All the Pretty Ghosts (The Never Alone Series Book 1) (22 page)

Chapter Nineteen

M
y feet were glued to the floor of the kitchen as the knocking continued. A male voice called out my name, muffled by the heavy wooden door.

I turned to Oliver. “Can you see who it is?”

He nodded and disappeared into thin air. I mentally went through the house, trying to work out if I had a better chance of survival if I found a place to hide or if I tried to make a run for it out the back door.

Both options seemed unlikely to keep me alive for very long. Not when I was injured and Taz seemed to delight in torturing me. He would enjoy the thrill of the chase no matter what I did.

Oliver reappeared and I swore I would never get used to him doing that. “It’s Jet.”

Relief flushed through me but it was only momentary. Taz and Jet were friends. Just because he had pulled me from the burning room didn’t mean he still meant me no harm.

“Everly! Let me in!” he called out again.

“I don’t think he’s here to hurt you,” Oliver said quietly.

I didn’t really have the choice of ignoring the knocking, not when Jet knew where I lived. I made my way through the coldness of the spirits as they didn’t bother moving away to let me through. They were too caught up in the intrigue to notice my movements.

Opening the door, Jet was still covered in black soot. One of his eyes was red, a bruise forming around the socket turning it into a dark blue. A cut to his lip told me he had been in a fight.

“Everly, thank God you’re alright,” he sighed, letting out a breath. He was puffed, whatever brought him to my door made him hurry.

“What happened to you?” I asked. It wasn’t the most pressing issue on my mind but it was the only one that made it off the tip of my tongue.

“I taught Taz a lesson. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”

“He tried to kill me. Almost succeeded.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what they were doing,” Jet admitted. “I told them to get blankets, I had no idea they’d find you at the factory. What were you doing there?”

“I don’t answer to you.”

We had a stare down as I refused to look away. My arms were firmly crossed over my chest, reeking of contempt and distain for him. I didn’t know why Jet was here and I didn’t really care. I just wanted him gone again.

“Can I come in?” he asked, nodding toward the foyer.

As much as I didn’t want to, I stepped away from the door. It was enough of an invitation for him to enter. He took one look around the foyer and turned left to go into the living room. By the time I caught up with him, he was already sitting on the lounge.

“He’s coming inside.”

“Who is he?”

“The boy said his name was Jet.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

“Sounds like a hippie name.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“She’s gone for a couple of weeks and everything has changed.”

“Maybe he’s a new friend?”

Jet’s face was deathly pale, and for just a moment, I panicked that he was dead, too. It took a moment for me to realize he was sitting on the couch, he wouldn’t have been able to do that if he was merely a ghost.

At least the panic helped drown out the spirits.

“Make yourself at home,” I said, sarcasm dripping from my words. I sat in the armchair, making sure to keep a safe distance from him. “You’re dripping blood on my couch.”

His hand automatically went to his lip, he winced when his fingers touched the cut. “Sorry.”

Against all my good judgment, I actually felt a little sorry for him. “You’re a mess.”

He gave me a smile before wincing again. “You should see the other guy.”

I rolled my eyes and stood, my fingers grasping around his wrist. “Come on, I’ll clean you up.” I moved to pull him into the kitchen but stopped, too many spirits could fit in there. Instead, I took him upstairs into the small bathroom. Oliver trailed after us, waiting at the door.

I pushed Jet onto the edge of the bathtub and found a rag in the cabinet. Running it under the water, I wished I had some kind of antiseptic. “This is going to hurt,” I warned before dabbing at the wounds on his cheeks and lip. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“How did you find me?”

He winced again as I finished up cleaning all his cuts. There were no plasters so he was going to have to put up with the open wounds for a while and stay out of anything remotely dirty for a bit. “I followed the trail of blood you left. Plus, a few people told me you passed by them.”

My leg must have been bleeding more than I realized. Although, I was in such a state when I ran away from the factory that I could have gone through a nuclear war and I wouldn’t have noticed.

“Is your leg okay now?” Jet asked, looking at my bandage.

“Hopefully it won’t need to be amputated.”

“Dibs on not doing that.” He gave me a small smile. “I’m sorry for what Taz did. I really am. If I could take it back and change it, I would. I really would.”

“Did you tell him to kill me?”

“No, of course not. Why would you think that?” I shrugged. “I would never do that to you.”

For some stupid reason, I believed him.

“Why did you come here?” I asked, taking a seat beside him on the bathtub. It wasn’t the most comfortable place in the house but it was guaranteed to be the quietest.

“I needed to make sure you were okay. You were really upset when you ran off like that,” Jet replied. I’d never seen him so sincere before. There was more, too. Concern? It had to be a trick he was using on me, some plan to foster his ulterior motive.

“I almost died. Was I supposed to stick around so Taz could finish the job?”

“No, of course not.” He paused and I didn’t know what to say so I let the silence settle over us. “I thought you might trust me enough to protect you, though.”

“Because I’m your property?”

“Because I’m your friend.”

I snorted. “You’re not my friend. A friend wouldn’t kidnap someone, hold them hostage, and play mind games with them. I don’t need to know people like that, there’s enough thugs in the city to fill that position in my life.”

“I had hoped we’d moved past all that. I apologized for it.”

“Actions speak louder than words,” I said quietly.

“I just saved your life,” Jet pointed out.

