Spiritus, a Paranormal Romance (Spiritus Series Book#1)

by Dana Michelle Burnett

  Chapter 10

  Somehow I made it through the frustrating weeks with Alastor constantly chatting away in my head. I wasn’t really aware of time passing. I awoke one morning to the autumn colored leaves out my window and realized that it was the first Monday in October.

  Ally began my day off by reminding me about the fall dance in just a few weeks.

  “Has anyone asked you yet?” She asked as soon as I took my seat in English.

  “Hardly,” I said with a sarcastic laugh.

  “Are you sure?” She asked with a knowing smirk, “What about your mystery man?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped as Alastor laughed in the secret voice only I could hear.

  Ally shrugged, “Whatever, keep him a secret, but you two looked pretty hot and heavy.”

  “Trust me, we’re not.”

  “Then who is he?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I snapped.

  She said nothing else and class began. I didn’t have time to worry about what she must be thinking or if I was going to be shunned for my secrecy. Mrs. Temple was handing out a pop quiz on the John Steinbeck novel I had yet to open. Perfect, one more failed test to add to the collection that started when Alastor showed up.

  This is all your fault, you know.

  Alastor only laughed and hovered above my head. I wished that I could somehow just reach up and jab him with my pencil.

  I was grateful when the bell rang and I could turn in my nearly blank test. Breathing a sigh of relief, I stepped out into the hall and let the crowd swallow me up while I jogged to catch up with Ally.

  Alastor was unusually quiet as I followed Ally to the cafeteria. I sensed the tension in him as he swirled around me even though he was silent. I was keenly aware of him and his mood, but waited for him to tell me what was bothering him.

  “Will you be going to the dance?” He finally whispered inside my head.

  I don’t know.

  “I wish that I could be your escort,” He confessed, brushing my neck with his ghostly hand.

  There was a sad, resigned note to his voice that tugged at my heart.

  I wish you could too.

  Alastor became more agitated as he gathered around me, stirring the air to the point even Billie and Ally felt the breeze. I took my seat at the table, pretending I noticed nothing. They looked from side to side to try to locate where the errant breeze was stemming.

  Alastor, what is wrong with you?

  “I do believe that someone else is planning to ask you,” He hissed as he settled around me.

  Glancing around the cafeteria, my eyes settled on Jonah who had just walked in and stood there surrounded by friends. He hadn’t spoken to me for weeks, not since the day Alastor appeared under the birch trees.

  Him?

  The rebellious draft kicked up again as Alastor expressed his frustration. People looked around again as papers blew about. A few teachers even left their table in the corner and walked over to the windows, checking to make sure that each one was shut and latched.

  I hesitated, despising the wave of contrition that passed through me. Why was it bad to want the most normal things, like to go to a dance? Why did I have to be so torn?

  “What will you say to him?” Alastor demanded.

  I didn’t answer him. I sipped my soda and half-heartedly listened to them talk about the dance. Every word they uttered wore me down a little more and made me question everything.

  Was it wrong for me to want the same things as other girls? I made no vow to Alastor in this life. Why was I denying myself? Because, I reasoned with myself, deep down I knew that it was only Alastor I wanted. It would always be Alastor.

  “That boy does not honor you like I do,” Alastor reminded me as I left the cafeteria to go to History.

  How would you know?

  Alastor lowered his voice to a faint whisper inside the walls of my mind.

  “It will not end well,” he said.

  Go away Alastor.

  “Very well.”

  No one was in the classroom when I took my seat. I opened my textbook and told myself I was reviewing the chapter we were covering, but I was actually watching the door with anticipation.

  When Jonah did enter the room, he met my eyes before I could look away and fake interest in my book. I expected him to look away and ignore me as usual, but instead he stared at me with a strange mix of frustration and amusement written on his face.

  I forced myself to look away. I dropped my eyes to my books even though I was no longer interested in the words.

  Just thinking about Jonah sent a rush of emotion through me. I was giddy, but at the same time hesitant, almost as if I felt guilty or something close to it.

  What was I doing? He hadn’t spoken to me in weeks. What made me think today would be different?

  Other students arrived and Mr. Abramson called the class to order. I tried to pretend I was not studying Jonah’s every move and hoped I was better at convincing everyone else than I was myself. I was ready to dart out the door as soon as the bell rang.

  “Becca?” Jonah called to me before I could escape.

  I looked up at him reluctantly. He was too perfect, so much so it was almost a cliché and I still didn’t know how to sort out the toxic soup of emotions I felt near him.

  “What is it Jonah?” I asked, keeping my voice light as possible.

  “Well,” Jonah said, looking down at his feet. “I guess you’ve heard about the dance coming up.”

  My heart did a strange stop-start-pound in my ears sort of thing. I tried to breathe normally, but my knees were already starting to shake.

  “Billie and Ally were talking about it at lunch,” I said, shocked at how normal my voice sounded. “Why?”

