“I’m going to ask Zoe to come over tonight, preferably without the motorcycle. I don’t need another call from the neighborhood watch Nazis to my parents. I have to talk to Josh too.”
“Josh?”
“My clairvoyant prom date. The boy who saved me from drowning.”
Nick’s face darkened. “The one you talked about in the cafeteria with your friends?”
The subject of Josh bothered Nick, which was interesting. It looked a whole lot like jealousy, and for some reason, that made me extremely happy.
“Yes, I saw him yesterday and asked him to prom.”
Nick seemed hurt, but I couldn’t deal with ghostly emotions at the moment. I had bigger problems and needed to focus on a real-life potential boyfriend instead of constantly worrying about someone who didn’t exist in solid form.
“I also have to go to Mr. Wan’s right after school to see if he can give me any other advice.”
“Your manicurist?”
“My manicurist with a really cool book of ancient Chinese secrets.”
“Can I come, too?”
“The more the merrier.” I looked at the ceiling. The blob frolicked on the light fixture. “And I have to take a quiz in calculus, which I will fail, since you distracted me so badly in class yesterday I missed all the information.”
“Sorry.” Nick looked sheepish.
I got my backpack together and walked to the door. Nick followed, standing close to me. My head barely hit his shoulder. I was pretty tall, but I had to look up to talk to him. His eyes remained glued to my face, and I’m fairly certain I blushed from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. When he spoke, his voice sounded even deeper and huskier than usual.
“I thought watching you eat bacon was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. But to see you blush like that, Lily…” He bit his lip and gave me an extremely naughty grin as he shook his head. “You are surprisingly sexy, Miss Madison.”
I gaped at him the way my goldfish did when I’d dropped the bowl and he lay flopping around on the floor. Sexy. I’d never been sexy. Nick was sexy, and also delusional. And dead. Also, why was he suddenly flirting with me?
Clarice saved me from further embarrassment by shouting that I’d be late if I didn’t stop dawdling. She was right. Nick not only messed with my head, he messed with my schedule too. When I turned to give Mr. Tall-Dead-and-Flirty a piece of my mind, he’d already gone.
I didn’t see him again until study hall, as I frantically crammed for my calculus quiz. I couldn’t understand any of it. I was doomed.
“Can I help?” he asked and bit back a smile when I jumped. He sat next to me at a table in the corner of the library. Thank goodness no one else was around. I shot a quick glance around the room. The only person within hearing distance was the librarian, the elderly Miss Mary Cook, well past her retirement age and nearly deaf.
“It’s hopeless,” I whispered back to him.
“Nothing is hopeless,” he said with a saucy wink. “Let me help.”
Together we went over what I had to know for the quiz. He explained it in a clear way, making it simple and easy to understand. He got frustrated a few times when he wanted to grab a pencil to write out a problem for me and couldn’t, but other than that, it was kind of fun. I’d never thought of math as fun before.
“Why doesn’t my teacher explain it like this?”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. This is just how I see it. No reason to make it so complicated.”
“You should be a teacher, Nick.” I wished I could have taken back those words as soon as I said them because Nick looked so crestfallen. “I’m sorry…” I began, but he stopped me.
“Good luck on your quiz, princess,” he said, and vanished.
I passed my calculus quiz, and my drug test. Maura and Jess still looked at me oddly, but I slowly convinced them I was fine. In truth, I was losing it. If they knew that as we spoke a happy little ghost bounced on their shoulders, they would have lost it too.
Josh agreed to meet me after school. I told him I had a favor to ask but didn’t give him specifics. It would be hard to explain to him via text message that I needed to find out if he had the supernatural skills to help me get rid of ghosts. This subject required a face-to-face conversation. I needed to do it in person.
When I got into my Audi to drive to Lake Eugene to meet Josh, Nick popped into the front passenger seat. The blob looked happy to see him. It flew over to him and landed on his chest like a seat belt.
“Miss me?” He gave me a cheeky grin.
