“You did it!” I bounced on my toes as I ran over and kissed his cheek. “Mum!”
My mother and aunts carefully made their way to the open ledge and looked down. Henrique climbed up the rubble and helped them down, one by one, pointing out places with shards of glass for them to step over.
When Mum stumbled down into my arms we held each other and wept. I couldn’t stop. She was free. It was surreal. And then my aunts joined us for a group hug, and our tears turned to laughter.
“You beat him,” Mum said. “You did this!”
“With some help.” I smiled over at Henrique who gave me a solemn nod and then stiffly accepted hugs and gracious words from my kin-women.
“Let’s get these separated,” I said. We moved to the grass and set to work pulling out the threads that had been used to sew the pelts together. My kin-women continued to go back and forth between wiping their eyes and laughing with joy at the feel of the essences in their hands. As we worked I told them all about The Monster Ball and my new friend Nia, who I couldn’t wait to see again. My kin-women were rapt as I rambled on and on about the adventure while Henrique walked the shore nearby as if keeping a lookout.
When each woman finally had her own pelt, they donned them and joined hands. Mum reached for mine. I let her take it, but when they began to raise their hoods, I gently shook my head.
Mum’s eyes filled with worry. “Ada, darling, come to the sea. We must return.”
“I will,” I promised. “But not yet.”
Her eyes darted to Henrique and I squeezed her hand to force her eyes back to mine. As we stood there, the sea called out to me, beckoning me, but it felt…different. I thought of Nia, my new friend, who in one night had proven her loyalty in the most inspiring way. And Henrique. Honestly, there was nothing that could have torn me away from him at that moment.
“I have some unfinished business.” My voice was soft, and I tried to assure her with my eyes that I was okay.
She was quiet and thoughtful a long while before responding. “Be careful, my precious pup. The magpie is dead, but there are others like him—evil creatures, both human and supernatural.”
Henrique stepped forward then. “I swear not to let danger come to her. You have my word.”
Mother gave him an approving nod and a smirk. “Yes, but can you swear to make my daughter visit her kin once in a while?”
Henrique deferred this to me and I smiled. “I promise I will visit. But if I go now, Papa may never let me leave again.” We all laughed at that, but I was only partially joking.
I hugged and kissed my mother and aunties one last time then watched as the three of them stood side by side at the edge of the sea and pulled their silky hoods over their heads, their graceful human bodies morphing fluidly into seals on their smooth bodies. All three of them needed to eat. Way too skinny.
Henrique threaded his fingers through mine and whispered, “Are you certain you won’t join them, Ada? I will not keep you from your home.”
My fingers tightened, pressing our palms together. “I know. And I’m certain.” I watched my kin-women scoot and slide on their bellies, happily splashing their way into the water, impervious to its cold temperatures. I smiled, my heart overflowing as I imagined the homecoming they would receive. “The notion of home has changed a little for me tonight.” I took my lip between my teeth and peered up at him, feeling nervous.
He brought my hand up to his lips. “I meant what I said about keeping you safe, although you can fend for yourself better than you give yourself credit for. But you have to swear you’ll tell me the moment you’re ready to return.”
“I will,” I whispered. “I promise. But right now, I’m exactly where I want to be.”
“Ada…” His husky voice sent a raze of heat over me.
“Yes?”
“May I take you to my home? It is in Panama, on the sea, yet very different from…” He waved a hand at my own sea.
I beamed up at him, shy and excited. “I would go anywhere with you, Henrique.”
“That is good, selkie.” He tucked a hand around my jaw, tilting up my head. “Because I plan to take you…and take you again.”
Oh, dear Gaia. I really, really liked the sound of that. I squeezed his hand as we faced one another. “I’m ready,” I whispered. Wild feelings danced inside me.
Without taking his eyes off me, Henrique snapped his fingers and a slit opened in midair beside us—a portal.
“Vamos, hermosa.” Let’s go, beautiful.
With pleasure.
The End
Turn the page for more Monster Ball…
From The Shadows
By
Alyssa Rose Ivy
Chapter One
“I don’t see your point at all.” I pressed send on an email and closed my laptop.
Stacy hopped up to sit on the counter. She sat down directly between an antique teapot and a He-Man lunchbox. Clearly, I needed to do some cleanup before I went home for the night.
“How is that possible?” Stacy leaned back on her elbows. “You are twenty-two years old. You should be searching for guys everywhere.”
“Why?” I pushed back my chair and collected the stray items. “I’m in school. I have a job. And I have Fluffy and Bilbo.”
“Oh, no way. You’re bringing the cats into this?” She sighed dramatically. “Really, Gabriella. Sometimes I wonder about you.”
“What’s wrong with my cats?” I slipped the lunch box into the section on twentieth-century pop culture and headed in the direction of antique housewares. My boss, Harriet, kept her antique shop perfectly organized. She said it was what separated Lost and Found Treasures from all of the others.
