Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3)

by Joy Elbel

  The way I see it, Zach had a monumental choice to make here. Either he believed me even though it looked like I was hiding something or he took the situation at face value and walked out of my life for good. Which path would he choose?

  “Ruby,” he said seriously.

  I held my breath in anticipation of the crushing blow that may or may not be coming my way.

  “I believe you but by saying that, I’m also acknowledging the fact that it still doesn’t make any sense.” Sigh of relief. Great big sigh of relief. “I agree that it’s weird but I’m telling you the truth—I don’t know how it happened.”

  “Me neither but I intend to find out. And when I do, maybe then you’ll believe me that Lucas isn’t who he says he is.”

  I had to bite my tongue—literally—to not go off on him. How could Lucas not be Lee’s twin? It’s not like he could be lying about something like that. This wasn’t some hightech Hollywood thriller—facial reconstruction didn’t exactly work like that in the real world. But with our last argument merely seconds behind us, I didn’t want to stir things up again. Time to fake some holiday cheer.

  “I don’t want to talk about Lucas—I want to talk about us. You and me. Can we spend Christmas together? I haven’t decided what to get you yet but I promise to make it something awesome.”

  Zach hung his head and mumbled something under his breath. What did I say wrong? Seriously, were we incapable of having a normal conversation anymore? “What’s wrong—why are you mad at me now?” I asked in exasperation. “No, Ruby, I’m not mad at you—I’m mad at myself. I just can’t afford to get you anything for Christmas. I’m flat ass broke. It would have been okay if I hadn’t blown that tire. And my paycheck is going to be a little short this time, too.” He held my hand and looked me in the eye. “Please, don’t buy me anything. It would just make me feel worse.”

  “Zach, don’t worry about it. Spending time with you is the only gift I need. We don’t see each other much lately.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked hesitantly.

  “Positive,” I replied. “Okay, but I promise to make Valentine’s Day a big event. A day you’ll remember for the rest of your life. There’s still enough time for me to pull together something big.”

  I leaned against him and we snuggled together until he had to go home. I felt closer to him than I did in a long time. It was going to be the best Christmas ever.

  Worst. Effing. Christmas. Ever. For starters, a twenty car pileup on the interstate meant all hands on deck at Baker Regional Medical Center. Even holiday loving Shelly was in a crappy mood after Dad rushed out the door. While fussing over the fact that he was gone, she forgot about the ham in the oven until the smoke alarm rudely reminded her. End result? It was burnt to a crisp and we were doomed to have chicken nuggets as our main course.

  For me, the only thing that could turn the disaster around was seeing Zach’s beautiful face on my doorstep. When he sent me a text, I assumed he was letting me know that he was on his way over. Wrong again. As a matter of fact, he was cancelling our plans altogether. Apparently, the Masons were having an even worse Christmas than we were. They just got the call that Zach’s grandmother passed away. I offered to drive to his place to be with him but he declined saying there were already about fifty family members crammed into their too small house.

  Lonely, miserable, and desperately craving un-burnt baked ham, I went upstairs to sulk. I felt sad for Zach and his family and selfish for even thinking it but Grandma couldn’t have picked a worse time to die. Today was supposed to be special for me and Zach—a day where he and I could regain some of our old magic. I pictured us building a snowman together and making snow angels. Instead, he was in mourning and I was grieving the loss of my ham. I lay down on my bed, put in my earphones and stared at the ceiling as I listened to Cold Eternal on my MP3. Christmas sucks.

  Forgetting that my phone was laying on my stomach, I gave a jolt when it started to vibrate. Maybe Zach was coming over after all! I grabbed my phone excitedly then nearly threw it in disappointment and confusion. I didn’t find a text from Zach. What I found was a cryptic message from Lucas.

  “Come downstairs.” Lucas was here? Why? I bounded down the steps to see for myself. When I got to the second floor landing, I saw him at the foot of the steps. His face was positively beaming and he was holding a large box in his hands wrapped in silver paper and tied with a red ribbon.