I frowned at him. “You weren’t gone long enough for me to miss you,” I lied. “I passed my calculus quiz, by the way.”
“Good news.”
He stared out the window as we drove through town. I knew he was trying to see something he recognized, but he looked lost. Right at that moment, I wanted to help Nick more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. I just didn’t know how to do it. I decided to find a way to cheer him.
“And the drug test confirmed I’m not a user. Yay for me.” I grinned and him, and he smiled back at me, but his eyes were still sad.
“Where are we going?”
“I have to meet Josh to ask him for help. Can you poof away or do whatever it is you do to disappear? I’d like to do this on my own.”
He refused to poof. His expression had gone from despondent to stubborn in less than a second. Cheering him had failed, but at least I’d distracted him by annoying him. He followed me out of the car and down to the lake with a scowl on his face. His expression darkened even more when he saw Josh.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” he muttered. Josh practically glowed with blond wholesome goodness in the spring sunshine. Nick looked even more like Shadow Guy standing next to him.
Josh pulled me into a hug, smiling from ear to ear. Shorter than Nick, and broader, he was so warm, solid, and alive. We chatted about school and our mutual friends. Nick looked bored. He folded his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes.
“Are you ever going to ask him about helping us?”
I shot him a dirty look. These things took time. I couldn’t simply jump in and ask him.
We sat down on a bench facing the lake, and Josh turned to me. “What did you want to ask me?”
I stared at him. I had no idea where to start. The blob dove into Josh’s side and through his back and Josh shivered.
“You sensed something, didn’t you?”
Josh looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“You shivered, like you sensed something cold. Was it right here?” I touched the spot below his rib cage where the blob had been only seconds before, and I may have held my fingers there a little longer than necessary. I couldn’t help it. Josh was so nice and muscular. It felt good to touch him.
“You’re using this as an excuse to fondle him.” Nick stood behind us, like a dark avenging angel. I ignored him.
Josh stared down at my fingers, confused. The blob jumped to his shoulder, so I touched that spot. “And now here,” I said. “Do you feel it, Josh?”
The blob landed on his crotch area and nestled there. My gaze followed it, and Josh’s eyes got very big, as he stared down at his crotch too. Although he couldn’t see the blob, he felt it. I could tell that much from the expression on his face.
“Don’t you dare put your hand there, Lily Madison. I mean it.” Nick shouted. He wasn’t messing around.
“Um,” I tried to find a discreet way to point at Josh’s lap, and Nick let out a sigh of relief. He probably knew I wasn’t going to even come close to touching where the blob sat at the moment. I couldn’t even look there. Awkward.
Josh jumped off the bench, rubbing his arms with his hands to send away the chill. “How did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“How did you know about the cold spots?” Josh looked scared, but he hadn’t run away yet. A good sign. “I’ve felt them for years, but no one else did, so I stopped talking about it. But you w
ere able to point it out exactly. How is that possible?”
“Because I can see what’s making you cold.” I paused more dramatic effect. “It’s a ghost.”
Nick groaned. “Great job, Lily. Now he knows you’re nuts.”
As Nick paced back and forth, Josh came back to the bench and sat down. The blob landed on his arm.
“Tell me where it is now,” he said, not looking at me like I was crazy. He seemed almost…hopeful.
I put my hand on his arm, and he smiled to me. “You can honestly see something, can’t you?”
“Yes,” I said as the blob brushed against his cheek. I rested my other hand there, and Josh closed his eyes, leaning into my hand.
“Thank you,” he said, his face only inches from mine.
“For what?” My voice sounded kind of shaky. Nick grew suddenly quiet. I kept my eyes on Josh, easy to do since he was so beautiful. And when he brushed his lips gently against mine, I didn’t pull away.
“For proving I’m not crazy,” he murmured, and kissed me in earnest. I heard Nick growling somewhere close by, but tried to enjoy the moment with Josh. His lips were sweet and firm. He smelled good. He looked great. He was what I’d always wanted in a boyfriend, but when he kissed me, I wasn’t able to get into it.
