuff is just part of your DNA—why hide it?”
    Luke laughs. “Because I don’t want to spend my life listening to people who want to know if their dearly departed think they should cut the spoiled grandkids out of their will, or if they really meant to leave all of their money to the dog.”
    I look at him with wide eyes. “Seriously?”
    “Sadly, yes. There’s this one woman who comes in just about every other week to talk to her dead mother about whether or not she should change her hair color or break up with the guy she’s dating. And some man came in two days ago with his Siamese cat, Mr. Bootsie, to see if Nona could ask it if his wife is cheating on him.”
    “Was she cheating?”
    Luke shakes his head. “We have many talents, but communicating with pampered pets is not one of them.” He shrugs. “I grew up watching a parade of people come to my house needing spiritual guidance for the most mundane things, and I knew I didn’t want to go there. I pretended not to see the ghosts, and Nona directed all of her attention on training my sister.” Luke bows his head.
    “Ari told me about Kayla,” I say quietly. Luke doesn’t say anything, and that calm