B00AO57VOY EBOK (17 page)

I nodded, still reeling over
the revelation that my ghostly companions were trying to help
me
for a
change.  I stumbled down the hall to Nathan’s room in search of warm, dry,
clothes.  I let my eyes drift closed and rubbed hard at my temples when I found
a demolition zone there, as well. 

Most of the clothes from the
closet were scattered across the room.  Looking around, I spotted a pair of
jeans and headed for them.  I stopped to pick up a bright red fleece as I
passed it and nearly died of heart failure when I caught movement out of the
corner of my eye.  I forgot all about the clothes hanging limply in my hands as
Nathan’s favorite painting slowly started to rise into the air and hung itself
back on its hook.  Open-mouthed and unable to breathe, I watched as it
straightened itself perfectly and a wispy form appeared before it, stepping
back to give it an assessing look.

“There, that is a start, is
it not?” my new ghostly companion said, turning to smile at me.  “The removal
of chaos is the key to a happy life, yes?”

“If you say so,” I muttered,
thinking that the only key to my having a happy life was the removal of a
certain demon.

I could feel the bruises all
over my body from my showdown with Bastian beginning to throb, and I knew I
would be too stiff to move the next morning.  I had done my best to hide the
damage from Grams and Kim, but once I was alone I felt perfectly safe to wince
and groan to my little heart’s content.

Making a point of turning my
back on my spectral visitor, I stripped out of my wet clothes and limped over
to the full-length mirror on the closet door to check out the damage.  I
grimaced when I saw just how bad it was. 

There was a huge bruise on my
shoulder where I’d hit the ground when Bastian threw me off the desk and my
left arm was a mass of blue and black.  I almost moaned when I saw the bruises
on my hip and thigh that would make sleeping on that side nearly impossible. 
Sighing, I started to work my tank top up, seeing the bruises on my stomach and
sides, as well. 

I wasn’t just going to be
stiff; I was going to be aching from head to toe.

With a sigh that seemed to
come from my feet, I pulled on the dry clothes I’d found during my trek through
the ‘chaos’ that was now my bedroom.  I knew by the warmth in the room and that
wonderful peace she seemed to exude that my ghostly companion was still there. 
Sure enough, when I turned back around she was studying me with a smile.

“You are very different,”
she said out of the blue, tilting her head to better examine me.  “You have
more spirit than the others.  You will be a good match for Nate.”

“Nate?” I repeated, arching
an eyebrow at her as I sat down on the edge of the bed to put on dry socks.  “How
did you know what Nathan’s friends…?”

Wait.  The French accent,
her defense of him after he’d told me and Grams about the tragedy of his
newborn vampire days.  The clothes she wore, the way she spoke. 

Suddenly, I had a really bad
feeling I knew who my friendly, curiously happy, ghost was.

I froze in place, the sock
I’d been about to put on falling from my suddenly numb fingers.  Feeling like I
was having to fight against my own muscles to complete the action, I turned my
head to look at her.  She beamed at me, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

I couldn’t speak, my shock
was so intense.  I was so curious about her that the questions chased each
other through my mind.  I wanted to know why she was so warm, why I felt such
peace in her presence.  I wanted to understand what she had meant in the
kitchen, about the others wanting to help me.  I wanted to blurt all those
questions out, but I was too overwhelmed to do more than stare at her. 

Yes, she was very different
from the ghosts I was used to.  There was a peace about her the others had
never had.  I just couldn’t figure out why that was and I couldn’t think how to
ask her.  I couldn’t just blurt out: You’re dead.  Why are you so happy? 

“So…you’re Gabriella?” I
asked, my voice coming out much higher than normal.

“Yes,” she said, smiling and
nodding her head regally in acknowledgement.  “And you are Ember Blaylock.”  
She laughed softly when I gave her another shocked look.  “You are well known
amongst the spirits here.  You help those who are lost find their way.  That is
a very noble mission,
mon ami
.”

I blushed at that praise,
knowing good and well I didn’t deserve it.  There was nothing noble about what
I did.  I helped the ghosts that came to me to get rid of them.  That was all. 
If I didn’t, they made my life unbearable.  Even when I
did
help, I
didn’t do much.  Most of them just had someone they wanted to say goodbye to. 
I took care of that for them and then they just faded away and I breathed a
sigh of relief to see them go.

“Is that why you’re here? 
Do you need my help?” I asked, a ball of shame beginning to form in my
stomach.  I guess I had never thought of the ghosts who came to me for help as
people with feelings until right then.  Suddenly, I really felt bad for the way
I had treated some of them. 

“Goodness, no,” Gabriella
said, shaking her head and laughing again.  It was a sweet sound and the room
grew a little warmer when she did it.  “I know my way home, have no fear.”

“I don’t understand,” I
said, frowning at her.  “If you know your way, why haven’t you crossed over?”

“Because my work here is not
done,” she said gently.  Some of the warmth in the room fled as her smile
slipped, but I still didn’t feel the wash of chilly air or the hair-raising
sensation of the dead.  She really was one of a kind, Nathan’s Gabby. 

“What work?” I asked
quietly.  I saw a flash of true sorrow in her light green eyes before she
looked away and was surprised to find myself blinking back tears as it infected
me, too.

“I must set things right,”
she said, drifting over to the window and staring out at the darkness beyond
the glass.  “This war between Bastian and Nate has gone on far too long.  My
selfishness was to blame for its beginning, therefore it is my responsibility
to bring it to an end.”

“Your selfishness?” I asked,
frowning at her again.  “How were you selfish?”

“I did not wish to marry
Bastian,” she said with a delicate shrug.  “He was a fine man, handsome and
charming and wealthy.  Any woman would have been proud to marry him.  But I
wanted more.”

