Ghosts in the Graveyard

by Liz Schulte

  My muscles relaxed and I put the phone away. Of course he was still here. He was probably the guy in the hood keeping an eye on us. I would find Frost, get back to Selene, and tell them all what was happening. No more overreacting.

  Stepping up on a bench, I scanned the crowd for Frost’s snow-white hair. It should be easy enough to pick out. Faces and masks all blurred together, but Frost definitely wasn’t among them. I was about to step down when something caught my eyes. Just down the block—another man in a hood. What the hell? Was it Sebastian?

  I jumped down and pushed my way through the crowd to where the man had stood, but he was gone. Whipping my head right then left, I caught a glimpse of him turning down an alley. Sebastian wasn’t going to get away that easily. I took off after him, but when I got to the alley, seconds later, it was empty.

  Damn elves.

  Something fluttered against the wall of the alley in the slight breeze. A piece of paper maybe; it was hard to tell in the dark. Time slowed and the icy hand of nervousness gripped me. I couldn’t kill with a single touch. My magic didn’t pack the wallop Selene’s did. Hell, I couldn’t even tell if someone was lying like Jessica could. In that alley, I might as well have been like any other human—you know, unless the bad guy would wait for me to conjure up a spell. My fists clenched and I released a breath. One foot in front of the other, I walked toward the note.

  With every step, the noise from the street disappeared a little more. This alley was a world apart. The smell of a cigar and something else I couldn’t quite place hung in the air. A light I hadn’t seen before flickered several feet down like a candle. My foot caught on something, pitching me forward. I caught myself on the wall, but the crack of my cell phone against the brick went straight to my heart.

  “Shit.” I pulled it out to check the damage; the screen didn’t even light up. “Damn it!”

  I stared at the ground accusingly. What did I even trip over? There was nothing, but the cobblestone alley. Wait. Cobblestone alley? There were zero cobblestone anythings in this little beach town. What in the world?

  The note fluttered right in front of me—a single sheet folded in half on yellowed, thick paper. I pulled it down, and couldn’t see how it had stuck to the wall. Slowly I opened the note, but the light was too dim to read. The light flickered deeper down in the alley and the smell of cigar remained in the air. Beyond the feeble light was thick, oppressive darkness.

  There was no way in Hell I was going any deeper down this alley. I looked back down toward the street, but the Halloween celebration was gone. The end of the alley looked dark and gray, even the buildings were different. Uh oh. Backing down the alley, I didn’t take my eyes off of the darkness. I had no explanation for what happened. Did I cross into another world by mistake? Was this all a trick? The darkness at the back of the alley stretched toward me with every step I took backwards. Whatever it was, I wasn’t staying to find out. I spun around and raced back the way I’d come, praying that if I had crossed some sort of line, it was still there for me to go back through.

  I closed my eyes and ran as hard as I could—then suddenly bounced off of something softer and fleshier than a wall. I fell backward, but two hands caught my arms before I could hit the ground. The man from the candy store lifted the corner of his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

  “I had a feeling I would see you again,” he said, setting me upright. “What are you running from?”

  I followed his gaze down the alley, which looked normal now. It wasn’t cobblestone or particularly dark.

  “I…” I shook my head. “It was nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

  “And what’s this?” He plucked the yellowing note from my hand. “A note from an admirer?”

  “Give it back.” I made a swipe for the paper, but he held it out of my reach, oblivious to the people passing us.

  “Let’s have a look, shall we?” He opened the paper.

  “I found it. It’s mine. Let me see.” I moved close enough to him that his long jacket brushed against me—what? I was only human. He lowered the note.

  In the top right-hand corner, loopy cursive writing said “From Hell.” in. Below that read, “Witch, The one who follows you cannot be trusted. Proceed down this path at your own risk.” It was signed simply as “Always.”

  “You wrote this,” I said.

  His expressive brows raised. “Did I? Why would I do that? Are you being followed?” His face and voice were perfectly serious, but something twinkled in his eyes. “Perhaps this is nothing more than a prank.”

