by Husk, Shona
Eloise had said he was in bonus time. Time to work out what he wanted and where he was going before he woke up and had to deal with the extent of his injuries.
“What’s wrong?” Eloise turned and looked at him, eyebrows raised.
He smiled, understanding what she’d meant. Bonus time. He didn’t have to hide what he was feeling as no one would know except him and Eloise. And when he woke up? Would Eloise still want to see him? He hesitated, not sure if she was being nice out of pity or because she liked him. Did it matter when his future was so uncertain? She watched him, waiting for an answer, her dark eyes gleaming with life. There was no pity there, only attraction tempered with concern. He wanted to feel the rush again and he’d deal with the consequences when he woke up. “Nothing.”
Her lips curved. “How are you with microbiology?”
“I’ve heard of it.” And he knew it was something to do with animals, probably small animals. He’d hated that kind of stuff at school. He was much better at math and how things worked.
“Want to help me study?”
He shrugged. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do, and the idea of spending more time with Eloise was very appealing.
“We could do something else if you’d rather…I don’t know what.”
Neither did he. Besides he was already disrupting her life by being here, and despite her outward calm, befriending a ghost had to be unsettling. “No, you need to study. Besides you can help me when I wake up.” He tried to sound positive, like if he pretended he was going to wake up, it would happen.
But the fear that he would be in a coma and destined to sleep away the rest of his life surged. Panic gripped his chest, and for a moment he struggled to stay in the house and not be dragged back to the accident scene. Eloise was talking, so he focused on her words.
“Sounds like a fair trade.” Eloise grinned. “I’ll hold you to it.”
He hoped she meant that. Although he wasn’t sure how much study he’d get done if she were in his bedroom.
She sat at the desk and got her laptop going again while he stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to do. Being in her room seemed too familiar, too soon, and if he woke up and couldn’t remember her, she would still remember him. Was he setting her up for hurt? That was the last thing he wanted. Had she even considered that? This was getting weirder by the moment.
He sat on the edge of the bed and laced his fingers. The bed had been made, but not neatly. The sheets had been dragged up but not smoothed, and the arm or leg of pajamas hung out the side from under the pillow. His lips curved as he recalled seeing her in the clingy pajamas, her hair messed up from sleeping. He lifted his gaze from the bed to Eloise.
“I want to make sure I remember you.” He couldn’t take the chance that he’d forget. He didn’t want her to remember him as that bastard ghost who’d interrupted her study then buggered off back to his own life. But he also wanted to remember her so he could meet her properly. So he could see if what he felt was real or just a desire to experience life through her while he was in limbo.
She turned around, but there was no smile on her lips this time. “I can’t help you with that.”
He knew that, but that wasn’t what he was trying to say. “You’ll remember me, you’ll remember the kiss, you’ll remember me in your room.” He looked at his hands. They seemed solid to him, the same as they’d always been.
“I know what you’re trying to say. And it’s fine. I’ll friend you on Facebook, and maybe that will be enough of a jolt.”
“And if it’s not?”
She looked away, and he knew in that moment that she’d had similar thoughts. For a moment neither of them spoke. Then she picked up the laptop and sat on the bed with him. “It’s bonus time, right? So maybe I get the same benefit. I can see if I like you enough to find you when you wake up.”
Tate raised his eyebrows. “Like test-driving a boyfriend?”
The sparkle was back in her eyes as she nodded.
“What if I don’t wake up and you want someone with a body?” The thought that he might never wake was pressing closer and closer and sinking its claws in deeper and deeper. This was a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from and the only light was Eloise. He knew if he went too far from her he would become lost in the mist that waited. He was feeling colder. Something was happening to his body but he didn’t know what, only that Eloise could bring him back if he strayed too far. He had to hold on to thoughts of her.
“I think you’re jumping ahead again. I’m still getting to know you—I haven’t even decided if you’re dating material yet.” She rolled onto her stomach with the laptop in front of her.
