Spirits (Spirits Series Book 1) (5 page)

“Not all of them are nice,
some of them aren’t even ghosts. There’s a dark side to it and believe me, you never want to see that.”

He looks at me curiously, “
What have you seen that’s scared you so badly?”

“I don’t want to think about it right now and I’m not talking about either. Maybe later, okay?”

He nods and we began walking. “So did Kadence tell you why she wasn’t coming?”

I roll my eyes, “S
he’s lonely.” I whine.

“So she decides n
ot to come hang out with us, yeah that makes sense.” He chuckles.

“She’s going to try to contact the spirits at home.”

“As in plural?”

“Afraid so.”

“How many are we talking about?”

“I don’t know, I feel them but I can’t distinguish the amount.”

“Do they… feel nice?”

“
Do you really want to know?  You have to live there, sleep there, I don’t want to scare you.”

“That’s precisely why I want to know.”

“There is something… evil there.”

“How do you know? I mean could it just be unhappy we’re there and not necessarily evil, just pissed.”

“I guess…” But I seriously doubt it. “What were you looking at when we left the house?”

“Nothing.” He says to quickly.

“I know you’re lying, why won’t you tell me?”

“I don’t even know if I saw anything. I think my mind is playing tricks on
me now because I’m paranoid or whatever.”

“But you might have, tell me, please.”

“I thought I saw a guy hiding in the overgrowth.”

“What did he look like? How old did he look? Did you feel anything when you saw him? Did he look,
”

“Whoa, slow down. He looked like a guy with brown hair, around our age I guess. I only saw him for a couple of seconds if I actually did. I felt scared and curious.”

“Did you make eye contact with him?”

“Yes they look light
blue or gray I think, but after that I didn’t see him anymore.”

“I don’t think it was your imagination.” I shake my head as we stop waiting to cross the road. “Did he look solid or see-through?”

“Not solid like you and me but not transparent, sort of… hazy, maybe.” He closes his eyes. I guess to get a better mental picture.

“He
realized you could see him. I wasn’t paying any attention so he probably thought it was safe.”

“I don’t understa
nd, why do the ones at home want to hide? Why aren’t all of them hiding?” he sweeps his arm out, “and if I saw him why can’t I see them like you can?”

A lady in
19
th
century attire catches me looking at her.  Crap! The light signals us across and I grab Drew’s arm dragging him across the road hurriedly.

“S
low down, what’s the rush?”

“Young lady!” She calls
out behind us picking up her heavy dress to quicken her pace. “Please wait!”

“She’s following
us.”

Dr
ew glances over his shoulder, “Who? The girl in the short shorts?”

“No, one of them.”

“Please, help me.”

“What does she want?” Drew asks
.

“I don’t know, hurry up.”

He grabs my arm and stops on the corner, “Ask her.”

“Drew.” I almost
growl. All these people around, someone’s going to notice.

“Thank you.
” She says approaching us and I nod slightly. “Could you please help me find someone?”

“Sure.” I tell her but look at Drew. People are pa
ssing and looking at us oddly and why wouldn’t they? I’m answering and acknowledging questions they can’t hear.

“His name is Francis Bell, we were to marry after the war.”

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to find him.”

“Why are you telling me that?”

“Miss.”

“Abigail
Demore.”

“Okay Abigail, because the war has bee
n over for…  many years.”

She looks at me confused, “He’s here, I know he is. He wouldn’t leave me!”

She is becoming emotional and that’s not a good thing. I knew I should have ignored her. “Please don’t get upset.” I say trying to soothe her.

“You said you would help, you have yet to even attempt and
are ready to give up.”

“I’m goi
ng to help, just calm down, is he from here?”

“Yes.”

“When was he born?”

“1843, he’s 20 years of age.”

I can’t tell if she knows she’s dead or not and if she doesn’t I don’t want to tell her. Glancing around, trying to figure out what to do or say I notice a guy watching us from the other end of the block. He looks away once he sees me staring and quickly jogs in the opposite direction. To bad, he’s really cute…

“A
re you done?” Drew asks.

“Not yet.”

“Excuse me?” Abigail states.

“Can we meet later? I’ll have to ask around and
do some research.”

She nods, “M
y house is three squares down, two squares right, fourth house on the left. Thank you Dear, I’m sorry but I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Journey.”

She smiles, “Journey, that’s a very peculiar name. I will be expecting you.”

“Alright.” I say as she walks in the direction of her house.

     “Don’t ever do that to me again!” I smack Drew on the arm.

“Why don’t you want to help them?”

“It’s not necessarily that I don’t want to. It’s complicated.” I roll my eyes and start off.

“I thought we were going down there.” Drew points in the direction Abigail was going.

“No, not today.”

“Why not? It looks lik
e that’s where all the actions at.”

“She’s going down there and I don’t want to run into her again.”

“What did she want?”

“For me to find someone who’s been
dead a long time I’m sure.”

“Are you going to?”

