Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3)

by Joy Elbel

  As the door swung open, I saw that it wasn’t Rachel after all. It was the one person I’d been trying to avoid all day—Lucas. There he stood in his black leather jacket and sunglasses—his dark hair ruffling in the wind like the cover model on a cheap romance novel. Cliché, yes. Unappealing, hell to the no! In fact, he was about as hot as I’d ever seen him. I guess those models were cliché for a reason—that look definitely worked! But what was he doing here?

  He lifted his sunglasses and settled them on top of his head revealing his warm brown eyes. “Hey, Ru. Sorry to bother you but I was wondering if I could borrow your math book tonight. I forgot to grab mine out of my locker and I couldn’t help but notice that you carry yours around with you like it’s a bible.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. All he wanted was my book—I could handle that. “Just a second, I have to dig it out of my bag.” He was right. I did bring it home some nights even when I didn’t have to. There was something about solving equations that I found soothing. They were neat, orderly and always had a rational solution—three things distinctly missing in my life. I left the front door hanging wide open while I dug around in my bag. It was probably best not to invite him in. You know, just in case.

  Then fate walked into the entry hall and dipped its nasty fingers into my life. Okay, so it was actually Shelly who walked in but she did have something for me that threw me way off track.

  “Ruby! I know you weren’t raised in a barn—shut that door its freezing outside!” she declared as she walked in from the kitchen. When she got close enough to see Lucas standing just on the other side of it, she reamed me out again. “Where are your manners? Invite him in for heaven’s sake! I’ve seen popsicles frozen less solid than him!”

  I knew Shelly wasn’t a big fan of Lucas but apparently her southern hospitality wasn’t to be suppressed by this. “Sorry, Lucas. Come on in,” I muttered without looking at him. Looking at him was unadvisable. When I looked at him, I started thinking bad things. Really bad things.

  He closed the door behind him and took a seat on the bottom step while I rummaged through my bag for my math book. My bag wasn’t that big, why was it taking me so long to find it? Oh yeah, right. It was because he made me nervous. Real nervous. Pee your pants kind of nervous. It was the kind of nervous you got when the boy you really, really, really liked started talking to you and you said something stupid in response. Trying to avoid Lucas only seemed to be making my situation worse.

  When I calmed down enough to identify the book I was looking for, I turned around and handed it to him. “Here you go. Just don’t forget to give it to me in the morning—I can’t live without my bible, you know.” Dork. I had better lines than that one, why couldn’t I find a single one to use now?

  Lucas replied with a grin, “Like I could forget you if I tried.” I could feel my cheeks blushing at his comment. It was a flattering thing to say and I forgot Shelly was still in the room. When she cleared her throat purposefully to get my attention, I got even more embarrassed.

  “Here, Ruby,” she said handing me two envelopes— one thick and the other thin. “These came for you today.” She handed them to me face down and returned to the kitchen. I flipped over the thick one first. It was from Trinity College—the school Lee and I chose so long ago. Everyone knew what thick letters meant—they meant you were accepted.

  I ripped open the envelope to find that I was right and let out a little squeal. “I’ve been accepted to Trinity College!” But why was I so excited? Pendleton was the school Zach and I picked—the one we were planning the next four years of our life around.

  “Really?” Lucas replied curiously. “So was I.” Shut the front door. And no, not because it was cold outside, either. Trinity College wasn’t that popular—what were the chances that anyone else from Charlotte’s Grove even applied there? Or even knew where it was, for that matter? Figures. Every inch of space I tried to put between us brought us another foot closer together.

  “You’re kidding, right? That’s the school Lee and I decided we wanted to go to years ago.” Dead or not, Lee and Lucas still seemed to have some kind of weird twin sense like Zach and Rachel did.

  “Not kidding,” he replied. “I got my letter on Friday.” So fate smiled down upon us. But it wasn’t a happy “everything is right with the world” kind of smile. It was more like a “see what happens when you try to cross me” kind of sneer. How much longer could I tempt that malicious force? With my luck, the front door would suddenly blow open and a strong wind would knock him right into me and “oops, there goes my virginity”. How would I explain that one to Zach?

