3 The Ghoul Next Door

by Rose Pressey

  A small brown package sat in front of the door, lost like a little stray kitten. Where had it come from? I reached down and grabbed the box, turning it over in my hands to see if I’d find a clue as to its contents. Nothing gave away what was inside. I glanced around again before returning inside. Once back in the kitchen, I placed the box on the table.

  “Special delivery?” Mr. Fine straightened.

  “Get your legs down,” I snapped. “Were you raised in a barn?” I’d always wanted to use that expression. It was one of my mother’s favorites.

  Great. Another nosy ghost, although I guessed I’d be meddlesome too if I wasn’t able to communicate with the living. The first person who came along who could see me and I’d talk their ear off.

  Without answering Mr. Fine’s question, I opened the package and pulled out a blown glass ball that dangled from a clear string. Strands of glass weaved through the interior of the ball in a wild, random pattern. The glass was a beautiful shade of turquoise with streaks of white and yellow mingled through.

  I’d seen these ornaments before and heard about the lore associated with them. According to folk tales, a witch’s ball enticed evil spirits with its bright colors. The spirit would go into the ball and the strands inside would capture it, stopping it from escaping. Some rumors claimed that when a witch was killed by a curse, a witch’s ball was always found nearby and believed to be somehow responsible. That thought sent a chill down my spine. But how could something used to guard against evil spirits be involved with something so sinister? Regardless, I didn’t believe any of those tall tales. Or did I? No, no. It was all just silly talk.

  “What is it?” Mr. Fine asked from over my shoulder.

  When I turned around to glare at him, the cigarette disappeared from his fingers. I had to admit, that was a pretty nifty trick. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel like explaining the whole story to him, so I gave the short answer instead.

  “It’s just something pretty to hang in the window. Like a prism.” I studied the ball.

  “It looked weird if you ask me.” A scowl spread across his face as he stared at the ball.

  “Well, I didn’t ask you, now did I?” I snapped.

  Wow, I was grouchy. What had gotten into me? The stress had finally gotten the better of me this time. However, my icy demeanor had no effect on Mr. Fine. He didn’t bat an eyelash at my harsh words.

  The thing was pretty, but I had to find out who had sent it. The ball twisted as I twirled the string. The thing had to have a meaning. Why would someone send me a witch’s ball? Something that would capture spirits. Hmm. Maybe it was to help me with all the unwanted spirits. That would be a good thing, but I highly doubted that it would work. It was just an old legend.

  Mr. Fine stepped closer to the ball, almost as if hypnotized. Perhaps I should tell him about the mesmerizing quality that the ball was purported to possess. Or I could tell him to look right at it, and then, poof, he’d be gone. Okay, just in case the stories were true, I knew I needed to tell him not to look at it. Damn it.

  Mr. Fine had moved beside me now. A little too close actually.

  “Personal space, Mr. Fine, personal space.” I motioned for him to back up a few steps. When he moved back a couple inches, I continued, “It’s called a witch’s ball, okay? Some people say it traps spirits, so don’t look at the thing if you don’t want to spend the rest of your days stuck inside a little ball. Understand?”

  He cackled, holding his stomach to keep from splitting in half, I supposed. What an annoying laugh. He sounded like a braying donkey that had smoked ten packs a day.

  “You actually believe that?” he asked, fending off more laughter.

  “Go ahead, if you don’t believe me. Give it a shot.” I stuck the ball in front of his face.

  He didn’t laugh this time as he watched the ball moving back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm. Finally, he looked up at me, then back to the ball.

  “No comment, huh? Who’s laughing now, Mr. Hotshot Ghost?” I taunted him.

  Mr. Fine disappeared. Just like that he was gone. I knew he’d be back soon enough.

  Chapter Six

  Now that I thought of it, I’d seen a witch’s ball at Karyn Bentley’s home. She was the former coven leader who had moved away after another witch had attacked her with a nasty black magic spell. Karyn had wanted me to take her place as coven leader. I still hadn’t agreed to it—but I hadn’t flat-out told her no either. Just because I’d successfully cast a few spells didn’t mean I was a witch. She claimed I had natural talent. I had talent at baking cakes too—that didn’t make me a baker. I should officially turn down the offer soon. It wasn’t fair to lead them on and have the coven believe I might take the position.

