

## The Reaping

by

### Katharine Sadler

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Katharine Sadler

All Rights Reserved.

### CHAPTER ONE

I hate to fly. I'm not afraid the plane is going to crash or I'm going to catch the next flu epidemic from a fellow passenger. I hate flying because there's nowhere to go to escape the ghosts, and there are always ghosts.

"I've been watching her every day for the past three months, ever since I realized she was actually serious about this guy. Then I hear him say they should elope. Elope! Can you believe it? What kind of monster is he?" the dead man said with a slight Southern accent. He'd been sitting on the lap of the person sleeping next to me and droning on about his still-living wife for forty-five minutes. Across the aisle, a baby had been screaming since take-off. The ghost spoke louder and louder to be heard over the cries.

I ignored his question, cranked up the volume on my iPod, and stared at the pages of the spy thriller I was having no luck focusing on. Even with Korn at full volume, I could still hear the baby and the ghost. I needed better headphones.

Fortunately, the ghost didn't seem to need a response. "I mean, I understand that she should move on with her life, but does it have to be with him? My name is Doug, by the way."

A second ghost, in a flowery dress, drifted up to Doug. "Sweetie, I don't think she can see or hear you. You should just move along. Come join the rest of us in the back of the plane."

"Oh, no," Doug said. "She can see and hear me. I caught her eye as soon as I boarded with Shelley and she's been staring at the same page of her book for twenty minutes."

_Damn it_. I considered turning the page immediately but figured that would be too obvious. Instead, I turned off my Kindle and mouthed, "Leave me alone," at the two ghosts. For the first time, I looked at their faces. The man, balding and overweight, had bright blue eyes and a kind smile. The woman's face appeared lined by age but pretty, her white hair tied loosely behind her head. She didn't smile at me.

"You see," Doug said to the elderly ghost. "I've been trying to get her to help me convince my wife not to marry an asshole, but apparently, she has better things to do with her time."

I sighed and looked out the window. I made it a rule not to do favors for ghosts. Especially not ghosts like the man next to me whose real wish was to be alive again. I knew from experience he would never be happy about anything his widow did, because she was doing it without him.

"Oh, can you really hear us?" The woman drifted over and settled directly above me. "My name is Faye and I need your help. Oh, it's been so, so long. I never thought I'd find anyone to talk to him for me."

I took out my ear buds, looked at the woman, and shook my head. "No," I mouthed.

"Oh, but it is so important. My grandson is flying to make a business deal that is going to be a huge mistake for him. He will be ruined."

"And my wife will be ruined, if you don't help me."

Both ghosts drifted closer, and the baby screamed louder while its parents carried on a conversation over its head as though it weren't even there.

A third ghost appeared in the corner of my vision next to Faye. "You have to warn everyone the plane is going to crash. We have to do something," he screamed.

"Shut up, you," Faye said. "Everyone knows we aren't any better at predicting the future than the living. I was here first, so just wait your turn."

"Uh, actually, _I_ was here first," Doug said as he pushed Faye off my lap and took her place. "So, about my wife—"

"Your widow." Faye gave him a shove.

"The plane is going to crash," the third ghost whispered in my ear as he leaned over the back of my seat.

"Shut up!" I shouted as I stood, pushing through the ghosts. Everyone on the plane stopped talking and looked at me. All I could hear was the whir of the engine; even the baby had quieted to a whimper.

I knew it would only be a few moments before the ghosts in the back of the plane drifted up to see what all the commotion was about. I also knew a joke would be the best way to defuse the situation and charm my fellow travelers. Unfortunately, I had never possessed the gift of saying the right thing at the right moment, and the more public the situation, the worse my choice of words became. Very often, I made no sense at all and people seemed to assume I was an idiot, or a lunatic. On this day, I made perfect sense. "That baby is driving me crazy."

At least, I had told the truth; a truth that wouldn't get me sent to the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Someone in the back of the plane even laughed and hooted in support. The people I could see shook their heads and frowned in disapproval.

"That baby can't help it," Faye said.

I knew I should keep my mouth shut and sit back down, but I couldn't help trying to explain. "I know the baby can't help it and I'm sure it's a very sweet baby. Not that I really know anything about babies, I try to avoid them if I can. I mean..."

A stewardess hurried back to stand next to my aisle, a forced smile on her face. "Is everything okay back here?"

"Oh, yes, yes, everything's fine. I'm sorry. I..." And I finally had the good sense to shut up, sit down, and go back to pretending to read my book.

"Okay, we should be landing soon. If you could please..."

I looked up long enough to smile and nod, before returning my attention to my Kindle screen.

"Wow," Doug said. "You trying to get kicked off the plane?"

I ignored him.

"Look, honey, I'm not going to leave you alone until you agree to try to help me."

"Me, either," Faye said, settling down on top of my book.

"You have to tell them the plane is going to crash," said the third ghost.

I sighed, pulled my carry-on bag from under the seat, and took out a small notebook and pen. "I'll try." I scribbled on the pad and tilted it so both ghosts could read it. _Give me names and addresses and don't tell anyone else what I can do._

The three quickly agreed to my terms and gave me the necessary information. The third ghost was satisfied with my promise to alert the flight attendant. After they left, I used the call button and asked for a soda, which I was refused, because passengers could only get one beverage per flight. Hopefully, the brief conversation would be enough to make the ghost think I'd warned her about the plane crashing.

I sighed, leaned back in my seat, and wondered again how my mother had been able to convince me to visit. The three day trip had been tedious, with only daily walks to the ocean to make it more bearable. My relationship with my mother had always been strained, but since I'd moved out, we'd had next to nothing to say to each other. Mom wasn't interested in my life in Colorado, and she didn't want me to be involved in her life.

Instead of dwelling on my pathetic inability to say no to Mom, I returned to my Kindle and sank into a world of smooth-talking characters and exciting secrets. I finished my book before we landed.

As I exited the plane, I smiled at the pretty, blonde stewardess, but she only nodded over my head at the handsome man behind me. Ghosts seemed to be the only sentient beings who took any notice of me unless I was babbling idiotically. I wove my way through the disembarking crowd and headed toward the exit at a fast walk. I only had a carry-on bag, and passed the baggage claim without a glance.

"Hey, wait up," someone shouted behind me.

I kept walking, sure no one was yelling at me and, if they were, that it was a ghost. I heard feet pounding behind me.

"Hey, baby hater, wait up."

I stopped, more out of surprise than a desire to confront whoever chased me. I turned long enough to see a chubby guy in a Phish t-shirt, about the same age as me. I didn't know him and didn't want whatever he was selling.

I headed to Hertz car rental and got in line. I was so ready to get back home. The drive from the Denver airport to Briarton would take about two hours, and I was scheduled to be at work in three.

Phish boy popped into line behind me. "Didn't you hear me?" he asked, slightly breathless.

I faced him, ready to go on the defensive, but found it difficult not to smile. The guy had the most endearing smile and the contagious energy of a child. "You called me 'baby hater'."

"That's not your name?" He stuck out a hand and his smile widened. "Hi, I'm Jed Forrester."

His hand engulfed mine as I shook it, and I realized what a big guy he was. A little chubby, but under that, it looked like he had a thick layer of muscle. He stood a head taller than and twice as wide as me, and I'm 5"6. Just a solid wall of dude.

"I'm Kelsey Fitzhugh. And I don't hate babies."

"Right." Jed winked at me. "I thought what you said was awesome. That baby was driving everyone crazy. I wish I had said it."

"I shouldn't have said it. I was just—"

"You absolutely should have said it. God, I can't stand babies, either. What good are they, anyway, just crying and pooping and making everyone wait around on them?" He shook his head and chuckled as though he was truly baffled.

"If you chased me down to share your hatred of babies, it was a wasted effort. I really don't hate babies; I've just had a lousy day, and I shouldn't have said anything. I normally wouldn't have said anything."

"Oh. So you don't hate babies? Not even a little bit? You honestly think they are sweet, precious, wonderful little bundles of everlasting joy?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

"Oh, that sounded convincing." He nudged me with an elbow. "You love every little bitty aspect of babies, right down to their poopy diapers?"

"I love the sweet smell of their darling little baby spit-ups and ear-piercing cries for attention."

"Me, too," he said with a dramatic arm sweep. "I especially think it's so awesome how they do absolutely nothing interesting. They can't even hold their heads up."

I laughed. "Alright, so I'm not crazy about babies. I still shouldn't have said anything."

He shrugged. "I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that point, because I think you should have and I'm glad you did. Did you see the parents? They were just sitting there like it wasn't even their baby."

"Maybe there was really nothing they could have done."

"They should have at least _pretended_ to do something. It would have made me feel better."

"I'm sure they cared how you felt."

"They should have cared, that's my point."

The line moved forward and I went with it.

Jed followed. "I don't usually rent here, but since I'm here..."

"Where are you headed?" I asked.

"Briarton. How about you?"

"Me, too. I don't think I've seen you before. You lived there long?"

"Nope. I'm just moving to town."

I glanced down at his bag. "And that's all you're bringing?"

"My brother's already there, with the rest of my stuff. He drove, but I couldn't make it out there until today." He stared at the line for a long moment, then smiled at me. "Hey, since we're going to the same place, we should ride together. We could split the rental fee."

I could hardly argue with a cheaper ride, but I didn't know anything about the guy. "Thanks, but I'm kind of in a hurry. I have to be at work in three hours."

