Defender of the Departed    by Jeff Young
Price: Free! 5960 words. Published on October 3, 2012. .
When Kassandra Leyden begins seeing the ghost of her mother, she decides to investigate the circumstances of Anastasia's disappearance. Kassandra's mentor is not what he seems, her father is drinking himself into oblivion, and she's developing the ability to commune with the dead. Finally, someone has discovered how to interrogate the departed...(steampunk short story)