“Why in the world would you volunteer for that torture?”
“To impress a girl,” I said simply.
“Ah.” Her voice softened. “Fair enough. I suppose I’ve done worse to impress girls.”
The plural rang in my mind. I wondered how many relationships she’d had. It couldn’t have been a ton because she’d been on the road like me. Except Rae’s transientexperience had been the opposite of mine. Where it’d sharpened her into something strong and confident, it dulled me into a point that could barely pierce through soft earth.
“So, are your non-cross-country ankles the reason you got caught in quicksand earlier?” I asked.
“You’re almost as funny as you are beautiful, Octavia Daniel.”
“I looked up sinkholes, by the way.”
She hummed an unspoken,of course, you did. “And what did you learn?”
“The rain from the storm probably triggered it,” I said. “It was most likely a solution sinkhole formed by surface corrosion.”
Rae remained quiet for a few breaths before saying, “I wonder, would you have to have a chat with a demon itself to convince you of the paranormal?”
“Are those real, too?”
“I’ve been lucky enough to never encounter one, but sources have told me stories.”
“That’s the biggest difference between you and me,” I said around a yawn. Sleep crawled up my body, making it nearly impossible to keep my eyes open.
“What’s that?” Rae asked.
“You take people for their word.”
“If proven reliable, why not?”
“No one’s reliable,” I murmured, the words fading into something softer, transitioning over to the realm of dreams. “Not completely.”
“That’s a tough way to look at things.” She matched my volume. “Makes life harder, not being able to use others’ experiences to inform your decisions. You’re basically starting from scratch at the beginning of each day.”
“Difficultbut necessary.”
“You’re in for a rude awakening.” Her melancholic honesty made me wince.
“Let’s hope not,” I whispered. “Now, finish your story. Why did falling in the sand make you want to leave the family business?”
“When I fell, I nearly drowned in a few inches of water. We thought the ghost was category four, but it was a five, which meant its intentions were always to kill as soon as it harvested enough energy to do so.”
I frowned. “How did you get free?”
“Opal came to the rescue,” Rae said. “She remembered an accident one of the townspeople had, which we initially figured was unrelated. Most ghosts are nonviolent. They just need help crossing over. Unfinished business and whatnot. But this one had more than just unfinished business. It derived pleasure from hurting people as a human, so that desire followed it into the afterlife.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you, Rae.”
I wished I could see her. And wished she could see me to understand how much I meant it. I didn’t know what actually happened at the beach, but I did know the last hitch in her voice revealed fear. She sounded like I had whenever I spoke about losing the ranch.
“It’s fine,” she promised. “I’ve been in worse spots. Would you believe it?”
When I didn’t answer, she added, “Right. You wouldn’t.”
We shared a laugh. For a minute, none of the other stuff mattered. She wasn’t some paranormal investigator brandishing a belt of ghost-hunting supplies, and I wasn’t some horse-loving loner who’d spent the last of her cash on a pipe dream. For a minute, Rae and I were just two women whodreamed and wanted desperately for those dreams to become our reality.
“Being nearly drowned after not being listened to is one hell of a final straw,” I said.