  “Merry Christmas, Ru!” he exclaimed and held the package up for me to see. “Merry Christmas, Lucas!” I replied as I leapt down to meet him. “Is that for me?” My excitement at seeing the present drained when I realized I had nothing to give him in return. “You shouldn’t have—I didn’t get you anything. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, don’t worry—it’s not much. It’s just something I found that reminded me of you.” He handed me the box. “Here—open it.”

  I took it out of his hands and nearly dropped it. It was much heavier than I was expecting. Obviously, it wasn’t a sweater. I invited him into the living room and sat down beside the tree. Usually, I was a careful opener. You know, keep the paper un-torn and the bow pristine. But this time, I dove right in and shredded that wrapping paper like a wolverine. As I lifted the lid, I caught a glimpse of what was inside and squealed with delight. A pair of ruby red hockey skates lay inside, their silver blades gleaming in the glow from the Christmas lights.

  “Lucas! Where on earth did you find these? They’re so…me!” I said as I slipped them on to check the fit. Perfect. “Size eight—how did you know?”

  “Simple—I pay attention. Do you like them?” he asked.

  I hugged him warmly. “I love them but you shouldn’t have! These had to be expensive.” Lucas shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “It was worth it just to see the look on your face. Wanna go try them out?”

  Nodding my head eagerly, I replied, “I do!” So Lucas salvaged my wreck of a day by gliding around the ice with me until the sun set. It was the best Christmas ever.

  14. Finding the Fun in Funeral

  Winter break proved to be anything but a break for Zach. What was supposed to be a fun and carefree week for us was now tainted by death. His grandmother made it known to the family that she didn’t want a long, drawn out affair of a funeral. So Monday—only two days after her passing—the viewing and funeral were scheduled at the Grimes and Loeffler Funeral Home. As girlfriend of the bereaved, I was expected to attend. I was all for supporting Zach but, truthfully, I would have rather eaten glass.

  It was my first time setting foot in a mortuary, at least that I could recall. I’m sure I must have been to my mother’s and Miranda’s funeral but I couldn’t remember it. The only other person I’d known who died was Lee and his mother denied me the opportunity to pay my respects. Funeral homes were creepy enough as it was but, suffice it to say, I was scared to death that I was going to see his grandmother walking around amongst the family. No, people who see ghosts should never go to funerals.

  Zach was solemn and composed yet I could tell from his eyes that he’d been crying—a lot. I held his hand for support but my mind was definitely elsewhere. Ever vigilant, my eyes searched the crowd for the walking dead. The place was tastefully decorated yet masked an unspeakable level of sorrow. How many tears did this place see through the years? How many murders and suicides did they clean up and put on display? I knew for a fact that these were the last walls that held Garnet’s body and probably Allison’s, too. Was there a chance I might run onto either or both of them? The packed viewing room was hot and stuffy but a frigid chill found its way up my spine nevertheless.

  Most of the faces in the room were unknown to me so Zach did his best to clue me into their identities. Rich cousin so and so who never came to visit, crazy uncle what’s his name who was a candidate for the TV show Hoarders, sweet aunt whoever who made the best apple pie ever—I heard about all of them. Zach described them all with such detail that they didn’t seem so unfamiliar anymore. Then I found a familiar f
ace all on my own.

  There at the back of the room stood Clay Roseman— plaid shirt, ripped jeans and all. What was he doing here? The only places I’d ever seen him were Silver Lake and Heaven’s Gate Cemetery. The weird part was that he looked as confused to be there as I was to see him there. As Zach suffered a brutal round of cheek pinching from his great aunt, I announced a trip to the ladies room and went to talk to Clay.

  As I passed the casket, a girl with brown curly hair and glasses piped up awkwardly. “Sorry for your loss.” I knew that girl—well, not really, but I recognized her from school. Her father owned this place and she was constantly picked on for being weird. She moped around those hallways worse than I did and always with her dorky sidekick, some boy named Gary, I think.

  I never got a chance to meet Grandma Mason so her death wasn’t really my loss but I didn’t want to seem rude. “Um, thanks, Morticia.” I replied distractedly. Clay had just spotted me and was waving me over enthusiastically.

