“Firepower?”I repeat.“Are you going to shoot an intruder?”
“Pshhh,” she says, laughing.“This is such a weird dream you’re having, huh?”
Surreptitiously, I pinch the inside of my arm, just in case.Yep.I’m awake.
“I’m not dreaming, Sylvie.What is going on?”
“You’re going to wish you were dreaming.”She tugs a shirt over the boobs I’m quickly becoming obsessed with, and when they vanish, it’s like a spell’s been broken.
Shaking myself mentally, I get out of bed, the floor like ice on my bare feet.“It’s freezing.”
“That’s what happens when you’ve got an evil ghost problem,” the voice outside the door says.
Sylvie’s throwing her hair up into a messy bun and I shove my legs back into my jeans, then fling the door wide open.
No one is there, save for Sylvie’s tiny black cat at the top of the stairs.
Movement catches my attention out of the corner of my eye, and I tilt my head at the small window on the landing.Ice streaks up the glass, frost cobwebbing out until the warm glow of streetlamps lining the sidewalk below is totally blotted out.
Hair stands up on the back of my neck, because that frost?
It’s not outside.
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers,” the same high-pitched voice says from near my feet.
Where the cat pads around, tail twitching back and forth.
I swallow hard.
How many beers did I drink?Two?Three?
I didn’t feel drunk.I still don’t feel drunk.
But that cat…
“The cat talks,” Sylvie says on a sigh, her nose crinkled as she blinks up at me owlishly.“I know you said you don’t believe in ghosts, but if you don’t want to stay up here, you’re about to have a rude awakening.”
I try to respond, but only manage to make a creaky noise in response.
Maybe I am still dreaming.
“Ha!Look at his face.I once ate a mouse that looked like that right when I caught him.”The cat sits on her haunches, still eyeing me speculatively.
“That’s really gross, Prudence.”
“What’s gross is that you two don’t have fur and still manage to get it on,” the cat says.
I try to inhale.
“You’re not losing your mind,” Sylvie tells me, her hand light on my wrist.“I had the same reaction?—”
“And you fell on your ass about twenty times.”
“Twice, Prudence, Jesus,” Sylvie snaps.“If you want to get back in bed and just go to sleep, that’s probably for the best.”Her voice is softer, regretful as she addresses me.
I shake my head, my eyes wide.“If you think I’m going to be able to go back to sleep while you might be in danger, you are dead wrong.”
The idea of her facing down some… thing by herself makes my heart speed up.She’s not dealing with this… intruder orwhateveralone.Not on my watch.
