Ghost Betweens (11 page)

"What happened?" Tears formed in her eyes.

"The ghosts could see you when you snapped the pictures."

"But I was still concentrating, just like before. They shouldn't have been able to."

"I saw some new supernatural energies forming, too. I don't think we can take pictures here anymore."

They walked in silence to his car. He didn't feel safe until they'd turned the corner towards the driveway and the fields were out of view. Whatever sort of prison held the demon in place must end at the corner. Didn't matter, as long as the ghosts couldn't follow.

"Josh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. If I did, I never would have taken out my camera."

He grabbed her into a hug, surprising even himself. He heard and felt her take a deep breath. "Don't you worry about it for even a second," he said. "Neither of us knew."

She nodded into his chest, and he had to fight to keep his own breathing under control. She felt right in his arms, and by the way she burrowed into him, she must've felt it, too. Were they meant to be boyfriend-girlfriend because they were Ghost Betweens? Did that mean they were soul mates or whatever? He didn't know, and didn't think he'd have the guts to ask Mr. Baxter about that particular aspect.

After a minute or two, they pulled apart. She smiled up at him, biting her bottom lip the way he loved. "We should probably get going. Do you want to come in to do homework again? I'm sure my mom and dad wouldn't mind having you for dinner, either."

He wished he could, but he shook his head. "My mom has tonight off, and I'm sure she'll be making us something for dinner. She'd be pissed if I skipped out on it."

She nodded, a look of disappointment mixed with understanding on her face. "I'm glad you don't have to go home to a lonely house."

He leaned down to kiss her, but his cell phone buzzed with a text message before their lips met. It was from Zach. All it said was, "B good now."

They both looked around, but saw no sign of Zach or anyone else. The trees around the property and the bend in the driveway meant there was no view of or to the street.

"Maybe he meant to send it to Kendra?" Whisper said.

"Maybe." He shook his head. "Has to be, right?"

He typed in, "Wut u mean?" and hit send. They stood staring at the phone for a minute, but no reply came. Finally he put his phone back in his pocket. "If he answers, I'll let you know what he said. That's too weird."

Josh opened the front door, and before he could yell that he was home, Mom charged in from the kitchen.

"What the hell have you been doing? Do you think I ask you to do things for the fun of it? Because I like hearing myself talk? No. I do it because they need to get done."

A cold feeling drifted through the room, but he couldn't concentrate with her in his face. "What are you talking about?"

"I asked you to go out and look for a damn job this weekend, but did you? Answer me! Did you?"

"No, but . . ."

Her face went red with all of her screaming. She often communicated by being loud, it was in her nature, but he'd never seen her like this. She was on the verge of losing control.

"I knew you didn't. I knew it!"

"Mom, stop."

Her eyes went wide, and her voice rose a few octaves. "Don't you dare tell me to stop! You will go out and find a job, or I'll take away your car. You'll be grounded from doing anything except school. How do you like that? Huh, Mr. Lazy?"

The room grew colder, and excitement flared up, like when the fans at a sporting event sensed something big about to happen. Instead of fighting back like he wanted to, a voice in the back of his mind told him to let it go. He shook his head and walked to the stairs. "I have homework to do." He expected her to follow him, shouting all the way, but she didn't. That strange feeling of excitement drained, and the room felt warmer. Halfway up, he turned to see what she was doing and saw her heading into the kitchen.

That was strange. Something supernatural had been here, but what?

He managed to keep his temper under control and not slam his door shut. He threw his backpack on his bed, figuring he'd get to his homework after browsing the Internet for a few minutes. He pulled out his cell phone to call Whisper. Maybe they could do their math together over the phone. Plus, after bitching about what just happened, he'd feel a lot better.

As he turned on his computer and flipped open his phone, something moved behind him. Freezing air assaulted his back. He whirled around in his chair, and a glowing ghost, that of a man in his late teens or early twenties, lunged at him. Before Josh could move, or even think, its hands encircled his neck and squeezed. They felt as real as anything. He gasped for breath and tried to push the ghost off of him, but his hands moved right through its body. His throat hurt where it gripped him, and a black circle formed around his vision. He knew he was in deep trouble if he couldn't stop himself from blacking out. Would this thing be able to kill him? With the force on his neck, he didn't doubt it.