"Not too keen on riding with a stranger? I get it. Let me get your number, though. We should meet up in Briarton." I gave him my number and said goodbye when my turn came to approach the counter.

I got a two-door sedan that looked relatively new. My bag in the trunk, me plopped down on the front seat, the radio tuned to a hard rock station. I turned up the volume as Pantera roared from the speakers and then backed out of my spot.

"Ugh, how can you listen to this stuff?" a male voice whined from the passenger seat next to me.

Doug smiled at me, and I sneered back. "I'm not going to interfere in her life, so you might as well leave me alone."

"I know," he said, and sighed. "I figured you just took her information to get me to leave you alone. It wouldn't make any difference, anyway. I saw her with him at baggage claim and she didn't have eyes for anyone else. She's in love."

"You should be happy for her and move on."

"Move on where? Way I see it, I know what I have here. I can watch her and make sure he treats her right, check in on my daughter, and I can talk to you. Beyond that, I don't know what's on the other side, maybe nothing. I'll just stay here."

Not the first time a ghost had promised to stick around, even to haunt me for eternity, but they never lasted. They either got bored watching other people live or they just faded away.

"I don't think it works that way," I told him. "Besides, I'm downright dull."

"Yeah, I can tell. Unfortunately, there's no one else I've found who can see or hear me, so I have to make the best of what I've got."

I turned up the volume on the radio and focused on the road before me, ignoring the twist in my gut that meant I was on the verge of completely freaking out. The last thing I needed in my life was a melancholy ghost.

As I drove us into the mountains, I felt myself relax and let go of all the tension I'd been holding onto at my Mom's house. Almost home, to the only place that had ever really felt like home, and I was so ready to get back. Even Doug's constant whining drone about his family and their lack of proper mourning couldn't hamper my mood. I tuned him out and admired the scenery around us.

I still remembered the first time I had seen this place; three years ago, me a senior in high school. I'd insinuated myself into a ski trip with a girl, Elsa, who was little more than an acquaintance. She'd wanted to say no to me, but I'd done a good reading for her mother once, and she didn't know how to say no. Even in a car with a brooding girl and her parents who'd only wanted to talk to me about ghosts, a happy peace had washed over me as we'd driven this road.

I'd forced myself on Elsa and her family because I was so desperate to get away from my mother and my life in Virginia Beach, but I'd never expected to love the place. I spent the week there looking for a job, for a way to stay in town, while Elsa skied and went on snow shoe hikes. When Elsa and her family left, I stayed, and I've never regretted that decision.

"Hello, Earth to Kelsey," Doug said. "What are you thinking about so hard over there?"

"I'm just thinking about how much I love this place," I said without really thinking. I don't usually share personal information about myself, with ghosts or with the living. Growing up, everyone knew I could see and speak to the dead, but no one in Briarton knew and I wanted to keep it that way. The less I shared about myself, the less people wanted to know, I'd found.

Doug looked out the window like he was seeing it for the first time. "Makes me feel a bit claustrophobic myself. Surrounded by mountains. What's so great about it?"

I continued to stare at the road. If Doug didn't love it, I couldn't make him see the beauty. "Look," I said instead. "No one in Briarton knows I can see you or talk to you, so don't harass me once we're there, okay? I don't want you attracting more ghosts to me or making me look like a crazy person."

He huffed. "I suppose you want me to go away completely."

"I'm not that lucky, or that persuasive. Just keep your distance when we're in public, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine," he said.

I didn't believe him.

### CHAPTER TWO

My hands shook slightly as I faced my boss, Landon. I didn't like him and, more importantly, I didn't trust him.

"Okay, Landon, I'd like to go over the work schedules with you."

The office smelled of burnt matches and sticky, sweet marijuana smoke, and I hoped that was the only drug he'd ingested recently. He sat at his desk with a magazine open in front of him, demonstrating what he'd been doing while I'd been handling a rush of customers alone. Mountain Books was the only bookstore in Briarton and November usually proved a slow month for us, but a new mountaineering book had just come out and gotten rave reviews in the local paper.

He stared at me. "Go over what?"

I wanted to reach across the desk and shake him until his blank gaze focused on me. I could tell from his bloodshot eyes, slack expression, and greasy hair that he was high and probably had been for a couple days in a row. I should have given up and tried again another day, but I'd already put the conversation off for a week and my co-workers were talking about walking out. "The staff would like to be given their work schedules a week in advance."

"Okay, okay, sure." Landon nodded, his words bubbling out as if he were underwater. "Wait, don't you make the schedule?"

"Yes, but you have to approve it and it often sits on your desk for at least a week before you sign it." I should have just posted the schedule without his approval. "Listen, why don't I work on this some more and see if I can come up with a solution? We can talk again tomorrow." He rose with a smile. "Oh, and if you are going to insist on not hiring more people, we'd like a second break for the longer shifts." He stared at me for a moment and began to shake his head. "I just wanted to let you know and give you a chance to think about it."

He nodded. "You know I'm not as dumb as you think I am."

"I don't think you are dumb." _Just stoned out of your mind_.

"Well, I'm not. If I were dumb, how is it that I run the only store in this town with a completely chick staff? You know there's like a hundred dudes for every chick in this town."

Actually, the ratio stood closer to five guys for every girl, but I didn't bother to correct him.

"Not to mention that every one of you girls I've hired is phat, P. H. A. T. Bow wow wow." Sadly, Landon's slang remained stuck in the nineties. "I am way smarter than you or anyone else gives me credit for."

I nodded and tried to move slowly toward the door.

"So, you don't need to worry, 'kay. I'll run this store and keep everyone hip-hip-happy."

"I'm not worried, Landon," I said as I turned to leave.

He walked around his desk and followed me to the door, listing slightly. "Are you staying?" He took a step in my direction and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you close up and leave with me? We could have a few drinks. I'm sure we could have some fun."

I tried not to shrink away from his touch but picked up his hand and dropped it from my shoulder. "I have a boyfriend, Landon," I lied.

"Don't worry, I won't tell him about us." He wobbled and put his hand back on my shoulder. "If you don't want to go with me, we could hang out right here. Have a drink, have some fun? We could make it a regular thing...give me something to look forward to in this crap job."

I did my best not to grab the pen from his desk and stab him in the hand. _He is the owner's nephew_ , I reminded myself. "No, Landon, go home."

He leaned over me, his foul breath on my ear, and tried to slide a hand over my shoulder and onto my right breast. "I could make it worth your while. Maybe double your salary? What will it take?"

I stood and pushed my chair back into him. He staggered and almost fell. "Landon, go home now and I won't call the cops."

He backed up, hands in the air. "Whoa, Ice Princess. I was just trying to teach you how to have fun. Guess it's your loss." He stepped out the door and started down the stairs to the store below. "And you can forget about a raise this year."

I watched him walk out onto Ninth Street and hoped he'd get hit by a car. I was halfway through my third year as a part-time sales associate and making well above minimum wage. I didn't want to have to find a new job and, as I walked through the store, moving a copy of _Wicked_ from the end cap display back to the shelf where it belonged, I had to admit I liked working there too much to let Landon chase me away. From my first week in town, I had been drawn to the bookstore and when I'd finally applied, it had taken me seven months to get hired. Before Landon's reign of horror, it had been a popular place to work.

The shop had become a haven for me, a place to go where everything slowed down and, until Landon, everything had been simpler. The customers who walked through the door, whether tourist or local, had questions that were easy to answer. What book would I recommend to keep them busy on the coldest days? Did I think the movie version of a popular book was worth seeing? At the shop, I didn't have to be myself or anyone else; I could just be a person who loved books talking to other people who loved books.

I noticed that the window display was beginning to get dusty. It hadn't been changed since Landon's first days on staff. I removed the summer scene and replaced it with a simple winter display. I hung glass balls I found in the back room and littered the floor of the space with glitter and white confetti. In the middle, I placed an array of winter-themed books, from _Ethan Frome_ to _Dr. Zhivago_.

I left the store after midnight, stepped outside and paused for a moment, taking a deep breath of mountain air. At 7,000 feet, the air felt lighter and purer than it had on the East Coast. The night felt surprisingly warm for November and I hoped the higher temperature didn't mean a mild winter. About two inches of snow covered the grass and the roofs of the buildings, but the street and the sidewalk were clear. I was hoping for a really good snow in the next couple of weeks. The town was absolutely gorgeous in snow and a good snowfall would mean a deep enough base on the mountain for me to ski without worrying about rocks cutting up my skis.

An SUV rumbled by slowly on the dark, narrow Main Street, and I clasped my keys in my closed fist, a key protruding from between each pair of fingers, and hurried down the street to my apartment, the weather forgotten. Briarton wasn't a dangerous town; in fact, most of the people I knew didn't lock their cars or their homes, but the confrontation with Landon had scared me. I was pretty sure he was harmless, but I still didn't want to run into him on the dark street. I almost wished Doug was with me, but he'd gone off to see his family again and hadn't returned yet. I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed away. He had to be about ready to cross over now that he'd accepted his wife moving on without him.

I was half a block from home when I heard a loud laugh that seemed to have come from nowhere. My heart raced and I sprinted for my place. I felt silly for running, but that didn't slow me down. I swung open the street level door and raced up the stairs. I had the key ready in my hand and opened the door, let myself in, and shut and locked it behind me. Breathing heavily, I walked into the brightly lit apartment and smiled at Angelica on the couch.