  The girl frowned. “You’re welcome,” she said and turned her head.

  “Ruby!” Clay exclaimed as I drew near. “What am I doing here?” I couldn’t exactly answer him while standing in a room full of people so I motioned for him to follow me. I stopped in front of the door to the ladies room and whispered, “Stay right here.”

  After checking each stall for potential eavesdroppers, I reopened the door. “Come on in.” Clay walked into the ladies restroom and marveled at the décor as though he were in the Taj Mahal. “Wow! I’ve never been in a girl’s bathroom before—I like it! I guess there are some amazing perks to being dead,” he said while curiously inspecting the tampon dispenser.

  “Never mind that! What are you doing here?” I said, taking a seat on the purple velvet divan in the center of the room.

  “Why are you asking me? How should I know? You brought me here, didn’t you? “Me? What are you talking about? I haven’t seen you in two weeks. I certainly don’t have the power to summon you if that’s what you’re thinking.” Boys didn’t get any smarter in the afterlife, apparently.

  “Oh.” He looked disappointed but quickly regained his usual swagger. “I guess I’m just mastering this whole being dead thing.”

  “You’ve never been here before have you? At least not since your….” Awkward. I was about to say “funeral” but thought it might be in poor taste to mention something like that to a ghost.

  “Funeral?” He filled in the blank for me so I nodded my head. “Yeah, your funeral.” I couldn’t look him in the eye when I said the word so I stared at the flower arrangement on the sink instead.

  Clay tucked some loose strands of hair behind his ears and gave me a cocky smile. “Don’t feel bad mentioning it, Ruby. I put the fun in funeral, baby!”

  And with that statement, he put a smile on my face for the first time that day. “Okay, party animal—what made you think I brought you here?”

  “Well, I was just hanging out down at the lake like usual, you know, thinking and stuff. Then you popped into my head and suddenly I was here. I thought you made it happen.”

  Was this a sign of things to come? Were random ghosts going to start popping up at inopportune times requesting my assistance? “Excuse me, miss, I realize you’re making out with your boyfriend but could you possibly help me get a message to my wife? Tell her the life insurance policy is in the bottom drawer of my desk. Thanks—you can go back to what you were doing now and nice bra, by the way!”

  Oh, hell no. That was more frightening to me than the tongue-less vision of Allison. “No offense, Clay, but don’t think about me anymore. You could have popped in at an embarrassing moment, if you know what I mean.”

  For about ten seconds, he didn’t know what I meant. He screwed up his face in bewilderment until it finally hit him. “Oh, you should not have told me that! Now I won’t be able to stop thinking about you!”

  I swatted at his arm but forgot there was nothing to connect with. My hand went straight through him and it felt like I’d just stuck it in a bucket of dry ice.

  “Hey, that tickles!” he said giggling.

  “Sorry—I forgot you were dead.”

  The giggling ceased and he got quiet. “Thanks, Ruby. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” If that was true, it was sad. He seemed like such a nice guy. “You’re welcome. I have to get back to Zach now but you can stick around if you want.” As soon as I saw the devilish grin, I knew what he was thinking. “Just not in the ladies room, okay?”

  “Okay,” he said following me out. “And by the way,” he said pointing to the mortician’s daughter, “Her name’s not Morticia—it’s Martina.” Clay slipped through the wall and disappeared.

  I felt like such an idiot. Of course her name wasn’t Morticia! Though it was a clever nickname given her father’s profession, it was cruel nonetheless. I had to apologize.

  Before returning to Zach’s side, I stopped by the casket. “Sorry, Martina—I thought that really was your name.”

  Martina ran her hand nervously through the mass of curls on her head. “That’s okay, Ruby, I forgive you.” She acted like I just asked her to sign my yearbook or something. Oh well, I knew what it was like to be picked on. If calling her by her real name made the girl happy, who was I to judge? I sat down beside Zach to play the role of comforting girlfriend again knowing that he wasn’t the only person I made feel better today. Knowing that made me feel better, too.