  “Well,” he faltered, clearly not as confident as I had believed. “I was wondering if you were going?”

  “I don’t know. Nobody has asked me.”

  “Oh,” he said and looked back down at his feet. “I thought you might already have a date.”

  I bit my lip, hating the rush of shame that ran over me. I didn’t want to think about Alastor, but everyone kept bringing up the man from under the tree that day.

  “No,” I assured him. “No one has asked me.”

  Jonah smiled and stood taller, running his fingers through his hair like the male model that he should have been. “Well, would you like to go with me?”

  So this is what it was like to be normal? This sensation of giddy embarrassment?

  “Yes,” I whispered before he changed his mind or I changed mine. “I’d love to.”

  “Great,” he said with a slight nod. “We’ll work all the details out later.”

  Before I could say anything else, he turned and left the room. I stared after him, still trying to believe what just happened.

  I walked to my Spanish class in a state of bewilderment. I took my seat and ran through the events in my mind while the teacher droned on and on about conjugating verbs.

  “I’m pleased to see you in such a good mood Miss McAllister,” Mrs. Martinez said in a belittling tone. “But would you please refrain from humming.”

  I flushed and sank down in my seat. I felt everyone’s eyes on me, especially Ashley Richardson’s. I felt her glaring at me from across the room like she was trying to bore a hole into the side of my head.

  What was a matter with her? She seemed to be hating me more than usual.

  When the bell range, I stood to leave, but Ashley blocked my way.

  “So Becca,” Ashley began, stressing my name. “I hear Jonah asked you to the dance.”

  “Yeah,” I said, eying her warily.

  She smirked as she tilted her head and looked down at me. “Well, he might be paying attention to you now, but don’t get used to it.”

  “Why is that?”

  Ashley lifted her hand to examine her perfect nails, complete with shiny French manicure.

  “Because,” she said with a toss of her head. �
�Right now you’re the new girl, a novelty.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I asked, unable to deny the obvious.

  She crossed her arms, “Sooner or later, novelty wears off and when it does, he’ll come right back to me.”

  “Do you really believe that?” I snapped.

  “Yes, and so do you. Guys like him belong with girls like me; it’s just a fact of life.”

  I pushed past her, wishing I had enough guts to shove her into the wall.

  “Whatever,” I said as I left.

  Alastor hovered near my shoulder, “I do not like that girl.”

  I smiled and stifled a giggle. Neither do I.

  The worse thing was that I had the sinking sensation that Ashley was right. After all, I was nothing special and he was Jonah Ericson. Normal girls like me that went to dances with the super popular guy usually got pig blood dumped on them or something, not a second date.

  I guess it didn’t matter. It was all settled. I was going to the dance with Jonah Ericson.

  The news of this miracle seemed to spread quickly, so quickly that even as I was leaving school for the day, girls were giving me looks of envy. Overnight I went from being the strange new girl at school to Jonah’s date for the dance. I could feel people looking at me and wondering who I was for such a turn of fortune.

  “You’re all anyone is talking about,” Billie said when we met up outside school. She smiled smugly, “I’ve been asked about it a dozen times just while I’ve been standing here.”

  Ally motioned over to the flock of girls near the steps; Ashley was in the center of them.

  “Some people are pretty twisted up over it,” She said, barely able to contain her smile.

  I looked over at Ashley and saw that she was glaring at me again as if she wished I would burst into flames.

  “Yeah, she’s already made it pretty clear what she thinks about it.”

  Billie giggled, “So I guess it’s safe to say that she hates you now.”

  Ally elbowed me in the ribs, “You can almost see the smoke coming out of her ears.”

  “I guess she really does hate me,” I said with another glance in Ashley’s direction. “I can’t pretend that it’s a loss.”

  “Who cares?” Ally declared. “You’re going to the dance with Jonah Ericson!”

  We started walking. They were squealing and joking around while I was starting to get a sick feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. Where was Alastor? Did he already know? If he didn’t, what would he do when he found out?

  I was so distracted with my thoughts about Alastor I didn’t notice Billie and Ally had stopped walking. I turned to say something to them and they were frozen in place three yards back.

  “What? What’s wrong with you two?” I asked.

  “How can you be so calm?” Ally wailed.

  I walked back to where her and Ally stood, both of them looking as though the world was coming to an end.

  “What are you throwing such a fit over?” I asked.

  “What are you going to wear?” Billie asked, spreading her arms wide as if she had my entire wardrobe in front of her.

  “Um…A Dress…I guess…What else would I wear?” I asked, still not sure what the big crisis was.

  “Do you have a dress?” Ally asked.

  “Well, no.”

  “Oh my God!” Billie cried out. “We only have two weeks to find one.”

  “Well, call me fashion ignorant,” I declared. “But I still don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “What if we find you a dress, but it needs to be altered? What about dying the shoes?” Billie counted off on her fingers, “And then there’s the accessories and deciding on your hair.”