Angelica sat up and stretched and I recognized from her droopy eyes and her mussed hair that she had been sleeping. In her drowsy state, she looked even more like a child than usual and I couldn't help but smile. Her curly blonde hair stuck out from her head in all directions, and her tiny, upturned nose wrinkled when she yawned. "I recognized your feet, racing up here. You see some monsters in the shadows down there?"

I had never told Angelica about the ghosts, but she had sensed that I was a little different from "normal" people and I had admitted to an overactive imagination. She was obsessed with everything supernatural and unusual, though she had never experienced any such thing herself, and she would love it if she knew I talked to ghosts. Unfortunately for Angelica, I liked being ordinary too much to risk sharing my secret.

I walked over and curled up on the couch next to her, giving her a quick squeeze. It felt good to snuggle up to my best friend, the first best friend I'd ever had. "No monsters. I just couldn't wait to see you."

Angelica hugged me back. "I didn't think so. I was meditating earlier tonight and I didn't get any bad vibes from the surrounding area." Her tone was only half joking. "So how was work tonight?"

"Okay, I guess. Landon is the worst manager ever. I had a talk with him, but I don't think anything sunk in."

"I don't know why you keep trying with him. It only frustrates you. The dude's a total douche." She yawned. She worked at the bookstore with me but didn't enjoy it. She wanted to get a job with ski patrol. "I've started doing this new thing where every time he talks to me I say 'what?' No matter what he says I just keep saying 'what?' It's hilarious. He gets totally confused. You can't take that dude seriously."

"I know. I probably should let it go. Eventually, he will do something so stupid that even being the owner's nephew won't protect him. You know, tonight he totally hit on me."

Angelica sat straight up. "What? Ewwww! He didn't touch you, did he?"

"He tried a couple of times. You don't think he would actually...you know..."

"What? Like force himself on you? I don't know. Maybe you shouldn't stay there alone with him anymore. Dude, seriously, if he ever did anything like that to you, I would kill him."

The serious look on her cherubic face made me laugh.

"You don't believe me? You're my best friend, Kelsey, and you are so pure. If he sullied you, I would destroy him." She looked a bit offended.

I was constantly amazed by her devotion to me, often feeling it was only a matter of time before she discovered something about me that would send her running out of my life. For that reason, I always tried to take her seriously, as difficult as it sometimes could be. "Thank you, but I don't think it will come to that. I just won't stay there alone with him anymore."

"Why not find another job? You could work anywhere."

"Because I don't want to work anywhere else. I like working at the bookstore and I won't let that wasted prick chase me away." In my previous life, I would never have used a term like 'wasted prick,' but Angelica's language had rubbed off on me and I liked the way using such words made me feel like a different person.

"Right on," she said. "I don't know why you like it there, but whatever. If you're ever there alone with him again, just call me and I'll come over and protect you."

"Thanks, Ang. Now I think we both should go to bed." I hugged her and stood, pulling her up with me.

"Okay." We walked with our arms around each other to the back of the apartment. I led Angelica into her room and dropped her on the bed.

"Good night, sweetie."

"Ga' nigh'." She yawned as she pulled back the duvet and snuggled in.

I walked back to my room, pulled off my jeans, and went right under the covers. I would worry about brushing my teeth and washing my face in the morning when I had the energy for it.

I stood alone on a crowded street in downtown Briarton, bumped and jostled by the constant flow of people, all in parkas and snow pants, carrying snowboards and skis. I tried to get out of the stream of pedestrian traffic and found my only option was to move with the people toward the mountain that rose above me. I walked to the center of Klondike Square at the base of the mountain. The nearby gondola was empty and unmoving and, suddenly, I was alone.

A familiar laugh behind me made me spin around and I saw Landon, walking my way slowly. There was something different about him and, as he neared, I could see that his eyes were clear, his walk steady. For the first time since I had known him, Landon was completely sober. He smiled at me and I found myself smiling back.

"Hello, Kelsey," he said as he gripped my shoulders and kissed my cheek. I took an impulsive step back, but he had already released me and moved away. "Look, Kelsey, something has happened to me...and I wanted you to understand that I'm sorry about the way I treated you."

"I...Okay."

He shrugged. "I don't expect you to believe me, but I needed to tell you that before... The thing is, I'm not too happy about my current situation and they say the only way I can change it is to... Kelsey, you've always been a sad, pathetic, wimp of a girl and they say I am more deserving of what you have than you are."

"What? Who?"

"None of that matters now, Kelsey. I guess nothing really matters now that I'm dead."

"Dead?" I studied him, but he seemed to be composed of flesh and blood.

He threw his hands up. "Shit. I'm doing this all wrong. I am the definition of fuck-up, Kelsey. Look, I'm going to have to destroy everything you care about, make you wish you were dead, and then take over your body, but I don't want there to be any hard feelings, okay?"

I took a few steps back as I realized that either I had been wrong about Landon and he wasn't sober, or sobriety made Landon completely insane. I bumped into something and spun around to find a crowd of people behind me, all dressed for a day on the slopes and all staring at me.

"The thing is that I can be anyone." He reached out and pulled a man out of the crowd, a stocky, uniformed police officer, who didn't look much older than me. Slowly, Landon slid his own body into the other man's, as though he were putting on a full-body costume. "But only for a short time. To live again, I need your body and I won't leave you alone until I get what I want." The police officer spoke to me in a rough baritone that was nothing like Landon's high, almost feminine, voice. "The point I'm trying to make is that there is no sense fighting me, Kelsey. You might as well give me what I want now."

My wrist felt ice cold. I looked down, but there was nothing there. Slowly, the chill crawled up my arm to my shoulder and I began to find it hard to breathe.

I sat up and opened my eyes, gasping for air. I was in bed, in my own apartment, and there was a small, pale hand on my arm. Attached to the hand was a little girl, one who shimmered in the light from the ceiling fixture and who looked oddly familiar.

"Alice?" I asked, sure I was still dreaming. Alice had been one of my ghost friends in childhood and I hadn't seen her for more than fifteen years. This little girl was different than my old friend. Her left cheek sported a bruise and her blonde hair lay tangled and knotted.

Alice nodded. "Don't be afraid, Kelsey. He will not leave you alone, but I will be watching. I have always been watching. I will help you."

"What..." I started, but Alice was gone. I pulled myself out of bed, tiptoed to Angelica's room, and climbed into bed with her.

Angelica smiled sleepily at me and opened her eyes wide. "What's wrong? You are so pale."

I must have looked awful if Angelica could see the change in me in the darkened room. Only the light from a streetlamp illuminated the area.

"I just had a nightmare. It's nothing."

"Yeah, what happened?" Angelica asked.

"Landon was dead and..."

"Our boss, Landon? Doesn't sound like a nightmare to me." She grinned and closed her eyes again.

"Yeah, well, it was."

### CHAPTER THREE

The next morning, I walked the three blocks from my apartment to the bookstore in a sleepy daze. I couldn't help remembering my dream about Landon and a part of me wished he was gone. I didn't really want him dead, but my life would be a bit happier if I had a new boss who actually managed the store as he should.

I almost didn't notice the three police cruisers parked on the street outside Mountain Books. My heart skipped a beat, but I shook it off. The police were probably having breakfast at the café next door. I continued toward the bookstore, determined that everything would be just as I'd left it the night before.

"I wouldn't go in there," a deep voice said and stopped me, and I turned to find a man leaning against a tree and smiling at me, revealing dimples and white, straight teeth. "You'll just piss them off if you step into their crime scene."

I walked over to the man, my heart racing, sure the store had been robbed or that Landon had finally gotten in trouble with the police. He couldn't possibly be dead. "I'm sorry, did you say crime scene?"

The man frowned at me and shook his head. "I'm not—"

"I work here and I was just wondering if you could tell me what's going on and when I'll be able to open the store." For all I knew, he was just some local guy who was trying to find out what was going on, but he looked pretty comfortable against the tree, so I figured he must know more than I did.

He glanced at the storefront and hesitated for a long moment before he returned his attention to me. He shrugged, accentuating broad, toned shoulders. "I'm pretty sure the store is going to be closed all day today."

"Really? Do you know if the manager, Landon, is here? Is he inside?"

The man paled. "Landon? You really should talk to the police." He looked around, like he was trying to find someone I could talk to, but he sighed and shrugged when he couldn't find anyone. "I'm sorry, but Landon is dead. He died of a drug overdose in the store. One of his buddies found him."

My vision went black around the edges and I couldn't get my breath. "Dead?"

His forehead wrinkled with concern. "Whoa, are you okay? You don't look so good. Do you want to sit down?"

He took me by the elbow and led me a few feet down the street. He eased me onto a bench and sat next to me. "Look, I'm probably not the person you should be talking to—"

"He died in the store?" I asked, forcing the words out around the lump in my throat.

"They're concerned that he may have been dealing drugs out of the store and—"

"Bruce?"

I followed my informant's gaze up the street to see a uniformed police officer identical to the one from my dream, the man whose body Landon had entered. The cop walked toward us, his face contorted and angry until he noticed me. Then he smiled, but it was the kind of smile that made my skin crawl. The kind of smile that always accompanied the wrong sort of attention from a man who was drunk or lascivious. He could have been cute, if it weren't for that smile.

The officer stopped in front of me and looked at Bruce. "We need you inside."

Bruce gave me a quick half smile before he stood. "Sorry, Reid, the place was just... I'll get back there right now." And he walked away without another look at me.

I watched him head up the street and into the store. I didn't want to look at the policeman standing over me. I didn't want him to be the man from my dream.