Josh gasped in one final bit of air and centered himself. The pressure on his windpipe continued, but instead of fighting any more, he dropped to the ground and rolled. It worked. As the ghost lost contact, he willed himself invisible. The ghost looked around with shock registered on its face. He tried reading it, to see why it attacked him, but it disappeared before he could get much.

It had been feeding off his mom's bad mood, all the while fueling it further. It had expected a huge blow up when Josh got home, but when he'd handled the situation with a level head, the ghost became angry. Angry enough to kill him. That information came in a rush of emotions, not the weird voice-over like at the farm. And he hadn't learned if the ghost had been sent by the demon or not. Was that even possible?

He relaxed and tried to sense if it was still around, but couldn't feel anything. He walked to his door and pulled it open. Still nothing. A glance downstairs showed no movement. He didn't know how far his power flowed, but he felt no supernatural presence in his vicinity.

His neck tingled, but he paid it no mind. He returned to his computer and opened up the email. Mr. Baxter needed to know about this. He typed up a replay of the scene, including what he read from the ghost, and asked if it might have been sent by the demon. As soon as he hit send, he dialed up Whisper. She answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's Josh. Has anything weird happened to you since you got home?"

"What? No. I've just been doing homework. Why? What happened?"

He went over it again, and by the time he finished, Mr. Baxter had replied. "Mr. B got back to me. Listen to this. 'Josh, I can't really help you tonight except to tell you to be vigilant. I know that won't make you feel better, but I'll bring you something tomorrow that'll keep the uninvited supernatural beings out of your house. Tell Whisper I'll have one for her, too. Honestly, I don't know if the demon can send one of her minions after you. I'd say no, but maybe she's found a weakness in her prison. Sleep with one eye open tonight, but I'm sure you'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow.'"

"That wasn't very reassuring," Whisper said.

He barked a humorless laugh. "Yeah. It sounds fine for tomorrow, but I guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight."

"I won't be, either. If it is the demon, she might send one my way. Make sure you keep your phone by you all night. If anything happens, call me. I'll do the same."

"Yeah, sounds good. Have you done your math homework yet?"

"No. I had Language Arts to tackle first."

"Maybe we could work on math together again. It's not as good as being together, but at least we could check our answers."

"You just don't want to get rid of me." He could hear the smile in her voice, and imagined she was biting her lower lip.

"Guilty, but at least it'll help our grades."

"Deal," she said with a giggle. "But how about after dinner? I want to finish this assignment first."

"Sounds good. I'll call you in a couple of hours."

"Perfect. I'll talk to you then."

They said goodbye, and he hung up, happy for the first time since he got home. Until he remembered he had to go down for dinner soon.

*****

"Just in time. Dinner's ready."

Josh stepped into the kitchen, ready for more fireworks, but instead Mom smiled at him. "You all washed up?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Sit down. I made Grandma's special meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes. How does that sound?"

"Excellent. Any bread?"

"Of course. You know I wouldn't leave out the sourdough." She set a full plate in front of him. "Listen, sweetie, I don't know what came over me earlier. I'm sorry I blew up like that. I had a real tough day at work, but that's no excuse."

"I'll look for a job soon, Mom. I'm just sort of weighing my options right now."

She bent down and gave him a hug. "I know you will, sweetie." She paused. "What are these bruises on you neck? Did you get into a fight?"

Bruises on his neck? Had to be from the ghost. So not only could they physically hurt him, they could leave marks? Good thing they hadn't caught him or Whisper at the farm in any of their visits. This would be a real good reason to stay invisible.

"I don't know. I didn't realize I had any bruises."