  I took the letter from his fingers. “You did this. Why?” I said more firmly. “You’re dressed as Jack the Ripper, and this is obviously an imitation of one of his notes.”

  “I thought I was Mr. Peanut.”

  “I might not have recognized you straight away, but I have seen every movie Johnny Depp has even been in. I get the ‘From Hell’ reference. It’s addressed to ‘witch’—exactly what you called me. And the alley…” I still really didn’t know how to explain the alley.

  “Excellent points.” He nodded. “Now what were you saying about this here alleyway?” He nudged me closer to it, but I resisted.

  “So you did leave the note?”

  He leaned in very close, his breath tickling my neck. “Perhaps I’m the one the note’s warning you about.”

  I didn’t have time for games. I needed to get back to Selene and we needed to leave. “You aren’t the one following us.”

  The left side of his mouth rose. “Can you be so certain?”

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed the people in the hoods.”

  He froze. “Hoods?”

  I nodded. “I’ve seen at least two separate people. Both wore hoods, so I couldn’t see their faces, but they were definitely watching us. But you know that already, don’t you? Why didn’t you just tell me? Why they creepy alley and note?”

  He held my gaze for a moment, but his eyes were impossible to read. “Do you see him now?”

  Of course I didn’t. I hadn’t seen anything but him since he showed up even though he was odd and pushy. It was those eyes, his masculine nose, and strong jawline, totally distracting. My tongue traced my lips. “I’ll have to look.”

  He followed every move I made with great interest, gaze lingering on my mouth. I pulled in a breath and tilted my chin up a little. He stepped to the side, breaking the moment. Blinking several times, my brain stuttered to catch up.

  “Do you see him?” he repeated.

  My five-foot-four frame couldn’t see over much of anything, let alone the crowd in front of us gathered for the parade that was just starting. I walked to the end of the street and climbed up on the decorative flowerbed with his help. Sure enough, across the street stood a man with a hood. He wasn’t looking in my direction now, however—but he was still standing across from exactly where I’d been. I watched him for a second longer and slowly his head turned right toward me.

  “He’s here. Over there.”

  The stranger helped me down with a wicked smile. “Let’s have a chat with him, shall we?” He jogged across the street with the smooth graceful movements of a wild animal. By the time I realized he was gone, I was stuck. I couldn’t get past the line of floats and costumes, nor could I see what was happening on the other side. I scrambled to get back on the flowerbed, when a police officer came by.

  “Ma’am, you cannot stand there,” he said.

  “But I just need to see—”

  He shook his head. “Ma’am.”

  Damn it all to hell. I climbed back down. “Sorry.”

  But the cop didn’t move on. He stayed watching me like I might commit the great felony of climbing on the city’s decorative planters again.

  I moved down the street a little and pushed my way to the front of the group, though people mouthed off and elbowed me. When I finally broke free, there was a gap in the parade that allowed me to see across. Jack had the hooded man by the shirt, and his face was very close to the other man’s. Th
ere was a glint of something silver, but then the marching band started by. Crap.

  Stretching and twisting, I tried to see around them, but it was impossible. I needed to get back to Selene, but I also wanted to know what was happening. Another gap was coming up in the parade. I held my breath as I waited. Jack was wiping his fake knife on his sleeve, and the man in the hood was gone. Small red blotches dotted Jack’s cheek, but no one else noticed.

  My mouth fell open and our eyes locked until the parade interrupted us again, breaking the trance.

  Holy crap, he was Jack the Ripper. The knife hadn’t been fake; the alley was a porthole. If I could come out of it, then why couldn’t he? The note though, how did that fit in? I tore down the street toward where I left Selene. I’d think on the note later. Was any of this even possible? I didn’t know but we weren’t going to wait to find out. We had to get out of here now.

  A hand grabbed my arm and I screamed.

  “Why are you running away?” Jack spoke casually as if he had not just killed a man.