"Kelsey, Kelsey, Kelsey. You're looking a little rough this morning. No time to put on makeup?"

I looked up at Reid. "Do I know you?"

_My dream had just been a dream_ , I told myself, and Reid probably got my name from something in the store.

He leaned down close to me and whispered in my ear, his hot breath tickling my neck. "Stop acting like an idiot. It's Landon, your old boss. I don't like being dead, Kelsey. I'm going to have a lot of fun with your body. Without you in it, of course."

"I don't know—"

But Reid was already walking away. He headed toward two other officers who were leaving the store. As I watched, he pointed me out to the other men and they all laughed loudly. I closed my eyes tight and popped them open, hoping to discover that I was still at home and dreaming. Unfortunately, the scene before me hadn't changed.

"What's going on?" Isabella asked as she plopped down on the bench next to me.

Isabella worked with me at Mountain Books and she was a horrible snob who only watched independent films, only read literature, and only listened to classical music. At the moment, she was frowning seriously at me.

"Landon's dead. He overdosed, I guess. They think he was dealing drugs out of the store, so they're searching it," I said.

Her frown deepened but her eyes remained dry. "Wow. I can't say I'm surprised he's dead, but I can't imagine a stoner like him had the brains to deal drugs out of the store without any of us noticing."

I nodded. "I can't imagine him having the brains to deal drugs without blowing through the entire supply himself." I realized how insensitive my words sounded after I had spoken them, and I changed the subject. "It looks like the store will be closed today."

"He's really dead, huh? Freaky. I wonder who will be manager now?"

"Do you know if the owner has any other out-of-work relatives?"

"Let's hope not." Isabella smiled. "You know, you would make an awesome manager. Technically, you've been the manager since Landon started."

It wasn't the first time one of my co-workers had suggested I be manager, but I had never taken them seriously. "I couldn't...I'll be going to college...eventually...and..."

"Right. Well, I'm gonna hit the gym if I don't have to work today. Might go for a hike this afternoon. You interested?"

"I can't today." Isabella annoyed me. When I was forced to spend time with her, I enjoyed 'shocking' her by telling her about the latest action movie I'd seen or how great the new Stephen King novel was.

She shrugged. "See you later." Then she hopped up from the bench and hurried down the street, hips swaying.

I knew I should do the same. I could use the extra free time to clean the apartment, go for a run, or try that new white bean risotto recipe I'd been wanting to test, but I couldn't take my eyes off the store front and the movement of the officers. I wanted more answers. I needed some sort of evidence to believe Landon was really dead.

After a few moments, Bruce emerged from the store. He smiled and waved at me. I waited where I sat, hoping he would join me and tell me more about Landon's death, but he hurried up the street with Reid. I sighed and stood, accepting that I would have to read the story on the Internet the next day like everyone else.

I wandered around town for a while after I left the store. People hurried past me in both directions, all of them talking on cell phones or listening to music, and none of them looked at me. None of them knew me intimately and, if they knew me casually, they took little interest in me. I preferred it that way. Even though I found myself lonely sometimes, I liked being considered so ordinary no one bothered to look at me twice. I honestly didn't make much effort to make friends. Once people got to know me, they started asking questions I didn't want to have to answer. Even the casual 'what does your father do' gave me the option of lying or dealing with looks of pity from my new friend. I had decided long ago that I didn't need anyone, not really. I had a comfortable friendship with Angelica; I had the company of my co-workers; I had the occasional date that never got too serious; I had my hobbies. I didn't need any more than that.

I walked the sidewalks of the small town as though I were a ghost myself. The store and restaurant fronts were mostly modern and ugly, all corners and grey cement, but the grass was green, the aspen trees bare of leaves, their spotted, white and grey trunks visible and beautiful. The evergreens outnumbered the aspens about four to one, but I only preferred evergreens to Aspens in the dead of winter, with a thick layer of snow weighing down their green, prickly branches. From any location in town, I had a view of the resort mountain and of the Rocky Mountains extending beyond and that view, along with the crisp, light air, relaxed me a bit and put my fears in perspective. Those eternal mountains didn't bow to the whims of nightmares and an overactive imagination.

"Hey, baby-hater," a male voice called gaily.

I stopped and turned to see Jed a few feet behind me.

"I mean, Kelsey. Your name is Kelsey, right?" Jed loped up.

I couldn't help smiling at him. He wore a Widespread Panic T-shirt and a huge, goofy grin. In the bright sunlight, his eyes sparkled and I noticed they were a blue so deep they looked purple. "Hi, how are you settling in?"

Next to Jed, I noticed a guy in a button-down shirt and khakis. He smiled at me and I lost my breath for a moment. He had brilliant green eyes, the bone structure of a male model, and a smile that would melt the heart in the frozen corpse of a Neanderthal.

Jed nodded. "All unpacked and ready to party. This ugly fellow here is my brother, Caleb."

Caleb nodded and shook my hand. "How long have you been here?"

"About three years," I said, wondering if the day could possibly get any stranger.

"Where you headed?"

"I was just going home and then back out for a run." If it were later in the year, I would have gone up the mountain and spent a day on the slopes to ground myself and find my calm center again. Instead, I would settle for the next-best therapy I knew—running. My feet pounding the pavement, my heart thumping solidly in my chest, made me feel strong and whole.

"Well, I won't keep you from it," Jed said as he started off again. "I'm sure we'll see you around."

Caleb smiled. "It was very nice to meet you."

"You, too," I said, relieved neither of them asked me where I worked. I didn't feel like getting into Landon's death with strangers. I headed back to my apartment feeling guilty for being happy to see Jed and Caleb when I should have been sad about Landon's death.

When I opened the door to the apartment and stepped inside, I wished I had stayed away. Angelica sat at our second-hand, Ikea kitchen table, lit candles in front of her and a worried look on her face. I took a deep breath, closed the door behind me, and crossed the room. "I guess you've already heard."

She didn't meet my eyes. "How did you know?"

All the fear and tension I had worked to overcome returned to my body. "I didn't know, Ang. It's just a coincidence."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Please, Kelsey, don't lie to me."

She looked at me and I could see it in her eyes.

Just the day before, I had gotten irritated with Angelica for not washing her own dishes and had thought I might be better off living alone, but the idea of her joining the ranks of those who called me a freak hurt with an almost physical pain. She was the one person I really cared about who still saw me as ordinary. Any friends I'd had in my home town had drifted off or turned on me when my mother started telling everyone about my abilities. The readings she'd had me do had only made it worse. I'd been a little girl; I hadn't yet learned to lie, and the dead rarely say what the living want to hear.

"It really was a nightmare, Angelica. I'd had a particularly bad argument with him and I had a nightmare. That's all it was."

She peeked up at me, and the look in her eyes, the dark mixture of fear and hope, made my knees buckle. I pulled out a chair and sank down into it before meeting her gaze again. I would convince her it was just a dream. "I know you would love it if I suddenly manifested a psychic ability, but you know it's not true. The only odd thing about me is my ridiculously overactive imagination."

She nodded. "You're probably right, Kelsey. I've known you long enough to have caught on by now if you were psychic. And if it was anything else...you'd tell me, right?"

"I would tell you, but I swear it was just a dream. A really odd, coincidental dream, but just a dream."

Angelica sighed and dropped her gaze again. "Having spent so much time around Landon, you probably had a connection to him on a psychic or spiritual level and you felt it when he died."

The idea of me having any sort of connection with Landon grossed me out, but it was less frightening than the idea of Landon being able to enter my dreams. "Do you really think that's possible?"

"Anything's possible. We know you didn't kill him yourself, so the knowledge of his death must have gotten to you somehow." She sighed and shook her head. "Anyway, it's girls' night. Let's go out tonight and pretend like none of this is happening."

For the second time that day, I felt as though I had been injected into a new, unknown reality. For a few moments, I had been capable of a psychic connection to a dead man and, just as abruptly, Angelica was acting as though everything was perfectly normal. "I don't know, Ang. Right now, I need to get out of my own head and go for a run."

"Great idea, I'll come with you."

I didn't often tell her no, and it made me sad to do so now. "I'm sorry, Ang, but I need to be by myself right now."

She nodded and smiled as though I had every right to request a private run. "I understand. Just know I'll be here if you need me, and that I'm taking you out and getting you drunk tonight."

"We'll see," I said.

In several layers of clothes—leggings, t-shirt, sweatshirt, hat, and gloves—I ran away from my apartment and from town, toward the mountains, quiet now in the lull before ski season really got going. I popped in my earbuds and my favorite running mix pounded into my brain, beginning with Slipknot's, "Psychosocial." I ran hard for the first mile, until my lungs stung and my thighs ached. I slowed down only when I felt I might fall over if I didn't get a long, deep breath. Even then, I reduced my speed to a jog just long enough to breathe easily again.

I didn't slacken my pace again until my playlist switched from metal to more mellow alternative rock. I dialed down to a jog to match the rhythm of Blue October's "Hate Me," because I knew I wouldn't be able to make it back to my apartment if I kept up my starting pace. A part of me still wanted to run so fast and hard that all I could think about was the ache in my lungs and putting one foot in front of the other. Instead, I focused on the music and on keeping my rhythm even. The thought of Angelica and the way she had looked at me still made me want to cry but, as long as I didn't think about her or Landon, I felt moderately calm, almost normal.