I pulled away from him, and he looked confused. I didn’t blame him. I was confused too.
Nick did not seem confused. Nick seemed furious. “If you kiss him again, I’ll make you regret it. I’ll haunt you like you have never been haunted before. I’ll bother you every waking minute of the day and I’ll keep you awake at night. I will….”
“Shut up,” I said sternly, and both Josh and Nick looked equally surprised. I let out a fake little giggle. “I mean, because you aren’t crazy at all. You’re clairvoyant.”
He still looked confused. “Like, psychic?”
“I guess so. You have some kind of sixth sense. You feel it when a ghost touches you. I can’t feel them, but I can see them. And that only started after I died in the car accident and you rescued me. I don’t know the ins and outs of the whole thing, but I have a friend who can explain most of it. Can you come over to my house tonight and meet her? We need your help.”
Josh nodded, his blue eyes bright and yet still befuddled. I felt bad for him, so I gave him a little peck on the cheek. Nick growled again, but he could growl all he wanted. I refused to look at him. Instead, I patted Josh’s arm. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Sure,” he said, as I rose to leave. He walked me to my car, pausing before he opened the door for me. “The strange thing is that this all kind of makes sense. Thank you, Lily.”
Nick stood right behind me, his expression hostile. “If he kisses you again, I will hurt him.”
The blob waited expectantly, as if curious about what I would do next. I extended my hand to Josh and he shook it politely. “Thank you, Josh. Not only for saving me when I almost drowned the other day. I’m also glad you don’t think I’m crazy.”
Josh gave me a little crooked smile. “Ditto.”
Nick, oddly silent and tense, sat next to me in the car on the way to Mr. Wan’s. I finally couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park.
“What’s your problem now?” The anger had been building in my chest since the moment Nick had threatened me at the lake, and his silent treatment was the last straw.
When he turned to me, I saw deep and utter sadness and desperation in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I was out of line, but I couldn’t stop myself.”
I folded my hands in my lap and stared straight ahead. The ice cream truck stopped on the street in front of me. I couldn’t believe it had only been a few weeks since my accident. It seemed like so long ago.
“I don’t understand why you’re acting like this. It isn’t fair, you know.”
I still couldn’t face him, but I heard him sigh. “I know, but it doesn’t change anything. I can’t touch you or hold you or even open a car door for you, and it makes me crazy when someone else can.”
The anger inside me deflated like a popped balloon. Now I felt nothing but sad. I stared down at my hands. Melancholy Baby had been a good color choice this week, but I’d moved way beyond melancholy at the moment.
“Nick,” I said, but he stopped me.
“It’s okay. I understand. We don’t have talk about it. Let’s go and ask Mr. Wan if there is anything he can do to help.”
Miss Lin greeted us as soon as we came through the door. “What are you doing here, Miss Lily? Today is not your day.” She dusted the counter, looking irritated, but Miss Lin always looked irritated. Nothing new.
“We...I mean…I wanted to ask Mr. Wan a question. Is he here?”
“He is in the back, drinking tea. I think you are going to bother him.”
“No, and I’ll be quick. I promise.” I gave her a smile, but she didn’t respond.
“Is she always this friendly?” asked Nick, who was trying hard not to laugh.
“This is actually a good day,” I said under my breath as we followed the ever-so-cheerful Miss Lin to the back room of the salon. Mr. Wan sat at a small table reading a newspaper and sipping tea from a porcelain cup with cranes on it. The cup had no handle. He held it by the rim so his fingers wouldn’t burn.
Miss Lin went on and on in Chinese, no doubt complaining about the interruption. Mr. Wan said something to her sharply, also in Chinese, and motioned for me to sit down. Miss Lin frowned in disapproval and went back to her station, muttering the whole way. Mr. Wan ignored her. He poured tea into an empty cup and set it in front of me.
“An unexpected surprise, Tiger Lily,” he said.
“Sorry to interrupt. I think I made Miss Lin mad.”