  I whirled around. “You killed him.”

  “Did I?” The blue in his eyes darkened.

  I was so confused. “Damn it! Just answer my questions. Did you kill him?”

  He blinked. “Yes.”

  We stared at each other, hardly breathing. “And the note.” My mind raced. “It was warning you about me, not them, wasn’t it?”

  His brows lowered, hooding his eyes. “Perhaps.”

  My heart thundered in my chest. “Who was he?”

  “He was not a friend. You, my lovely witch, seem to have found trouble all on your own.”

  The hooded man might not have been my friend, but I didn’t need Jessica’s truth-spotting ability to tell neither was this guy. “Was he an elf?”

  He shook his head.

  “Who left the note and where did that alley take me?”

  “I don’t know answers for either of those. Now it’s my turn for questions.” I pressed my lips together. “That elf who ‘definitely’ isn’t your boyfriend, does he have a claim on you?”

  The question took me aback. Why did he bring up Sebastian? I shook my head.

  “Very good. Now, what would you do if I kissed you?”

  Somehow he’d managed to back me up against a wall without my knowing it. He leaned in, eyes filled with stormy mischief. My lips parted slightly and my breath was shallow.

  His mouth pressed against mine, and my head fell back to accommodate him better as I kissed him back. A war between lips, tongue, and teeth; I forgot about breathing. His hands inched around my back, pulling me tighter against him as his taste of vanilla and spiced rum warmed my body. His hand wound into my hair tugging my head back further as he nipped at my bottom lip.

  What was I doing? He’d just killed someone.

  That thought washed over me like a bucket of cold water. I tried to push him away, but he kept a firm grip on me. “No,” I said.

  His eyes were hooded and dark. “You’re intoxicating, lovely witch.”

  “I’m going to take my intoxicating knee and ram it right into your family jewels if you don’t let me go.”

  He smiled, then ran his rough thumb over my bottom lip. “As you wish.” He took a couple steps back, but was still within an arm’s reach.

  “You can’t just go around killing or kissing people.”

  “Why not?” He raised an eyebrow. “I got tremendous satisfaction from both endeavors.”

  I scowled at him.

  His fingers lightly traced the lines of my scowl. “I assure you, he was here to harm you or your friends this night, if the stars aligned themselves for him to do so.”

  “You still haven’t told me who he was.”

  “I didn’t take the time to ask his name. Perhaps we will do better with the second one.”

  Oh crap. The second one. I had to get back to Selene and Leslie! Frost, wherever she was, was on her own for right now. I brushed past Jack and wove through the crowd. The parade was finishing, which made it impossible to move fast as people were once again moving and I was headed against traffic.

  “There you are,” Selene said brightly. “We were worried about you. Frost found us, but you never came back. Where’d you go?”

  “Come with me.” I pulled them onto the next street, which was slightly less congested. “We’re being followed.”

  Three set of eyes looked at me doubtfully.

  “It’s really crowded out here, Kat. Are you sure you’re not just being jumpy?” Leslie asked. “I mean, I completely get being creeped out, but I haven’t seen anything.”

  “Me either,” Selene said.

  “What happened?” Frost asked, lips pursed as she looked around us.

  “When we first got here I noticed a guy in a hood on the other side of the street. He stayed with us as we moved. I saw him right before I left to find Frost. He was staring directly at us—”

  “It’s probably Cheney. He probably never left,” Selene said.

  “I thought so too. Then I saw a different guy in a hood following just me. I tried to get to him, but he disappeared down an alley. I went down the alley, but it took me somewhere else. I don’t exactly know where. I never did see him, but something in the darkness was watching me.”

  “Is this a prank? Are you trying to scare me?” Leslie asked.

  “No! It’s happening.”

  “So then what happened?”

  I filled them in as fast as I could on the rest.

  “So one is dead,” Frost said. “All we need to do is find the other.”

  “Shouldn’t we call Cheney?” I asked.