  “Seriously?” I teased, “This is your major crisis?”

  Ally shook her head, “You don’t get it. You’re going to the dance with Jonah Ericson.”

  I was starting to grow impatient with both of them, “I know. Remember? I was there when he asked me.”

  “Well,” Billie explained. “You can’t just show up in any old dress. Guys like Jonah go to dances with girls like Ashley with their designer dresses. They don’t show up with girls in dresses grabbed off the clearance rack at the last minute.”

  I began to understand I had a bigger responsibility to Jonah than merely showing up as his date. There were expectations to uphold that I knew nothing about. The entire thing was becoming overwhelming quickly.

  “So what am I supposed to do about it?” I asked, already defeated.

  Billie and Ally looked at me, shrugging their shoulders.

  I could feel the tears behind my eyes, wanting to come up and embarrass me. “You’re not helping.”

  Ally sighed and straightened her shoulders. “You’re right. Let’s drop off your books, get some money from your dad, and we’ll go shopping. I’ve got my mom’s car tonight so we can even go down to Clarksville.”

  Giving me a nervous smile, Billie agreed. “Sure. If we get started right away, I’m sure we can pull it off.”

  I tried to be as confident as they were pretending to be. I wanted to believe them, but it would take a miracle. I wanted to believe I could look the part of small town royalty if only I had the right dress.

  They followed me home where I let us in using my old fashioned black key. I felt the disturbance of Alastor in the air even before I turned the knob. The door creaked as I stepped inside with them close behind me. The light on the entry table flickered off and on, catching their attention.

  I laughed and rolled my eyes, trying not to let them see the panic that was tightening my throat. “We’ve got an electrician coming next week to fix that. Grab yourselves a soda. I’ll be right back down.”

  As they headed toward the kitchen, I bounded up the stairs two at a time. I could hear the house groaning and something similar to the sound of cards shuffling coming from above. By the time I reached my bedroom door, I could feel Alastor’s cold breath on my neck.

  I opened the door to a hurricane of papers and clothes being swept through the room. It would have been terrifying if I hadn’t known the jealousy behind it. I stepped inside and slammed the door, bringing an end to the chaos as all of my possessions fell and fluttered to the floor.

  “What?” I hissed into the air as I looked about.

  There was a rush of air as Alastor came in to touch my face and hair without materializing, “What is it that you think you are doing Becca?”

  “You know full well what I’m doing,” I said as I glared up at the ceiling. “You’re the one that said Jonah was going to ask me to the dance.”

  “I did not tell you to accept the invitation.”

  I ignored him, going to my dresser and getting my money out of the top drawer. I tried to shrug him off as he collected around me, but how do you push away someone that isn’t there?

  “Becca,” His sweet voice called to me. “Why are you shunning me?”

  I griped the edge of the furniture, grinding my teeth and squinting my eyes shut to keep the tears from escaping.

  “Alastor let me go,” I pleaded.

  A chill spread through the room as he gathered energy. It sounded like the roar of the ocean inside a sea shell.

  “How can you waste time thinking about that boy when it is I that loves you?” He demanded, “Do you not realize that it is I that has cheated eternal sleep to be near you now?”

  I kept my eyes closed, knowing that he was taking form in back of me. I felt his smooth hand touch my face and my knees felt weak.

  “Becca,” he whispered. “Open your eyes and look at me.”

  I hesitated, not sure if I could stand to see his face. Despite my better judgment, I turned to him and opened my eyes.

  He stood before me, looking solid and real. The light in his blue eyes was just as intense, but somewhat less luminous in this form. His skin was youthful, but rugged beyond his years. My eyes followed the lines of his strong jaw down to his neck and then to his open collar. I fought
the urge to bury my face in his chest and inhale the scent of his skin.

  Alastor stepped even closer to me. I could feel the icy chill radiating from him.

  “Becca,” he pleaded. “He is just a boy. I am your husband. Why are you doing this to me?”

  I knew I was faltering. His words were pulling me in, making me want to bend to his will. I had to do something before it was too late.

  I took one shaking step backward and away from his hand. As I did, the image of him wavered and began to fade.

  “Because,” I said. “He’s real.”

  The very air surrounding me shook to where dusty fragments of plaster from the ceiling fell away. The flickering mist that was Alastor broke apart and came toward me as if pushed by a great wind. I covered my face with my hands as he rushed toward me. Papers blew past me and things flew off the wall as I struggled to make it to the door.

  When I reached the door, I rushed out into the hall and slammed the door behind me. The noise and commotion stopped immediately.

  Ally and Billie were rushing up the stairs, their eyes wide and panicked.

  “Are you okay?” Ally panted. “We heard you banging around up here.”

  I smoothed my hair and tried to smile. “Sure. I just got tangled up in a cord and tripped.”

  They both eyed me suspiciously, probably trying to decide whether or not to believe me.

  “So,” I said with as much enthusiasm as possible. “What are we waiting for?”