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I scanned the room, and strained to listen, to see some sign of Kristof. It was one thing having a ghost around when you didn't know it. But if you knew it, and if you tried hard enough, surely you should be able to pick up some sign. But I couldn't.
"Savannah's outside," I said. "Playing basketball with Lucas."
Nothing. Not even a twinge of awareness that told me he was there.
"Basketball was never your thing, was it?" I said with a smile. "Mine neither. But she's good at it. And she likes it. That's what counts."
The silence swallowed my voice. I shivered, and the quaver went right down into my gut. What if something went wrong, and I couldn't get back? Was this what it would be like, stuck here, talking to myself, wondering whether he was still listening? At least on the other side, I could see this world. From here, the separation was absolute.
Savannah yelled something outside, and I jerked up. If Savannah and Lucas were outside, that meant I was alone in here with the Nix. And if she was making no effort to come and get me, I had to give her a push.
"Sorry, Kris, but we gotta run." I grinned. "Time to try getting myself killed."
I found the Nix in the living room, sitting on a chair--my chair--and staring into space. At first I thought maybe she saw the crying woman residual. She wasn't looking toward the dining room, though. She was staring straight ahead, eyes as blank as a mannequin's.
"There you are," I said, walking into the living room.
"No!" the Nix leapt to her feet, lip curling in a snarl.
"Get out!"
I feigned a wide-eyed back-step. "Jaime? Uh, are you ok
ay?"
Her eyes flicked to mine and she frowned, as if just noticing me.
"What?" she snapped. Then she blinked fast. "Oh, Paige. Sorry."
"Ghost bothering you?" I asked.
Another quick blink, startled. Then a sharp head shake that morphed into a nod and a wry smile. "Yeah. You know how it is. They never leave us alone. So is your work done?"
"Pretty much. I just popped down to see whether we had anything in the freezer for dessert. I should be able to dig up a pie."
"Sounds good."
"If Lucas or Savannah comes in, just tell them I'm downstairs. In the basement. I may be a while--that freezer's packed with stuff."
She nodded, then sat back down, gaze going blank, as if she'd already forgotten I was there. I headed for the basement steps. When I reached the back-door landing, I looked outside. Lucas caught the movement and glanced over. I motioned that I was going into the basement. He nodded, then distracted Savannah before she saw me, and they resumed playing.
"Heading downstairs now," I murmured under my breath. "Into the dark basement. All alone."
For a second, I thought I heard Kristof's chuckle, but the sound turned into the thumping of a dribbled basketball against the driveway.
Once downstairs, I had to look around for the freezer. I knew there was one here somewhere, and I was pretty sure there'd be a pie in it. Not a store-bought one, but something homemade, probably from berries picked by hand. I don't know how Paige found the time. I never did. Of course, I'd never tried to, either.
I finally located the freezer. Sure enough, it was just as full as I'd imagined. There was a whole stack of pies, so I moved some bread on top to hide them, then busied myself pretending to hunt. Upstairs, all was silent.
"Come on, come on," I muttered. "One secluded victim, head conveniently stuck in a freezer. What are you waiting for? Until I've cleared enough room to stash my body?"
The words had barely left my mouth when footsteps sounded overhead.
"About time. Now hurry it up before I get frostbite."
The footsteps crossed the kitchen, then descended to the landing, and paused there, as the Nix presumably reassured herself that Savannah and Lucas were busy outside. I shuffled two boxes of cookies. Chocolate-chip cookies. Were those made with Ruth's recipe? Mmmm. It'd been twenty years since I had those. Maybe I could slip a couple--
The Nix's footsteps stopped.