  “I’m not sure I’m actually going there, though,” I said coolly. “Pendleton is where Zach and I really want to go.”

  “Oh, so why did you even apply to Trinity then?” Good question. Not so good of an answer. What would he say if I told him I applied there to put distance between Zach and me? It was months ago and a decision made under extreme duress but that was still the reason why I did it. Once it was done, I couldn’t undo it. All I could do was hope for similar good luck with Pendleton.

  I shrugged my shoulders casually. “I don’t know—I just did.” Lucas stood up and tucked the math book under his arm. He took one step forward so that we were face to face and only inches away from each other. “I think you know why. You’re just not ready to admit it to yourself. But when you are—” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “You’ll know exactly where to find me.” He flipped his sunglasses down from where they were perched on his head and walked out the door.

  No, I’d made up my mind—I was going to Pendleton with Zach. We were getting an apartment together and we were going to live happily freakin’ ever after. The end. With renewed determination, I gathered up my stuff and started up the stairs. When I reached the second floor landing, something fell out of my hand and fluttered to the floor. It was the second envelope—the one I’d forgotten all about in my excitement.

  It fell face up with the return address staring at me with a wicked taunt—Pendleton University. Nothing good ever came from letters that thin. I opened it hastily and read until I got to the “we regret” part. I didn’t get in—all I got was Fate’s middle finger jammed in my face. How in the world was I going to break the news to Zach?

  No sooner was I upstairs in my room than Rachel was knocking on the front door. Hauling my ass back down the steps, I tried to decide what to do. Starting college a semester late wasn’t a crime but I knew Dad would see it as just that. He would be afraid that once I got a job and started making some real cash, I wouldn’t want to go back to school. Zach would be disappointed and he would feel like it was his fault that I was throwing my life away. Dammit! I had to do what was right for me—I just didn’t seem to know what that was anymore. Maybe I never knew, maybe I just thought I did. One thing was clear, though—I’d dug myself a deep hole on this one.

  When I opened the door, Rachel burst inside with a gale force. Her unfettered enthusiasm was exactly what I needed right now. And since her good news was the only good news I was going to get, apparently, I was ready to ditch my problems and hear what she had to say. thought I was. I stashed the letters from Or at least I

  Trinity and Pendleton under my bag on my desk and asked her for the information she’d kept secret from me all day.

  “Okay, so I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was official but now that it is, I can tell you. They let Drake out on bail today! His parent’s seem to think it’s a good sign that the police don’t have enough evidence against him. Because of his status, they set the bail high—over a million dollars high—but he’s out!” She said every last word in one breath and by the time she was done, she needed mouth to mouth.

  “That’s good—maybe they have another suspect and I can cut the cloak and dagger routine at the Bantam.” I should have been a little more enthusiastic. But, hey, at least I was trying.

  “Maybe, but not yet at least. I know you’re scared of that place—I am, t
oo! But unless they drop the charges, we still have more work to do.”

  We? What was this “we” crap? I was the one in real danger here. I was the one in the crosshairs of a wraith intent on exacting “soulless revenge”. My life was the one getting toppled over like a house of cards in a hail storm—not hers.

  “Yeah, about that—,” I began, ready to tell her my real thoughts on the subject. But I didn’t. Things were already too complicated to start another senseless argument with her. Instead, I decided to tell her about a nagging feeling I had about Sunday night.

  “So I get the feeling that I’m missing an important clue from what happened at the theater last night. Like the answer’s right in front of me but I just can’t quite make it out yet.”

  Rachel pondered my statement for a moment, twirling her hair around her finger. “Like what?”

  I shook my head in frustration. “I don’t know—just something.” “Well, I can’t help you there. You’re the one with the supernatural powers—not me. If I had something to go on maybe, but ‘just something’ isn’t a good start.”