I reached the base of the mountain and ran down the street dividing the slopes and the condos from the shops and the bars. Most places were closed and empty, but I heard music from a bar at the end of the street, O'Leary's Irish Eyes. O'Leary's was the only bar in town that still allowed smoking and catered to people whose main interest was drinking. It had no pool table, no stage, no dance floor, not even a dart board; just a bar and a few tables. Despite its lack of entertainment offerings, or maybe because of it, O'Leary's was the only resort bar more popular with locals than tourists. For the most part, locals kept to the downtown bar scene and the tourists frequented the venues closest to their resort condos, but O'Leary's appealed to the older locals who were just looking for conversation, booze, and a place to smoke.

As I neared the bar with its cheesy, four-leaf-clover neon sign, a man stumbled out the door and right into my path. I dodged him without looking at him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a definite stop. I jerked my arm free, faced him, and pulled my earbuds from my ears, expecting to see a very drunk stranger or an acquaintance looking for whatever female company came his way. I was ready to start running again after a firm, "No, thank you."

Instead, I found myself facing Officer Reid. The man's eyes were red-rimmed and blood-shot, but he spoke clearly when he said, "Whoa, Ice Princess, what's your hurry? This is Reid's hangout, so I figure you must be looking for me."

My first instinct screamed to run away as fast as I could, but I found, to my surprise, that I wanted answers. "How do you know Landon used to call me that?"

Reid gave me a twisted, empty smile. "I've already explained this to you, Kelsey. Why don't you come back in with me, and we can discuss it over a beer?"

"No, thank you, Officer. I want to finish my run. Just tell me why you're playing this game. Why are you pretending to be Landon?"

His smile vanished. "I showed you, Kelsey. I showed you in your dream that I _am_ Landon. I have to use this idiot's body when he is stoned or drunk, and it's not enough. I want a healthy body so I can live right this time. I want _your_ body."

His hands were in tight fists by his sides, his cheeks red from more than the chill air or his intoxication. I knew I should try not to make him angrier, but I just didn't feel like being nice to the crazy psycho who was screwing with my mind and taking advantage of me. "I don't remember any dream, and I don't believe for a second that you're Landon. As for my body, I don't feel like sharing, thank you anyway."

I was running before the last word was out, back toward my apartment and away from him.

I heard steps behind me, and he yelled, "I am Landon. You know I'm Landon. I'm still here!"

I increased my pace and put my ear buds back in. Once I had gone about a block, I turned and looked back, but no one followed me. A bit shaky, my heart beating faster than normal, I kept my pace to a jog until I had calmed down a bit.

### CHAPTER FOUR

By the time I got back to the apartment, the sky had darkened and small snowflakes had begun drifting down. Normally, I would have been happy to see the snow, but I felt numb. I remembered the girl I used to be, before Mom had spread the news of my ghostly abilities to everyone in town, standing in the snow and laughing, catching the flakes on my tongue. But I was not that girl anymore. Somewhere along the way, the beauty and pleasures of life had lost their sparkle.

That spark of uncontrollable joy lay asleep in me, and it seemed it would never reawaken. As much as I loved living in Colorado and being anonymous, I often felt like I walked on a narrow street with raging white water on either side of me. On one side was the chance everyone in Briarton would learn my secret, and on the other rested the possibility I would be consumed by my own lies. In the beginning, I had been sure that the passage of time would make me less afraid and more comfortable in my new, normal life, but I found I was becoming more afraid, instead. With every day that passed, I had more to lose. Now Reid and/or Landon were threatening to take everything I had worked so hard to get.

As I finished my run, I felt no more relaxed or grounded than when I'd started. I might be able to believe Reid was playing a sick joke on me but that didn't explain my dream. It didn't seem possible the two could be coincidence. Which meant either I was psychic, or Landon was actually squatting in Reid's body. At the moment, I found the former easier to accept. No ghost had ever been able to enter my dreams before, much less the body of a living person. And I was pretty sure I'd rather be psychic than live in a world where ghosts could jump into and control the living.

I walked back into the apartment, simultaneously relieved and disappointed to find Angelica wasn't there. If she had been, I might have confided in her. I needed to talk to someone and hash out my worries and doubts until they made sense.

The phone rang, as though in response to my thoughts. I picked up, too afraid to check the caller-ID, and focused my attention on the window. The falling snow comforted me and the dark, heavy clouds suited my mood.

"Kelsey? Kelsey, honey, are you okay? I've been trying to get a hold of you for days."

Mom exaggerated more than a little bit. She had called twice the day before and she had left no messages.

I tried to keep the sigh out of my voice as I sank into a chair. "Yes, Momma, I've been busy. I'm fine."

"Oh, well, honey, I just heard a rumor, and I had to talk to you to clear it up."

My heart bucked with fear. Was it possible news of Landon's death had spread to the East Coast? "You've already said it's just a rumor, so why do you need to clear anything up? You know how people gossip."

"Yes, of course you're right, dear. But this came from a very reliable source."

"What is it, Momma?"

"Well, I ran into Molly Meyer's mother at the grocery store, and she said Emily Hendrickson is getting married next June."

I slumped with relief and annoyance. "How exactly can I clear that up, Momma?"

"Well, you and Emily were so close. I figured you would have at least heard about the wedding, and I thought she'd probably invited you."

"Momma, I haven't said more than five words to Emily since fourth grade." _When you told her mother I could see ghosts_. "She certainly isn't going to invite _me_ to her wedding."

"Oh well, I just thought if she did, you might be coming back here in June, and I wanted you to know that you are more than welcome to stay with me."

"If she does invite me, and I do decide to go to her wedding, there is nowhere else I'd rather stay." The idea of my having had friends in school was just one of the many fantasies Mom needed.

"Oh, good. You just let me know as soon as you hear anything. Are you doing okay? I read in the paper that you are in for a real cold spell there next week."

"I'm fine, Momma. Cold is a good thing here."

"Well, I'm glad you are doing so well. I just miss you so much since you left. I couldn't help but think of the way I felt after your father...well, I just felt so lonely, like my whole world had ended..."

"I miss you, too, Momma."

"Have you heard from him?"

My father had disappeared when I was five and my mother stopped sending me to a therapist and started believing in my abilities when I was seven. She was so desperate to know what had happened to him, she believed in me. I'd never seen him, and she never failed to ask.

"No, Momma. I haven't seen many ghosts at all lately. I've been busy with work and—"

"Oh well, you have always been stronger than me and you have so many friends there. You aren't all alone like I am. You ought to find a roommate, though. I hate the idea of you living there by yourself."

"I'm not alone, Momma, I _have_ a roommate. It's just that Angelica and I are thinking of trying to find a third roommate to help with the rent."

"You know, sweetheart, if money's tight, you can always move back here. I miss you so much."

I had heard this line from my mother more times than I can count. The first time she said it to me, I believed she meant it and I felt so bad for her that I agreed to return home. As soon as I did, she backtracked and said I needed to live my own life and she would never keep me from it. I realized then that she didn't want me to come home. I imagined life was easier for her without her freaky daughter who reminded her of the husband who'd left. My mother couldn't admit that reality, so we played this little game to make her feel better.

"I miss you, too, Momma. If there was some way I could live with you and also live here, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"I know you would, sugar. I know you would."

"I gotta go. I love you."

"I love you, too, Kelsey."

I hung up and sank into the overstuffed chair in the living room. The space held a mismatch of furniture, all of it familiar and well-loved. The chair I sat in was neon blue and belonged to Angelica. I had found the futon at a yard sale, and it had a lumpy mattress covered in bright purple faux suede. The battered coffee table had come from the dumpster outside the apartment building. The nicest piece of furniture in the living room was the wooden rocking chair that Angelica's grandfather had made, and the newest was the red beanbag. Mom had never visited me here or even seen pictures; if she had, she would have been appalled. Mom believed an attractive interior environment vital to mental well-being.

After my father disappeared, my mother lost some of her energy and happiness. As a kid, I noticed the change, and when Mom came to me for comfort and kind words or asked me to stay with her rather than go to a friend's birthday party, I complied. It made me feel grown-up and useful that she needed me so much. As I grew older and experienced my own sorrows and let downs, Mom wasn't really there for me. When I tried to talk to her about Daddy or about my own problems, she would change the subject to her own troubles or loneliness, or act as though she hadn't heard what I was saying to her. As far as Mom was concerned, I didn't have any real problems and to act as though I did seemed selfish and childish. She had lost her husband; she had raised her strange, slightly crazy daughter alone; she no longer had the energy or the time to worry about what I needed or wanted. So I had stopped sharing anything personal with her. I learned to handle life's tribulations and stresses on my own. I had managed just fine, and that wasn't going to change just because some crazy cop was pretending to channel my dead boss.

A loud knock made me jump with fear.

Angelica bounced when I opened the door, fists up like a boxer. "I just got out of box aerobics class." She smiled, her hair jutting out from the sides of her head in two thick, blond ponytails. "I left my keys here."

I grinned. "Sounds like fun."

She dropped her fighter stance and walked in. "I'm just going to shower and then I'm taking you out to dinner and dancing."

"I don't really feel like it tonight, Ang."

"Don't care," she said, dropping into a chair at the kitchen table. "I'm in need of a night out in a bad, bad way."

I sat down across from her. "What's wrong? It's only been a few days since we went out, so I know it can't be withdrawal."

"No, no. I'm totally crushing on this dude, and he finally asked me out, but I had to tell him no."

"What? Why?"

She wrinkled her nose. "He's one of Isabella's castoffs."