Tate turned and lay next to her, aware of how close her body was to his, the way her leg should be touching his. He should be able to smell her perfume or shampoo or something, but there was nothing. The same way he’d tasted nothing with the kiss, just a hint of heat and the promise of what could be if he ever got himself back in one piece. He looked at her. “You kissed me.”
Eloise tilted her head, her lips not far from his. “That was your idea.” But the way she looked at him suggested that she thought it had been a very good one.
He nodded, as if considering, then he leaned forward and kissed her again. She didn’t pull away. Her eyes closed, and he cupped her cheek, wanting to feel her skin against his palm. He drew back first, frustrated with the lack of sensation.
“Do you feel anything when I kiss you?” he whispered.
“Not enough.” She glanced at her computer, and he knew he was distracting her. “But enough to know I’d like to try it in person—if you know what I mean.”
“I do.” But he also knew that if he had a body he wouldn’t have the luxury of lying on her bed after only just meeting her. “Okay, let’s talk bacteria.”
“I thought you didn’t know what microbiology was?”
“Lucky guess.” That and looking at the papers on her desk. As she talked about the various definitions and species, a light-headedness crept over him. The room shifted in and out of focus, then dulled at the edges. He closed his eyes and tried to steady himself.
Could a ghost faint?
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t think so.” His stomach turned, and vertigo caused his world to shift and spin. Then nausea brought a crashing wave that sucked the colors out of the world and dumped him somewhere else.
“Eloise?” He put his hand out but there was nothing there to grab. He stumbled, his limbs heavy and numb. He was under anesthesia again, the cold creeping through him and the mist closing around him. More surgery. How badly was he hurt? He turned around slowly, but there was only cold, grey mist. And he was surrounded.
His gut tightened as the mist surged closer as if curious. Tendrils reached out to grab him. Tate twisted away, but he was running out of room. He glanced up, hoping that above him would be clear but there was just more mist. It was disorientating. Shadows moved in the mist like sharks circling prey. What were they waiting for? He was tempted to call out for help, but the shiver down his spine was a warning that no one here was here to help him. They wanted him to join them. To die.
That wasn’t going to happen. The pain in his shoulder became sharper and he held onto it. He breathed it in and let it fill him. The mist retreated a little, but Ruby stepped out of it. She was wearing her high-school prom dress, the slit up the side revealing her thigh. He remembered that dress, but it hadn’t been black, it had been midnight blue.
“I thought you’d like it.” She circled him. Her skin was too white and her lips too dark, as if she was a vampire who’d stepped out of an old film.
He’d talk to her until he was able to leave. “Where am I?”
He turned to keep an eye on her as she moved. Here she was colder and more calculating than she’d ever been in life.
“The in between. Where souls linger between life and death.”
Okay, that kind of made sense. He was already a wandering spirit and b
eing in surgery obviously pushed him closer to the edge. But Ruby was dead. “Why are you here?”
“I’m waiting for you.” She smiled as if her answer should’ve been obvious.
Were all the shadows here waiting for someone or were they ghosts haunting the life they once had? If he died, he didn’t want to be trapped here.
“And if I don’t die?” Would she haunt him forever?
Ruby tilted her head, her eyes cold and dark. “We’re supposed to be together. Of course you’re going to die—it’s why I’m here. To wait for you.”
Tate took a small step back, aware of the mist only a few yards behind him. “I don’t want to die, and we don’t belong together.”
“You wanted us over. I didn’t.”
“It was over long before the party.”
“I was picking rings!” Her voice echoed off the mist. “You’re so scared of marriage that you’ve started seeing someone younger.” Her lips thinned in anger, real anger, not her usual pout and pretend.
He’d played that game too many times, done what she wanted to make it right between them. But every time it had driven the wedge deeper between them. In life he’d never feared her. This was different. She was expecting him to join her in death. An eternity of Ruby’s games and mood swings. He couldn’t do it. Once he’d realized how over they were, he was seeing her in a new light, and he wasn’t liking what he saw. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw you. I saw you with Eloise. You’re a lying, cheating killer!” The ground shook as she shouted, and the mist drew back, as if even it was scared of her fury.
