Chapter 11

The look he gave me was so filled with sadness that I almost missed the other emotion flitting across his face. Shame.

"When Madigan took over my old job, I feared he might try this, but I didn't expect it so soon. I'm sorry, Cat. There's nothing you can do. Neither can I. Madigan's no doubt ghostproofed that building, too."

"What building?"

The two words seethed with threat. So did the stare Bones lasered at Don. Both should've scared my uncle into answering with the truth. Instead, he sighed once more.

"If you ever get close to Madigan again, kill him. You can't save Tate and the others, but you can avenge them and save others like them if things haven't progressed past that already."

Then, before I could ask him what the hell he meant by that, he disappeared.

"Wait!" I shouted.

Nothing. Not even a chill in the air remained. Bones swore, but I shoved the planchette at Tyler and tossed another thimbleful of Don's ashes onto the Ouija board.

"Bring him back. Now."

"Cat," Tyler began.

"Do it," Bones said curtly.

Tyler muttered something about how unreasonable vampires were, yet once again, he invoked Don's spirit to return. He did, but after a few seconds of stony silence while I railed at him, my uncle disappeared. We repeated the same process again and again with the same result. It was the supernatural equivalent to being repeatedly hung up on.

"Can't you do something to make him stay?" I fumed.

Tyler gave me a sardonic look.

"I tried to tell you I couldn't, Mr. and Mrs. Impatient, but you wouldn't listen. There's only one way to make a ghost stay if he doesn't want to, and you remember what a pain in the ass that was. Besides, you really want to lock your uncle inside a trap?"

At the moment, the idea held definite appeal. Knowing Don, however, he'd remain stubbornly silent even if we did lock him in an escape-proof ghost cell. Plus, making one would take too long. From the few bleak hints Don had given us, Tate and the guys were in lethal trouble. We had to act now, but I didn't know what to do. Tyler was our expert, and he was out of ideas.

"This makes no sense," I continued to rant. "Don's the one who warned us that Tate and the others were missing, yet now that we've confirmed Madigan's got them, he's refusing to help us! I don't understand it."

Bones tapped his chin, his expression both furious and determined.