“They are cats. End of story.” Stacy trailed behind as I carefully placed the teapot on the shelf. While I was at it, I straightened a set of teacups.
I spun to look at her. “You had better not be trying to paint me as a cat lady.”
“You mean the kind of woman who would use her cats as a reason she doesn’t need a man in her life?”
“Okay. Fine. Admittedly, you have a point there.” But I was twenty-two. Nowhere near an age where anyone would confuse me with a spinster. Not that there was anything wrong with choosing the single life. I could see the appeal, especially after one of my many horrible dates.
“I have a point with all this.” Stacy stretched her arms out wide. Normally I’d be yelling at someone for being that reckless in a section of the store with so many priceless pieces, but I didn’t have to worry about that with Stacy.
“This is the modern era. There are so many ways to meet people. Go online. Go to a bar. Do something.” She twirled her way out of the aisle and into the center area of the store. Her flowing dress twirled with her, creating a vision of pink.
“Why do you care so much?” I made my way back to the counter.
“Because I'm your friend.” She took her usual spot on the counter.
“Yeah, right.” I took my spot behind the desk.
“What other reason would I have?” She fluttered her eyelashes.
“You want to live vicariously through me.”
She laughed. And then she laughed harder. “Right. That’s it.”
“Fine. Laugh all you want.”
“I will.” She stretched out on the counter. “I’ll laugh and I’ll laugh and I’ll laugh. And you’ll have to listen.”
“Lucky me,” I mumbled.
“Oh, come on. You’d be terribly bored without me.”
“And what would you be without me?”
“I don't have to worry about that.” She leaned up on an elbow.
“You might if you are successful with this whole find me a man thing. Ever think about that?”
“Why? I’d leave when I had to.” Stacy waggled her eyebrows. “Most of the time.”
“Ugh. Sometimes you are too annoying for your own good.”
“Who are you talking to?” My boss, Harriet, appeared beside the counter.
/> “Oh. No one. Sorry.”
Stacy snickered, but I knew better than to throw her a dirty look. It would only hurt my case.
“No one is too annoying for their own good?” Harriet slipped on her 3-inch heels. No wonder I hadn't heard her. I was used to hearing her shoes.
“Exactly.”
“You know you really should stop talking to yourself when you’re at work. What if a customer heard you instead of me?” She smoothed out her aqua dress. For a woman in her seventies, Harriet truly still had it.
“I would have heard the customer come through the front door,” I pointed out.
“Let’s hope.” She moved around the desk so she was standing directly in front of me. “I was meaning to tell you. I’m going to close down for Halloween this year.”
“Why? It’s a good night for business.” For some reason the holiday brought in people searching for treasures from the past.
“Yes, and it’s a good night to go out.” She pulled out her phone and glanced at it. Undoubtedly there was a text from her date for the evening.
“I can take care of things. You can trust me.” I’d been working for Harriet for years now. She knew me.
“I have no doubt that I can trust you.”
“Then what’s the problem?” I kept my eyes fixed on Harriet once I caught a glimpse of Stacy making faces at me.
“Honey, I’m going to be blunt here. No reason to beat around the bush.” Harriet pursed her lips. “You need to get out. To get a life.”
Whoa. Did my boss just tell me to get a life?
Stacy laughed. “See, I’m not the only one.”
I wanted to tell her to shut up, but it would just make me look crazy. Such was the life for a girl who could see ghosts.
Chapter Two
Fluffy and Bilbo never gave me a hard time about my lack of a love life. They were perfectly content if they were fed twice a day and got their litter box changed out. They never questioned my motivations or laughed at me. Well, sometimes they seemed to be laughing at me. But they were cats. That kind of came with the territory.
I put down their food and got changed into my favorite pajamas. They were old, and the pants were getting ratty at the bottom, but there were benefits to living alone.
The cats ate before running over to meow at the door to the deck. They were indoor cats, but I let them walk out onto the small deck to get fresh air when I was around to watch them. My apartment was on the third floor, and so far, they hadn’t tried to go off exploring.
I undid the latch and opened the door. The cats hurried outside onto the wooden deck, and I followed.
The moon was bright, creating strange shadows over the parking lot of my apartment complex. I would have preferred an older building rather than this box of a new one, but older buildings came with far more ghosts, and I’d learned early on in my life that avoiding ghosts in your living space was important.
After a year in this apartment I’d only found two ghosts in the general area. One was a guy around my age who, from a quick search online, I’d discovered was a college kid who had fallen from his balcony after too much drinking. The other was an older woman who was carrying a pie around. So far neither one knew I could see them, so the arrangement was working well. It was when I slipped up and let the ghosts know I could see them that the problems started.
The pie lady had just made her lap in front of my building when a flicker of something caught my eye. I looked closer. It almost looked like it was coming from the moon. The flicker became a silver beam as it seemed to be heading right for me. I took a step back inside the apartment as the hair on both of my cats stood up and they ran inside. Unlike them, I couldn’t run. I was too transfixed on the light that was now becoming something much more solid. A moment later I caught a floating slip of silver parchment.
