I asked Marco. “Maybe I can find out who killed you.” I’d spoken to the dead before. The former queen of the werewolves had contacted me to help her save her family. Now her daughter Evelynn led the people. It was the one and only time I’d ever helped anyone get to the afterlife.
But maybe this was my destiny. I’d been wondering about what I would do after the baby was born. I didn’t think I’d want to be a stay-at-home mom, but nothing else had struck me either.
Marco brightened, not physically, but a light went off in his head like he had an idea. “I forgot you could read the minds of the dead. Let’s begin.”
“Bring it on.”
He looked at me, and I immediately felt the pressure of his thoughts on my mind. It pushed until I felt like my head was going to explode. But I saw nothing but what was right in front of me, a ghost who was concentrating so hard he looked constipated.
I tried just as hard as he was, but something was blocking my magic. “Yeah, I got nothing.” It seemed my ghost whispering days were over just as quickly as they’d begun. Thankfully, I was used to not having a job.
“What’s happening?” Blair asked.
I plopped back forward on the seat. Suddenly, I was drained. My head felt like it had been trying to follow one of my dad’s mathmagic spells. “I can’t get his memories.”
“Neither can I,” said Marco. “I don’t remember what happened to me. Perhaps I was run down by a wagon.”
“Even in a backward town like this, I don’t think anyone in Colt Valley is using a wagon.”
“Wagon?” Blair asked, lost to the conversation. “How old is this ghost?”
“Old.” He’d been frozen in crystal for years. “Can’t you remember anything?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “And I must admit, I thought death would feel different than this.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked at the hand I wasn’t holding and then looked where my fingers touched his. “I’ve been roaming Colt Valley for days. I don’t know how many. Numbers evade my mind when I’m not touching you.
“What are you getting at?” I asked.
“I mean, I lost my ability to reason until I touched you.” Maybe that explained why he’d been wandering in the middle of the road earlier tonight. Not that he had to obey the law of traffic anyway. As an impalpable being, he wouldn’t feel a car anyway, and no one else could see him but me.
“Why were you crossing the road?”
“To get to the other side.” He smirked.
I laughed.
“What happened? His aura is changing.”
I told Blair the joke. She giggled. She was the only person I knew who actually giggled the way a giggle should sound, light and airy. My giggles sounded like an angry llama.
She colored. “Well, I’m glad he’s managed to find some humor in all this.”
Me too, but I could hold his hand just to keep his thoughts agile. He was right. The ghost I’d met had kept their intelligence for the most part. Heck, every time I thought about testing back to in school, I wondered if I could get Maahes to help me get the answers.
There something was off, or I had a lot to learn about ghosts. Lucky for me, my grandmother’s books of shadows was thick and probably had the information I needed.
Studying wasn’t how I’d pictured my night going. I had planned to play video games and build a friendship with Blair, maybe even convince her to get me some Dr. Pepper.
Hey, a girl could dream.
But it looked like I’d be pulling an all-nighter with my grandmother’s grimoire. Yay me.
I held Marco’s hand as I unlocked the door. When Blair asked me why I was only using one hand, I explained the entire situation to her.
“We could suspend his animation for a while. That way, you can study without having to hold onto him, and he won’t lose his mind.” There was a small box on the front porch. She picked it up.
“You can do that?”
She nodded as she glided inside. She looked around as she put the box on a table by the door. I read the name on the front. It was from Dad. He’d been sending me little gifts from the places he visited. Sometimes, he even sent spells he’d thought I’d enjoy.
Blair explained herself as she took off her black gloves, navy-blue coat, and fuchsia scarf with great care. She hung everything on a tree