The Housemates

Infrequently Asked Questions

Chapter Thirteen

Infrequently Asked Questions

Everyone gathered for dinner like most days. Elli hadn’t given her housemates any warning for what was about to come. Not even her brother knew. There would be a lot of crap pointed her way later, but this seemed simpler. Most of them would get out of it if they knew what was coming. Surprise was the only way to ensure cooperation.

Dinner consisted of vegetarian casserole and biscuits. They weren’t thrilled about the casserole, but they ate it. They were halfway through the meal when Elli decided to spring everything on them. She was good at that, ruining meals with supernatural discussions.

“So...Addy talks to dead people.” She felt like she had said that a lot lately. Probably because she had, but it was the only way she could think to say it and Addy hadn’t told her the name for the ability so she stuck with that sentence.

They stared at her for a few moments, all paused in their actions. Richard’s fork was halfway to his mouth, Kate was holding her drink, and Noah was in the midst of chewing. Their eyes flickered over to Addy who shrugged nonchalantly and continued eating her casserole.

“Like...ghosts?” Kate finally managed.

“Exactly. Ghosts. People who’ve died and haven’t moved on. You know, all the annoying clichés. They’re clichés for a reason.”

“Well...that’s interesting...” Richard mused, finally taking his bite. “So you’re a necromancer?”

Desmond shook his head. “Necromancers communicate with the dead by summoning their spirits or bringing them back from the dead. It’s a wizard thing and super illegal. She’s more like a medium.”

Noah swallowed his food. “That doesn’t sound like a fun ability.”

She shrugged. “It makes people think you’re crazy, but Richard knows all about people’s opinions of me, being a local.”

“They think she’s crazy,” he repeated flatly. He shrugged. “They think I’m crazy, too, though. And I think I have you topped in the ‘shitty ability’ department. Being a seer sucks.”

“What’s a seer?” she questioned.

So far, so good. They were handling this fantastically. It almost felt like a dream it was going so well. She didn’t trust it.

“A seer is like a psychic or an oracle except we need physical contact to see the future and all physical contact triggers it, annoyingly enough. We can also see our own futures in our dreams, but it’s hard to know if that’s a future or a desire, you know? So we don’t rely on it. At least, I don’t. Plus, that future is constantly changing.”

“I love being a banshee!” Kate enthused. “I mean, it’s annoying when I’m trying to sleep and someone dies, but it’s kind of a nifty power, I think.”

“Banshee... That’s a...fairy, right?”

“You know what a banshee is, but you didn’t know what a seer was?” Richard stated in surprise.

“I did a paper on Ireland once. They’re an Irish myth, right?”

Kate smiled. “They’re an Irish creature; I promise you I am no myth.”

“So what can you do?”

“I sing when people die and guide them to the afterlife. I mean, it only sounds like singing to banshees and ghosts, but it’s what I do.”

“What does it sound like to everyone else?”

“Humans can’t hear it. To anyone who can pick up on that frequency, like Elli or Noah, it sounds like screaming, which I guess kinda sucks.”