“I’m sure she can, Nick. She’s being difficult because she hates me. Let’s see what happens when she lights the candle, okay? We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
He nodded. “Thanks.”
I stopped in my tracks, putting a hand to my heart and giving him a very false flutter of my eyelashes. “Did you just thank me? That might be the first nice thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Nick had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been myself lately.”
“Understatement of the year,” I said. “Come on. Zoe is waiting, and I’m afraid she might burn the house down if I’m not there to supervise.”
Zoe hadn’t burned the house down. She sat on top of our table, the candle lit and glowing in front of her, with the sweetest, most angelic smile on her face. The blobs gathered around, gently rubbing against her like a pack of love-starved kittens.
“Wow,” I said. The sweet expression on her face vanished instantly.
“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm,” she said, her voice almost a snarl.
“Coming from you, that’s an interesting comment, but I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. I’m honestly impressed. Ghosts love you.”
She stared at me, as if trying to gage my sincerity. “Where were you, and what took you so long?”
“I had to get this.” I showed her the bag of powder. “A Chinese remedy my manicurist Mr. Wan recommended. It’ll help get rid of the blobs.”
“The blobs?” Her horrified expression reminded me of the day I discovered running through the water sprinkler after applying self-tanner made me look like a spotted leper. I’d worn a very similar and equally horrified expression.
I pointed at all the fuzzy wonders curled around her. “That’s what I call them because that’s what they look like, except you, of course,” I said to Nick. He sank down into a chair across from Zoe.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Wow. Thanking me two times in one night. A new record,” I said.
Zoe stared at me for a moment and shook her head as if trying to clear it. “They aren’t blobs, dimwit. They’re people who need our help. Now do what you must with that powdery crap and sit down. We have to concentrate.”
I sprinkled the powder from Mrs. Chang all around the room, paying special attention to the doors and windows, as Mr. Wan had instructed. Our cleaning lady would have a field day with this tomorrow, but I had no choice. I needed to resolve this as soon as possible so I could get on with my life.
I joined Zoe at the table as the sun set. Midnight probably would have been a better time for this, but I had a strict eleven p.m. curfew on school nights. I wondered if Zoe had a curfew. I wondered if Zoe had parents.
Nick and I watched as Zoe talked to each of the blobs, explaining why they had to move on. It didn’t seem spooky or magical to me. She acted very practical about the whole thing.
“Now, Helen,” she said to one blob. “You know this isn’t where you want to be. Your entire family and all your friends are on the other side. They’re waiting for you. You need to go.” And with that, the blob named Helen flew over to the window and straight into the sky.
“Amazing.” I leaned sideways in my chair, watching Helen soar into the heavens.
“Oh, that was a simple one.” She touched the white powder on the windowsill. “Although this stuff seems to be helping, not all of them will be that easy to convince.”
After nearly an hour, all the ghosts were gone except for one very stubborn one and, of course, Nick. Zoe looked exhausted, but she tried reasoning with the last blob. She even tried threatening it. Nothing worked.
“We need to call it a day,” she said with a yawn.
I gave Nick an uncomfortable glance. “But what about Nick?”
Zoe’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Who?”
“Nick.” I tried ever so subtly to tilt my head to the left to show here where he sat. Zoe looked confused.
“She can’t see me, Lil.” He leaned back in his chair, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
“I’m sure she can.” I tried to sound as reassuring as possible, but I was worried, too. “You can see him, can’t you Zoe?”
“There’s only one ghost left in this room,” she said, pointing to the blob on the ceiling. “Who the heck is Nick?”
“He’s a ghost too. He’s sitting right here, wearing black like you and looking all bad-boy hot. You’d like him if he weren’t dead. He seems like your type.”
Nick snorted. “Bad-boy hot? If this whole situation wasn’t so terrible, I’d find that hilarious.” Nick looked skyward, laughing in spite of the seriousness of the moment. “Oh, God. Lily thinks I’m hot. Sound the alarm.”
