by Sarah Wynde
His injudicious move was enough to make the bougainvillea branch he’d been holding twist in his other hand. He swore again, dropping it as its harsh thorns drew another line of blood along his bare skin.
“I think the plant is winning,” Rose said. The other ghosts were watching Peruvian soccer — or, as Avery insisted it be called, football — inside, but Rose had said she’d rather watch plants grow than grown men chase a ball around, and was keeping him company outside.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was intelligent,” Noah muttered. “And out to get me.”
“You started it. You’re the one chopping its branches off.”
Noah glowered at the plant. “It’s not intelligent, is it? Self-aware? Attacking me on purpose?” Plants didn’t have brains. It couldn’t be conscious. But he’d promised himself not to be surprised by anything this town threw at him. Maybe they had their own breed of special evil plants?
Rose bubbled with laughter. “No, of course not. It’s just a plant.”
Noah eyed the bougainvillea branch before lopping it off just above one of the thorns. Trimming the plant was bad enough but dragging the big branches of thorny viciousness to the curb for yard waste pickup had taught him more than he wanted to know about safely handling it.
“You never know around here.” He took a step back and admired his work, then grimaced as sweat stung his fresh scratch, burning with an intensity out of proportion to the trivial injury.
“Hmm, I can use that,” Rose said thoughtfully.
A cool breeze danced across his skin. Surprised, Noah glanced at the bougainvillea and then farther away, into the nearby trees. The air was still, the leaves motionless. Where had that breeze come from?
“Nice, huh?” Rose sounded satisfied. “Built-in AC. Being haunted’s not all bad, right?”
Noah chuckled, realizing what she’d done. “I thought you had to get upset to make it cold. Mad or miserable or something.”
“Blood works, too.”
Noah’s mouth twisted. “Ew. Really?”
“Yes. So don’t bleed around any hostile ghosts.”
“What would happen?” Noah tossed a branch into the pile by his feet.
“Oh, you could wind up with a poltergeist. Or a ghost might try to possess you.”
“Possess me?” Noah lowered the hedge shears. “That sounds uncool.”
“Don’t worry. We won’t let anyone do that.”
“Glad to hear it.” Noah set the hedge shears on the ground next to the plant and retreated to the patio. He picked up the bottle of water he’d left on the low table and took a swig.
“I hope it didn’t happen to Akira while she was on her honeymoon,” Rose said.
“We’ll find out soon.” Noah picked up his cell phone and glanced at the time. Akira and Zane were supposed to be arriving in Tassamara today, but they were traveling by private plane, so their timing was indefinite.
He was looking forward to meeting the mysterious Akira. It was impossible for him not to believe in the ghosts now. Between texts, Avery’s ability to speak a language that was manifestly not Chinese, and the Latimers’ easy acceptance of Dillon, he knew he couldn’t be hallucinating. But the tiny part of him that wondered about transmitters and neural networks and conspiracies wanted to watch Akira respond to the voices he heard, to know for sure that his voices weren’t just his.
“Three weeks is a long honeymoon.”
“It does feel like they’ve been gone for a while. The sweet olive is already blooming.”
“The sweet olive?”
“The tree with the shiny green leaves and little white flowers.”
“The one that smells like summer?” Noah knew exactly which tree Rose meant. He hadn’t seen it before — it definitely didn’t grow around his home in Maine — but he’d stopped dead in his tracks trying to identify the fragrance the first time he walked past the one down the street.
Rose sounded wistful when she answered, “It’s been a long time since I could smell it. My mama used to say it smelled like apricots. But when it’s flowering, it means winter’s either over or about to begin.”
Noah wiped sweat from the back of his neck, feeling the way his t-shirt clung to him. Winter definitely felt over to him.
“It was going to be their last chance to have a vacation for a good long time, though. The baby’s due at the end of May, you know.”
“And she went to Belize?” He’d known Akira was pregnant but he hadn’t realized she was so far along. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Her doctor said she’d be fine. Although it probably was Natalya telling her that she’d be fine that convinced them to go.”
“I thought the doctor never told people about the future?”
Before Rose could answer him, the door to the house opened and Grace walked out onto the patio. She was squinting against the late afternoon sunshine, but when she saw Noah, her eyes widened.
Noah felt a rush of awareness. He was hot and dirty, his skin prickling with sun and sweat, while she looked cool and crisp, her casual clothes still worn with her ineffable air of elegance. But when she bit her lower lip, his mouth went dry.
The air between them felt charged with electricity. Without taking his eyes off her, he lifted his water bottle to his mouth and drank again.
She sounded breathless when she said, “Zane just called.”
“Yeah?” He set the water bottle down.
“Akira wants to meet you here, in the garden.”
“Here?” Dillon protested immediately. He must have followed Grace outside. “It’s the most haunted place in Tassamara now!”
“Here?” Noah repeated after him. “Is she sure that’s a good idea? Aren’t there supposed to be a bunch of old ghosts floating around still?”
Grace lifted a shoulder. “If she senses that the energy is dangerous, she won’t come in. But she said she’d rather get it over with than have to worry about whether she was going to be the starring attraction at Avery’s next scary movie night.”