“I guess I have to at least try to find out what happened to him, and her now, thanks.”

“Anytime.”  Drew grins.

CHAPTER THREE

Kadence

     “Come on you guys, I know you are here! They are gone it’s safe now!” I flop down onto the Victorian chase in the parlor. They’re seriously getting on my nerves with their secretive bull ish.

“Who are you?”

I jump to my feet startled and spin around nearly tripping. Holy hello!  “I’m Kadence and you are?”

“Noah.” He says combing his fingers through his short brown hair, “What are you doing here?”

“I live here, why are you here?”

He chuc
kles and leans against the doorframe, “I’m afraid you are mistaken, this is my home.”

“We’ve been over this Noah, it’s everyo
ne’s home.” A lady in her early forties says appearing.

He sighs, “Kadence this is Rose.”

“Nice to meet you. Why won’t you all let Journey see you?” I ask.

Noah smiles, “That’s your living friend, the one you moved with correct?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“She’s,” he begins.

“Noah.” Rose warns quickly.

“S
he’s what?”

“Pay him no mind
Dear.” Rose says sauntering towards me, her long dress skimming across the hardwood floor.

I glance
at Noah who looks agitated.

“Where are the others?” I asked causing Rose to stop mid
-step.

“They are around.”
Noah smirks.

“How do you know there are more of us?” Rose asks.

“I can sense them, just like Journey. How many are here?”

“You are quite the curious one, aren’
t you?” Rose says quickly.

“I guess. T
his is my first encounter with other ghosts.” I shrug.

Noah chuckles, “S
omehow I doubt that.”

“Yo
u calling me a liar?” I ask defensively and throw my hand on my hip.

Rose giggles, “T
hings are going to be very interesting with you around.” She murmurs.

“Well?” I glare at Noah
.

His smirk fades
, “Join me for a while?”

Rose shoots him a look
like she doesn’t approve which instantly makes me want to.

“I guess.” I shrug like it’s no big
deal when actually I’m excited to be alone with him. Sure his attitude annoys me but the boy is seriously hot, definitely boyfriend material.

He s
miles triumphantly and extends his hand. Oh my goodness! I control the urge to giggle like a little girl who has her first crush. Chill Kay, he’s just another guy. Don’t act too interested and dorky.

“See you in a bit
.” I wave at Rose and try not to smile like an idiot.

She lightly nods her head and purses her lips. Clearly she’s not as enthused as I am.

     I wait until we are a safe distance from the house before I start overloading him with questions. There are so many things I want to know, not only about him, or being a spirit, but the things that have to do with Journey. UGH, I’m here with this super cute guy and I’m thinking about my bestie, not cool.

“Why did you stay?” Noah asks
before I begin my interrogation.

“I didn’t have an op
tion, how about you?”

H
e watches me from the corner of his eye as he continues to lead me away. “I didn’t want to leave, I like it here.” He shrugs.

“How long have you been here?”

He smiles, “Are you trying to figure out how old I am?”

“Maybe,” I smirk
, “but it makes no difference to me.”

“
Then don’t worry about it.”

“O
kay… So, what were you going to say about Journey before Rose cut you off?” I don’t like the look on his face at the mention of her name.

“How old is she?”

“Seventeen, why do you care?”

“Just curious.”

“So are you going to tell me?”

“Why haven’t you met any others like us?”

“I’m not answering any more of your questions until you answer mine.”

He stops,
glances around and looks me in the eyes. If I weren’t aggravated with him at the moment I’d totally put the moves on him.

“I had assumed
you caught on to the fact that I cannot tell you.” He grins, “However, if you pay attention to my questions and answers, you may piece it together yourself. Understand?”

“I guess so.”

“Great.” He hits me with another smile.

I bet he had girls
lined up at the door begging for his attention.

“Now that you know I have a reason answer me.”

“Honestly I’m not sure.”

“Has J
ourney always seen spirits or are you her first?”

“H
er first,” I can’t help but laugh.

He gives me
a dirty look, “You know what I mean.” He says seriously.

“Jeez
, it was just a joke.”

“I found no humor in it, girls nowadays are completely different from when I was young.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Young ladies rarely spoke the way y’all do, it was considered improper and of ill taste.”

I let his hands go, “Yeah, well get with the times buddy, women ‘nowadays’ have the same rights as a man, it’s the 21
st
-century not the dark ages. We can say what we want and do what we want. And just so you know I’m sure women aren’t thinking any differently from back then, we just don’t have to worry about hiding our sexuality anymore. We don’t live in fear of being shamed by men who know we are the stronger sex.”

He noticeably blushes
.

“Oh, does that word bother you?” I grin.

He shakes his head; “No I just don’t care to hear it from a females lips. Especially one I’m not intimate with and barely know.”

I open
my mouth to go off on him, he puts his finger to my lips, “Kadence, let’s not do this, we could argue our points for the rest of our unnatural lives let’s just agree to disagree. We are after all from completely different time periods, old habits die hard.”