She looked like she was going to explode at him again, but without the ghost here pushing her bad mood, she managed to swallow it down. Instead she put a hand on his shoulder and said, "You know if you're having any problems with anyone at school, you can talk to me, right? I won't go charging in, embarrassing you, but I'd like to know if you're in trouble."

"It's nothing. We were messing around in sixth period. I probably got the bruises there. I didn't even know I had them."

She nodded, but he could tell she didn't buy his story. She let it drop. "Dig in. We don't get many of these dinners together, so let's enjoy it."

He smiled and nodded. Everything tasted fantastic.

Sweat trickled down Josh's back as he sat waiting for Whisper. It was too hot a day for a turtleneck, but he couldn't show up for school with two big handprints on his neck. He'd have to gut it out. There were no designated spots to eat on campus; as long as they stayed within the gates, they could look for a nice place in the shade. Maybe that would turn into their new spot anyway. Eating lunch at this spot was simply a habit they held since Freshman year.

"Hey," Whisper said as she approached. "Aren't you hot?"

"Boiling, but it was this or a scarf."

"Can I see? I can't believe a ghost can leave marks."

He shook his head. "I'll show you later. There'll be enough talk already."

"What do you mean?"

As if on cue, someone yelled out, "Hiding a hickey from the new girl, Hart?"

She blushed and chuckled. "Oh yeah. High school."

"Yeah. High school."

As they walked to find shade, they had to endure numerous cat-calls and questions about what Josh was hiding. By the time they found a place behind the science building, he almost felt like yelling the truth about ghosts, but held his tongue. Who'd believe that anyway?

They plopped down with their backs to the wall, and it felt ten degrees cooler. Josh hoped this spot would last. Since they were partially hidden by some bushes, any noon supervisor who noticed would likely chase them out, thinking they were making out or something.

He pulled down the neck covering of his shirt. "You probably can't see it real well, but that's the best I can do for now."

"Wow, those looks like any bruises you'd get. I kind of expected it to be just barely visible. You can see fingers and everything. Does it hurt?"

"Not really, but my neck is a bit stiff. Even though it was a ghost, I think it really almost choked me out."

"I didn't think they could do anything like that. What are you going to do about sixth period? Don't you have to wear a t-shirt? People will see the bruises then."

He shook his head. "I figure I can get out of it today. I'll tell Coach I'm not feeling well. I can probably get out of dressing tomorrow, too, with that excuse. After that I'll have to play it by ear. Maybe it won't look so bad by then."

They both took out their lunches and started eating. "Did you get much sleep last night?" Whisper asked.

"Not really. I dozed enough to be coherent today, but that's about it. You?"

"A little better than that. I didn't get attacked, after all. But it still wasn't one of my better nights of sleep."

"I wonder what Mr. Baxter has that'll keep ghosts out of our houses? A talisman or something?"

"Maybe we have to hang garlic on our windows." She gave him a grin. "Or is that just vampires?"

He smiled back. "I think so, but I don't feel like I know a whole heck of a lot about what's going on."

"I know what you mean. Ghost Betweens? I've never heard of what we are."

"Me either. But I can't really argue. We've done some pretty cool stuff."

"Yeah. I wonder what kind of training we'll get after school. Do you think Mr. Baxter has real ghosts in his classroom?"

"I'm guessing he'll just give us a vague idea of what to do and then send us to the farm." He winked at her. "But at least we get to hold hands a lot."

A mischievous smile crossed her lips, and she held out her hand. "Shall we practice that now?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." He hoped his voice didn't crack too much when he said it.

They continued eating with their other hands. Josh would have to rank this as probably the greatest lunch ever. Neither said anything, though they'd occasionally sneak peeks at each other and smile. Whisper almost continuously bit her bottom lip, which made it even better for him.

After a few minutes, Josh happened to glance up and watch a girl pass a few feet in front of them. She didn't look over, just kept walking. That wasn't anything spectacular in and of itself, but he could see right through her, like the ghosts at the farm. But unlike those spirits, or the one in his house yesterday, she didn't give off any evil or creepy vibes. He wouldn't have noticed her at all if he hadn't been looking up.