  No doubt about it, the witch’s ball was very pretty, but I had no idea who had sent it. And that little detail would drive me bonkers. I’d go over and over the matter in my mind ad nauseam. Yes, I was a tad obsessive-compulsive, but hey, we all had our issues. I picked up the box again. The package had no a return address and no distinguishing marks.

  Was it a gift from my mother? Callahan had just left. Had he meant to give it to me and forgotten? Maybe he didn’t want to disturb me and decided to just leave it at the door. But someone had knocked. He wouldn’t do that, nor would my mother. She’d give her last chocolate truffle to snoop around in my house. She did exactly that at every opportunity she got. Regardless, obviously it was a gift, so when I had time, I’d hang it in the kitchen and let the light reflect on it. Right now, I had to get to Book Nook.

  After placing the ball back in the box and ignoring the ghost who had reappeared after only two minutes, I slipped on a pair of black slacks and a pink sweater and made my way out the door.

  When the last set of ghosts had converged on my house, I’d prepared a sort of orientation talk with the spirits. Setting boundaries and letting them know what they could and couldn’t do was harder than you’d think.

  For the time being, I wouldn’t give Mr. Fine the dos and don’ts of haunting me speech just yet. I’d wait until I was sure he was hanging around before I went to all the trouble. I’d learned the hard way that it was necessary to lay out rules for the spirits. If he was hanging around long, then certain rules would be absolutely necessary—like bedrooms and bathrooms being off limits.

  My fingers were crossed that Mr. Fine would take a hike, although I didn’t want him to head back to Mindy’s. Apparently, it was a go-to move within the ghostly world to ride shotgun with me. Mr. Fine sat in the seat next to mine with his hands folded in his lap waiting for the ride.

  “Back in my day we’d sit down for a big breakfast. I hardly think one of those pre-packaged meals is enough to get you through until lunchtime.” He shook his head at me.

  The ghosts were never short on opinions either.

  “Well, Mr. Fine, I’d love to sit down for a big, delicious meal, but who’s going to cook it for me? I certainly don’t have time.” I pulled out onto the main road.

  “Where are we headed?” he asked as he gazed out the side window.

  I sighed. “I’m headed to work. I’m guessing you’re going with me.”

  “Looks that way.” He clucked his tongue.

  Mindy was standing on the sidewalk leaning against the bookstore window when I pulled up to the curb. She had a bag of doughnuts from my favorite shop in one hand and a couple Diet Cokes in the other. Callahan was going to stop being so tolerant of us patronizing his competitor’s shop if we didn’t stop flaunting those doughnuts in front of him.

  Callahan owned the coffee shop right next door to my bookstore. That was how we’d met. Don’t get me wrong, I was a sucker for his pastry any day, but there was something about those blueberry doughnuts that I just couldn’t resist. But I’d better learn to resist soon though or I would be shopping for a bigger pants size.

  Speaking of shopping, I threw my hand up in a wave at Cooper Garrett who was standing by the door of the boutique across the street. He’d recently come to
town to take over the upscale fashion shop, High Fashion. His cousin, Brianna Garrett, had been run out of town by the coven for practicing black magic. She’d placed a love spell on Callahan and they’d almost ended up in marital non-bliss. I still wasn’t sure what they’d done with Brianna. Did they have some kind of secret island where all the magical misfits went? It didn’t help that Cooper looked like the male version of his cousin either—short blond hair and sharp blue eyes. Yeah, any woman would consider him a hunk.

  Mr. Fine pointed at Mindy. “There’s that woman. She wasn’t easy to live with, you know. I’m hoping you will be easier. I think if you keep the music down and keep that boyfriend from spending the night, then you will be fine.”