The Monster Ball. The three words were written in elegant script. I flipped over the parchment.
Just as the moon has brought me to you,
So shall the moon bring you to the ball.
All Hallows Eve.
The Witching Hour.
I flipped the invitation over and looked at the words again. The Monster Ball. Where had I heard the term before? Had it been in real life or in a movie? Sometimes the two blended in my head. I walked to the railing and looked out at the night. Sometimes I imagined the parking lot was the ocean. Now that would have been a view. I leaned over a little, enjoying the light breeze on my face.
“Be careful! You don’t want to fall!” a voice called.
“I’m fine, thanks.” I straightened, remembering the state of the pajamas I was wearing.
“Wait. You heard me?” The voice asked—with a hint of wonder.
My chest clenched as I took a few steps so the edge of the building wasn’t blocking my view. And yes, there he was. I’d just done the stupidest thing possible. I’d replied to the college guy ghost. I hurried inside before I could make things worse.
In the process, I dropped the parchment. I debated going back outside to get it, but knowing my luck the ghost would want to have an entire conversation. I thought over the words.
Just as the moon has brought me to you,
So shall the moon bring you to the ball.
All Hallows Eve.
The Witching Hour.
How could the moon bring me somewhere?
“You dropped this?”
I jumped at the voice before turning to come face to face with the college boy ghost. He was holding his hand up as if he were holding something but there was nothing there.
“Oh. I forget I can’t actually pick things up.” He looked down. “Sorry. But you can hear me. That’s great. And I think you can see me, too.”
Great wasn’t the word I would have used. It looked like I’d be breaking my lease and moving again soon. If he was strong enough to get into my apartment, I was never going to sleep well again. “I’m sorry, but could you leave?”
“Don’t you want to get that paper? It looked important.” He held out his hand. “I’m Ronny.”
“Uh. Hi, Ronny.” I didn’t bother accepting the handshake. It wouldn’t work. I also didn’t bother to tell him my name. I didn’t need to give him any help when it came to interfering with my life. “Why do you care?”
“Because you are the first person who’s seen me since. Well, since I died.” He looked down at his feet. He was wearing bright green flip-flops.
I’d been through this story before. Over and over. “I’ll get it if you promise to leave after. I’m sorry, I really am. But I can’t help you. Just so you know. I’m not someone who can bring you back from the dead.”
“Yeah, I figured that. But you are always alone. Is my company that bad?”
I was about to ask him how he knew that I was always alone, but then I remembered he lived there. Even the ghosts noticed my lack of a social life.
“No. I just. I have to go.” I walked back onto the deck, and the parchment was gone. I turned around, and Ronny was standing right there inside the door. “Do you know where the parchment went?”
He shrugged. “I thought I had it. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I walked around him inside.
“But really. What’s The Monster Ball?”
“I’m trying to figure that out. I know I’ve heard of it, but I can’t remember where.”
“Well, where do you spend most of your time?” He took a seat on my sofa. “Other than here by yourself.”
“Hey.” So now he was making himself comfortable in my apartment and criticizing me?
“Just saying.”
“Work. I spend it at work.” I needed to find a way to get him out of here. But how? The trouble with strong ghosts is you couldn’t physically make them do anything.
“Then I’d look there.” He leaned back against the sofa, partially slipping through it.
“Good idea.” I grabbed my purse from the table. I had keys; Harriet would never know if I stopped in this late.
“Wait. Aren’t you forgetting something?” He jumped to his feet.
“Yes. You need to leave.” There was no need trying to be super polite. I’d learned that straight forward usually worked best with ghosts.
“What you’re wearing.” He gestured to my pajamas. “Aren’t you going to change?”
“Oh.” I debated. “I suppose I could throw on jeans.”
He started following me into my bedroom.
“Whoa.” I put a hand up in front of me. “You can’t follow me.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. “I’m not used to people seeing me.”
“Ugh. Have you been spying on women?” More specifically, had he been spying on me? But I was also thinking of the other women around.
“No. Of course not.” He shook his head. “Well, not much.”
“Ok. Get out. Thanks for the advice, but we’re done. Let’s go back to you thinking I can’t see or hear you.” I closed my bedroom door in his face and hoped he took the not-so-subtle-hint.
I slipped on jeans and sneakers and opened my door.
Ronny was standing right where I left him.
“Uh, what are you still doing here?” I was out of patience, and I was sure it was showing.
He chased after me. “I’m coming.”
“You can’t come.” I opened my door and closed it behind me.
He materialized beside me. “Why not?”
I hurried down the stairs and got into my car. He showed up in the passenger seat. “You mean to tell me you can leave this complex?”
“No. But you can see me. That means something is changing.”
Ugh. Was I really going to have to break this to him? I let out a slow breath. “I’ve always been able to see you.”
“Wait.” Reality dawned on him. “Are you trying to tell me you’ve seen me all this time and never said anything?”
The Monster Ball Year 2 Page 48