AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But she didn’t mean to go back to Greenhill Hall. Not while she presented a liability to Gregory.I had no business pretending to be what I’m not. It was a terrible idea for me to even try. I’m not a princess, or a high-class lady born with a silver spoon in her mouth. I’m just a college dropout who had the bad form to tell a rich man he couldn’t have what he wanted.
“No,” Hanna told Athena. “I’m not. I couldn’t convince Stuart to let me help him, and I don’t know why. I’m not even sure where Janette’s spirit went. That whole situation is unresolved, and it bothers me that I can’t fix it now.”
“That was not the situation I meant,”Athena said gently.
“That’s the only situation that matters. The other one… Gregory had just figured out what he truly wanted to do. How he wanted to proceed. It was a huge emotional breakthrough for him. But to do what he wants, he has to deal with Steven Dawson. He might always have to.” Hanna spread her hands, then let them thump down on the bed next to her.
Athena leaned forward to rest her arms on her desk.“Do you truly think he would have chosen working with Slimeball Dawson over having you?”
“I think he’d be an idiot not to. This is billions of dollars, and his grandfather’s business. I’m not worth that.”
“It sounds to me as if it wasn’t Gregory saying you weren’t worth fighting for. It was you.”
Hanna hung her head. “No one has ever fought for me, Athena. Not my parents. Not any of my boyfriends. Not my employers. Not my friends. By now, I’ve taken the hint.”
“I disagree. You’re very worth fighting for, you know, if you would ever let anyone do so. I would.”
Tears spilled down Hanna’s cheeks again. She’d thought she’d cried them out, until all she had left inside was emptiness and the faintest residue of salt, yet she kept finding more. “Thank you, Athena. That– That means a lot. I just can’t take that chance anymore. It hurt every time my parents went to one of my half-sister’s school events and ignored mine. It hurt every time a boyfriend blew me off because they’d found someone prettier, or more exciting. At least this time, I can say blowing me off was worth a multi-billion-dollar corporation.”
One of Athena’s eyebrows arched.“Ah. The ‘I’m leaving him before he leaves me, because I can control the hurt that way’ strategy. Not what I would call a bold move.”
“But a safe one.”
“The price of safety is sometimes far too high.”Athena cupped her face in her palms.“But I am single, and live alone with my ghosts, so you should potentially not take my advice. I will prepare the guest bed for you again. When will you fly in?”
“I’ll book a flight tomorrow. I just– I ran out of ability to cope tonight. Tomorrow, I can face that.”
“Do you want me to book it for you? It’s no trouble.”
“No. But thank you. I can adult that far.” Hanna sighed. “It really does bother me that I couldn’t help Stuart. He was right there. I could feel him. But he walked away.”
“Did you try to see him? See if that told you anything?”
“No. I can’t see ghosts. I’ve never been able to see him, and didn’t see Janette until she chose to manifest.”
“Technically, you can see ghosts,”Athena said, fingertips drumming lightly on her cheek.“You did when the Widow tried to drown you. In that moment, you were near to death, and that brought you close enough to their state to see them. You did see her looming over you in the bath.”
“I guess I did, didn’t I.”
“It is a difficult skill, and one that takes practice. The theory is, you cast your mind back to the moment when you were nearest death and enter the state of mind you were in then. We can practice on some of my resident spirits when you get back.”
Hanna chewed on her lower lip. “Athena? Can ghosts possess people?”
“Possess? As far as I can tell, very rarely. Possession is difficult. It is a transient state between life and death, and one that costs tremendous energy for the spirit in question. Most ghosts can muster the ability to manifest, but to take over and control flesh? Only the most powerful, most spiteful of spirits could manage that. Why? Worried about our friend in the cellar?”
“No. Worried about Darlene. She said some strange things to me before she left. I kind of wondered if the Widow had taken her over.”
Athena flattened her lips.“That would be an unusual situation. While I am not an expert on possession, I have looked into it. For most living people, they have a firm grip on the flesh shirt they wear about. It is a perfect, lumpy bubble wrapped around their spirit, with no opening for secondary spirits to slip into.”
“You know your descriptions don’t do anything for my self-image, right?”
“I assure you, your flesh shirt is very stylish. As I was saying. Consider your body a fortress you both inhabit and defend. There is no way for a spirit to get in unless you have opened one, on purpose or by mistake. You open one by lowering the drawbridge and inviting someone in, or by leaving holes in your walls with your actions. Dealing with dangerous spirits who cause damage. Harming your spirit by committing terrible acts, such as murder. All these can leave you vulnerable.”
“Darlene wasn’t exactly a paragon of awesomeness.”
“A histrionic or narcissistic personality is not an engraved invitation for a spirit to invade. Though I must say, I believe it would be a tactical error on the ghost’s part. They have far more freedom without a body in tow. Flesh is a trap. It sticks with all the tenacity of that sliver of tape you can’t pull off without it adhering to your fingers. That is why most people have no ability to project their spirit beyond their body.”
Hanna wrinkled her nose. “I hate those pieces of tape. You can’t get rid of them.”
