I slipped into the moment with Louis, feeling his warm hands on my goose-bumped skin. His touch was soft and comfortable and I allowed myself to steady my breathing while working my hips against his. My nerves lit, suddenly warm – no hot, and Louis swallowed deeply, dropping his head against the seat. I kissed the tops of his closed eyes.
“Damn. Guess I won’t walk you in,” he gestured to his pants. Poor boys. After cooling down for a minute, we scrambled out of the back seat and he made a face down at his jeans. I tried not to laugh because it wasn’t nice, but Louis always made me smile. Perfect example of why this was so hard.
“Sorry.”
“I’m not,” he said.
“I’ll call you when I get back to the dorm, okay?”
We stared at one another through the beat of exchanging I love yous. Neither of us was quite there yet. Or at least afraid the other wasn’t.
“Night, Jane,” he said, giving me one last kiss. A big one and it burned down to my toes.
“Night.” I ran up my front steps and waved as his car drove away from the curb, my stomach a twisted mess of uncertainty.
*
His questions came rapid fire when I finally saw Evan again.
“Did you have turkey?”
“Yes.”
“Apple pie or pumpkin?”
“Both.”
He rubbed his belly in mock hunger. I didn’t feel hungry in this world either. “Did Jeannie come?”
“No, I think she’ll be here at Christmas.”
“And you’ll talk to her about all this then?” This was this. How Evan and I were meeting. And why? Oh, and my ghostie-energy huffing thing. What was that all about?
“Yep, promise.”
Evan stood from his spot in the corner and walked around my bedroom. The black shadows were here, coating the walls like a thin layer of smoke. He ran his fingers through it, scattering the shade so they parted into curling tendrils. His gray eyes reflected the worry he had for us. Not me. I wasn’t worried. Not about this place at least.
“If you’re not curious about how we meet like this or the weird black smokey stuff that seems to be following us – and happening more often, why do you have that crease between your eyebrows?”
I touched my face and felt the dent. “You don’t want to hear it.”
“Try me.”
“It’s guy stuff.”
Evan wrinkled his nose. “Louis?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and Connor.”
“Wait. Connor?”
“Yep. He’s back. Full force.”
“How long has this been going on?”
I took a deep breath and averted my eyes. “Since school started. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I like Connor.” He’d moved to the window seat, feet on the bench, knees under his chin. I knew he was hurt that I hadn’t told him. I could sense it, but he acted otherwise. “This is a safe place away from the other world. I get that.”
“It hasn’t been a big deal. Like, we’ve hung out a little and did a little ghost hunting, but that’s it. Then…”
“What?”
Evan looked expectant, eager to hear the rest. It was never far from my mind that Evan was a 15-year-old boy. His body and maybe mind were stuck in that same place while I’d grown up. Love and sex and all those emotions were things that I didn’t share with him. But they were front and center in my life now and once I opened the door with him, I wasn’t sure if I could ever shut it back.
“He kissed me.”
His jaw dropped but then morphed into a grin. “Oh, really?”
“That’s not good.”
“No?”
“Well, there’s Louis.”
“Oh, right. Huh.”
“Things are weird now. Louis doesn’t know about Connor and I feel bad, but I didn’t want to kiss him – well, not really. I didn’t plan on it. It’s just a mess.”
“Louis doesn’t know about Connor?”
“No.”
“Does Connor know about Louis?”
“Yes.”
“Does Louis know about me?”
“No way.”
“Does Connor know about me – this?”
I shook my head.
Evan leaned back into the window, the dark sky framing his body. “You’ve got a lot of secrets.”
“I know.”
“Trust me, that never turns out well,” he said. I didn’t reply. What was there to say? He was right.
*
Lila called the dorm into a meeting the night we got back from break. “What’s this about?” Ava asked, sitting next to me on the battered common room couch.
“No clue, but Lila looks stressed.”
We looked over at our dorm supervisor. An older woman spoke with her at the front of the room. I’d never seen her before. “Has she been crying?”
“Looks like it,” I said. She clutched a tissue in her hand and her eyes were red.
“Okay, everyone settle down. This will be quick, as I know you’re still unpacking.”
“Where’s Amber?” Ava whispered.
I scanned the room, but didn’t see her either.
“We got some bad news over the break and I wanted you to hear it from me,” Lila said. She took a deep breath. “Kelsey Bartlett is dead.”
Several girls gasped. Ava looked at me and I sat perfectly still. Lila continued, “Her body was found by police two days ago. I don’t have a lot of details but,” she choked back a sob, “the police are calling it a homicide.”
“Murdered?” someone called out. The room fell into 10 different conversations. People hugged one another and offered sympathy. I felt numb. And worried. Murdered people rarely left easily.
“Please be considerate of Amber when you talk to her. This has been hard on her and we spoke to her privately a little while ago. The college has also arranged for a counselor to meet with you if you need to talk.” She gestured to the woman standing with her.