I scowled at him. “I meant she would find you hot. Not me. I’m not into dead guys.”
“You’re not into any guys. That is why you are so Lily white and pure. Anyway, you aren’t my type.” He gave me a nasty little smile. “I’m not into Vestal Virgins.”
“Stop calling me that,” I said.
Zoe whistled loudly, getting our attention. “Excuse me, but it’s freaky to hear you argue with yourself. This must be how other people must feel when they see me talking to ghosts.”
“And that’s exactly what I’m doing. Talking to a very annoying and hard-headed ghost who keeps calling me Lily White the Vestal Virgin and making fun of me.” Nick seemed to thrive on getting under my skin, but I regretted the words as soon as they left my lips.
“Okay, that’s hilarious.”
Zoe laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away, somehow managing not to smear any of her makeup while doing so. That was remarkable. She had on more eyeliner than I wore in a month.
“Can we move on? Please?”
“Fine,” she said, still smiling a bit about the Lily White the Vestal Virgin thing. “You call the ghosts ‘blobs.’ What do they look like to you?”
“Blobs,” I said, and she gave me a pained expression. “Okay. Fine. They look like fuzzy black amoebas. About the size of a grapefruit, they slide and float all over the place, doing everything they can to distract and annoy me. Kind of like you.” I gave Nick a pointed look.
“And what does Nick look like?” she asked. “Details would help.”
I turned to him, staring at him long and hard and trying to describe him to Zoe as best I could. “He looks like a person, but fuzzy around the edges. He has dark hair that keeps falling over his forehead and brown eyes. They’re the color of chocolate, the rich, high cocoa kind. He’s muscular, but not in a weightlifter or football player kind of way. He’s built more like, I don’t know…a panther, sleek and powerful. Perhaps I think of a panther when I see him because he wears black all the time. It must be what he died in. Oh, and he has a tattoo that peeks out under the sleeve on his right arm. I’m not sure what it is. I can’t see it.”
Zoe and Nick both stared at me in shock. “What?” I asked, a little uncomfortable.
“Are you describing a ghost or writing a smut book?” she asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My cheeks burned, and I couldn’t even look at Nick. Yes, he was attractive, and I’d gone a bit overboard in my description of him, but I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. I never would have dated a boy like him, alive or not. I knew his type, and boys like him meant trouble and unhappy parents for nice girls like me. I couldn’t deal with either.
“Oh, my. She is Lily White,” said Zoe with a sad shake of her head, making Nick laugh. “Look, I’ll explain it to you. You’re growing. Your body is changing. Hormones are kicking in and you’re having certain…” she paused, as if pretending to search for the right word. “Certain sensations. But you’d better face the truth, girlie. Bad boy or not, dead or not, you have a thing for this Nick guy.”
I opened my mouth to protest, and she lifted a hand to stop me. “Save it. We have other more important things to deal with. First of all, the ghost refusing to listen to my good advice…” She shot an
angry look at the blob floating around the ceiling. It didn’t seem to be bothered in the least. It swooped down and gave her what looked like a peck on the cheek.
“Silly ghost,” she said, shooing the blob away with a little smile. “And then we have Nick, the object of your rampant and repressed sexual desire.”
“Zoe, you have the wrong idea,” I stuttered.
I looked at Nick, who now watched me very closely with those dark chocolate eyes of his. Had I honestly said that? What an idiot.
“Yeah, whatever,” she said, putting on her jacket. “I can’t help you with him. He isn’t a ghost.”
Nick sat straighter and smacked a hand on the table, which was kind of odd since it made no sound. “See. I told you I’m not dead.”
“Stop it, Nick,” I hissed. “You’re dead. Now be quiet.”
Zoe put a hand over her heart. “Look at you. Young love. So adorable. Except the arguing part makes you look like a lunatic since no one else can see Nick. I suppose this explains why everyone at school says you’re a druggie.”
