by Jasmine Walt
Jenny was petite, standing just over five feet. Her dark blonde hair, which looked like it was her natural color, was pulled into a ponytail. The green and white ribbons tied around the band told me she was a cheerleader. She smiled as soon as she saw me.
“You must be Annie,” she spoke softly, her voice high pitched and girly.
“Anora,” I automatically corrected before it dawned on me that Harrison only refers to me as Annie. The girl might not have even known that I had a full name. Still, Annie was my nickname, and not anyone could call me by my nickname. That right had to be earned. “Your necklace is really pretty,” I added quickly so I wouldn’t seem rude.
“Thanks.” She reached up and touched the large purple gemstone.
“Amethyst?” I asked.
“Yeah, it is.” She smiled sweetly and put her hand on Harrison’s thigh. Her face twitched ever so slightly when her eyes landed on Hunter. She blinked and shook her head, smiling again when my parents joined us at the table.
The conversation was directed at getting to know Jenny. She seemed like a nice girl, going to church and doing volunteer work, which was a pleasant change from the girls Harrison usually dated.
When I was done eating, I excused myself from the table and went up to my room. I had a lot to do before leaving for Indiana on Friday. I pulled my hair up in a tight ponytail and changed into my pajamas. I decided to finish my homework for the rest of the week tonight so I could pack tomorrow.
After a few hours of staring at my schoolbooks, I was ready for a break. Plus, Hunter needed to go out. On our way down the hall, I could hear Jenny laughing. Hunter growled, which was odd. He wasn’t fond of strangers but didn’t seem bothered by Jenny during dinner. Maybe because she fed him her leftovers?
I grabbed his collar to lead him down the hall. Harrison’s door was closed. Gross. I walked faster, hurrying to get outside. It was still rather warm for fall. I took in a deep breath of fresh air and tried to relax. The stress of leaving for the weekend was starting to make me feel anxious. I always worry about the animals.
I traced my eyes along the back fence, watching the leaves blow in the wind. Part of me wanted that ghost to reappear. He had looked at me like he meant to, like he knew I was there. Being a medium wasn’t how it was in the movies. I could see spirits, but they couldn’t always see me.
I flailed when a moth flew past me, attracted to the porch light. Hunter looked up from the grass he was sniffing to stare at me.
“Moths are vile creatures,” I reminded him. “I’d rather deal with spiders.” I skipped out of the pool of light, shivering in disgust. I hated moths with a passion. I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling like moths were crawling on me, when the energy shifted.
Hunter let out a high-pitched whine. Everything spun around me, and my ears rang. I pitched forward, holding onto the deck railing for support. Hunter raced up the steps and was right there, in front of me. His fur stood up, lips pulling back over sharp fangs. A low growl rumbled from deep inside of him.
I knew he was coming. I could feel it. But my heart still skipped a beat in fear when the blonde-haired ghost appeared feet in front of me.
“I can’t keep you hidden for much longer,” he whispered. He looked at me, his eyes so fearful, he could have been staring death in the face. “She’s not who she says she is.”
Black mist swirled around his feet. He lowered his eyes, horror taking over his face. He said something else, but his words were lost in a maelstrom of dark energy. I stumbled back, throwing my hands out to keep my balance. Hunter barked, and the ghost disappeared.
I tripped over my own feet and thudded to the ground. Dazed, I looked into the darkness. Hunter moved in and licked my face, standing protectively over me. I wrapped my arms around him and let out a breath.
Ghosts never spoke directly to me. Had he meant to? I blinked and shook my head, trying to clear the haze my mind was in. What did he want from me? He had taken a good amount of my energy again. I hated it. Shakily, I pushed myself up and ran up to my room.
I shut my door and opened my laptop. I needed to find a way to repel ghosts. I’d been blocking them from my inner eye my whole life, but I’d never tried to actually keep them out of my house. I entered my search in Google, and a ton of different things came up. Now I had to decipher what was crap and what wasn’t.