I smiled, then laughed, unable to stop myself. "If you let that stop you, you're going to be single a long time. According to her, she's slept with every good-looking guy in town."

"It doesn't matter. It's still skanky."

I had never had girlfriends before so I didn't know all of the rules and nuances like Angelica did. "In that case, I can't possibly refuse taking you out tonight, but wouldn't it be better to stay in and avoid running into him?"

"No, I need to find someone to help me forget about him. I don't believe all of Isabella's stories. There are definitely a few guys left she hasn't slept with."

"So how do you know that this guy..."

"I saw them out together a few times last fall and there's no way Isabella just hung out with him." She sighed. "I just can't get past it, you know. It's not even like I'm that close to Isabella, but I've known her for five years and, well, ewww...you know?"

"Yeah, that sucks. Okay, get that shower, and let's get out of here."

Angelica slumped and shook her head. "The thing is, I just like him so much, you know. You remember the night when we were up until four AM and I got that super craving for doughnuts? We drove around for an hour until we found a 24-hour grocery store with doughnuts. You remember?"

I nodded.

"That's what it's like. Except it's four AM all the time, and he's the doughnuts. Does that make any sense?"

I nodded again because it did make sense, but no person had ever made me feel that way.

Angelica shook her head. "Of course you understand. I'm sure you've felt that way about plenty of guys. Screw it, there's no point discussing it. It can't happen, so I have no choice but to move on."

"Sure..."

She smiled. "I don't think you've ever met him. His name's Paul and he's tall. I always seem to go for the tall guys, and he's totally cute. But that's not important. The big thing is that we have this amazing connection on a spiritual level. He really believes that two people can be drawn together by cosmic forces. I haven't told him this, but I think he was a lover of mine in a past life..."

I only half-listened. It made me uncomfortable when Angelica started talking this way. It wasn't the ideas that bothered me as much as that the attitude, the crystals, the séances, and all the cosmic voodoo didn't seem to fit her. Like she was trying to be someone she wasn't. As though she believed depth and value could only be reached on a cosmic, spiritual level, and as a result, she missed out on what was truly wonderful about herself.

I had wanted to be friends with Angelica the first time I saw her. She had just looked so happy and easy. Like nothing bad could ever touch her. She smiled at me when we met and hugged me as though we were old buddies. She made friends with just about everyone she met and, though she tried to make me more social, she didn't get upset with me when I insisted I'd rather stay in and read. Most important to me was that she never so much as hinted that she thought I was anything other than perfectly normal, smart, and wonderful. I rarely shared my stories with her, and I never shared my problems, but when I spoke, she listened and accepted my advice or my story with interest and respect.

We had known each other only a few days when she told me about her interest in the occult. She had never seen a ghost or experienced any sort of magic, but she believed in both ardently. She felt certain if she could find a way to be less dependent on the material aspects of her everyday life, she would open herself up to the other world. I listened to her ideas and only occasionally tried to steer her back to a ghost-and-magic-free reality. I was sure if I told her about my ability, our friendship would change and, though I trusted her, I couldn't help thinking that once she knew, everyone in Briarton would, too.

"Kelsey, Kelsey. Have I really bored you to a catatonic state?"

I jerked my attention back to the present moment. "No, I...You didn't bore me. I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Well, then let's get out of here and get it off your mind." She bounced out of her seat and headed back toward the bathroom. "I'll see you in twenty minutes, and I expect you to look hot!"

Ten minutes later, Angelica was dressed in a black sweater, a black mini-skirt, and thigh-high boots. Anyone else would have looked like pure sex, but her blonde hair and cute face made her look like a 10-year-old playing dress-up. "Why aren't you dressed, Kels? Don't tell me you've changed your mind."

"I'm sorry, Ang." I put down my book and rubbed my eyes. "I got lost in this book. I'll go get dressed right now."

She smiled. "I will never understand how it is possible to get so caught up in a book that you forget everything else, but I'm kind of glad you aren't dressed. Now I can pick out your clothes."

I groaned. "Okay fine, but I get veto power."

I tried on ten outfits before Angelica approved a midriff-baring halter top and jeans. I wasn't exactly dressing for the season, but I did like the way the outfit made me feel, and look. Like a completely different person. I didn't recognize myself in the mirror. My waist was trimmer than it had been in years—my busy work schedule and active lifestyle left me little time for over-eating—and my shoulders and arms looked thin and toned. My face was maybe a little too lean, with my cheekbones standing out in sharp relief and my almond-shaped green eyes looking a little too large. I had recently cut my mouse-brown, stick-straight hair to shoulder-length, and it shone in the lamplight. I could be anyone, I realized with a mixture of fear and excitement. If I could just relax and stop worrying about people discovering my secret, I could be the fun, popular person I had always wanted to be friends with. I didn't have to tell people the truth about my dad and his disappearance. I could be anyone.

"You want a drink before we go?" Angelica asked as she handed me a ring with a round red stone almost as long as my pinky finger.

I slid the ring onto my index finger and shook my head. "Not tonight, thanks." I was too worried what I might reveal about myself to be comfortable getting truly drunk and, with the way I was feeling that night, I knew I'd be tempted to chase away my thoughts with booze. "I want to stick to my pact."

She rolled her eyes. "You were serious about that? You really think having no alcohol for a month or three before your birthday is going to make your twenty-first more special?"

"Maybe. Besides, I feel bad enough going out dancing when Landon is dead, I don't need to add alcohol to that mix."

"I'm not going to let that stop me," she said as she shimmied her way out of the apartment. "Landon wouldn't have stayed sober on our account."

I smiled and followed, happy for the moment to be young and alive. Though I felt bad about going out when Landon had just died, I'd never liked the guy and she was right that if our situations were reversed, Landon wouldn't give either of us a thought.

My determination faded as soon as we stepped outside. The night was cold and I felt under-dressed and out-of-place. I wore a warm, puffy coat over my skimpy clothes, but I felt as though hidden eyes could see through to the flesh below. The shadows seemed alive with shapes and movement and my breath caught in my throat. Any moment I expected Landon or Reid to appear and harass me for partying on the night after a man had been killed. Angelica was smiling and practically skipping, and I tried to feel as excited and happy as she appeared.

### CHAPTER FIVE

Club Dred was a small, dark basement with a bar, a dance floor, and no room for tables or chairs. With only ten stools at the counter, most patrons had little choice but to dance, or at least stand on the dance floor and sway to the music. We arrived early, but the place was already packed. Even though ski season wasn't in full swing yet, there were enough people around to fill Dred. It did help that it was one of only three bars actually open that night. The bass pumped a solid techno beat and smoke hung thick in the air. Angelica grinned and shook her hips as we walked in. We dropped our coats at the coat check and Angelica grabbed my hand and led me to the bar, where we pushed our way through the crowd to get a position in the sight range of the bartender.

The small woman behind the bar, who looked younger than me, leaned toward us, ear cocked.

"A shot of Jägermeister and a local brew," Angelica shouted.

"Jäger? I don't know how you drink that stuff." I groaned, but she didn't hear me over the music. I scanned the people on the barstools and saw a ghost sitting on the lap of a blonde in a dress with spaghetti straps. The ghost lifted a cupped hand to his mouth as though he were taking a drink. Guess some habits didn't end with death.

Angelica paid for her drinks and turned with a wide smile. She toasted my fist and downed her shot, then grabbed her beer and pushed me gently onto the dance floor. I let her guide me through the gyrating crowd to the middle of the space, and then I stopped and turned to face her. For a moment, I ignored my own urge to move to the beat and watched her. She raised her arms above her head and tossed her blonde hair as she swayed to the music. She might have been dancing alone in her bedroom for all the attention or concern she paid to the people around her. I envied her free spirit and lack of inhibition. She opened her eyes and her mouth wide in laughter that I couldn't hear over the music, and I smiled at her and began to dance.

Somewhere around midnight, we headed out to the back patio for a break. We were laughing, as we stepped outside, about the proposition made to us by a very, very drunk man. He had garbled his words so badly I thought he'd been asking if we knew where he could get a cigarette. According to Angelica, his offer had involved a cigarette after a threesome and I begged her not to share any more. I was happier with my version of events.

Two guys sat on the brick wall that enclosed the patio, their faces in the shadows, and I felt suddenly self-conscious about my skimpy outfit.

"Kelsey?" a voice asked as Caleb leaped off the wall and walked into the light. I heard a sharp intake of breath from Angelica as he got closer, but I ignored it.

"Hey, Caleb. This is my friend, Angelica."

"Hi, Angelica." Caleb held out his hand to her, but he kept his eyes on me. I looked at Angelica to try to get him to shift his attention to her, but I could still feel his gaze on the side of my face. "That guy hiding in the shadows back there is my brother, Jed. He's not feeling so hot right now." The sound of retching reached us, and Caleb's smile broadened. "Can't hold his liquor."

"Screw you, pretty boy. I've been drinking twice as long as you have."

"And to tell the truth, I stopped drinking two hours ago," Caleb whispered to me.

"Shouldn't you be helping him? Holding his hair back or something?" I asked.

Caleb laughed at that. "You hear that, Jed? The lady thinks you might need some help puking your guts out. Whaddya say?"

There was moment of silence. "If she's the one helping, I'll take it."

"No, sorry," I said. "I've already been barfed on twice in this lifetime. My quota's full."

"Too bad," Jed said from the wall.

"I'm willing to help if you're as good looking as your brother," Angelica said.

