Page 18 of Ghostly
“You tricked me,” he whispered.
“I hadn’t lied. I did it quickly and harmlessly, as I promised. I only didn’t tell you I’d never done it before.”
Gabriel squinted at the book, though his mind was not on the words on the page. That was true. In fact, she’d used a tactic he had, many times. She shaped the truth to suit her goals. He might even commend her if he wasn’t worried it would set her up for another fifteen-minute speech on the topic.And now that he was done with the mumbo-jumbo for the day, he really should get back to work.
“Gabriel?” Ida tilted her head as she waited to get his attention. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
Ghostly possession, contract binding or not, physically, he didn’t feel any different. But to know he’d helped… that was rather pleasing.
***
Ida never slept, but if she haunted the music box, she could listen to its soft lullaby, and it made the time pass faster; she liked to think of it as hibernation. Unfortunately, the music box was still in her old room, which made her face it every time.
Few of Ida’s memories had faded, but those relating to her room were particularly persistent. It didn’t matter that the space had been redecorated several times since. Her wireframe bed was tossed out for Jamie’s crib and, later, another bed with a patchwork blanket that made the room seem friendly and cozy, as if her brother had tried to delete all memories of her. The closet, the dressing table, even the washstand—all had to be tossed out and replaced. She supposed it was a miracle he’d overlooked the music box. Or perhaps, it was a curse.
But today, after unnumbered days of emerging with a view of the changed, but still familiar place, Ida gazed upon it with hope. Today, Gabriel would start fulfilling the conditions, and she’d soon be set free. She glided down the hallway, humming and twirling as she went. She paused at the doorway to the living room, entered, then went back, entered again, and repeated it one more time. At the same time, Gabriel entered the living room from the kitchen.
“Good morning!” She whirled around, sat on the sofa, but quickly became too jittery, and stood again. “Are you ready to get to work?”
“I assume you mean your ghostly work, not my actual work.” Gabriel slurped his coffee. That explained why he was still cranky.
He powered up his laptop, and Ida clenched her fists behind her back. As a sign of goodwill, she’d left him a small surprise the evening before.
“What the…” Gabriel leaned into the screen, then narrowed his eyes at Ida. “What the hell did you do?”
“I only checked your report and made a few fixes. Like the misspelling of3,4,4,5-tetramethylcyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-one.”
“I can’t bring myself to call it penguinone, it’s stupid,” Gabriel murmured. “But that’s not all. There’s a whole conclusion I’m positive I didn’t write.”
She didn’t know how he managed it, since she was standing, and he was sitting, but he still stared her down. She cleared her throat. “You had problems with the research. So I haunted all the necessary documents to gain information, as well as studied your report, in order to accurately capture your style. And I…” she wrung her hands.
“I told you I didn’t need help.” Gabriel’s voice was like grinding stones.
“And I wanted to help, so you can help me with my tasks.” She took a few quick breaths, to prevent her voice from rising.The maddening man. “Why are you so annoyed, anyway?”
“Because this is my job, and I don’t like other people taking over.”
“I’m not taking anything away from you, I’m only helping!”Well, there goescalm and collected.Ida grunted and faced away. “Sorry. If you’ll allow me to jump in there, I’ll put everything back as it was.”
She made a move toward the laptop, but Gabriel wrapped a protective arm around it. “It’s fine,” he said. “While I don’t approve of your methods, the work was…” He let out a suffering breath. “Good. Thank you.”
Ida beamed on the inside—is that how it feels to be useful?—but didn’t want to torture his ego further, so she clapped her hands. “Can we get to the tasks now?”
“I suppose we can get that out of the way. What do you want me to do first?”
Ida turned her gaze to the book on the coffee table, opened to the page of the contract. “How about some enlightenment? Hey, that’s what Voltaire said!” She did finger guns at Gabriel.
He squinted at her. “Are you alright?”
“Just excited to begin. And I’ve hauntedCandideforty-two times.”
“Okay.” Was that a tiny smile from him, or had she imagined it? “So for the enlightenment part, I tell you an interesting fact?”
“I suppose. Hit me.”
Gabriel scratched his chin. “Oh! Tomatoes are vegetables. Decided by the court. So whenever some biologist goes on a ‘tomatoes are fruit’ rant, you can tell them that no, they are a vegetable.Legally.” He crossed his arms over his chest, clearly proud of himself.
Ida blinked.