  15. Not So Stupid Superstition

  In the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, the mood was somber at best. With the death of Grandma Mason, the Mason home had all the festiveness of a hearse. When I stopped at Something Wick-ed to pick up my paycheck, I found Rita down in the dumps as well. Since she was the only member of S.P.I.R.I.T. willing to investigate on a holiday, their weekend trip was postponed.

  “Oh well, I’m used to spending holidays alone by now anyway,” she sighed, obviously not okay with it at all.

  When I complained to Shelly that everyone we knew was absolutely miserable, she agreed. “I know, Ruby. When I talked to Andy earlier, even he was depressed. There’s just something about being alone at this time of year—it really affects people.”

  “I understand why everyone’s unhappy—I just wish there was something we could do about it.” For the first time in my life, I was the happiest and most well-adjusted person I knew. Now there’s a scary statistic.

  “Maybe there is,” Shelly mused with a far off look. “I’m going to give your Dad a quick call. I’ll get back to you on that.”

  Five minutes later, Shelly returned to the kitchen where I still sat sulking. “I know it’s last minute but how do you feel about a New Year’s Eve party? Nothing big, just us and our closest friends. Are you up for helping me plan one?”

  “Am I? We should have started five minutes ago!” I replaced the ice cream I was about to devour back into the freezer. No need to eat to take away the boredom for me. I had a party to plan.

  “Let’s start with the guest list, shall we.” Shelly snatched the magnetic pad of sticky notes from the front of the refrigerator. “On our end I’m adding Diane, Garrett and Andy. She’s your boss—how do you feel about inviting Rita?”

  “Totally. You guys met but you don’t really know her that well. I know you’ll like her, though.”

  Shelly added Rita’s name to the list. “Now it’s your turn. Who do you want to invite?” “Zach, of course, Rachel and Boone, too. I’d like to invite Chloe and Chelsea but Chloe’s mom doesn’t approve of them dating. She’ll only allow her to come if she thinks she’s here with a boy.”

  “So invite another boy then. Chloe must have a friend she could ask.” I hit a brick wall. “I don’t know if she does. Zach was her fake boyfriend before and I’m not willing to share him. And besides, they fake broke up.” Then brick by brick that wall began to disintegrate. “Lucas can be her fake date,” I announced proudly.

  Shelly put down her pen and gave me a disapproving look. “Are you sure t
hat’s a good idea? He and Zach aren’t exactly the best of friends, you know.”

  “I know that, Shelly. But he won’t be here with me, he’ll be here with Chloe. Zach will understand.”

  “I don’t think he will, honey. I want you to think it over before you ask Lucas, okay?” “Okay,” I mumbled. But it wasn’t okay. Lucas was my friend and Zach needed to let go of his jealousy over the matter. Besides, when the clock struck midnight, I would be in Zach’s arms, not Lucas’s. There wasn’t any other way I would want to ring in the New Year.

  Shelly agreed to call my friends’ parents with their invites. It was the perfect time for me to sneak off and invite Lucas. Without explaining Chloe’s situation, I let him know that he was invited but that I needed him to pick her and Chelsea up on his way.

  “Sounds like a plan. So are you up for another trip to Pittsburgh this week?” Was I? No, I wasn’t. As much as I thought Zach needed to stop worrying about Lucas, he was having a tough enough week already. Zach needed to know that I was here for him anytime he needed me and not hundreds of miles away. “It’s a bad week for me—maybe some other time.”

  Lucas took the news well and promised to see me at the party. As soon as I hung up with him, Zach called. “Ruby, it was really nice of you to throw together this party,” he said excitedly. “It makes me think of Grandma Mason—but in a good way.”

  What? Did she like to get hammered and belt out Auld Lang Syne? “How’s that?” I asked respectfully. “New Year’s Eve was her favorite holiday. She always said that the person you were with when the clock struck midnight was going to be the most important person in your life for the next twelve months. No matter what, she swore it worked every year. This year, I want that person to be you.”