Later, when we’d gone back to our room, Ava said, “Wow, that’s sort of crazy. Kelsey, murdered. She seemed sort of…”
“Boring?” I offered.
“A little. You haven’t seen or heard anything about this have you?”
“It’s not like we have a newsletter, Ava.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, tossing a pencil at me. “If she was murdered then she may still be hanging around, right?”
“It’s likely.” I felt numb. Frozen. I couldn’t figure out how to process this information. Everyone else in the dorm thought about how they’d never see Kelsey again. I was worried that I would.
*
The cold weather backed down a little after Thanksgiving break. Nothing perfect, but the late fall air definitely felt milder further south. We had three weeks until Christmas and walking around in Savannah in the freezing cold was not my idea of awesome. Although we didn’t have much time for pleasure anyway. Classes geared up and repeatedly kicked our butts. The news about Kelsey filtered through the school and Amber received a lot of attention over it. Unwanted attention. Ava and I gave her a safe place to just hang out. I didn’t want to talk about it anyway.
We didn’t have time. We spent every available moment in the studio attempting to get ready for final critiques.
“What are you going to do about that?” Ava asked one night when we saw Connor tucked in his own corner of the studio. He had headphones clamped tight over his ears and he worked diligently on a series of drawings. I’d told Ava about the kiss and we’d gone over it a million different ways. No matter how we broke it down, the whole situation was awkward.
“No clue,” I admitted. We’d made eye contact a couple of times, but I didn’t make an effort to talk to him or go over. Neither did he. Maybe he just needed to get that kiss out of his system, for closure or something.
After a late Saturday night in the studio (freshman get the worst time slots) matting charcoals, I struggled to get up for my usual run. I pulled my pi
llow over my head and snuggled back under the covers, dozing until I felt someone shaking my arm.
“He’s got a gun,” Evan whispered. I rolled over and saw him leaning close, frantically shaking my arm. His blond curls hung in his eyes. “You need to hide. Don’t come out until I tell you so.”
The words were strange, but it was a dream, right? Still, something he said seemed familiar.
“Who has a gun?”
Evan’s body shimmered, but instead of disappearing, he morphed into a smaller figure, a child. Hazel, from Connor’s basement. “We need to hide,” she cried. Her bloody, white nightgown even more horrifying in my room. “Daddy said so.”
“From what?” I asked, still confused. I felt her hand close over mine and I welcomed the surge of warmth that followed. The heat dissipated, turning cold and I recoiled. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” she asked, her fingers pressing into my skin. Sinking into my skin. My head rushed and everything turned black. I jerked away and shot up in the bed. A trickle of sweat rolled down my back. What the hell was all that?
Other than Ava asleep in the other bed, the room was empty. Everything felt surreal, like I was still halfway in my dream. My phone vibrated across the bedside table, jerking me further into reality. I picked it up.
C: It’s freezing out here. You coming?
I climbed out of bed and looked out the window. Sure enough, Connor waited below in a sweat suit, stocking cap and running shoes. He waved.
Under normal circumstances, I’d go back to bed. But these weren’t normal circumstances. I wanted out of the room and some fresh air to clear my mind. It took me a minute to find my shoes and gear without making a lot of noise, but I eventually made my way outside.
“Hey,” I said, rubbing my hands together. So much for milder weather.
“Did I wake you up?”
I stretched my calves on the front step and rubbed the spot on my arm. The skin still tingled as though Hazel had really grabbed it. “Nah, not really.”
We started off and, just as I plugged my ear buds in he said, “I had a visitor last night.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Hazel.”
I kept my expression even. “Downstairs?”
“No, in my room. I guess she got tired of waiting on you to come back.”
I pushed my hair out of my eyes. “What did she want?”
“Same sort of conversation you had. Something about men with guns or maybe a man with a gun? She seemed nervous and kept talking about how hot the room was. Which was interesting because our radiator was broken and the room was a freaking sauna.”
“Yeah, well, I had a visit from Hazel as well. Or at least a dream, I guess. She said sort of the same thing,” I said.
“She came to your room?”
“I don’t know. I thought it was a dream. I was asleep.”
We ran next to one another for a bit and I considered if I should tell him about Evan being there and how I could visit him. Instead I asked, “Can ghosts feel temperatures?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Weird that she knew your room was so hot.”
He nodded and a puff of smoke came out of his mouth. “I asked her if she knew the other ghost. The man. She didn’t seem to have any idea what I was talking about.”
“So, basically, you had a totally unhelpful talk with a ghost.”
“Pretty much.”
I sighed. “I’ll try to do some research, but I’m not sure what all I can dig up on this one. Maybe we just need to try to convince her to move on.”
“After a century or so? Doubtful.”
Annoyed that Connor didn’t offer any of his own ideas, I picked up my pace and put my headphones back in. He caught up quickly, but kept quiet. We jogged side by side for a couple of miles until we looped back toward the dorm. When the building came in sight he said, “Jane?”
I turned down the music.