Salt was mentioned on several sites. White candles were supposed to create positive energy. I had both of those. I stood at the top of the stairs and listened. I heard exactly what I wanted to hear: nothing. I dashed down to the kitchen to get the salt. I considered grabbing the saltshaker, but I didn’t think that would be enough.
I laughed when I imagined myself shaking salt out all over my room. If anyone saw me, they would think I was crazy for sure. I quickly rooted around through the cupboards until I found the big canister of salt. I lined the entire perimeter of my room with it. Mom would kill me if she found out.
Next, I put a white votive candle at the north, east, south, and west points in my room. I turned off my light and stood in the middle of the room. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the energy of the candles flowing through the lines of salt.
I felt rather silly when I said, “Elementals, I call on your power to protect this room.” Even with closed eyes, I noticed an increase in light. I opened them, and my jaw dropped. The flames of the candles were three inches high. Power surged through my body. When I finally exhaled, the flames dropped back to normal size.
Was that a coincidence, or had I caused it?
8
I had told Ethan to meet me at the barn at five o’clock, so I was surprised—and mortified since I was singing “Kickstart My Heart” to Mystery— when he showed up fifteen minutes early. A smile pulled up my lips when I saw his Jeep pull into the driveway, any my heart lurched, feeling that same desperation that I felt before. I wanted to be near him. Now.
I stood inside the barn, watching as he got out of a black SUV. He checked his phone, looking nervous, then set his face and walked toward the barn. I walked out in time to greet him halfway.
“Hey, Ethan,” I said and felt my stomach flip-flop.
“Anora, hi,” he said, coming closer. Being near to him calmed me. “How are you?”
“I’m all right. You?”
“I’m good…now,” he said with a grin. God, he was good looking. I could stare into his dark brown eyes forever.
“Want to ride with me?” I asked.
“I’d love to,” he replied and followed me into the barn. I spent a few minutes introducing him to the horses. He stood close to me while I brushed Neptune, trying his hardest to imitate what I was doing. I wanted to lean back into him, to feel his arms wrap around me, and watch the world disappear. I blinked and took a breath. Calm down. You don’t even know him yet.
“She’s clean enough,” I said. “I just have to get her saddle and bridle from the tack room and we can ride,” I told him.
“The what room?” he asked.
“Tack room.” I often forget normal non-horsey people don’t know the lingo. “It’s like a locker room for tack, and tack is like equipment, like the saddle and bridle and stuff.”
Ethan nodded and followed me into the tack room. He offered to carry Neptune’s heavy Western saddle, and he picked it up as if it weighed nothing. I grabbed her pink-and-black plaid saddle pad and bridle. I showed Ethan how to put the saddle on, and he watched intently, which made me smile. He was really trying to care about this. Next was the bridle. After that was on, I handed him the reins and walked out of the stall. He looked from me to the horse and then to me again. “Walk a little in front of her, and she’ll follow,” I instructed and went into Mystery’s stall. He was already saddled up and ready to ride.
I led the way to the arena. I got on Mystery, smile broadening when I saw Bob standing under his tree. In that moment, all seemed right in the world.
“Your legs are probably going to be sore tomorrow,” I warned him as I swung of
f of Mystery. We had been riding for a lot longer than I planned.
“Nah, I doubt it,” Ethan said as he dismounted.
“Trust me, that’s what everyone says,” I laughed and led Mystery back into the barn. I hadn’t even noticed that Laney had arrived. She had Abra in the grooming area, and her mouth dropped and her eyes bugged a bit when she saw Ethan leading Neptune. She looked from me to him more than once.
I smiled and nodded, putting Mystery in his stall. Ethan helped me put the tack away and then went into Neptune’s stall to brush her. I crossed the aisle, looking into Abra’s stall at my best friend.
“Isn’t that the guy from Saturday night?” she whispered.
“Yeah. Ethan,” I whispered back.
