Page 26 of Falling for Famine
“You found somewhere to start?” I asked as I packed my duffle bag.
“I did,” he said, peeking over my shoulder, his front nearly painted into my back as I loaded clothes into my bag and other must-haves for a trip with no true end date or destination in mind.
It was lucky I’d left Ferguson with Felix already. I wouldn’t have to figure that out before we left, but it felt weird to pack when I had no idea where we’d go. Ghost insisted I didn’t need to, that he could get whatever I required, but that wasn’t my style. I didn’t want him paying for me.
I’d noticed he refused to go far from me since we left the bakery café hours ago. He was always close and touching me,much like the little red and blue wisps that bounced around me. It was a dramatic change from the distance I’d kept with him over the last week and a half, but I liked it. A lot. More than I probably should when I had bigger things to worry about.
Ghost might be staying as my protector and taking me with him, and he might’ve pretended to be my boyfriend so Felix let me go, but that didn’t change things between us. We were still basically strangers.
The colorful cuties bounded all over my bag, leaving patches of ice and dampness everywhere. I laughed and wagged my finger at them. “You’re getting my stuff wet, you guys.”
They continued to flicker and dance, outright ignoring me, and I couldn’t be mad. I called them cuties for a reason.
I went to lift my bag, but Ghost already had it over his shoulder. His other arm went around me and I watched it with a raised eyebrow.
“Why do you keep doing that?”
His eyes dropped to where he held me. “To keep you close.”
“I’ll stay close if you ask me to,” I told him, a little huffy. “And I can carry my own bag.”
His face didn’t show signs of emotion, but I could already tell he wasn’t going to let me do anything I wanted. “It’s easier to protect you if I have a hand on you,” was all he said as we headed for the front door.
I stared at his face, sensing a tinge of mistruth. “Really? You’ve never done it until now.”
He squeezed my hip lightly, as if reacting, but his stride never faltered. “It’s better this way, little wisp.”
“Hmm.” I decided it wasn’t worth the fight, so I let him lead me down to the street, still not sure how we’d get to the place we were going. “Are we taking a car or something?”
I didn’t see one. The street was dark and quiet. It was one of the reasons I preferred this area.
Ghost turned and I was suddenly pressed into his front. My head fell back to look up at him. His eyes were glowing again as his arm wrapped firmly around my waist.
Then the world shifted and tilted. The air in my lungs rushed out. My stomach dropped. In seconds, we weren’t on my street anymore. It was dark wherever we were, unlike the bright sunlight that had rained down on us before the weird world shift.
Chapter Eleven
Nomi
Ipanned the street I didn’t immediately recognize in confusion. “Did we just portal travel or something?”
Ghost’s lips twitched again, but to my dismay, he didn’t smile. I was now on a mission to find ways to make him smile. After leaving Felix, he was back to his regular Ghost self.
“Something like that.”
“Cool beans,” I mumbled, staring at my unfamiliar surroundings. “Where are we?”
“The last place Michael was.”
I blinked at him, expecting him to go into further detail, and when he didn’t, I sighed. “And who’s Michael?”
“An archangel.”
“Holy shit,” I cursed, eyes wide. “Like, God’s favorite angels or whatever?”
“Well, she had been,” he said, not elaborating.
My head was exploding with the information. When I tried to turn, Ghost kept a firm grip on me. The little cuties bounced around as he stared at them.
