Page 72 of Some Kind of Haunted

Then I figure I shouldn’t let myself dwell too long on Jack’s thoughts about beds.

“Yes. There are even some actual rooms with doors upstairs. It’s probably the only place in Midas we’d all fit with our own places to sleep. Jack is right about that. It won’t be so bad. Plus, we’ll have twenty-four-seven access to diner food.” She smiles, but it’s lacking a lot of her usual warmth.

Then she starts moving around the store, locking things up, and turning off lights.

“Harrison spends the night there a lot. Though he’s been so tired lately we’ve been nagging him to get some real rest at his house up on the bluff.” Nora waves this away. “I’ll go pack a bag. That way when Jack gets here we can walk over to Amelia’s and get your stuff.”

“Isn’t that overkill?” Logan asks. He looks at Nora. “I thought you said our house is protected.”

Nora looks like she’s hitting her limit with him, or needs a moment, so I decide to handle him.

“We don’t know what’s happening, so we don’t know what’s protected or isn’t,” I say. “That’s the point.”

Then I have other things to think about because Jack’s stepping into the shop, hands deep in the pockets of his leather jacket. He looks surly and—

Well, we don’t need to get into how hot he looks again. That’s a given.

“Just give me a few minutes to throw some things in a bag, Jack,” Nora says, then disappears into the back as Jack crosses to me and Logan.

When he says nothing, I point to the figurine in front of me.

“I think that one looks like you,” I tell him, indicating the nearest figurine, which features a child-clown in a supplicative pose, like he’s praying. With rainbow hair and a red nose.

His mouth actually approaches something that could, in some regions, be considered a smile. A small one, but it’s there.

“If that’s me, that one’s you, princess.” Jack points to a figurine that is dressed like a pilgrim and is churning butter.

We both laugh. Possibly it’s laughter tinged with hysteria, but it feels a lot like light.

“You guys are a riot,” Logan mutters, reminding me that he is, in fact, here with us.

Luckily, the actual lighting is too dim to reveal the fact that my cheeks have possibly—definitely—turned a little red again.

Nora reappears with her bag and we all trudge out the back and across the lot to Amelia’s house. Nothing feels funny or remotely light out here in the dark and cold. The moon is a suggestion behind a wispy cloud. And I am thrust back into the possibility that demons are already out and about, soul sucking.

Except Virginia said Amelia sacrificed herself to bring me back here.

Virginia is not of sound mind, I remind myself.

But I believe her.

The garden gnome eyes aren’t glowing tonight. I don’t know if that’s a good omen or bad. I shudder at the thought and move quickly inside once Logan gets the door unlocked.

I make a move for my room with Logan on my heels. He ducks into the lone bathroom attached to my bedroom. I pull out my suitcase.

“You’re really not going to argue about going to spend the night in an antique store?” I ask quietly, because the door is open so he’s obviously not looking for privacy. “That doesn’t seem like you. I thought I’d have to expend a lot more energy to convince you.”

He’s quiet for a while, then appears with his toiletry bag. His expression is very serious.

“We’re agreeing there are demons, right?” he says.

“Yes,” I say. “Obviously.”

“And that your dreams have connected you to these demons, this town, and our grandmother in a way, for your whole life?”

My chest tightens, but I can’t deny it. And I don’t want to deny it. I just don’t want that worry in his eyes. But there’s only the truth. “Yes.”

“Then no matter how many objections I voice or how many doubts I have, I’m going to be right by your side.”