Page 23 of Ghost Girl

‘You are attempting to harness a power beyond your reach, but it remains so because you are missing one vital piece ofinformation. Figure it out, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.’

‘Why don’t you just tell me what I’m missing, and then we can bypass these stupid games?’ I snarked back.

‘Because that would defeat the purpose of the test. Either you figure it out, or you don’t. I suggest you put the pieces together before I lose interest. You are amusing, but you won’t always be.’

I felt more than saw his presence leave, and I spat as many curse words as possible in the corner he had just vacated. Fucking bastard. I wasn’t here to solve anyone’s riddles, and I certainly wasn’t here for his fucking entertainment. I had a job to do and power to harness, and I was going to do it with or without him stalking me.

I’d dealt with worse than a stalker. I might not have survived, but I was still here, even if in a different way. I was still fighting.

Angry and also bored of watching the girl cry, I left as well. I wasn’t following the shadow man, even if a part of me was curious where he went whenever he disappeared (and how he did it, because that sort of power was the goal, here). I just needed to get out of that damn basement, leave that fucking cabin in my dust, and never look back. Unfortunately for me, unless my bones were moved, I was stuck here. It didn’t matter how far I pushed the barrier and widened my spherical prison, I would always need to come back to my bones to replenish my energy reserves.

Yet another thing that was pissing me off lately.

I decided to glide over to the edges of my domed cage, though I didn’t intend to push any further today. I simply wanted to watch and wait. This side of the property backed up onto the neighbour’s house. I could tell that someone lived there, but I’d never seen them. I was curious about them. They lived beside a serial killer, surely they’d heard the screams? Felt the presenceof the spirits that had died so close to where they rested their head at night?

I had spent most of last night imagining it was an older couple, too decrepit to acknowledge the evil happening less than a mile from their cosy little home. It was a single-storey house, mostly well-kept, though it was in dire need of a new paint job, and there was a dirt driveway with tire tracks that proved at least one vehicle was still coming and going. Little plants that needed watering lined the pathway to the front door, an array of colourful blooms and multicoloured grasses caging in a cut little cobblestone path. It was picturesque, if you looked past the signs of recent neglect.

Still, it was sturdy. Homely.

The sun was just beginning to set when the rumble of an old, weathered truck reached me. My gaze immediately darted to the road, where I watched a beat-up pickup truck with pealing red paint ambling up the driveway. Even from this distance, I could see the pink, fluffy steering wheel cover and gaudy dreamcatcher hanging from the rearview mirror.

What I couldn’t see was the driver. Until he stepped out. If I’d had breath in my lungs, it would have hitched. This man was one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. Lush caramel curls dipped low over his head, and he raised a muscular arm to push them out of his eyes. Eyes the colour of the ocean framed by thick, dark lashes that only seemed to accentuate his raw beauty. He caught his full bottom lip between his teeth as he patted the truck lovingly, and my attention drifted down. His shirt was tight enough that he may as well have forgone wearing one entirely, and highlighted his trim waist and washboard abs. And hisass…

Oh, fuck me sideways, his ass was a work of art. Plump and bouncy when he walked, perched perfectly above a set of deliciously thick thighs that I bet looked fantastic spread apartwhile he clutched at a woman’s hair. I imagined saliva dripping from my mouth as I gawped at him.

My reaction to him was so visceral that I was stunned. It was almost reminiscent of when I’d been turned on when I was alive, the sensation like my clit was throbbing, only it sent tingles throughout my entire form rather than focused on that tiny nub, like every atom of my being was clenching, desperate to squeeze around a cock as it plunged inside me, but I was empty and bereft. I hadn’t felt any type of arousal since I’d died. I didn’t think it was even possible.

Who was this man to generate such an impossible reaction from me?

As if he could sense eyes on him, he paused when he reached his front door, key pointed at the lock just shy of being inserted. Then he turned, scanning the trees as if he were expecting someone to jump out. When his gaze skipped over me, a part of me was disappointed, like I had subconsciously been anticipating him seeing me. Another impossibility.

Until he did a double-take and his ocean-blue eyes held mine, a single eyebrow arched in a silent question. Surely not, though. I hadn’t met a single individual who could sense me in any capacity since my death. Not Blake. Not any of the girls he brought to the cabin’s basement.

‘Can I help you, miss? Are you lost?’ he asked, his voice running over me like the thick, sweet honey. I glanced behind me and peered through the thick foliage that separated this property from Blake’s but found no sign of another person.

There was seriously no way…

‘Yes, I’m talking to you, pretty woman. Is there someone else with you?’

I gaped. I couldn’t help it. My jaw stretched comically wide until it practically hit my chest as I stared at this mystery of aman in wide-eyed wonder. I pointed to myself, just to be sure, and mimed the word‘Me?’

He was gazing at me as if I had a few screws loose, and I didn’t blame him. If he could see me, did he not realise I was dead? ‘Yes. You. Are you okay? Do you need help?’

He was moving towards me with long, fast strides now, eating up the distance between us like it was nothing. I was frozen in place, unsure of what the hell to do, or even what I wassupposedto do in a situation like this. Death didn’t come with a handbook. I didn’t know how long I’d been dead. I had no idea what year it was, or how long I’d gone without any real interactions. The ghosts of the other girls didn’t count, mostly because they shunned me as soon as they realised I was their monster’s wife. The shadow man sort of counted, but I was pretending like he didn’t. He could go fuck himself.

But this beautiful man now standing right in front of me, looking at me with earnest eyes filled with concern, was the first real person to actuallyseeme in a long time.

‘Miss, do you need me to call someone? Would you like a ride into town?’

My head shook, almost imperceptibly, but all I could think wasWhat do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

He fidgeted, shifting from one foot to the other as his frown deepened, his frown deepening even further as he scanned my form. Checking for injuries, perhaps?

‘Are you hard of hearing? Do you need a translator?’ he asked, slowing his words down and enunciating each syllable in case I needed to read his lips.

I shook my head ‘no’ again, but no sound would escape the lump currently blocking my throat. I wasn’t even sure I was trying to speak, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to hear me anyway and know straight away that I wasn’t a person. Not anymore.

‘Why don’t you come inside, hmm? Get something hot in you and then we can figure out who to call?’ He tried to reach for me, but I stepped back and out of his way, pushing myself through a gap in the foliage so he would have to work for it if he wanted to touch me. Not that he could. This body was nothing more than smoke. An illusion. And for some reason, I didn’t want him to figure that out.

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