The Whispering Dead (Gravekeeper #1) - Darcy Coates Page 0,44

from the building behind them. She squeezed Zoe’s arm to let the other woman know she was okay. “Thanks, Zo. You can stop talking now.”

Zoe stuck her tongue out. “Who says I want to?”

They’d reached the road. The town’s rooftops silhouetted against the afternoon horizon seemed farther away than Keira had thought they’d walked.

Mason rubbed at the back of his neck. “Would you like to sit down for a moment? There’s a fallen tree—”

“Jeez, no. I’m fine. Honestly.” This time, her laugh was genuine. She unthreaded her arm from Zoe’s and began striding toward town. “I just…got a bit dazed.”

“You looked frightened.” Mason allowed her to duck out from under his hand but stayed near her. “Did the mill remind you of something?”

She fought the temptation to glance over her shoulder at the building. “Maybe. I’m not sure. It wasn’t a memory. More like…the memory of an emotion.” Other people’s emotions. Pain, misery, suffering…death. She pushed her hands into her jeans pockets to disguise a shudder.

Zoe swung her arms as she stepped around a patch of potholes. “Like I said, it’s an ass-ugly building. Not really interesting either, just a bunch of abandoned junk. Rebellious kids sometimes visit it at night and tell ghost stories.”

“Ha, yes, my friends and I used to do that. First to leave was branded a chicken.” Mason snorted. “Looking back on it, it’s a miracle none of us stepped on any of the rusty metal and got tetanus.”

“Huh,” Zoe said. “I thought it would be impossible to paint an abandoned mill in a boring light, but look at you go.”

His face scrunched up with the smile he beamed back at her. “Believe me, there’s nothing boring about tetanus or any of the other endospores. They can remain dormant for centuries—”

“Okay, now I have to know. Are you naturally this awful, or do you put in special effort?”

Keira had to chuckle. The farther they walked from the mill, the more human she felt, and Zoe and Mason’s bickering faded into the background as Keira examined what had happened.

Apparently, my abilities aren’t limited to seeing ghosts. I seem to pick up on…I don’t know what to call them. Emotional imprints? The ghosts of memories? It’s like death stained the mill, and I can see it.

She suspected there would have been a lot more to see if she’d looked through the window.

They reentered the main street and turned toward the center fountain. They hadn’t quite reached it when the general store’s door was thrown open and a miserable, disheveled teen poked his head out and wailed, “Zo-e!”

Zoe exhaled a long-suffering sigh. “Looks like I won’t be getting that ice cream. Take care of yourself, Keira. Later, nerd.”

They waved as Zoe jogged toward Lucas, who was nearly in tears.

“Poor kid,” Keira muttered, and Mason laughed.

“I don’t feel too sorry for him. He egged Zoe’s house a few months back, so now his mother makes him do Zoe favors or else he’s grounded.”

“Ha! Gossip really does spread in this town.” Keira could feel Mason watching her, so she made a show of stretching as though they’d done nothing more than go on a relaxing walk. “I should probably head home. Or, uh, back to the cottage at least.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Mason offered.

She snorted. “I’m fine. Really. You can go home.”

He folded his arms and bent over so they were at the same eye level, and a hint of amusement twitched at the corners of his mouth. “I never thought I’d quote Zoe, but who says I want to? It’s a lovely day. I wouldn’t mind enjoying a bit more of it before the sun sets.”

“You call this lovely? It’s been overcast the entire time.”

“A day doesn’t have to be sunny to be nice.”

She raised an eyebrow. He grinned back.

“All right, you win.” Keira stepped up beside him, and together they turned down the road that led toward the cemetery.

Mason seemed happy to walk in silence. He set a leisurely pace, and his eyes roved over the trees and the shrubs lining the path.

Keira found it hard not to watch him. “This must have been a weird day for you. All you wanted was lunch, but you ended up wandering all over the countryside.”

“I don’t get out as often as I should, so I enjoyed this.”

“Good.” She didn’t know how well her next question would be received, so she phrased it carefully. “Zoe said you’re taking a break from med school.”

“Normally, I’d advise against taking Zoe’s word on anything. But