I put my face in my hands as Nick laughed his head off, enjoying this way too much. “You? On drugs?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s extremely funny. A total riot. I had to see the guidance counselor and submit to voluntary drug testing today. Do you know what the best part is?” I looked right at Zoe and gave her a tight little smile. “They believe you are my supplier.”
That stopped her laughter instantly, but Nick still laughed so hard he held his stomach and rocked back and forth. I tried to kick him, but of course my foot went right through him.
“They think I’m selling drugs? Oh, that’s precious. Just because I wear black and hang out at The Zone on weekends…” She shot me a disgusted look, and I jumped to my feet so quickly it startled both her and Nick.
“The Zone?” I looked at Nick and comprehension dawned on his face. “Nick goes to The Zone. Does that tell you anything?”
“Uh, he likes good music?”
I groaned in frustration. “Maybe you know him. He also mentioned someone named Bambi.”
Nick rubbed his head. “I know I said that, but I can’t remember why. It’s all getting fuzzy now.”
I gave Nick a worried frown. He looked scared. “Maybe Zoe can help,” I said.
“I don’t know anyone named Bambi,” she said. What’s Nick’s last name?”
I turned to ask him and stopped when I saw his face. He stumbled backward a few steps and slid slowly to the floor. I knelt down next to him. “Are you okay?”
He pulled his knees to his chest. “I don’t know my last name.”
“What do you mean?” The expression on his face frightened me.
“I can’t remember… It’s all one big blank.”
Zoe joined us on the floor. “I’m not sitting on him, am I?”
I shook my head and pointed to where Nick had propped himself against the wall. “He’s here.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Zoe. All she could see was an empty patch of my mom’s Oriental rug, but she could tell something bad had happened.
“He can’t remember anything,” I whispered to her.
“I can hear you, dummy. I’m sitting right here.”
I considered the fact that Nick still acted snarky to be a good sign. Finding out you were a ghost and forgetting your entire identity was a lot to deal with.
“Tell him we’ll find a way to help him,” said Zoe.
I started to tell him, but he stopped me. “I can hear her, too, Lily. You only have to translate this conversation one way, okay?”
I turned to Zoe. “He can hear you.”
She winced. “Sorry. I forgot. So, this is where we make a plan.”
Nick and I both stared at her blankly. She couldn’t see Nick, but she got the idea from me that we were both equally clueless.
“Okay. This is where I make a plan.” She tapped a painted black nail against her chin. That color suited her. On me, it would have looked like I’d been infected with a zombie virus, but I liked it on Zoe. I sat quietly next to Nick, waiting.
“Well, first of all, kids, I hate to tell you this, but we have more problems than one difficult spirit and your boyfriend, the mysterious Nick.”
I wanted to protest at her choice of words, but she stopped me by lifting one pale hand and scowling at me. She wore a ring with a skull on it. She wholly embraced this whole Goth Queen of the Dead thing.
“What other problems do we have, Zoe?” I tried to be patient but clenched my hands tightly in my lap. Nick kept staring at me, making me extremely uncomfortable. I wished I’d never said he eyes looked like chocolate.
Zoe sighed. “When I talked to the ghosts, they seemed scared. They said something bad is trying to come through, and we need to act quickly.”
“Come through?” I asked.
“The ghosts crossed over to this side through some kind of portal, and that portal is still open. We need to get this last little ghost back and shut it before something awful happens.” The blob floated around the room, seemingly oblivious to the danger its presence in the world of the living created.
“Like what?”
Zoe’s eyes tracked the fuzzy little spirit. “I don’t know, but if it scared a bunch of ghosts, it must be pretty nasty.”
“What can we do?” I tried to give Nick a reassuring look and failed miserably.
Zoe pursed her lips, her blue eyes focused on a spot on the ceiling before she spoke. “I’ve got it,” she said, and Nick and I both leaned forward eagerly. “First, you need to go back to Mr. Fu Man Chu and get more info from his book.”