“I’m sorry about the other day – before break. That was really inappropriate.”
I kept my eyes forward. “No harm done.”
“It was rude. I know you’re dating Louis and that’s not cool.”
“Yeah, I didn’t tell him if that’s what you want to know.”
“You didn’t?” he asked.
We neared the dorm and I slowed to a walk. “No. We only had so much time together and I didn’t really want to spend it talking about you.”
“Oh.”
“Thanks for the run,” I said, catching my breath. “I would have slept in if you hadn’t texted.”
He smirked. “I know.”
I play-punched him in the arm. “Since when did you become the responsible one between the two of us?”
“People change,” he said, walking away backwards. “Sometimes for the better.”
I was well aware that people changed. I just needed to know if it was going to stick. For good.
*
Procrastination sucked for my classwork, but it was perfect for mindlessly researching ghostie stuff on the Internet. I started by searching the dorm address. Until recently, it was a hotel. This made it easier to find basic information. Unfortunately, most of it focused on the conversion done by the college.
I entered variations of Hazel’s name and came up empty. I added a couple of other terms: child, murder, armed gunman, but nothing surfaced. Nothing related to her at least.
A slew of strange stories popped up though. Disappearances. One woman gave birth to healthy twins in the bathroom. Numerous police calls. The most bizarre was a spontaneous combustion in a third floor bathroom. Weird stuff, but nothing that seemed relevant to Hazel.
I closed the laptop in frustration. Leaving Ava a note, I grabbed my coat and headphones, locking the door behind me.
“Oh, sorry,” I said, pulling up short so I didn’t bump into Denise, one of the girls on the hall. She’d just exited the bathroom.
“No problem,” she said, walking past me, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Hey, girl, what’s up?” Amber asked, also coming out of the bathroom.
“Not much.”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I keep running into your ex.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yep,” she said, raising her eyebrows and biting her bottom lip. “I had this idea for my design project and I needed a tagger. His name came up.”
“Ah, right.” I took a couple steps down the hallway, attempting an escape. No luck. She followed close behind. “Connor’s definitely talented in the art of tagging.”
“I know. His stuff is really great.”
“He showed you his sketchbook and photos?”
“Yes, but then I asked to see the real deal,” she grinned. “He took me to see his current work. He’s staked out some area down near the beach. I’m hoping we can go back again.”
“Sounds awesome.” I fake-checked the time on my phone. I’m not jealous that he’d taken her to see his work and not me. Not at all.
I was such a lying liar that lies, but Amber didn’t need to know that.
“Uh, I’ve got to go run some errands before I head back to the studio. I’ll see you later, okay?”
I rushed off before she could respond, because really, no. Just no. I don’t have time for some sort of Connor and Amber relationship drama. Mostly because I don’t want to think about it. Even if they were just friends and it was just some kind of project-related situation. I had my own priorities, like figuring out what was going on with Hazel and the creepy dream I had. Hazel bothered me because she was a little girl – like Tonya – and it seemed even more important to help her.
I wandered around campus thinking about Hazel until I found myself in front of Connor’s dorm. I considered leaving, but how many times had he shown up at my room unannounced? And this was business. Not pleasure. I took a deep breath and waited until someone walked out. I slipped in behind them since I didn’t have a security number. Sure, I could call Connor and he’d let me in, but wh
at if he wasn’t home? Did I want him to know I just happened across this dorm? What if he thought I was implying something else? Something more? Ugh. It was easier just dropping by.
At the top of the first flight of stairs, I passed two guys and asked, “Can you point me toward Connor Jacobs’ room?”
“Third door down,” one said, giving me a look over.
“Thanks.”
I found the door cracked open and him playing video games on his bed. I knocked once and his eyes met mine.
“Hey,” he said, scrambling to his feet. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” I said, peering into his room. I saw someone against the far wall. “Oh, sorry.”
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing his neck. “They’re fixing my heater.”
“I’m about finished,” I heard. I looked over at the fix-it guy and realize it’s the same man who repaired our bathroom leak. He knelt in front of the furnace and adjusted a series of levers. “Some kind of glitch with the thermostat, I think. I need to order a part.” He turned around and saw me.
“Hi.” I waved.
“We meet again,” he said.
Connor tilted his head. “You know each other?”
“Just in passing – we have a chronic bathroom problem at the dorm,” I said.
Mr. Williams picked up his tools and sorted them into his tool box. He stood up and walked to the door. “That may hold for a couple of days, but I’ll get the part and be back next week, okay?”
“Thanks. We’ve been burning up in here.”
“Yep. Broken thermostat,” Mr. Williams repeated and left with his hand up in a wave.
Connor closed the door and leaned against it. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Hazel.”
“Did you find anything?”
“No – nothing. Except that this hotel/dorm used to have some freaky weird stuff going on.”
“Like what?”
“Well, let’s just hope that none of the ghosts that bug you are from the spontaneous combustion situation.”
Grave Possession (Wraith 3) Page 8