  I pulled the key from the ignition. “Okay. We might as well get this talk over with right now. You are not living with me. You can’t stay. Haven’t you ever heard of that ‘go into the light’ business?” He stared blankly, but I continued, “Yeah, that means you.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I have no reason to go and have no intention of moving into any light.”

  “Well, I have no intention of you staying with me,” I said.

  He let out a sigh. “I guess I’ll have to go back to her house.” He gestured toward Mindy with a tilt of his head, then folded his arms in front of his chest.

  Mindy scowled and motioned for me to get out of the car. I jumped out and slammed the door behind me, wishing that Mr. Fine couldn’t glide through the door without even opening it. I’d lock him in if I could.

  “What are you doing here so early?” I asked. “I didn’t even have to bribe you to get doughnuts. Plus, I ate breakfast at home.”

  She shrugged. “If you take more of my pole fitness classes you can afford to eat two breakfasts.” She flashed a wide smile. “Besides, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night worrying about that ghost coming back. I swear, Larue, I don’t know how you deal with it. I kept wondering if he was watching me in the shower or something.”

  Mr. Fine puffed out his chest. “I am a gentleman. I never watched her in the shower. I may have accidentally caught a peek while she was dressing, but never when she was in the shower. I have my limits.”

  “You pervert,” I yelled.

  Mindy’s eyes almost popped out of the sockets. “What the hell are you talking about, Larue?”

  Uh-oh. Now I’d have to tell her that the ghost was standing next to us. I didn’t want to divulge the little detail about his Peeping Tom tendencies. I moved past her and shoved the key in the door. Maybe she’d drop the subject.

  “Larue, is that ghost here now?” she demanded.

  Gulp. There was no avoiding the question. She’d hound me until my dying day. I shoved through the door with Mindy hot on my heels.

  “Maybe,” I said as I walked toward the counter in the middle of the room.

  Book Nook had always been my safe haven. The smell of all those books, the cozy fireplace with leather chairs placed in front to relax in… not to mention the warming honey color painted on the walls. It didn’t feel as safe at the moment though.

  “He’s here. Oh my God. He’s stalking me. I have a stalker ghost. It’s not bad enough that I attract the living freaks, but now I have the dead ones hunting me down too. He was watching me in the shower, wasn’t he?” She shivered.

  “What?” I waved off her concern as I tossed my purse under the counter. “Of course not. You may want to get dressed in a hurry though until I can get him to cross into the light.”

  She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked around the room as if she’d be able to spot him. Her face grew red and she started to point around the room. “Look, you—you freak, I may not be able to see you, but I’m not going to put up with your crap.” She spun around waving her hand through the air.

  It wouldn’t do her any good though, because my new ghoul friend was perched on top of a shelf. He was lying on his side, stretched out with a wicked grin on his face.

  “This is so much fun,” he said.

  Mr. Fine was more devilish than I’d thought.

  “Mindy, you need to calm down. Just take a couple deep breaths and slowly let them out.”

  Her bottom lip dropped and her eyes glazed over as if the waterworks would start at any second. “I’m not cut out for this ghost-busting business. I may be tough, but I can’t handle this stress right now.”

  “Honey, here, come sit down.” I took her by the arm.

  Mindy was one of the toughest women I’d ever met. Maybe the toughest besides my grandmother. I’d never seen her this frazzled before. I guided her to the stool behind the counter and she plopped down.

  “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on that has you so upset?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess it’s just everything… worrying about my business, the magic spell that I just got over, ghosts, dating, and paying bills. You know how it is.” She wiped a tear from her cheek.

  I draped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “I know how it is, sweetie.”

  Before I could offer more advice, Callahan burst through the door, the bell above the door jangling until I thought it might fall right off. His eyes were wide as he hurried over to us.

  He pointed toward his coffee shop. “There’s a ghost in my store.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Oh my God. That’s it. It’s an invasion. The ghosts are taking over, Larue. I think this is some kind of sign of the apocalypse.”

  Mindy had been doing too many of the upside-down moves during her pole fitness classes. All that blood rushing to her head was getting the better of her.