“Saved me from
your
people,” I shot back. Of course I was grateful for Jet getting me out of the fire. If he hadn’t been in that room, there was no doubt in my mind I would have died a few hours ago.

But it didn’t change the fact I wouldn’t have been in the position if his gang hadn’t placed me there. Taz could have let me go at any point. He didn’t. Which meant Jet was just as much to blame being the leader of them.

When Jet spoke next, he surprised me. “I will apologize for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes for you to believe how sorry I am.”

I eyed him suspiciously, trying to work out if he was joking or teasing me. The look in his eyes was honest but I had been mistaken before. I barely trusted my own judgment anymore. I needed to be cautious, especially with what I said to him. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”

He nodded slowly and the silence settled again. I was all out of questions and suddenly gripped by fatigue. I wanted to be able to sleep and not worry about everything that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours.

Jet broke the silence, apparently not done with his questions. “Who is Oliver?”

My head snapped up at the mention of his name. So did Oliver’s at the door. His lips remained tightly closed, not joining in our conversation. “He’s none of your business.”

“He seemed pretty important to you when you were screaming out his name in the fire.”

“He’s a friend,” I stated. It was the only piece of information he was ever going to get out of me about him. Oliver was mine, I wasn’t going to share him with the likes of Jet.

Jet took a deep breath, almost like he was preparing himself for something. I hoped it wasn’t a fight. “I guess everyone’s entitled to their secrets, princess.”

For just a moment, I thought Jet was showing me his true self and the façade he kept up for everyone else was just a show. In that one sentence, I knew I was wrong.

I put up all my defenses again, determined to never let him break through them. “You’d know all about secrets, wouldn’t you? You’re the master at keeping them.”

“And what secrets would that be?”

“Why the adults you keep hidden away are still alive.”

“I told you, that isn’t my secret.” I was getting really tired of hearing the same thing escape his mouth over and over again. Jet was the master of speaking in riddles and it drove me crazy. Once again, he was just playing the game he enjoyed so much.

“So tell me your secret then,” I started. “Tell me whose secret it is that you’re holding onto so desperately tight.”

Jet’s eyes grazed my skin as he studied every inch of my face. I refused to look away or show him any signs of how uncomfortable I was. I would pick him up and throw him out before that happened.

I raised an eyebrow in question, silently asking him if he dared being honest with me for once in his life. Jet owed me nothing, I knew this. But he could still be a decent human being and share the information he held.

It wasn’t like I was asking for myself. If I was saving all the dead people, I may as well save all the living ones too.

Finally, Jet replied. “The secret belongs to someone a thousand times more powerful than you and I. If I told you, he wouldn’t let you live.”

“You really think I’m scared of the bogey man? I see ghosts, death itself every single day. Nothing scares me anymore.”

“This one would scare you, princess. He would make your insides turn to mush and your toes curl.”

All the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It wasn’t the threat so much as the way Jet said it. For the second time that afternoon, I actually believed him.

And it terrified me.

Jet continued while my mind started to whirl. “You should leave the city. Either that or stay here and never leave this house.”

I thought about my earlier promise to Oliver and the one he had given me in return. It was no longer an option for me to stay hidden away from the world. I needed to go out and fight, work out why the spirits couldn’t leave and do something about it.

Ignorance wasn’t in my future.

“I can’t do that,” I replied.

“You have to. Things in the city… they’re only going to get worse. You’ve already been hurt enough.” His eyes wandered down to my leg and the burn. My physical injuries were the least of my problems, my heart had suffered a lot more damage.

“What I do isn’t any concern of yours.” I still wasn’t entirely sure why he was here. He’d never had that much thought for me before, he had to have some hidden agenda he wasn’t planning on sharing with me.

“No?” Jet asked, like it was some foreign concept to him. “I thought we’d become friends.”

I laughed. It probably wasn’t appropriate but I couldn’t stop it. “Friends don’t have their friends try to kill them.”

“I explained that. And apologized.”

“And it doesn’t change the fact that it happened,” I said. “I don’t want to keep having this conversation. Maybe you should go.” I stood, indicating an end to the discussion.

Jet stood too, but much slower, almost reluctantly. “Why can’t you just listen to me, princess?”

“Because you keep calling me princess.”

He tried to smile but it hurt with the split in his lip and it turned into a wince. “What about if I stop?”

“I don’t think you can.” I meant it, too. Jet did whatever he wanted, regardless of what others thought about his actions. Talk was cheap and Jet was a miser.

“Fine. Will you please stay away from the city? Not for me, but for your own good?” Jet’s eyes met mine. I saw only seriousness there.

I shook my head. “I can’t do that. I’ve… got things to do.”

“Like what?”

“You expect me to share all my secrets when you won’t? No way.”

Jet’s gaze went to the ceiling as he sighed. “You don’t want to know who he is.”

My arms crossed over my chest. “You do not get to make decisions for me. I’m a big girl, I can look after myself.” If his skin wasn’t still blackened from rescuing me from the fire, my statement might have had more impact.

Now, it just made me sound like a two year old having a tantrum.

“You really want to know?” Jet asked. There was a challenge in his voice, like he was already putting his case together for an ‘I told you so’.

Perhaps I didn’t want to know. Perhaps my life would be better if I didn’t.

But my promise meant I didn’t have a choice anymore. I was in this up to my eyeballs.