Ghost Moon (15 page)

“What the hell were you doing down here?” he asked, his voice grating against her nerve endings.

“I heard shooting. Are you all right?”

“The jerks finally got out their guns, but they were too scared to shoot straight and run at the same time.”

“Thank the Great Mother.”

“Don’t waste your breath. We’ve got to disappear in case they work up the courage to come back.”

“Where are we going?”

“Away.” He led her into the woods, in a direction she’d never been. He made her keep going until she was gasping for breath. And so was he—worse than she was herself.

TED
Spencer pulled the SUV to the side of the road and cut the engine.

Al Portland gave him a questioning look. “What are you doing?”

“We gotta go back to the grave.”

“Not me.”

“You wanna explain to the colonel what happened?” Spencer asked.

“We don’t have to explain nothin’. We did the job we were supposed to do.”

“Yeah, but Reynolds didn’t exactly stay put, did he?” Spencer muttered. “He turned into a ghost. Or somebody dug him up, and he wasn’t really dead.”

“You believe in ghosts?” Portland asked.

“I did when I saw him comin’ down the trail. Now I’m not so sure.”

The sky had turned the color of a fresh bruise, and thunderrumbled in the distance.

Spencer looked back the way they’d come. “The colonel could blame this on us.”

Portland followed his gaze, then faced forward again. “Not if we go back to Flagstaff Farm and say we took care of our business. How would he find out?”

“If Reynolds comes after the colonel?”

“He said he had power over
this place.
He can’t come out to the farm.”

“If he’s really a ghost.”

“We shot at him.”

“Maybe we didn’t hit him. And maybe somebody saved him. And if we go back there, they could kill us,” Portland argued. “I say we just tell the colonel we completed the mission.Then, we come back later and look around.”

“Later when?”

“The next time we have a job to do off the farm. Like when we pick up supplies.”

Spencer thought about the alternatives. “It could be bad either way. But if we believe in the cause, then we should go back to the colonel and give him a choice.”

“He wanted the bastard dead. What do you think he’s gonna do to
us
? Think about what he does when you don’t have your shoes shined to his specs.”

“Yeah,” Spencer admitted. He started the engine again and continued in the direction they’d been going—back to the compound.

QUINN
watched Caleb lean over, resting his hands on his knees, sucking in great drafts of air.

She turned to him in concern. “You . . . shouldn’t be . . . running like this.”

“We have to get away. They could come back—with reinforcements.”

She nodded, gasping in air.

“You . . . took a . . . big chance, playing ghost.”

“I . . .”

“You weren’t thinking!” she answered for him. “You’re used to being . . . untouchable. But everything’s changed. They could have shot you and killed you.”

“Yeah. You’re right. The rules have changed—and I haven’t caught up with them yet.” He gave a harsh laugh. “But it wasn’t as much of a risk as you think. I scared the piss out of them.” He laughed, enjoying his victory. “Come on.” He started off again, but now she saw that he was walkingmore slowly and pressing his hand against his ribs. Once or twice, he almost tripped.

“You’re not used to this. You have to stop.”

“I don’t want you out in the open!”

He kept going, and she slung her arm around him, helpinghim stay on his feet, hearing the breath wheezing in and out of his lungs.

“This body’s in good shape—physically fit. Except for the bruises.”

“But you’re not used to having a body.”

“Yeah. And my stomach feels . . . empty.”

“Probably they didn’t feed him before they brought him here.”

He nodded, then clamped his teeth together and kept going.

As she held on to him, she was aware of his solid form pressed to hers. Despite her use of the name, it was still difficult to convince herself that this was Caleb. She cut him a sidewise glance, taking in his blond hair again. She couldn’t see the blue eyes, but she remembered the moment when they had blinked open—and then focused on her with frighteningintensity.

She wanted to ask him where they were going, but she didn’t want to make him talk. He was having enough trouble dragging himself through the woods—and she thought that only dogged determination kept him going. But he was aimingfor some destination that he knew.

As they trudged on, she felt him weakening.

“You have to stop.”

“Soon. It’s dangerous to be outside.”

“You think they’re coming back?”

“Someone will come back with them. Someone who thinks they were on drugs when they talk about the ghost.”

“People were on drugs seventy-five years ago?”

“Of course. Native Americans smoked dried mushrooms before Columbus discovered America. And reefers were big in my time.”

“What are reefers?”

“Marijuana.”

She didn’t know what that was, and she didn’t have the breath to ask.

They trudged on, and finally they came to a narrow gravel road. It led uphill, which made walking more difficult for Caleb, but he kept doggedly putting one foot in front of the other. Then, through the trees, she saw a long, low building, different from anything she’d seen in this world—or her own.

“What’s that?”

"A ... hunting lodge. Men come here to stay for a week and shoot deer.”

“For food?”

He made a disgusted sound. “For fun.”

“Why?”

“Some men enjoy it.”

She peered at the house. “They could be here now.”

“This is not hunting season.”

“How do you know?”

He managed a bark of a laugh. “I’ve been in the woods for a long time.”

In the distance, thunder rumbled. It was raining somewhere,and maybe the storm was moving this way.

“They don’t come here often?”

Caleb struggled to the front steps and sat down heavily, then leaned his head against the stair railing and closed his eyes. It took several seconds before he answered, “They may come around holiday times.”

His face was flushed and covered with a fine sheen. She hated to keep asking questions, but it wouldn’t be good if the owners came back and found someone in the house. She knew from Logan that they might call the police. Or they might use guns to defend their property. “Which holidays?” she asked.

Again, the answers came slowly. And now his speech was slurred. “Thanksgiving. Christmas.”

She knew about Christmas. In her world, it was a big wintercelebration, although it seemed to have lost the original religious meaning.