“All right.” Noah nodded. “Do I have time to clean up?”
Her lips twitched with amusement, and he could see mischief in her eyes, but she said, “If you’re in the middle of something, she won’t want to interrupt. Feel free to continue.”
Noah glanced at the pile of bougainvillea branches and the hedge clippers. He’d made good progress but the job wasn’t done. He’d like to finish, rather than starting over later, so he shrugged.
“I did want to talk to you, though,” she continued.
“About?”
“Your job, General Directions, the future.”
The future. Now there was something Noah had been carefully avoiding thinking about.
“You firing me?” he asked, keeping the words light. It might be better if she did. There couldn’t be anything here for him, not long-term. He didn’t know what he wanted, but it wasn’t to watch a wall of monitors all day long. Not unless she was on every screen, anyway.
In their two weeks of fleeting meetings, casual hellos, and interrupted conversations, his sense of connection with her had only deepened. He wanted her. He liked her, too. And he wasn’t blind: he knew the feeling was mutual. But she was a millionaire CEO and he was a messed-up, haunted vet. What future could there possibly be for the two of them?
“Not at all.” Her eyebrows arched. “I was thinking that with Zane back, you might like to start working for Special Affairs.”
“Special Affairs?” He knew the people she was talking about, of course. They were the magic ones. There weren’t a lot of them — maybe ten or twelve that he could recognize — but most of them seemed to be out of the office more often than they were in.
“I think you could be an asset to the team. Lucas agrees.”
“How so?”
“Oh, the possibilities are unprecedented.” She spread her hands, then brought them back together again. “Imagine how useful ghosts could be.”
“Useful, huh? Wo
nder what she has in mind?” Joe asked.
“Picture, say, a hostage situation. You could have eyes inside with absolutely no risk of discovery,” Grace said enthusiastically.
“That sounds fun. I mean, not fun exactly. Not for the hostages, anyway. But it could be cool,” Sophia said.
“I want to help the hostages! Like in the movies!” The sound of Misam’s voice moved as if he were jumping around the garden in excitement.
Noah ignored them. “They’re hoping to move on. Soon, I think.”
Grace shrugged. “Until they do…”
“Wandering around to crime scenes could be dangerous for them if there are other ghosts there. Maybe one of those vortexes?” Noah did not want his ghosts destroyed. A nice door, a friendly new plane of existence, that sounded great to him.
He still hadn’t talked to them, not the way he wanted to, but he would. Soon. And then they could move on. But not to a place that involved the eternal destruction of self.
Grace grimaced. “Okay. Good point. But — what’s wrong?”
He followed her gaze and realized that he was pressing the scratch on his arm with his other hand. It burned, out of proportion to the depth of the minor injury. “It’s nothing,” he said, letting his hand drop as if he’d been caught with it in the till. He was not going to lose all guy credibility by making a big deal over a trivial injury.
“Bougainvillea,” Grace said, not asking a question. “Avery should have told you to wear gloves, long sleeves, a hat, maybe a veil, some mosquito netting. That stuff is nasty. And there’s a toxin on the thorns, as if long spikes weren’t sufficient self-defense.”
“Toxin?” He put his hand back over the scratch.
“Not fatal. Just annoying. But it’s an evil plant.”
“Ha.” Noah chuckled. He’d thought so, too.
“I’ll be right back.” Grace turned and disappeared into the house.
Noah picked up his water bottle, took one last swallow, then poured the remainder over the scratch. It might not help but it couldn’t hurt to try to rinse off any poison that might be on him.
Grace returned, carrying a small first aid kit. “Antiseptic wipe, antibiotic ointment,” she said, holding it up. “And a Band-Aid.”
“No Band-Aid.”
Grace laughed. “We’ll negotiate.”
31
Dillon
As Grace opened the first aid kit, standing close to Noah, Dillon paced the garden nervously.
Most of the ghosts were gone. The number left were a fraction of those in the courthouse — some of the glowing balls of light, a few wisps, and the six that he thought of as real ghosts. But still, he hadn’t been thinking when he brought them here. He’d been so sure that Akira would help that he hadn’t considered the potential danger to her and the baby.
“Dude, relax,” Joe said. “None of us are going to kill your friend.”
“It’s not like my grandma meant to kill her,” Dillon said under his breath, glancing at Sophia.
“I’m not gonna kill some pregnant lady,” she snapped at him, making a face.
“You wanted to kill Noah.” Misam jumped for a branch of one of the magnolia trees, but it was too high for him to reach.
“That was different.” Sophia stepped behind him and hoisted him up. “Oof, you’re kicking,” she complained, as Misam grabbed the branch and half-pulled, half-wiggled himself over it.
Astride the branch, he beamed down at her. “Sorry for kicking, but thank you for helping!”
“No problem.” She eyed him in the tree. “Move over, I’m coming up, too.”
“I’m going higher,” he told her, scrambling to his feet and reaching for the branch above him. “To the very top.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Sophia said, pulling herself into the tree after him.
“I’m just worried,” Dillon said. He’d brought the ghosts here, after all. If anything bad happened to Akira, it would be his fault.