“I only just met her.” How could he have cheated when he’d broken up with Ruby? How could he cheat when he was little more than a lost soul waiting to get back to his body?
“I saw you kiss her.” She stepped closer, her eyes narrowing.
“It wasn’t a kiss. I can’t even feel her.” But he wished he could.
“But you wanted to,” Ruby snarled.
Yeah he did. He wanted to kiss her in person. Seeing Eloise gave him a buzz he’d forgotten could exist between two people. Maybe it was wrong to be enjoying something so soon after the break-up, but it made him feel alive, and at the moment he needed that. He needed to remember what living was like. He looked at Ruby, but it was too late. She’d read his expression and seen his thoughts.
She slapped his face. The shock made him step back. The mist brushed across his back and made his skin tighten. His cheek was ice cold where she’d touched him. Shouldn’t it be stinging? She went to hit him again, but he caught her hand. His palm chilled as if he was holding snow and not a person. But Ruby wasn’t a person anymore. She was a ghost, and touching her was like being filled with ice. Death was cold and hungry for the living.
She wrenched her hand free then shoved him into the mist.
The cold gripped him and made his muscles tighten, pulling through his chest. His back arched, but he didn’t hit the ground. There was nowhere to fall. Above him a light burned through the mist, too bright to look at.
Why hadn’t he noticed it before? As he watched it grew brighter, it seemed to call to him, luring him closer. If only he could reach the light. Despite the cold burning in his veins and making him shake, he reached up.
From the mist Ruby called his name. “Tate Cooper, you’re mine. I will not let you go!”
He didn’t want to go into the mist. He couldn’t go back to Ruby, not now not ever.
Then he remembered Eloise. The light would get him away from the mist but also from life. He wasn’t ready to give up.
The white light dimmed. He was going to wake up. Wake up and live. Wake up and kiss Eloise properly. The light went out, and he was left alone in darkness. No mist, no nothing.
Chapter Five
Ruby stamped her foot. She’d almost had him. Her hand had touched him instead of passing through him, and instead of looking faded his color had looked better—more like hers. She was sure his body had been ready to let go and he’d been on the cusp of joining her. Now he was gone. Gone where? Was he out of surgery already? Or was he dead and he’d gone into the light without her? Her heart gave a squeeze. He wouldn’t leave her alone. Would he?
She went to the hospital to check. For a moment she stood by Tate’s bedside and watched him. His body lay still, but he wasn’t dead, the machines beeped. He was alive and fighting; however his soul was still missing. And she knew exactly where to find it. With Eloise.
Her heart clenched as if he’d stabbed her. How could he do this to her?
They belonged together. They were voted the favorite couple at the prom. She should be his reason to live, not Eloise. Her eyes burned as if she was going to cry, but no tears fell. Watching them kiss had torn her in two. She sniffed out of habit rather than necessity.
Once he was dead he would realize. She would make him realize there was no one else for him but her. With a thought, she materialized in the house where Tate had been hanging out with the other girl.
Ruby stood in the bedroom doorway, spying on the Eloise and trying to work out what Tate saw in her. She was sitting in front of her laptop, working on something. She wasn’t that pretty. Brown hair and brown eyes. No makeup and yoga pants. Dullness personified. The only thing this girl had that Tate wanted was a heartbeat. Men. She shook her head. She’d thought Tate was different.
If she couldn’t dissuade Tate, maybe she could scare Eloise off.
Ruby walked over and stood behind Eloise as she studied. A nerd as well as plain. Tate was always studying. Ruby’s scowl deepened and she pinched Eloise’s arm. But her hand passed straight through. She snarled and Eloise looked up. Her gaze flicked around the room almost hopefully before she frowned and turned back to her laptop.
It took a moment, but then Ruby realized Eloise had been expecting Tate. Ruby’s eyes narrowed. She’d put Eloise off ghosts for the rest of her life. This time Ruby put her hands over the girl’s shoulders and leaned in close.