Jed hopped off the wall and into the light, looking more like a guy who'd just woken from a refreshing sleep than one who'd been vomiting. Jed wasn't a bad looking guy, just hard to notice when he stood next to Caleb. "I'm out of luck on that point. But do you think I'm good-looking enough to buy you a drink?"

"Sure are," Angelica said.

"How about you, Kelsey?" he asked with a smile for me.

"No, thanks," I said.

"After you." Jed nodded at me and led Angelica inside with a sweep of his arm.

I had no desire to return to the smoky, hot club until I'd gotten a full ten minutes of fresh air. I sat at one of the patio tables, and Caleb sat across from me.

"Funny how we keep running into each other."

His intense gaze was beginning to make me wish I hadn't checked my coat. I shrugged. "Small town. It happens a lot around here. It's happened more with me and Jed."

Caleb smiled. "Yeah, he told me how you two met at the airport. He can be a little too quick to tease. I hope he didn't upset you."

I felt my eyes widen. "No. Why? Does he think I was upset?"

Caleb gave me a lazy smile and shrugged. "He can be a bit obtuse. He thought it was hilarious, but when he told the story, I thought you might have been upset."

"Not at all. He seems like a really good guy."

Caleb smiled, his gaze on the door to the club. "A good guy. He is that."

"Are you as close to the rest of your family as you are to Jed?"

He shook his head. "If I was, I wouldn't be living out here."

I whistled under my breath. "I know plenty of people who live far away from their family and are very close to them."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"No," I said. "But I'm sure they exist."

"If they do, I'm not one of them. My family's great, I guess. They just don't ever see _me_ , you know? Pretty much everything I've ever done has been a disappointment to them."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Don't do that," Caleb said, frowning and looking serious.

"Do what?" I asked, wondering what social faux pas I had committed this time.

"Assume you know anything about me based on the way I look."

"I'm sorry...I..."

Caleb let out his breath in a loud whoosh. "No, I'm sorry. You were just trying to be nice. I'm being a dick. It's been a bad day for me."

"Yeah, me, too."

"And here I am being an inconsiderate jerk. I'm sorry. I really am not usually like this."

"I think you probably are."

"What? No, I'm really not. I didn't mean to make you think... I am usually charming. I pretty much always say exactly the right thing. I don't know what's wrong with me tonight."

I studied him for a few moments, trying to make up my mind about him. There was a tinge of desperation in his tone and the look in his eyes made me want to cheer him up. "Charming and sweet is usually an act. Personally, I don't trust people who always know the right thing to say. I never say the right thing."

"You're doing a pretty good job of it right now." He smiled, and his whole body seemed to relax with what I imagined was relief.

"You must bring out the best in me," I said with a laugh, feeling more myself than I had in a long time. "Look, I expect we're going to run into each other again, so why don't you promise me you won't try that charming crap on me if we happen to meet when you're having a better day?"

"That's not a promise I can make. It just seems to flow, without any conscious effort on my part."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "If it happens, I'll try to accept it is out of your control and give you the benefit of the doubt."

Caleb smiled at me. "Why don't we—"

Angelica popped her head out the door. "Kelsey, Caleb, you've got to get back in here. Jed is doing the robot, and he is god-awful."

We danced until last call. Caleb disappeared with Jed after his humiliating defeat in a dance-off, leaving us to a true girls' night. I felt lighter and a little tired, but happy. I'd danced with three different good-looking guys. Not only had I danced with them, I'd flirted with them and even given out my phone number. For once, I liked being noticed, and I was having too good a time to worry about the possible negative consequences.

I complained with Angelica about the burning ache in my thighs and my sore feet as we stumbled out into the cool night with giggles. At the door stood a good-looking, broad-shouldered guy who looked familiar. The man met my gaze evenly and I realized, with a shiver, that he was the guy from the crime scene, Bruce. Since he had been let into the store, I assumed he was a cop. Seeing him working at the club made me question my assumption.

"You look like you're having fun," he said.

My light-hearted mood changed immediately. Something about the tone of his voice or my own guilt made me defensive. "Is that illegal?"

He shook his head. "If it were, there'd be nothing I could do about it. I'm just the bouncer."

"Right... Well, exactly," I said. Bruce smiled at me and suddenly became about ten times better looking than I had realized he was. His eyes were bright in the dim light of the street, and I couldn't resist smiling back at him. "It's good to see you." I said, feeling flirty after my success inside.

His smile widened. "Yeah, you, too. You look beautiful."

"You, too," I said automatically. "Well, have a good night." I pulled Angelica down the street.

"You know him?" Angelica asked. "He's hot."

"I think he's a cop."

Angelica stopped. "A cop?"

I glanced back toward the club but didn't see Bruce. I put a finger to my lips and whispered, "He was at the store this morning with the other cops." I took Angelica's arm and we resumed our walk.

"Really, I don't think that's possible. He works at the bakery. I see him there just about every morning."

"Are you sure?"

"Alcohol impairs my perception, I admit, but I'm sure he's the same guy who works in the bakery. You might know that if you ever relaxed and had a bit of refined sugar or coffee. They have great coffee there."

I rolled my eyes. I was a bit of a health food nut and I avoided any establishment that sold coffee. For some inexplicable reason, ghosts flocked to coffee shops like frat boys to a keg.

Footsteps pounded on the pavement behind us and I spun around, expecting trouble. Instead, I found myself face to face with Bruce.

"Kelsey, I forgot to ask for your number."

I looked at the detective/baker carefully, wondering if he was in on Reid's prank. "Did you? I'm not quite sure I want to give it to you. You see, my friend and I are confused because I thought you were a police officer but she thinks you're a baker."

Bruce took a step back and seemed to deflate a bit. "I'm a baker. Is that a problem?"

"Um, no...but..." I didn't want to sound nosy, but I wanted to _be_ nosy.

"Why was I at the crime scene acting like I knew something?" Bruce laughed. "I probably should have explained myself right away, but I didn't want to tell you that I was one of Landon's best friends. I'm the closest thing he has to family in town, and the guy he lists as his emergency contact. I was just there to help... I didn't tell you that, because I know he can...could be difficult to like and, since you worked for him, I figured you wouldn't be too impressed to know that I was his friend."

"Why would you care what I thought?"

Bruce smiled at me. "You seemed like someone I might like to get to know better."

"Did he tell you he attacked Kelsey?" Angelica asked.

"What?" His eyes widened. "What did he do?"

I gave Angelica a friendly shove and shook my head at Bruce. "It was nothing. He was stoned and he made a few unprofessional suggestions. He didn't physically attack me."

He frowned. "I'm sorry about that. He was a good guy once, you know. The drugs really messed him up."

"You knew him for a long time?"

"Pretty much my whole life." Bruce took a step toward me. "Look, I've gotta get back to work. I'm filling in for a friend, and I don't want to let him down. If you give me your number, we can talk about Landon all you want."

"Okay." I gave him my number, feeling a bit like a princess at a ball. "Wait, before you go, what do you know about Reid? Was he a friend of Landon?"

"Oh, the cop with whiskey on his breath? That guy's a jerk, but I never met him before today. He might know Landon, but I never heard Landon talk about him. Why?"

I almost told him what Reid had been doing to me, but I shut my mouth just as quickly. The truth sounded a bit too crazy. "Something he said, no big deal. Get back to work; I don't want to get you in trouble."

"I'll call you," he said and trotted back to the club.

"Aww, I think he likes you," Angelica said with a giggle.

I stopped and faced her. "You didn't think it was a little weird?" As my dance buzz started to fade, so did my flirty attitude and feeling of invincibility. "Why would he be friends with an asshole like Landon? And why would he hit on me the same day he found out that friend is dead?"

She snorted. "Whatever. He said that Landon _used_ to be a good guy, but maybe they haven't been close in a long time. Besides, you are beautiful, smart, and you look totally hot in that outfit. You would distract any breathing man."

I was still hot from dancing and was carrying, rather than wearing, my coat. I looked down at myself. "Really?"

"Yeah, he'd be crazy not to appreciate how great you look. And I certainly felt an energy of..."

"I don't know..." But I wondered if it could be a coincidence that he was at Dred on the same night as me or if he was following me, trying to torment me like Reid was doing. Somehow, I figured, if that was his game, he would have already started. In any case, hiding from him wouldn't help, and talking to him might get me some answers. "But it doesn't matter, Ang. Please, new topic."

Angelica laughed. "Okay, I'm sorry. So did you have fun tonight?"

"Sure. Thanks for taking me out."

"Anytime, sugar." She threw an arm across my shoulders. "Speaking of hot guys, what is up with that dude, Caleb? How do you even know him?"

"I met his brother, Jed, on the flight back from Virginia."

"He is like the best looking guy I have ever seen..."

"Yeah, he is like a work of art, isn't he?"

"You interested?"

"Oddly, not at all. It's almost like he's too good-looking and there's something about him..."

"Too good looking? How is that possible?"

I thought about it for a minute, not quite sure myself. "I guess I am absolutely certain no guy that good-looking would ever be interested in me." I laughed, mostly joking. The truth was I felt no pull toward him. He was a nice enough guy and it was certainly true he was out of my league, but even if he wasn't, I didn't think I'd be interested.

Angelica stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, grabbed my arm, and wrenched me to a stop next to her. "Kelsey Fitzhugh, I don't ever want to hear you say something like that ever again. You are beautiful, and any guy would be lucky to have you."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or hug her. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I won't say anything like that ever again."

She released me and started walking again. "Okay, so that said, re-evaluate and tell me you aren't interested in him..."