“You should stop,” Rose said brightly. “You’ll feel really silly if you worry so much you go red.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Dillon kicked at a tuft of grass. He gave her a sideways glance. “Maybe you should worry some?”
“Oh, pshaw.” Rose brushed off that idea with a wave of her hand.
Dillon frowned, attention caught by the solidity of her hand. Her fading hadn’t grown worse since the other ghosts left — her skirt was still pastel, her hair a lighter gold — but it hadn’t gotten much better either. She was still translucent. Although maybe not quite as translucent as she had been earlier in the day. Was it the light?
“Are you worrying about Akira?” he asked, wondering if she could be getting stronger, hoping she was.
“Akira? No.” Rose patted his shoulder, but he couldn’t feel her touch. “She’ll get over it. You know she will.”
“Get over what?” Dillon asked.
“Get over being mad at you.” Rose gave him a sweet smile. “It’s probably good that you’re already dead, though.”
Joe laughed and Nadira’s lips twitched as the door to the house opened, and Avery emerged, followed by Akira and Zane.
Akira paused at the threshold, one hand curving around her very pregnant stomach. Dillon couldn’t believe the change. He hadn’t seen her in weeks, but she looked like she’d swallowed a basketball. She stood in the doorway, eyes flickering over the garden, lifting to the balls of light drifting around the patio.
Grace had been bent over Noah’s arm, wiping on the antibiotic, but she pulled away, and the two of them turned to look at Akira and Zane.
Rose danced to Akira’s side, delighted questions spilling out like water flowing from a wide-open faucet. “Welcome home! How was your trip? Did you like Belize? Did you see the howler monkeys? Were they as loud as you thought they’d be? Did they howl at you?”
“Is it okay?” Dillon asked Akira hurriedly. “Are you okay?”
Akira shook her head, but not as if she was saying no, more as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “At least Rose only brings me one ghost at a time.”
Dillon grinned with relief. It was fine.
She’d be fine.
He hurried over to her, but paused before hugging her the way he would have liked to. She hated the feel of ghostly energy passing through her body. But she stepped closer to him and leaned over to let her lips drift across his cheek in a kiss neither of them could feel.
“It’s good to see you. I’ve missed you. But what the hell was that message? Thanks for everything?”
“I meant it!” Dillon said.
“Not much of a good-bye. And after missing the wedding, too.”
Dillon hung his head. “It was a chance to move on.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to be in such a hurry?” Rose sounded smug.
Dillon snorted. Maybe he felt bad, but he wasn’t going to let Rose get away with that. “You should talk. Look at her, Akira. She’s all faded. At least I was going someplace, not just melting away.”
“She’s… oh, Rose.” Akira’s expression became one of startled dismay. “Dillon’s right. What did you do?”
“I’m fine.” Rose brushed off Akira’s worry. “I want to hear about your honeymoon.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Noah asked. He and Grace had approached the house and were standing near them, but not in what must seem to them to be the empty spaces Akira was talking to.
“You must be Noah.” Akira tipped her head, eyeing him skeptically, “So you can hear ghosts?”
“So they tell me,” Noah replied.
“You sound like you don’t believe him,” Dillon said, surprised.
“Well.” Akira shrugged. “I have to admit, I’d like some proof.”
Noah’s eyebrows shot up and he gave a bark of laughter. “You want me to prove that I hear them?”
“Uh-huh.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I think that’s my line.”
She shrugged again. “I’ve never me
t anyone else who can truly communicate with the ghosts I see. There are a lot of ghosts here, so that’s evidence of something. But maybe you’re just a sensitive.”
“I wish,” Noah said ruefully. He grinned. “Rose asked you about howler monkeys. Dillon says Rose is faded. But I can’t see them, so I don’t know what that means. Is that proof enough?”
Akira nodded, looking pleased. She extended a hand. “Akira Malone. Uh, Latimer.”
He shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure.”
“You are truly haunted,” she told him. “That must suck.”
“Apparently this is nothing,” he said. “Most of them left a couple weeks ago.”
Her eyebrows raised and she looked around the garden again, as if counting balls of light. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, there’s really only the six of us left,” Dillon replied for Noah. He waved for Nadira and Joe to come closer, introducing them as they did. “And Misam and Sophia are in the tree.”
Akira glanced up as Misam called out, “Coming down!” and launched himself from the highest branch.
“Misam!” Nadira protested, but Misam only laughed as he floated, arms spread wide, down to the ground. Sophia peered out from between the dark green leaves. She shook her head, then stepped off the tree herself, descending at the same speed.
“You’re not counting the glowies as ghosts? Or those faders?” Akira asked after the introductions.
“Nah,” Dillon shrugged. “They don’t talk, they stay in the garden now, they’re just sort of here.”
“Hmm.” Akira frowned, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at one of the balls of light hovering over the bougainvillea.
“What are you thinking?” Grace asked her.
“Oh.” Akira shook her head, turning her attention back to the others. “Experiments. You know I’m trying to find ways to measure spirit energy.” She shot a worried frown in Rose’s direction. “Although maybe I should start researching ghostly medicine, too.”
“I’m fine,” Rose repeated.