Before You Ghost - Helena Hunting Page 0,24

Sammi turned to meet my gaze. “If you can’t stay, I don’t want to stay either.”

I didn’t want to fight with her to stay. And selfishly, I wanted her to come with me, too. The afterlife seemed like it would suck without her. “What if we don’t end up in the same place? What if I go to Hell and you go to Heaven?”

“Then I’ll find a way to get to you and you’ll find a way to get to me. I don’t want to be here without you. Every day will feel like I’m dying.”

Existing forever without her would feel a lot like the same.

WE HAD TO face Morven. And today was yet another noon meeting on Lover’s Peak. Michigan offered to drive Sammi, and I was grateful. She sat in the back of his car with me. Michigan looked like he’d had a pretty rough night. He also had a hard time looking either of us in the eye. Sammi had refused to shower before we left, even though it meant she was still smudged with glitter.

She had a small backpack with her and I could offer to hold nothing. We started the climb up. It was a beautiful sunny day again.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Sammi readjusted her backpack on her shoulders.

I didn’t either. Something was coming off the mountain, energy in waves. Bad energy.

“It’ll be fine.” I rested my hand near her elbow. There was no touching anymore. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make it happen. I’d used it all up last night. “We’ll get my body off the mountain. I’ll explain that you and your distant relative are two different people while I’m still a ghost. And then it will be good.”

She stopped in her tracks, turning to face me, sadder than ever.

She didn’t have to say it. I knew. We both knew. This was where our love story ended. I would do my damnedest to convince Morven to leave her alone.

After staring at her hands for a few minutes, she patted her cheeks a little hard and started walking.

She was so goddamn strong. I loved her so much.

When we got to the scene of the crime/top of the mountain, Corbey and Kackley were standing near the cliff, hands on their hips.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?” Sammi strode over to them.

“Hey, Miss Riggs. Maybe you should stay over there.” They both held up their hands.

Sammi ignored them. I flashed next to her and peered over the edge. The tarp, the cursing chickens, and my body were gone. All gone. As if they never existed.

“Where is it? Where’s his body?” Sammi got down to her knees and tried to get a closer look.

“Just stay here. I’ll go see what I can find out.”

She gave me a small nod. We were getting good at the ghost and woman communication thing. Which was a shame. I flashed down to the cliff. The last time I was there, I was so angry at the bird I didn’t pay any attention to my body.

I stood on the thin cliff, and there were no signs of all the activity it had seen in the past few days. The sky got darker in a way that usually indicated a natural disaster. From sun to gray. From a beautiful temperature to a chilly one.

I glanced up and saw Sammi watching me with her eyes wide. “Behind you!”

She didn’t even try to pretend she was doing anything other than shouting a warning to me. I felt him. That creepy essence he had loomed over my spine, my emotions.

I didn’t turn. “Morven.”

“Annoying dead man.” His voice was right behind the shell of my ear.

“What happened to my body? The birds? Everything?” I took baby steps as I turned to face him. Man, I thought I was ready. I was not ready. His limitless echo eyeballs were horrifying. The inside of each like a bottomless pit.

“What happened to my love? The one you were screwing at the top of the mountain to mock me?” His voice echoed over and over. He was a stereo ghost.

I held up my hands as if he was a drunk on Tuesday afternoon. “Hey, I was drilling my girlfriend, not yours. Did it ever occur to you that you’re all messed up in the head? That you’ve been a ghost so long that you’re scrambled? Your love would be long gone. You’re so, so old, dude.”

He squinted his echo orbs at me. “She’s there. I can