AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I knew there was some truth to what she said. Ever since the curse broke, I’d felt something bad in the house, but mostly in my bedroom. But over the last week, I had felt something ominous inbothhouses. As long as David or someone else was with me, I could handle it. But I couldn’t bear to be there alone. “What am I supposed to do? I gave up my apartment. I have nowhere else to go.”
“Ellie, you’re about to lose the house anyway. Find somewhere else to live. And whatever you do, don’t stay there without David.” Claire hesitated. “She says you need him.”
“Whosays I need him?”
She sucked in her top lip. “I see ghosts all the time now. When you asked me what I saw outside that other apartment just now, it was a ghost. An old guy wandering around in his bathrobe holding a newspaper and a cup of coffee.”
My eyes widened. “Mr. Murphy. He liked to walk around in his robe. He died about two weeks after I moved in here. That was four years ago.” I took a deep breath. Why was this freaking me out? After everything else I’d seen, ghosts should have been nothing.
“He’s pissed that someone is living in his apartment. He says she doesn’t keep it clean enough.”
I stared at Claire, wide-eyed. “How many do you see?”
“Some days one or two. Yesterday I saw ten.”
“And you’re not scared?”
“No. Unlike your demons, the ghosts seem harmless. But not all of them are fully formed. Some are blobs—kind of like when we saw Kanim. From what I can tell, the longer they’ve been dead, the more I can see of them.”
“And the ghost that thinks I need David? Can you see her?”
“No. She’s a blur, not even a blob yet. She started making sounds a few days ago and yesterday was the first time I could string the words together. But I’ve figured out enough to know that she’s worried about you and wants you to leave.”
“How do you even know you can trust the voices, Claire? What if this person is somehow working with Okeus?”
“I just know that we can. Call it instinct.”
I headed for the kitchen and started opening cabinets to make sure they were empty. “Well, then you must be happy that David and I are heading to Chapel Hill for the weekend.”
“Relieved.” She leaned her hands on the bar. “Then you can find somewhere else to live when you get back.”
A movement in the open front door caught my attention.
“Why are we looking for somewhere else to live?” David asked.
I bugged my eyes at Claire in warning, then turned to face David. “What are you doing here?”
“I missed you.” He moved toward me with a mischievous grin. “I wondered what was taking you so long, and then I saw the empty bottles on the porch.”
“Busted,” Claire said with a laugh.
David pulled me into a hug. “I figured I’d come and help, and then we can grab something to eat before heading back.” He looked over my head at Claire. “And why do we need to find somewhere else to live? And no, I’m not so easily veered off topic.”
I’d discovered that firsthand when David started asking questions about the marks on my door a month ago.
She glanced from my pleading face to David’s. “Oh, you know. It has to be difficult for Ellie to live in the house where she grew up.”
“You mean the house where she suffered a horrible trauma?” David was quiet for several seconds when Claire didn’t give him an answer. “We’ll definitely keep that in mind. Now what do we need to do to finish up here?”
We spent the next half hour cleaning. When we were done, I stood in the doorway and spent a moment surveying the only place that had ever been completely mine. I had to wonder if Claire was right. I knew I should tell David the whole story—that shewantedme to tell him—but there was someone I needed to talk to first. I hadn’t seen him in weeks, and just the thought of it made me nervous.
Before I left for Chapel Hill, I needed to talk to Collin.
Chapter3
The next morning I texted Collin. It felt wrong and underhanded, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Although I had a hard time convincing myself of that fact since I was hiding my plan from David. We had promised not to keep secrets from each other. I justified my decision by telling myself that I’d tell David everything after I talked to Collin. For some reason, I felt the need to get his take on the situation before putting it out in the open. If Claire really could see ghosts, if they really did want her to help me, it might be a game changer.
Of course, I ran the very real risk of Collin refusing to tell me anything at all. But he knew much more than I did about demons and spirits, and his expertise in the supernatural might extend to ghosts. It was worth asking.
