A Different Kind (31 page)

Acknowledgments

To the person who just read this book, thank you. Without you, and readers like you I’d still be writing for my own enjoyment. I’m so glad I could share this story with you.

Thanks to my family, friends, and boyfriend, Brandon. You all know what you do, and are amazing for it.

Special thanks to my business partner and friend, Jen Naumann. I’m so glad you decided to go on this crazy journey with me.

To my amazing editor, Victoria Shockley. I don’t know what I’d do without you.

And, to my beta readers, thank you for all of your thoughts and inspiration.

ALSO BY PHANTOM OWL PRESS

Keep reading for an exclusive preview of Paranormal Keepers

An exciting new YA Paranormal Romance

by Jen Naumann

Available March 11
^th
2014

On Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo

www.JenNaumann.net

ONE

It’s funny how things can change with the passing of time. Well maybe not so much
things
as people. A year ago I would’ve been with my boyfriend Gavin, hanging with our friends while the guys played video games, or trying to find a place to fool around without being disturbed. I never missed any of Gavin’s games in all three seasons, and waited for him by our lockers between classes, sometimes just to steal a kiss. We spent every free moment together when he didn’t work or have practice, and nights I didn’t have dance class, which really didn’t leave us much extra time outside of school. Still we managed to be the kind of “it” couple everyone else found nauseating because we were
that
into each other.

But all of that was before the night that forever changed my life–before everyone decided I killed him.

No one will say it to my face, but it’s so obvious they think I actually murdered Gavin. As if I would actually
want
to hurt the guy I was in love with. Still, I see it in their eyes, the way they avoid crossing my path as if I’ll snap and go after them next. I hear it in their accusatory whispers that fill the hallways as I pass by. The signs that I’m generally considered guilty are everywhere.

Although I’ve become better at ignoring the ridiculous rumors, they still have a way of festering, worming their way into my heart that’s already been shattered. Because I still miss Gavin, more and more every day. And I’d do anything to see him one last time.

It’s the reason I sit alone against his headstone as I’ve done a dozen times in the past year, anxiously waiting for the ghost of my dead boyfriend. I’ve researched anything and everything I could find on communicating with spirits, hopeful that if I made contact with Gavin, he could tell me what attacked him. I once tried using a Ouija board from the hippie store downtown, but the only strange thing that happened was a sporadic flicker of my bedroom lights.

The moon’s bright enough that I can make out the ordinary sights of the cemetery. Granite of all different colors and shapes bearing the names of mothers and fathers missed by a list of grieving children, tall crosses and stone angels watching over those with particular religious beliefs, even an old crypt with the remains of some rich, local celebrity who died so long ago that no one knows much about him anymore. There’s a damp, sweet smell embedded in the air, still lingering from the brief rain shower earlier in the afternoon. Although I’m not really afraid, my breaths sound extraordinarily shallow, and I swear I can feel the dirt wheezing underneath me.

I don’t believe in the whole thought process behind cemeteries—a place to bury your dead loved ones under the ground where their bodies are left to rot and decay among the tree roots and bugs, only to stand over them while trying not to picture their exposed bones grinning up at you through six feet of dirt. It’s hard not to picture postmortem  Gavin, his beautiful face marred by the thing that attacked him.

Times like this when my mind is free to roam, when I actually sit down to piece everything together, I can’t help but wonder if his death really was my fault.

The beginning of the end started like any other Saturday night since we started dating the summer before sophomore year. Gavin came by my house for carry-out pizza before we headed to our friend’s house. On the way there, he was unable to keep his hands or lips to himself.

Giggling, I tried to wrestle his hand out from underneath my shirt. “If you don’t pay attention to the road, we won’t have to worry how we’re going to talk your dad into giving you time off from the shop for Mexico. We won’t have to worry about
anything
. Ever again.
Seriously
, Gav. Could you at least pretend you’re paying attention to the road?”

He flashed me a brilliant white smile that came from his mom’s insistence of using bleach strips. His sky-blue eyes were so alive in that moment, turning my insides to goo. I’d do anything to see him light up like that again. “I can’t help myself. All I could think about all day was what I was going to do to you once we were alone.”

“Hmmm...I’m sure your dad was impressed with how focused you were.” I pulled his wandering hand across my shoulders, wiggling into his side and inhaling the musky scent of the cologne I gave him for his birthday. “Seriously, though, what if your dad won’t give you the time off? And what if you can’t come up with the money in time? We’re buying our tickets soon. Will you please at least consider borrowing a little cash from my parents? You can always pay them back.”

“I’ll find a way,” he promised, kissing the side of my head. “Maybe I can sell some straw hats on the beach so my old man doesn’t think I’m going to spend the entire winter break being a bum.”

“But you
aren’t
going to be a bum,” I said, kissing his jaw and running my hand through his coarse, dirty-blond hair. “We’re going to lay out to work on our tans, take a sailboat out to work on your sailor skills, hide out in the cabana and let you work on me.”

Gavin hummed with my kisses as he parked behind the line of cars near Alec Porter’s driveway. “You don’t really think your dad’s going to let us spend that much time alone, do you?”

“Probably not,” I agreed, resting my head back on his arm. “I’m trying to get my mind off the fact that you still haven’t asked your dad. Sometimes I worry you’re putting it off because you don’t want to go.”

After shutting the pickup off, he turned to me, his gaze hard. “Harper, you know I’d do anything to spend time at your mom and dad’s timeshare with you. I mean, come on, it’s
Mexico
. And it’s
you.
Why wouldn’t I want to go? Why are you so worried about it?”

“I just...” I sighed, looking down at my feet. Gavin and I were so close I felt anxious knowing we may have to spend break apart. “Does it make me pathetic that I can’t stand the thought of spending two weeks without you?”

