Page 8 of The Devil and His Ghost

I grinned and kept my hands shoved in my dark jeans while watching her ass in those tight baby blue scrubs.

“There you are, Kendyll,” the nurse greeted politely.

My gaze snapped up from the perky ass in front of me to peer around the nurse’s shoulder. A teenager wearing a gray sweatshirt and pants was headed toward us. Her long black hair was secured in a braid with only a few strands framing the sides of her face. Her emerald eyes behind black-framed glasses met mine over the nurse’s shoulder. She sucked in a sharp breath and nearly stumbled as her wide stare held mine. My brows could’ve won gold at the Olympics from how high they jumped.

There was no way she could see me.

The nurse glanced over her shoulder, following where Kendyll’s attention was glued, but as I expected, the nurse’s gaze swept through and past me. I was safely tucked away within the shadows, so what was this girl looking at?

“What are you looking at?” the nurse questioned.

“Thank you for asking,” I told the oblivious nurse, my eyes still glued on the teen. “I was wondering the same thing.”

Kendyll finally reached us, and she swallowed hard while dropping her eyes to her feet. “N-Nothing.”

“Hmm,” the nurse pondered sympathetically. “How about an appointment with Dr. Roberts? I’ll let him know.”

Kendyll shook her head hard. “No. I don’t need one. I’m—”

“It’s okay,” the nurse cut her off, reaching out as though to give her a gentle pat on the arm, but at the last second, she pulled back. “Wait in your room.”

Before Kendyll could object, the nurse turned around and left the ward, presumably in search of Dr. Roberts. I didn’t follow this time. I was rooted in place, narrowed eyes locked onto the girl in front of me. Her entire body was tense like it was taking everything in her not to look at me.

I bent at the waist to try to meet her downcast gaze. “Can you see me?”

Her cheeks grew pink, and she stiffly walked past me. Yeah. Past me. I was directly in her path, so she should’ve walked through me like any other person would’ve. But she moved around me, which meant my suspicion was fucking right.

She sped-walked to one of the rooms, but she wasn’t getting away from me.

“I know you see me, you little shit,” I told her.

Her back was to me, but I caught the sound of her faint laugh. “Of course, I can.” She turned to look at me. “You’re later than I expected, but better late than never, I guess.”

Late? What the fuck was she on about?

“I gotta admit,” I said as I looked around her extremely boring room. Everything was white. It hurt my eyes. “Despite the location, it’s pretty cool running into a Ghost Speaker. You guys are a rare breed. I can’t even remember the last time I met one of you.”

She glanced at her feet and rubbed her arm nervously. “Ten years. At least … that’s how long it’s been since we first met.”

Ten years? I studied her face, searching my memory for whatever she was talking about. I met a Ghost Speaker ten years ago? A mental lightbulb went off, and I snapped my clawed fingers before pointing at her.

“No way. Are you that kid from the closet?”

She smiled softly. “Good to see you again, Mr. Monster.”

“Wow,” I drew, recalling that night.

It was already a small world running into a Ghost Speaker, but it was really fucking small to run into the same one. I looked around the room once more. It was obvious she was a patient here, and I didn’t need to be a genius to guess why.

“So,” she hedged, drawing closer with a cautious glance at the door. “What’s the plan?”

“Plan?”

“Yeah. To get me out of here.”

I quickly held up my hands to stop her. “What are you talking about? Who said anything about getting you out of here?”

She frowned. “You did.”