School Spirits - By Rachel Hawkins Page 0,60

her only grandkid and all the family she had. That was probably normal. And Dex was normal, I reminded myself as we drove to the outskirts of town. In the dim blue lights of the dash, I studied his profile. Normal. I’d never thought that word could sound so appealing.

The cave was easier to find than I’d thought it would be. There were signs and everything. Granted, they didn’t mention Mary Evans or ghosts, but according to the legend, this had been where Mary and Jasper—the teacher—had met, and done…whatever. And, more important, where Mary had died.

Once we got there, Dex opened my door for me, holding out his hand. “Milady.”

The night was cold enough that I wished I’d brought a heavier jacket. Dex was decked out in a new purple jacket, a thick green scarf knotted at his throat. He looked warm and cozy, and I wondered if his jacket was as soft as it seemed.

Dex must’ve picked up on my longing, because he went to unbutton his coat. “Cold? You can have it.”

“No,” I said quickly. “It’s just…purple suits you. Which is good since you wear so much of it.”

Preening, Dex raised his head and pushed his shoulders back. “It brings out the color of my eyes.”

I didn’t giggle this time, but I did give him a playful shove as I moved past him and into the cave. Once we were inside, we turned our flashlights on.

“Well, this is…”

“Creepy,” I finished.

“I was actually going to go with ‘pants-wettingly terrifying,’ but, sure.”

“You really think Mary and Jasper used this place to get all…romantic?” Running a hand over the damp walls of the cave, I shuddered a little. “Because seriously, I wouldn’t even take my hat off in here.”

“Their relationship was already pretty gross. Maybe they were going for some kind of grossness record.”

“Lovely,” I muttered, walking farther back into the cave. As I did, I had to crouch slightly. Dex had to practically fold in half. “Whoever used to hang out here, they must have been pretty tiny,” I joked.

Dex turned his flashlight on me. “Um, Iz, pretty sure they weren’t standing up,” he said, and I blushed.

“Right,” I said, trying to sound extra brusque so that he wouldn’t notice my discomfort. “Okay, so. Proof of the supernatural. Let’s find some.”

Kneeling down, Dex yanked a melted candle off a little shelf carved in the rock. “You think this was supposed to be sexy or spooky?”

I was never going to stop blushing. I was actually going to die of blood loss because there wasn’t any left to pump through my heart. It was all in my face.

“Nothing in this place is sexy,” I told him, and he laughed.

“Oh, come on, Izzy. Even you, Miss Anti-Romance, can admit there’s something just a little bit appealing about making out in a candlelit cave.”

“Bats live in caves,” I reminded him. “And where there are bats, there’s bat poop. Lots of it. Did you know there’s a cave in Mexico where they have a whole mountain made of guano?”

Dex leveled a fake-sultry gaze at me. “Are you coming on to me?”

I shined my flashlight at him, making him throw up a hand to guard his eyes. “Hey, watch it! You want me to actually see the ghost stuff, right?’

“Just…start looking, okay?”

“Fine,” he grumbled, and we made our way deeper into the cave. The ceiling got lower and we both had to drop to our knees and crawl.

“Salting graves, crawling underground…you really are the most fun date ever,” Dex mused. I bumped him with my shoulder and kept crawling. After a few feet, the cave opened up again, the ceiling soaring at least twelve feet overhead. Dex stood up and stretched with a happy groan, but all I could focus on was the magic bouncing off the rocks, filling the air, making my hair nearly stand on end. “This is it.”

Frowning, Dex spun in a circle. “What, this? This is where the ghost stuff went down? How can you tell?”

“I just…can.” It was maybe not the greatest answer ever, but I couldn’t think of any other way to explain to Dex how I could sense magic.

Luckily, he didn’t question it. “Whoa!” he cried.

“What?” Had he felt it? Was it just a delayed reaction? But Dex wasn’t exclaiming over all the magic radiating inside the cave. He was walking forward to another little alcove carved in the rock.

“Aha,” he said, poking around on the ground. “You’re right, this is it.”

I knelt next to him, turning my