Logan had explained Thanksgiving to her. Maybe when there had been a United States of America, people in her world had kept the holiday. But not now.

“It’s a long time till Thanksgiving and Christimas,” she answered.

“Good.”

She watched Caleb sitting with his eyes closed and his head thrown back. He couldn’t have gone much farther. But they were still outside the house.

Lightning flashed in the clouds. This time the storm was much closer. And the branches of the trees around them beganto sway in the wind.

Quinn glanced at the sky, then the hunting lodge.

“How do we get in?”

“They leave the key under there.” He pointed to a rock beside the steps.

“Nobody in my world would do that.”

“This is not your world,” he said, his voice heavy. “When I was alive people didn’t lock the front door.”

He had said it automatically. But now he
was
alive. That was sinking in. Still, she kept arguing. “We don’t have the right to use this place.”

“We won’t stay long. And we will clean up after ourselves.”

“We’d better take off our shoes, then.”

“And bring them in. So nobody will see them.” He fumbledfor the laces on the boots, but he seemed to have reached the end of his strength.

When a few fat drops of rain hit the steps, she knelt besideCaleb and untied the boots for him. Then she hurried to the rock and found the key.

The sky had turned as dark as the inside of a storage room. Quickly, she unlocked the front door, kicked off her shoes, and went back to Caleb.

He was holding his hand in front of his face, turning it one way and then the other.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s not my hand,” he said in a strangled voice.

“You just figured that out?”

He didn’t answer.

More drops began to fall, along with leaves the wind had blown off the trees, and she knew they were moments from a downpour. “We’re going to get wet. We have to get inside.”

He dropped his hand and pressed against the stairs, trying to heave himself up but didn’t quite make it. Quinn leaned over him. On his next try, she pulled upward under his arms and got him to his feet.

Wavering as he walked, he staggered through the front door just as rain pounded the porch.

Inside, he leaned against the wall, breathing hard.

“Got to lie down.”

Wind shook the house as he started down the hall. She followed close behind to make sure he didn’t fall. When he came to a bedroom, he threw himself on the bed, not botheringto take off his clothing.

“Don’t leave the shoes outside. And don’t go out,” he muttered.

A bolt of sound crashed nearby, but he seemed to not notice.

She went back for the shoes and set them on the little rug in the front hall. Then she locked the door. When she returnedto Caleb, he looked like he was dead, lying facedown on the bed.

Fear stabbed through her, and she crossed quickly to the bed. Easing onto the edge, she pressed her hand to the back of his neck and was reassured by the warmth of his skin. And as she looked at his back she could see that he was breathing steadily and evenly.

“Caleb?”

He made a muffled sound, but he didn’t wake.

A
crack of thunder made Zarah shiver.

“Are you afraid of storms?” Rinna asked.

“Not usually.” She licked her lips. “But Quinn must be out there.”

“She was gone again when I got up,” Rinna said. “I wish I knew what she’s up to.”

Zarah turned her spoon over and over in her hand as she and Rinna sat at the kitchen table. Since Logan was out working on a landscaping job, they had made themselves a cauliflower and cheese soup for lunch, but she was only able to get down a few swallows before she started feeling sick.

“You’re worried about Quinn,” Rinna said softly.

“Yes.” She stopped turning the spoon and raised her head. “I saw her this morning. I knew why she was going out.”

Rinna tipped her head to the side. “And you didn’t say anything?”

“She said not to.”

“What happened?”

“The ghost called her. He said something had happened, and he needed her.” Once she had started speaking, the words tumbled out in a rush. “She said not to tell anyone— unless she didn’t come back.”

“And she’s not back,” Rinna finished.

“I should have told you sooner.”

Rinna stood. “I’m going to call Logan.”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“What if the ghost wants to hurt him?”

Rinna knit her fingers together. “What if he already hurt Quinn?”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Zarah answered quickly.

“How do you know?”

“He loves her.”

Rinna stared at her. “Where do you get that from?”

“He risked his life, well, not his life—his existence—to save us. He didn’t have to do that. He did it because she meant something to him.”

Rinna kept her gaze on Zarah. “What are you not saying?” she asked.

Zarah dragged in a breath and let it out. She had gone this far, and she knew she had to go a bit further, if she was goingto be honest about the situation. “I think she loves him, too.”

Rinna absorbed the words. “She loves a ghost? What good is that going to do her?”

“I wish I knew.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Outside, the storm
raged, but Caleb slept on. Quinn stroked his broad shoulder, still struggling to absorb what had happened in the past few hours. She’d gotten into a relationship with a ghost. Now he was alive, and he looked completely different. But it was still Caleb. At least, he knew what she and Caleb had talked about—and what they’d done together. Or was this some horrible trick that she didn’t understand?

She wanted to wake him and ask him questions. But he was obviously so tired that he didn’t even know she was there.

And she couldn’t leave him—in case he needed her. Then there was his caution about going outside. It could be dangerous,although maybe not for her because the two men hadn’t seen her.

Or they could have seen her rushing down the trail. She couldn’t even be sure of that.

Still trying to figure out what to do, she took a tour of the house. In her world, rich people would have lived in a dwelling this big. And she suspected it was the same here— at least for someone who could afford to keep a large house empty most of the time.

It had a living room, six bedrooms, and three bathrooms. And a spacious kitchen. She stepped inside, opening cabinetsand the refrigerator. There were cartons of beer and other drinks inside. The freezer compartment at the bottom was large and stocked with a lot of carefully labeled packagesthat contained meat. There were also many vegetable combinations. She’d seen Rinna thaw meat and cook frozen vegetables, so she knew how to do it.

In the pantry were boxes of cereal and other grain productsas well as boxes of milk and cans of soup, pork and beans, and stew.