Ruby whispered in her ear, “Leave. Tate. Alone. Let him die.”
The girl shivered and pulled the hood of her top up and stared at her screen. For a moment Eloise didn’t move, then she turned as if expecting to see someone behind her. Her eyebrows lowered and she glanced back at the screen. She tilted it as if trying to remove a reflection. It wasn’t a reflection though—it was a shadow. Ruby leaned forward. Her shadow.
Eloise could see her—well, a vague outline of her.
Ruby smiled. This could be fun.
Eloise shivered as the room temperature dropped. She’d expected Tate to be back, but she was alone… She looked at the screen of her laptop, sure the smudge on the screen was shaped like a person. Just like the shadow that had been on the kettle and the glass door. She used the sleeve of her top to give the screen a halfhearted rub, hoping it would disappear yet knowing it wouldn’t. An icy breeze brushed against her neck and the smudge remained. Adrenaline made her heart beat faster. Around her the house was silent.
Whatever was here wasn’t Tate haunting her. He’d gone kind of see-through and vanished. But even if she couldn’t see him, he’d never given off such an angry vibe.
She swallowed, not sure what to do. The temptation to run tightened her muscles, but she wasn’t going to be chased out of her room by a cold breeze and a vague smudge. Just because she’d seen one ghost didn’t mean she was going to start seeing lots. She was jumpy, that was all. Jumpy and really cold.
The cold touched her cheek, but it didn’t feel like a caress, more like a scratch of nails over skin. Gooseflesh popped up along her arms, tugging on the hairs. She needed to sit in the sun; she needed to be anywhere but here. The urge to flee was almost overwhelming.
But a small niggling thought grew larger. The icy slap that had made her drop her coffee, and now the anger enveloping her weren’t accidental or random. They were connected to Tate.
Please let me be wrong.
Eloise adjusted her screen so the smudge became sharper. “Who are you?�
�
Should she even be acknowledging this ghost?
The only answer was a flicker of the smudge as it moved—almost like a flick of a hand, tossing back hair. A woman. And she knew who. “Ruby.”
The smudge stilled, but the cold remained. With each heartbeat it got cooler. Eloise’s breath clouded in front of her lips. She had to get rid of her.
“Tate isn’t here,” Eloise said, trying to keep her voice level. Surely there was more to the afterlife than drifting around after exes? Unless Ruby was waiting for him to die.
Cold gripped the back of her neck and brushed against her ear in a hiss of ice. This time she heard the voice whisper in her mind, “Stay away from Tate.”
Eloise was paralyzed for a moment and then the cold was gone. She placed her hand over her heart and sucked in a breath. There was no way she could have imagined that, and yet there was no proof that Ruby had ever been in her room. Well, unless she counted the erratic heartbeat and the heavy sense of foreboding.
Ruby was a jealous ghost.
She’d seen them kiss and watched them talking.
But nothing was happening, and even if something was—and she might like it to if Tate were really alive and well—Ruby had no right to be jealous. She and Tate had broken up. A frown creased her brow. He wouldn’t lie about that, would he?
Eloise shook her head. Ruby was dead. It didn’t matter. None of this mattered until Tate was back in his body, which was hopefully where he’d gone. As for staying away—well, that wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t going to let a ghostly ex-girlfriend stop her from at least being friends with Tate.
But in her heart she knew she wanted more.
She glanced at her laptop, now sleeping, waiting for her to resume studying, and listened to the silence in the house swell around her. She didn’t want to be alone dwelling on the dead and possibly dying. She needed to be around people and doing something fun. Life was too short. She knew that, and knowing Tate had reminded her how precious every moment was.
The house was dark and quiet when Eloise got home, but the kitchen light was on which meant her parents were home. No doubt there would be a light on upstairs too, as if she were a child in need of a nightlight. Tonight she didn’t care. While it had been fun going to the movies and out for a bite to eat with friends, the idea of coming home to a dark and cold and haunted house had become more unappealing with every mile she’d driven closer to home.