“Hey.” He nudged my chin until I was looking at him. A brilliant smile took over his lips. “I promise you, either way, I’m going to find a way to go. Even if it means breaking down and borrowing money from your parents. You’re stuck with me over break. In fact, you’re stuck with me for a really,
really
long time. Got it?”

He kissed me, wrapping one hand in my hair, the other trailing up the back of my t-shirt before we were rudely interrupted by a bang on the window. I yelped, almost jumping into Gavin’s lap.

“Stop sucking face and get your asses inside!” Ricky Benson yelled with a shit-eating grin, his big nose pushed against the glass. “Everyone’s waiting for you!”

After letting out a quick chuckle, Gavin gave me one more short kiss, knowing Ricky wouldn’t leave us alone. “Let’s go.”

The two guys exchanged their usual combination of high-fives and pounded fists before Ricky draped his arm across my shoulders. He was much taller than my 5’9” boyfriend, built more like an indestructible tank. And that night he reeked of cheap booze.

“Well hello there, Miss Young. You’re looking mighty fine. When are you going to be done with Mr. All-American here, and have a go with someone possessing higher than average intelligence?”

“Why, do you know someone like that?” I asked, lifting my eyebrows.

Gavin playfully punched Ricky in the arm. “Stop hitting on my girl.”

“Hey! It’s my duty to inform her she’s missing out on the offer of a lifetime!” Ricky turned back to me. “So you ready to get your freak on? Jess brought her Ouija board.”

“Seriously?” I guffawed, rolling my eyes to the star-filled sky. “Does this have something to do with the dog she ran over last week?” I was a bit unsettled by the general theory of a Ouija board. I had purposely avoided them for most of my life, worried that there really
was
something to it.

“What’s wrong, Young? Scared?” Ricky let out a bellowing laugh, leaving my side to  open the front door.

Boisterous laughter and muffled music greeted us as soon as we stepped inside the one-story home. It was rather small and plain, decorated with garish wallpaper and furnishings still lingering from the 90s. Alec’s parents gave him free run of the basement that ran the entire length of the house, easily allowing for twenty of his best friends to hang out uninterrupted. We joined our friends already drinking from plastic cups, their animated conversations and loud laughter proof that they’d been at it long before we arrived.

Our host Alec stood among the group of juniors, eyes glossy with liquor, arm slung around my best friend’s shoulders to claim his property. I can’t believe there was a time I fell for the quarterback’s handsome looks and artificial charm, thinking Brooke had found herself a real prize when they started dating a few months after us.

Brooke squealed happily with our arrival, ducking under Alec’s hold to run across the room and hand me a cup filled with something awful smelling. I always felt unremarkable when in the presence of my flawlessly beautiful friend. With the kind of long, white blond hair others would die for surrounding a pixie-shaped face and enticing cornflower blue eyes, she was always turning heads. Her skinny jeans, pink button down and trendy riding boots were from one of our shopping trips together, back when we followed the unwritten rule that rich kids should be good friends by default of their economic status alone, even though we didn’t have a whole lot in common.

She grinned brightly at my boyfriend, fluttering her fake eyelashes. “What up, stud?” She looped her arm around my neck. “You guys ready to invoke spirits of the dead?”

“Are we playing Candyland first?” I scowled around the room in search of Jessica and her satanic board. “Silvia Hinrichsen always brought one of things out for our fifth grade slumber parties. Aren’t we a little old for that kiddie crap?”

“Says the non-believer,” Jessica answered, appearing behind me. When I spun around, her dark brown eyes flared with mischief. Her dark ponytail swayed as she shook her head. “I wouldn’t mess with things you know nothing about, Harper.”

Jessica stuck her fingers in her mouth to wolf-whistle, getting the attention of everyone in the room. “Okay, peeps! Now that the lovebirds have arrived, it’s time to start! Get over here, and turn off your phones!”

Everyone complied with her requests, although accompanied by a lot of snickering and grumbling. Jessica ran around the room in a flurry, turning off the music before lighting candles and a stick of incense. Once satisfied that everything was in place, she sat in front of the board with her legs crossed, eyes closed in meditation.

I claimed Gavin’s lap on an old recliner nearby. “Someone takes this shit seriously,” I whispered to him.

Brooke let out a high, exaggerated sigh. “Come on already, Jess! Let’s call some ghosts! I want to see if they can really climb backwards up the walls like they do in movies!” We all laughed along with her.

“First of all, you have to shut up,” Jessica snapped. Everyone fell silent with the deadly glare she flashed around the room. “Second of all, I need someone to sit here with me.” Her eyes darted over to me. “Harper, since you don’t believe in the power of the Ouija board, I think it should be
you
.”

The room erupted with a few “ooo”s and playful chants of my name. I stared back at her, unable to move. Everyone in the room knew Jessica was full of shit, eager to put on a good show to get attention. I didn’t want to come off as a coward, even though I was secretly freaked out.

“She’s just trying to scare you,” Gavin whispered in my ear. “Go show her up.”

I moved from his lap to join her, putting on a brave smile. I never thought in a million years that anything bad would come of it. I never imagined playing what I thought was a harmless game could trigger an avalanche of events that would end with my boyfriend’s death.

“Put your fingers on the pointer.” Jessica’s smile turned smug. She tended to be one bossy bitch. “
I’ll
ask the questions.”

Her eyes closed for a minute before they flipped back open, fixating on me. “Are there any spirits present?”

The pointer seemed to take forever to slide across the board before landing on “
yes
”. When I looked back to Jessica, her eyes were as wide as someone who had just received an electrical shock.