She dropped her head and I
saw a glimmering tear slide down her semi-transparent cheek.  I wanted to go to
her and hug her, to tell her that wanting to choose who you love wasn’t a
terrible sin, but I couldn’t.  I couldn’t comfort her.  Knowing that made her
sorrow that much harder to witness.

“He disappeared that night,
Bastian did,” she continued in a voice as soft as a whisper.  “No one ever saw
him again.  He gave himself to the Dark Ones in his misguided quest for
vengeance.   His hate and jealousy twisted his soul, cursing him to become what
he is.  I loved him, like a brother, and knowing what became of him causes me
more grief than I can ever express.  But I cannot let him continue.  I will not
allow him to harm anyone else.  This must end.”

Gabriella drifted closer to
me as she spoke, almost like she were being drawn against her will, and I saw a
glimmer of true friendship in her eyes as she lifted her hand as if to touch my
face.  She let it drop before she could reach me, however, and gave me a warm smile
instead.

“You said the others wanted
to help me…” I said, letting my words trail off suggestively, eager to change
the subject.

“Yes.”   Her lovely face
hardened in anger and I made a mental note not to ever make her mad at me. 
Gabriella looked like she could be a bit of a handful when she was pissed.  “As
I said, you are well-known amongst my kind here.  There are very few witches
who see the spirits of the departed without summoning them.  If they lose you,
many will lose the chance to find their way home.  It is not a chance any of
them are willing to take.  They can’t actually fight the demon, but they can
shield your location from him.  They are ready to protect you at all costs,
myself especially.”

The ghosts that had always
annoyed me were willing to do battle to keep me safe?  If I thought I had felt
guilty before, it was nothing compared to the guilt I felt then.  How many
times had I ignored the spirits I felt close to me, unwilling to see them
because I was too wrapped up in my own selfish pursuits to care about them? 
And, yet, they were trying to protect me.  I vowed in that moment to help each
and every one of them, no matter how long that might take.

Before I could tell her
that, Gabriella’s face brightened and she held a finger to her lips in a
gesture for silence.  I nodded even as the door of the room opened and Nathan
peered inside. 

“Who are you talking to,
Ember?” He asked, glancing around the room warily.

“Nobody,” I said, quickly,
moving to intercept him before he walked right through Gabriella’s translucent,
smiling form. “I was just thinking out loud. You know? Working everything out
in my head?”

“Uh-huh,” he said, clearly
not buying it.  “You were talking to one of your ghosts, weren’t you?”

“Why do you say that?” I
asked, realizing even as the words were passing my lips how stupid that
question was.  Changing tactics, I smiled up at him.  “Okay, so even if I was,
it’s no big deal, Nathan.  I talk to my dead buddies all the time.  It’s
something you should probably get used to.  Seriously, you’re going to find me
talking to empty air a
lot
.”

 “I’m sure I will,” he said,
grinning and kissing the tip of my nose.  “Kim and Blake are here…and so is
Constance.  Amelia is on her way and she said she’s bringing someone who can
help us.”

Gabriella blew me a kiss as
Nathan dragged me from the room, and I really felt like it landed on my cheek. 
Once again, that lump began to form in my throat, but I followed him, smiling,
finally feeling like everything would be all right.

I
seriously
considered
just covering up my head and ignoring the dreaded sound of the alarm going off
the morning following Bastian’s interior design makeover of our house.  Between
fighting with my witchy guard detail about what the best course of action would
be to keep Bastian from killing me—or Nathan—and helping Grams and Nathan
organize the ghosts packing the house into guards to watch my back, I got
approximately two hours of sleep. 

I actually had to give
myself a pep talk before I hauled my butt out of bed, threw on the first
clothes I laid my hands on, and put my hair up in a sloppy twist, yawning the
whole time.  Then, skipping breakfast in favor of a mega-sized mug of coffee, I
zombie-walked my way back to the grim reality of being a senior in high
school. 

My vacant stare didn’t go
unnoticed, unfortunately.  Mr. Simmons, my Trig teacher, even held me after
class to suggest that I make an appointment with the school counselor.  I had
actually started giggling at the suggestion, too tired to care if he thought I
was on drugs or something.  I mean, what was I going to tell her?  Unless she
was some kind of paranormal expert there wasn’t a whole lot she could do for
me.

By the time I made it to
English Lit, I was a nervous wreck.  I had a pounding headache and I was so on
edge that the slightest sound made me jump.  I kept a wary eye out for Bastian,
but he was nowhere to be found.  I couldn’t relax until Nathan gave in and left
me alone outside of Ms. Cantrell’s classroom long enough to check the school
for me.  I didn’t take a normal breath until he came back to report that my
personal demon really wasn’t there, which didn’t help with the fuzzy feeling in
my brain.

“Miss Blaylock!”

Ms. Cantrell’s voice cut
across my dazed stupor like a whip halfway through her class and I jerked
upright in my seat.  Everyone was turned around in their seats, staring at me
in horrified admiration, and I struggled to figure out what I had missed. 
Lisette Martin, the secretary’s student aide, was standing next to Ms.
Cantrell’s desk, and I saw her shoot me an anxious look.  I saw the slip of
paper Ms. Cantrell was holding, but my mind just couldn’t put the pieces
together.  Admitting defeat, I said the only sane thing I could think of.

“Yes, ma’am?” I asked,
quietly, the tension in my voice causing it to break.

“I
said
you are
wanted in the library,” she barked, clearly at the end of her tolerance.  “If
you are unable to stay awake in my classroom, I would prefer you didn’t attend
my lectures.”

I exchanged a panicked
glance with Nathan.  If I left in the middle of class I would be alone.  I’d nearly
become a demon’s favorite form of entertainment the last time I’d left a
classroom alone, but my mind was too dull and fuzzy to come up with a reason to
refuse to go.