  She was right. What I had was nothing. I wasn’t psychic. I could communicate with the dead—that’s all. And poorly at best. That feeling was probably just due to exhaustion. My brain had been working overtime lately. Even sleep wasn’t a safe place for me to hide.

  So I changed the subject. “So how’s memorizing your lines coming? Rehearsal seems to get cut short almost every night now.”

  “I know, right? I could use some more help if you have the time.” She gave me those same mesmerizing eyes Zach always gave me and I couldn’t say no.

  “Okay, but just for an hour or two—I have some French homework I have to finish. And Biology, too.” Little did she know that Lucas bought her my help by taking my math book away from me for the night.

  We ran lines until almost six o’clock then she headed home for dinner. Dad brought home Moo Goo Gai Pan from Chow Ming so I snagged a container and took it to my room to eat while I did homework. The letter from Pendleton still sat on my desk as I worked—burning into me like it was the Scarlet Letter. It was a reminder of a time when I thought getting away from Zach was the right thing to do. Was it still? What if all those times I thought I was being a martyr by letting go of him for his own good, I was actually just following the path that I was meant to take?

  I scribbled out my assignments in one big sloppy mess and closed my books. I had a decision to make. Then my phone buzzed twice with two incoming calls—Zach and Lucas both. Make that two decisions. With no hesitation, I chose to ignore Lucas and talk to Zach instead.

  “Ruby! I got a letter in the mail today—a nice fat one! Wanna guess who sent it?” No, not really. Even though Zach had his doubts, I always knew he would have no problem getting into Pendleton. He was way smarter than he gave himself credit for. Zach thought I was the smart one but he was wrong. I mean, which one of us was stupid enough to not apply by the deadline?

  “You got into Pendleton, didn’t you? I knew you would. Congratulations.” I didn’t want to dampen his excitement by telling him that I didn’t but I knew I had to. He deserved at least a few minutes of happiness, though, so I held off.

  “Thanks! You should be getting your acceptance letter any day now, I’m sure. I figure when the weather gets a little nicer we can drive up there and take a look at the campus, maybe scope out some of the apartment buildings, too. Their website says there are nice one bedroom apartments within walking distance of practically everything. You just have to find a way to break the news of us living together to your dad. But be sure to warn me ahead of time—I’d prefer to be a few counties away when you drop that bomb.”

  Why did I always seem to have bad news for him when he was at his happiest? I was nothing but a buzz kill— why did he even want to be with me? I had ghosts. I had a dead boyfriend with a twin. I constantly needed saving. Oh, and did I mention that I had ghosts? One thing was for sure— I wouldn’t date me! Unless drama was what he was attracted to, of course.

  “Dad’s not the only one I have bad news for. I didn’t get into Pendleton, Zach—but I did get into Trinity College. Both letters came today.”

  Silence. Dead silence. Say something, dammit— anything was better than nothing. “Congratulations, Ruby. I’m sure Trinity is a really good school, too,” he responded with obviously fake enthusiasm.

  “Zach, I never said I was going there! I only applied there when I thought you would be better off without me. Taking a semester off wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for me, you know.”

  “Do you still think that? That I would be better off without you? And tell me the honest truth.” The honest truth was yes. Rita made it clear to us in the very beginning that the chemistry we had was incredibly powerful. So powerful that it almost killed us both. Would my ability to communicate with the dead be dampened if I was with someone else—someone like Lucas? There was a definite attraction between us but not the kind of energy that Zach and I created. Zach would be safer without me. Would I be safer without him, too?

  “You would certainly be safer—and don’t try to deny that either.”

  “Life isn’t about being safe, Ruby! It’s about being happy. And the only way I’ll be happy is if I’m with you.” I didn’t know what to do. Zach was the sweetest guy I’d ever met—he was everything I always wanted in a boyfriend. But I couldn’t drag him down with me. Life without Zach. What kind of life would that be? I might have to find out someday but today wasn’t that day.