“Miss Lin is always mad. I tried to get her to go to reiki therapy to balance her chi, but she likes being out of balance. Angry is her happy.”
“Wow, then she must be the happiest person I know.”
Mr. Wan chuckled. “How is the ghost problem?”
“Much better, thank you. They’re all gone except for one.” I looked at the blob floating on the ceiling. It seemed happy enough. I guessed it had no idea I plotted to send it back to the spiritual plane from whence it came.
“Hmmm,” said Mr. Wan, as he took a long slurpy sip of his tea. I tried to slurp but found it impossible. Nick rolled his eyes.
The tea tasted delicious, hot and strong with a floral undertone. Mr. Wan and I sat drinking for a moment in silence. I knew I couldn’t rush things with Mr. Wan, but Nick didn’t. He watched us both, trying to be patient. It didn’t work.
“Are you ever going to get around to taking care of our problem?” Nick asked. I gave him a dirty look for pestering me. Fortunately, Mr. Wan didn’t see it. His glasses had grown foggy from the hot tea. He took them off his face and wiped them clean with a cloth.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, and walked out the back door of the break room. Also, apparently, the storage room. Nail polish and other supplies filled the shelves. I fought an urge to arrange the polishes according to color.
“You are dying to clean this place, aren’t you?” Nick said with a grin.
I bit my lip. “Am I so transparent?”
“To me you are. I haven’t known you long, but I can read you like a book, Lily Madison.”
Suddenly the room seemed too small and my clothes too tight because of the way Nick looked at me. Boys had been interested in me before, and I’d been on plenty of dates, but never with anyone who made me smolder with merely a glance. I had no idea how to handle it. Smoldering was way beyond the realm of my own personal experience.
Mr. Wan saved me when he came shuffling back in with his giant book of secrets. He set it carefully on the desk and leafed through it. He scribbled something on a slip of paper and handed it to me.
“Mrs. Chang?” I asked.
“Yes. This should get rid of the last one. Afterwards you will be ghost-free and happy once again.”
I looked at my little lone blob on the ceiling. I’d kind of gotten used to having it around. If it weren’t for the whole portal to the other dimension being open and the world being out of balance, I might want to keep it. Like a ghostly pet.
“There is one more…uh…presence.” I looked at Nick, not sure how to explain this one. “He isn’t a ghost, but he isn’t exactly solid either. I don’t know what he is.”
“Smooth,” said Nick.
“Sorry,” I murmured, without moving my lips.
“But you can see him?” asked Mr. Wan.
“Yes,” I said.
“Can anyone else see him?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Well, it is probably one of two things.”
As he took another slow sip of tea, Nick and I waited on the edge of our seats. Well, I was on the edge of my seat. Nick sort of floated above his.
“Mr. Wan?” I asked, trying to prompt him gently but losing my patience. Also, I’d had so much tea that my bladder felt ready to burst.
“It could be that you are crazy.” He looked over the top of his glasses at me, and Nick burst into laughter. Mr. Wan laughed too. Or at least it seemed like laughter. His shoulders shook, but his face remained impassive and no sound came out.
“Not funny,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
“Sorry,” whispered Nick.
“Or maybe it is something else,” said Mr. Wan. “But for this we need special help. We need Miss Lin.”
Chapter 9
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~ Confucius, 551-479 BC
Miss Lin, not delighted to help with our problem, acted even more irritated when I needed to use the restroom in the salon after drinking so much tea. Finally, she sat down, glaring at me.
“What do you need my help for?”
Mr. Wan rescued me, handing her my teacup. I’d finished the tea, but some leaves remained at the bottom.
“Tell us what you see, Miss Lin,” he said.
She squinched her face like she’d taken a bite of something bitter, but she peeked into my cup. I held my purse on my lap and leaned forward in my seat. Nick stood beside me, hands shoved deep into his pockets, quiet and still. The blob, oblivious, sat on top of Miss Lin’s head. It may have been taking a nap.
Tiger Lily (Dark Blossoms Book 1) Page 7