  “No!” Selene and Frost said at the same time.

  “If he’s following us on the other side of the street, Selene, you and Leslie should act normal and head back toward the car. Katrina, you go to the right and loop around, try not to be noticed, and I’ll go to the left.”

  “Can’t we just leave?” Leslie asked. “Selene could transport us and maybe this guy will just give up. I mean what if Jack the Ripper—Hello?! Who dresses up like a serial killer—was lying? Maybe the note is what we should be paying attention to.”

  Selene shrugged. “We could go. If any of them follow us, it would be easier to take care of them in a less populated area.”

  “Fine,” Frost said.

  I glanced back at the street, expecting to see Jack there, but he wasn’t. “Okay,” I said.

  We all linked hands, and Selene waited until we were clear. A few slightly dizzy moments later we were on her grandmother’s porch. I stared out toward the dark ocean, my mind muddy with tangled thoughts.

  “This isn’t going to ruin our night. The moon is full, it’s Halloween, and three a.m. will be here before you know it.” Selene flashed a dazzling smile, looking less tired than she had in weeks. Something about the excitement of having someone after us woke her up. She’d never be happy with a quiet life. Did Cheney know that? “Let’s make the bonfire.”

  “Shouldn’t we go in the house and, you know, barricade?” Leslie asked.

  Selene laughed. “Why? I pity the person who comes after us tonight of all nights. Can’t you feel it? The later it gets, the stronger our powers become.”

  That was easy for her to say. If Frost was Iron Man and Selene was Thor, then Leslie and I were like Captain America and the one who shoots a bow and arrow of this particular avenger team—i.e., in way over our heads. But she was right. I didn’t want to give up on what we set out to do.

  “We can build a fire, but we don’t really need it. We’re already hot.” I licked my finger and pressed it to my arm.

  Selene and Leslie laughed, and even Frost smiled, which made me feel better. Things go wrong all the time and there’s never much I can actually do, but if I can make everyone laugh I feel like I’ve somehow helped the situation.

  By midnight we had a roaring fire, cocktails in hand (one nonalcoholic), and were happily chatting about nothing. Frost was mostly quiet, interjecting comments here or
there, but mainly listening and staring out at the ocean.

  “I think it’s time for a little magic,” Selene said, producing the hazelnuts.

  “No, no, no,” I said. “I’ve had about all the guys I can handle tonight.”

  She laughed and held up a nut. “You bought them. You have to. How many of them do you need? Two?”

  I sighed. “Three.”

  Selene’s face scrunched. “I have Sebastian and Jack the Ripper—”

  “Can we just call him Jack, please?”

  “But who is the third?”

  “I don’t know.” I looked down at my feet. “Sy’s pretty cute.”

  “My cousin?” She shook her head. “Good luck with that.” She tossed me three hazelnuts.

  “How many for you, Leslie?”

  “Two,” she said. We gave her questioning looks. “Nothing serious, just a couple guys I’ve met.”

  “Frost,” Selene said to get her attention. When she looked up, Selene tossed her a hazelnut with a smile.

  “Don’t think you’re getting off that easy. You take two,” I said.

  “I don’t need this trick. I love one man only. Now have at it.”

  We each named our hazelnuts as we tossed them into the fire in front of us. Frost looked supremely uncomfortable with the whole thing, but she played along, naming Corbin—which made her face turn bright red and Selene smile.

  We all recited, “If there is love in our future, pop and fly. If there is none, burn and die.”

  “Now what?” Frost asked.

  “Now we wait to see which ones pop,” Leslie said.

  “And which ones die,” I added.

  We all settled back into our spots, watching the fire.

  “Do you think it will work?” Leslie asked.

  “I think the hazelnuts are just a trick,” I said.

  “Not that. Do you think we can really talk to Devin?”

  “I think so,” Selene said. “I know you guys don’t see it, because your magic isn’t as flashy as what I can do, but you’re both strong and so is Frost. We should be able to talk to her and to Gram.”