  “Look, I’ll find a way to explain things to my dad in a way that he can understand. He doesn’t even know that I didn’t get into Pendleton yet. Hell, I still have to tell him that I want to be a writer not a doctor. Trust me—I’ll find a way to fix what I messed up.”

  “Okay, I trust you.” But something about his voice made me doubt that he did—at least not completely. If he found out that Lucas was going to Trinity, Zach would totally lose it. There was no way he would find out unless I told him, so I chose to keep it to myself. Step aside, Fate. It’s time for me to take the wheel.

  25. Ready, Aim, Fire!

  Weekends were only two days long—a measly forty eight hours. Usually, compared to the rest of the week, they flew by before I even knew it. That was how it worked when Garnet was haunting the school. My two days of relative peace were nothing but a blink of an eye while she was torturing me the other five. But now that school was my safe haven, the weekends dragged on forever.

  So in no time at all, it was Friday afternoon again and I was staring down the barrel of a loaded shotgun. The last time I was in the Bantam Theater, Allison nearly bashed my skull in with an iron mask. She’d had ample time to devise a new plan to kill me—what would it be this week? Exploding chandelier? Mental note—stay as far away as possible from the chandelier.

  Since every rehearsal seemed to get cut short in one way or another, Jonas was anxious to get things started. As soon as Rachel walked in she was called to the stage and I was left to fend for myself. She and Lucas were rehearsing the final scene—the one where Kira is forced to kill Roarke so she can be with her new love, Erik. It was the most intriguing part of the play and I was looking forward to watching it. I’d helped Rachel with her lines every chance I got and I practically knew the entire scene by heart.

  But I didn’t get a chance to watch. Jonas had another job for me and I couldn’t refuse to do it. It seemed harmless enough. Sometimes though, I’d discovered, the most innocuous moments were the ones that led to real tragedy. This turned out to be one of those moments.

  “Ruby, I brought in the props for this scene—they’re in a box in the lobby. Can you go get them for me?” Jonas called down to me from the stage.

  “Sure,” I replied. So far, so good. There was nothing dangerous about a box of props, right? I made my way to the lobby and found the box sitting on the ticket counter. A burnished silver candelabra, three red taper candles, and a water pistol—a fake, but albeit convincing, weapon for R
oarke’s death scene. There was even still water in it so I gave it a sideways squirt in the air like I was a kick ass cop or something. When I was done having my fun, I tossed it back in the box and proceeded to the stage.

  Jackson had just finished pushing a fake fireplace onto center stage and Jonas instructed me to set up the candelabra in the center of its mantel. I snuck up behind the actors without disturbing them and placed it where he asked me to. One by one, I wedged the tapers into their holders and stood back to see if they were standing up straight. Perfect.

  I bent over to pick up the box and heard a strange noise. Poof, poof, poof. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that each of the candles was now lit.

  Impossible, yet there it was. A small flame flickered from each wick, tiny wisps of smoke rising to the heavens. No one else was close enough to have lit them. Allison was the only answer.

  “No, Ruby!” Jonas shouted. “Blow those out immediately! We can’t have open flames in here—it’s much too dangerous! If one of those candles were to tip over, why, the whole place would become an instant inferno!”

  The entire group glared at me over his harsh words. Obediently, I snuffed out each tiny fire with a puff of my breath. Jonas thought I lit the candles and no one came to my defense. Even Rachel and Lucas didn’t seem to understand what had just happened. I was the only one who knew the truth, at least for the moment. Allison was toying with me.

  Once the candle incident was forgotten and the rehearsal continued, I approached Jonas with the box now holding nothing but the pistol. “Where would you like me to put this?”

  Jonas reached into the box and took the gun in the palm of his hand then offered it to me. “Give this to Lucas—he needs it for this scene.”

  I set the box just off stage and gingerly took the gun from him. I stifled the temptation to give it just a few more squirts. Jonas was already pissed off enough about the candles—I didn’t want to press my luck.