“Mr. Wan?” I asked. “My weekly appointment isn’t until Saturday, but I’ll go tomorrow after school. Is that soon enough?”
“Yes. He might have some ideas about old Nick here. And it’s possible he knows a better way to get the last ghost to leave. While you’re doing that, I’m going to see if I can find anything online about missing or dead boys named Nick in the area, but surely we would have heard about something like this by now if it had been in the news.”
“What else?” I asked. I didn’t want to hear Nick had died in some horrible way. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Zoe grimaced as if she was in pain. “I hate to say it, but you and I need to make a little trip to The Zone on Friday night for the under twenty-one party. If Nick hung out there, someone might remember him. That could help a lot.”
“Please remind her I’m not dead.” Nick’s face was pale. “It’s important.”
Zoe sighed when I told her. “I don’t think you’re dead, dude. I can’t see you or sense you at all. I have no idea what that means, and I don’t understand why Lily sees you when no one else can, but we’re going to figure this out.”
She rose to her feet, blew out the candle and stretched. All the ghost wrangling must have worn her out. “Oh, and another thing,” she said. “We need to find a clairvoyant. That would help us with both of our problems.”
“A clairvoyant?”
Zoe paused at the doorway. “Someone with a sixth sense, a person who can tell when ghosts are around. A clairvoyant might be able to help me get the last ghost to behave. At least they would give me a little more power. Do you know anyone?”
I remembered Josh by the lake and how he’d sensed the blobs on his body. None of my friends had felt or seen their presence, which meant there had to be something special about Josh, besides his biceps and winning personality.
“Maybe I do.”
“You are full of surprises, Lily White,” she said, as she pulled on a red helmet covered in black skulls, hopped onto her motorcycle, and rode away.
For a second, I imagined I saw a dark shape following her, sliding down the road after her. I blinked and it was gone, dissolving into the shadows like it had never been there at all.
Chapter 7
A beautiful bird is the only kind we cage. ~ Chinese Proverb
As soon as Zoe left, I pulled out my laptop and did an extensive s
earch. No one named Nick had gone missing, died, or made the news at all. I had no last name to go on, no town, and no additional information. I shut my laptop and stared at the ceiling.
“This is so frustrating. If you aren’t dead, what are you?”
He didn’t have any answers for me. He sat with his face in his hands. The little blob attempted to cheer him by playing a ghostly form of peek-a-boo. Nick couldn’t see it, so it wasn’t working.
He watched me as I straightened up before bed. I felt awkward around him after my detailed and glowing description of the physical attributes of his non-physical self, so I pretended it never happened. The remaining blob trailed after him like a little, furry, otherworldly puppy, and, for once, I was kind of glad for the company. I didn’t want to be alone with Nick.
I stole a glance at him, and he snuck a look at me, but neither of us spoke. He shadowed me, my own hunky, ghostly sidekick, as I put away the candle and checked to make sure everything was back in place. Clarice, our housekeeper, always spied for my mother and reported to her daily whenever my parents went out of town. She used to stay over when they went away but stopped when I turned sixteen and declared if I was old enough to drive, I no longer needed a babysitter. Poor Clarice. She probably enjoyed sleeping in our guest room and swimming in our pool, but I hated having a watchdog.
Nick followed me to my room and into my walk-in closet. He looked around in amazement. “Whoa. You color-code your clothing?”
I bit my lip. “A useful system for organization.”
Nick shook his head. He pointed to a shelf with nothing but rows of hand sanitizer on it. “This is normal?” He waved a hand to indicate my collection. Some might have called it hoarding, but I preferred to think of it as being prepared.
“There was a sale.” I grabbed the first pair of pajamas I saw, a two-piece set in white heavy satin with little pearl buttons and my initials embroidered on the right breast pocket in pink.
Nick tried to follow me into the bathroom, but I stopped him. “Don’t you dare,” I huffed, and he stepped back sheepishly.
Tiger Lily (Dark Blossoms Book 1) Page 5
