Page 66 of On Circus Lane

I shake my head. “I don’t think he was a leprechaun, mate.”

Freddy stares at me. “Really? Why was he green then?”

“He was a zombie,” Jack says. Freddy stares at him, and Jack spreads his hands. “Leprechauns wear green. They’re notactuallygreen. They also don’t do a lot of ghost tours,” Jack adds.

Freddy considers that. “Well, the whole evening makes a lot more sense now.”

I shrug modestly. “Anyway, it’s all in the balance. No matter how many zombies come at me, I'm not wasting my food.”

“You’ll be very handy to have around in an apocalypse,” Bee says, and I grin at him.

“I can actually feel my IQ lowering,” Steven observes, but we ignore him.

Sal grins at Bee. “We’re going on the Greyfriars ghost walk.”

“Well,someof us wanted to try the vaults,” Steven says loudly.

“And some of us wish you were in one,” I mutter, sneaking a look at Jack, but he’s checking his phone and doesn’t catch it.

“So why aren’t you going to the vaults?” Bee asks.

Sal shrugs. “Tom texted me this afternoon and suggested the graveyard one instead.”

Bee’s eyes narrow, and he turns to me. I instantly lower the hands I was just using to gesture at my sister to shut up. “Why did you do that?” he asks.

“It’s supposed to be a better tour.Muchscarier,” I say quickly.

His eyes are busy, and I can see the moment he realises. “And much more open,” he says slowly. “The vaults are very cramped and underground. Awful for anyone with claustrophobia.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” I fork up some food and cram it into my mouth so I don’t say anything stupid.

“Hmm.” He says no more, and the group starts to talk again, but I swallow hard as he turns shining eyes on me. “Thank you,” he mouths, and I feel the now familiar wave of warmth and pleasure running through me like honey in tea. I like looking out for him.

“You’re welcome,” I say awkwardly. Looking up, I catch my sister watching me with amusement dancing in her eyes. She looks down at her phone, where she’s tapping away like a chimpanzee with a new toy.

“Hang on, who are you texting?” I say in alarm.

“Just Arlo,” she says innocently.

“Oh joy,” Steven mutters.

“Why?” I ask.

She winks at me. “I do like to keep him in the loop.”

“Fuckinghell,” I whisper, and Freddy starts to laugh.

It’s cold when we come out of the restaurant. As we start to walk towards the graveyard where the ghost walk is taking place, I look around for Bee. Ivy is arm-in-arm with him, and they’re talking in low voices.

Movement comes to the side of me, and I groan when I see Sal. “What?”

She threads her arm through mine in a companionable way. It brings back many memories of being kids together, and we grin at each other.

“Is that any way to talk to your sister?”

“It is when it’s you. What do you want?”

She hums thoughtfully, watching Ivy and Bee ahead of us. “He’s very nice.”

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