She gaped at me. “How?”
“I ran into him at the hospital the other night. He asked if I wanted to do something.”
She raised an eyebrow. “So you brought him here?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She smacked my arm.
“I wasn’t sure if he really would come.”
I heard Neptune’s stall door slide open and then shut. Ethan walked over to join us.
“It’s Laney, right?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m surprised you remembered.” Laney blushed a bit.
“Why wouldn’t I? I wasn’t the drunk one that night.” Ethan made a face at me, and I shot him one right back before I started laughing. He stayed by my side, introducing himself to Leslie when she came in with her horse, Henry.
After we said goodbye to everyone, Ethan and I walked out into the parking lot. He stopped a few feet in front of his car.
“Want to get something to eat?” he asked.
“Yes,” I agreed, pleased he wanted to spend more time with me. Ethan opened his passenger door for me and held his hand out to help me in. “You don’t care that I’m wearing my breeches?” I asked a bit apprehensively when he was in the car.
“Not at all, why would I?” he said and started the SUV. “Where do you want to go?”
“Oh, I don’t care. I’m not a picky eater. I don’t like onions or really spicy stuff, but that’s about it. What about you?”
“Doesn’t matter to me either. Why don’t you choose, though? I don’t know the restaurants around here yet.”
“Hmm, okay.” I thought for a few seconds. “What about Chinese food? There’s a really good place not too far from here, actually.”
“Sounds good.” He drove down the driveway. I pointed in the direction he needed to go. “Want to listen to music?”
“Yeah. Can I?” I asked, reaching for the radio.
“Sure.”
I changed it to my favorite classic rock station.
“You really like this kind of music?” he asked.
“Yes. Why, is that so hard to believe?”
“I don’t know, I guess you don’t seem like someone who would. I would have guessed you to like that annoying hip-hop crap.”
I smiled. “Nope. I think it’s annoying too. My brother and my friends like that stuff though, and we are always fighting about what kind of music to listen to whenever we go somewhere.”
“You have a brother?”
“Yeah. A twin.” Ethan took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to look at me.
“Does he look like you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not at all. He’s probably almost as tall as you and is blonde with blue eyes. My mom and dad are both blonde, too. I actually don’t look like anyone in my family.”
Ethan nodded and didn’t say anything. We sat in silence for a few minutes, though it wasn’t awkward in the least.
“Turn left at the next light,” I instructed, and he nodded. “So how long did you live in Chicago?” I decided I’d better break the silence before it did get awkward.
“My whole life, pretty much. I lived in the suburbs growing up, but after college, I decided to stay in the city.”
“Where did you go?”
“University of Chicago.”
“Oh, what did you major in?” I asked.
“Biology.”
I assumed that meant he was smart. “What did you do after you graduated?”
“I was a martial arts instructor, which has nothing to do with my major. But that’s what I’m good at, I guess.”
That explained the muscles. I tipped my head, looking at his biceps. A surge of attraction went through me, and I longed to be close to him again. “I took karate lessons for four months when I was like twelve, but that’s the extent of my kung fu skills. I always wanted to start again but never had the time.”
“I do miss having students.” He looked at me with a smile.
I smiled back, and my heart fluttered.
“Turn into that little plaza; the restaurant’s right in the middle,” I said, smiling until we parked.
As I got out of the car, the glowing red and pink sunset caught my attention. I didn’t even realize I had stopped to admire it until Ethan asked, “What are you staring at?”
“The sunset. It looks like the sky is on fire.”
He walked over and stopped close to me, following my gaze to the sherbet-colored sky. The blazing sun was perfectly centered in a patch of beautiful orange clouds that gradually turned to red and pink. Deep purple wisps disappeared and melted into the darkening periwinkle sky.