  “Mindy.” I grabbed her arms. “Breathe. Look at me. It’s not the end of the world. The zombies are not coming for us.”

  “Well, now you’re just making fun of me. How do you explain that Callahan has a ghost right after I had one? Have one…” she said while looking around as if she’d see the ghost standing next to her.

  Mr. Fine scoffed. “She’s a tad crazy, don’t you think?”

  “No, I don’t think.” I glared at him.

  “What?” Mindy looked over her shoulder in a panic. “What did he say?”

  “Never mind that. It’s not important.” I didn’t want to tell her that the ghost had insulted her. No need to have her fighting with a ghost right now.

  Trying to change the subject, I looked at Callahan and asked, “What’s going on? What makes you think you have a ghost?”

  “Maybe this sounds crazy, but I saw a cup move across the counter all by itself, then the door opened and closed on its own.”

  “Nothing sounds crazy to me,” I reminded him.

  Hmm. But yeah, what he described did sound like classic ghostly activity. And Mindy did have a point. What were the odds that a ghost would have been at Mindy’s house and now at Callahan’s shop? I smelled a rat.

  “Do you know anything about this?” I asked Mr. Fine.

  Callahan looked toward the empty air where I had directed my question. It was so much easier now that he knew I talked to the dead, although I still worried that he’d eventually get sick of the weird antics. He had to, right? I had taken him for a ride on a nonstop paranormal crazy train since we’d met. No guy wanted to be a part of that.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about.” Mr. Fine leaned against the counter as if he was thoroughly bored.

  It was apparent that I would get no information out of him.

  “Okay, let’s go over to your shop and see what I find.”

  Callahan gestured for Mindy and me to pass, then hurried over to open the door for us. When we emerged out onto the sidewalk, Mr. Fine was already there, waiting just a few steps away in front of Callahan’s front door. I rolled my eyes. What a pain in the ass.

  Mindy and I waited as Callahan unlocked his front door and gestured for us to enter first.

  “I don’t know how you deal with this stuff on a daily basis, Larue. It’s stressing me out,” Mindy said.

  I shrugged my
shoulders. “I’m used to it by now. It’s been my whole life and I don’t know what it’s like not to experience it.”

  We stepped inside the shop, but I saw nothing. All was quiet. No misty forms lingering in the corners. What had Callahan seen? Maybe he was imagining things. The space looked as cozy and quaint as it always had. Prints of different style coffee cups and mugs covered the exposed brick walls. Oversized leather chairs were placed into groupings with cherry-wood tables in the middle—the perfect mixture of old and new.

  Callahan moved over to the counter. “This mug was sitting here just like this…” He placed a mug down. “And it just lifted up and moved all the way over here.” He picked up the mug and moved it about a foot down the counter. “I don’t think I’m going crazy.” He paused. “Am I going crazy?”

  Well, as much stress as he had been under lately, no one would blame him if he had imagined something like that.

  I shook my head. “No, honey, I know you’re not going crazy.”

  Wow, when had I become so comfortable with calling Callahan pet names? I liked it.

  Mindy followed closely behind me as I moved over to the counter to examine the mug. As I reached down and picked it up, a chill fell over the room and I knew what was happening. A ghost was somewhere nearby and would probably be making an appearance sooner rather than later. I knew it wasn’t Mr. Fine, because he’d already made his appearance. The cold air was no longer following him.

  My heart thumped. I’d told Mindy that I was used to this lifestyle, but that didn’t mean that I still didn’t have apprehension when a new ghost appeared. I never knew what to expect, and that could be unnerving. I felt a presence taking form in the corner of the room. When I looked in that direction, I noticed the misty form begin to take shape.

  Callahan and Mindy followed my gaze, but they wouldn’t see anything, that luxury was reserved for lucky me. The form took on a human appearance right before my eyes… and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Had I died and gone to heaven?

  I let out a scream. You’ve seen those videos of girls screaming for Elvis Presley? Yeah, that was exactly how I sounded. Dogs were probably hollering within a ten-mile radius of Full Cup Coffee Shop.