“Isn’t it amazing how something so common can be so beautiful?” I asked quietly. I saw Ethan look at me out of the corner of my eye. “I mean, the sun sets every day, so it’s not at all surprising. But still…it’s beautiful.” I looked at him. I couldn’t read his expression, but we locked eyes for a few seconds. His lips curved into a slight smile, and he offered his hand to me. I took it, and we walked side by side into the restaurant.
We were seated right away and got our food rather quickly. It was easy to talk to Ethan. He seemed curious about me; he asked a lot of questions about my horses and friends. He didn’t like to talk about himself. Whenever the conversation turned to him, he quickly asked me another question.
I looked around the restaurant and was surprised to see that we were some of the only few remaining people there. Had we really been there that long?
Right on cue, the waiter brought the bill. Before I could grab the check and pay for what I had eaten, Ethan slid it over in front of himself. I wasn’t sure if I should offer to pay or not. I hated potentially awkward situations.
“I got this, don’t worry,” he said.
“You sure? You don’t have to pay for me if you don’t want to.”
“I’m sure.” Ethan said, chuckling. “Let’s go.”
“What’s the weather like in Chicago this time of year?” I asked on our way back to the barn.
“Very similar to here.”
“Good. I’ll know what to pack for the weekend.” I groaned, “I hate packing, though. Well, the packing isn’t so bad, but the unpacking sucks.”
“Yeah it does,” Ethan agreed. “Do you have a funeral to go to?”
“No, as weird as it sounds I was told my aunt didn’t want one. I actually inherited her house.” And a ton of money, but he didn’t need to know that. Not yet, at least.
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, it’s weird. I don’t really understand why I got it because, like I said, we weren’t close. But, oh well. You can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?”
Ethan shot me a sideways glance.
“It’s an old proverb, I think,” I explained. “It means be thankful for what you get.”
“Makes sense,” he said, though I didn’t know if he really got what I meant or not. Back at the barn, Ethan parked next to my car. He got out and met me by my door.
“Oh,” I said, looking at the barn.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just remembered that I left my bag inside. I’ll get it after you leave. It’s no big deal.”
“I can come with you. It’s dark and scary in there
,” he said jokingly. “I think you need someone to protect you.”
“You’re right. I’m a defenseless girl. I need your Karate-Kid skills in case of an attack.”
He smiled and followed me in. I didn’t want to turn the lights on and bother the sleeping horses, so I left the door open to cast the security lights into the aisle. I stepped inside and headed for the office to get my bag.
Annn-ieeee.
I whirled around so abruptly it startled Ethan. “Did you say something?” I asked.
“No.” He looked at me incredulously. This is not happening. I felt a wave of familiar panic. Bob, if this is you finally trying to talk to me…I shut my eyes to block it out. Suddenly, Razzle—whose stall we were in front of—spooked. Thunder, in a stall next to him, reared up defensively. As if that set off a chain reaction, all the horses moved nervously around in their stalls.
Ruuunnnn.
The cryptic whisper was close to my ear. I couldn’t block it out. Ethan moved in front of me.
“Why don’t you get your bag now?” His eyes darted around the dark barn, and he held his arms a bit out from his sides, looking like he was ready for a fight. I nodded and ran into the office to grab my bag. Ethan put his hand on my back and ushered me towards the door.
The energy was completely different outside. It was quiet, peaceful, and still. I tried my best to cast off any fear that lingered in my mind. I took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. A few crickets chirped, and the slight breeze rattled the trees. A star studded sky sparkled above us. Ethan fell in step next to me, the heat of his skin warm against mine. I felt safe.
“When are you leaving tomorrow?” Ethan asked as he walked me to my car.
“Right after school,” I said. “You do know that I’m still in high school, right? I mean, you saw me at the university, so you might have thought I was in college.”
Ethan’s face blanked. “How old are you?”
“Eighteen. You?”
“Twenty-one.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re old.”
Ethan laughed. “Don’t remind me.”
“But anyway, I leave right after school. I should be back sometime Sunday. I don’t really know what I’m going to do. Probably sign more stupid papers.”