"I'm seriously not interested. In no way is he my type. He is all yours." Caleb was undeniably hot and he seemed nice enough, but I didn't feel anything for him strongly enough to call dibs.

"What is your type, anyway?"

"I have no idea."

When we got back to the apartment, Angelica stumbled immediately to bed and began snoring right away. I took my time getting ready, washing off my make-up and changing into comfy pajamas. When I finally lay down, I tossed and turned, my mind full of thoughts I couldn't act on. I imagined myself finding some way to prove to Reid that he had no effect on me. Whether it was Landon or Reid controlling that body, I hoped he was just trying to scare me, and if I didn't let him know he had succeeded, he might just leave me alone. No way could he really take over my body permanently. That had to be a scare tactic. If he could, why hadn't a ghost tried to take me over before? Whatever Landon/Reid's game might be, it could be no more than a game, and the weird dream I'd had was just coincidence or a tiny bit of prescience.

With those thoughts, I snuggled down under my comforter and drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

### CHAPTER SIX

When I woke the next morning, my first thoughts were of breakfast. My stomach rumbled and, since I had the morning off, I decided to surprise Angelica with a huge breakfast. I loved to cook, and it had been a long time since I'd had the opportunity to fix a big meal.

I sat up quickly, eager to get started, and immediately groaned as the blood rushed out of my head.

"Y'okay?" Angelica mumbled from the doorway.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to wake up. How are you feeling?"

"I just took a shower and I think I'm going back to bed."

"Good idea. Don't sleep too long, I'm making breakfast."

"Just make sure it all reheats well."

"No problem."

I climbed out of bed, took a quick shower, and tossed on a pair of sweats and an old T-shirt. I made a breakfast casserole that could sit in the fridge uncooked until Angelica was up. Then I made myself a batch of whole-grain pancakes with organic blueberries and a side of scrambled eggs.

I was halfway through my first pancake when a knock at the door made me drop my fork. I ran a hand through my hair and hurried to the door.

Reid, eyes bloodshot, hair matted, met me at the door. "Hey baby," he said in a voice that was too steady and clear for the way he looked. "Miss me?"

He tried to push past me into the apartment, but I blocked him and stepped out into the narrow hallway, pulling the door closed behind me.

My heart was racing, and I wanted to run back into the apartment and shut the door in his face, but more than that, I wanted him to leave me alone, and I didn't think hiding in my apartment for the rest of my life was a reasonable alternative to confronting him. "What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?"

"You live above the flower shop off Main Street. You told me that yourself your first week at work."

"Really? So the idea is that you are channeling Landon? Because I seriously doubt Landon remembers anything I said to him. He was always stoned when I knew him."

"I remember a lot more than anyone gives me credit for," Reid said calmly. "You all thought I was so stupid, I know. But if I was so stupid, how was it that I did no work, while you did everything for half my pay? Bow, wow, wow."

Anger replaced my fear. "So not only are you going to try to scare me by pretending to be possessed by Landon, but you're going to insult my intelligence, too? You have no idea what it was like to have him for a boss. I don't know what he told you, but he made everyone at the store miserable."

Reid took a step back. "You're just jealous 'cause everyone liked me better. I was a fun boss."

"Landon wasn't a boss at all. He was a warm body to fill a chair, and nobody in that store liked him."

Reid could have easily found out where I lived, and anyone could have told him about Landon's penchant for '90s slang, but no one would have told Reid that Landon was a good boss. Either he had gotten some serious misinformation mixed in with the good, or Landon really was inside him. Landon's ego knew no bounds.

"You bitch," Reid growled and got in my face. I backed up until I stood flush against the door, the doorknob hard against my hip. "Are those the kind of lies you're going to spread about me now that I'm dead? Those girls loved me, all of them, even you."

"Nice try, Reid. I'm pretty sure Landon has never cared about his reputation dead or alive."

He laughed. "Shows how well you knew me. I would like to thank you, though, for making this easy for me. I was starting to feel a tiny bit bad about ruining your life, but you are helping rid me of that feeling entirely."

My fear returned when Reid started talking about ruining my life. "I don't even know you. Why are you doing this to me?"

"I don't even know you," Reid mocked in a high falsetto and did a little girly prance that got him out of my personal space. I stepped away from the door, but kept a hand on the knob.

"I'm doing this because I can, Kelsey. I want what you have and I'm going to take it. God knows, you're not my first choice. I'd much rather be alive as a dude again, at the very least, but that's not the way this works. Besides the asshole who killed me, you were the last person to see me alive and you are the only one I can possess."

"Really?" I said. "Then how is it that you are possessing Reid?"

"He's drunk as hell right now, as good as a Halloween costume. I can just slide right into him when he's like this, but as soon as he sobers up, I'm out on my ass. Once I get into you, I'll kick out your soul and take up permanent residence."

I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. "Then how come you haven't done it yet?"

"I asked the same question." Reid rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Apparently, there's a procedure that starts with me making you miserable and reminding you repeatedly that this would be easier for you if you would just vacate the premises willingly."

"You really aren't making any sense."

Reid sighed. "Shit, I told them I'd fuck this up. Okay, what I was supposed to say was this: you are a pathetic, ordinary waste of a perfectly good body, and I'm going to take it over whether you like it or not. It would be easier if you would give up the body willingly, so I'll be checking in periodically to find out if you are going to do so. Are you?"

"Not a chance."

"All right, then I'm going to have to make you so miserable and desperate that you beg me to trade places with you, 'kay? See you around."

Reid stumbled a little and looked around blearily. "Where...what...I've gotta get home."

I was getting really, really tired of this harassment. "Listen to me very carefully, Reid. Leave me alone. I don't ever want to see you anywhere around me or near me at all ever again. If I do, I'm going to call..." _who? The cops?_ "Well, I'm going to call someone who will make you sorry you ever met me."

Reid raised his hands and backed up. "Whoa, I don't know what you are talking about. I'm sorry for whatever it is I did."

"Just leave me alone." I stormed back into the apartment and slammed the door.

Angelica didn't stumble into the kitchen until 1 PM. I had heard her stirring and already had the breakfast casserole in the oven.

"Wow," she said. "That smells delicious."

I smiled up at her from my seat at the kitchen table, where I'd been for the past hour, trying to figure out what Reid's game was. I had a notebook in front of me where I'd listed his possible sources for information and his potential goals. I flipped the notebook over when Angelica got too close. "It's a new recipe. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will." She sat down at the table across from me. "What's wrong, honey? You look like your dog just died."

Tears pricked my eyes. I was going to say I was just PMS-ing, but I changed my mind when I saw the worried look on her face. I had shared so little of myself with her, and I knew that if I didn't share this, her feelings would be hurt. Besides, I really needed someone to talk to. "It's the strangest thing, but it's got me totally spooked. One of the police officers from the store yesterday morning has been threatening me."

"What? Why?" She gasped.

"I don't know." I could see no reason not to tell her the whole story. None of it had anything to do with my ability to see ghosts. "He claims that Landon's ghost is possessing him, and he talks to me like he is Landon. Some of the stuff he knows... Anyway, he says that Landon doesn't want to be dead anymore and that his...his spirit wants to take over my body."

"Have you ever met him before?"

"No, never. But he seems to know a lot about me. He was here this morning. Somehow, he knows where I live."

"This is not good. He sounds like a complete psycho. You should call the cops."

"That's just it, he _is_ the cops. Do you think that this whole possession thing could be real? Have you ever heard of anything like it?"

She shook her head. "Only demonic possession and, somehow, I just can't see Landon as a demon."

I laughed at that. "Not unless he's related to a nepotistic demon who gave him a pity job."

"The truth is, I don't know much about ghosts. I'm more interested in auras and the power of emotion to affect physical well-being, past lives, that sort of thing. If I saw a ghost, I'd probably run screaming to you."

I froze. She met my gaze steadily. "Don't come running to me. I'm no protection from ghosts. I'd hide under the bed."

She frowned and picked at a sticky spot on the table. "Is that true, Kelsey? You really don't know anything about ghosts?"

My heart plummeted to the bottom of my stomach. I already knew she'd suspected, but I'd hoped...I'd hoped she didn't really want to know the truth. "What are you talking about?"

"Your mom told me three months ago. I didn't believe her at first, because, well...I don't think I really wanted to believe her." Angelica sighed and shook her head. "I didn't want to believe her, because... It doesn't matter. But then I heard you talking to yourself the next week, having a truly weird conversation and... Was she telling the truth?"

"My mom is crazy. You can't believe anything she says." I was desperate to convince Angelica she was wrong. I couldn't bear going back to being the freak who talked to the dead, and for whatever reason, she was ready to believe Mom had lied. Unfortunately, I'm a terrible liar. "And the weird conversations... I, you know, I recite movie lines all the time. Like, um, well, you know that movie about...what was it called? I'm really good at remembering lines from..."

Her face crumpled and she looked like she was going to cry. "You're my best friend, Kelsey. I tell you everything."

I knew there was no way to win this one. I was either going to lose my best friend or my life of anonymity. I chose to keep Angelica. "You're right." I stood and squeezed myself onto the chair next to her and wrapped my arms around her. "I'm sorry. I was just scared that you'd think I was a crazy freak." _Or that you'd share my secret with the whole town_ , but I knew better than to say that aloud.

"I love you, Kels. The fact that you can see ghosts scares me a little bit, but that's probably just because I don't know anything about it."

She really did look scared, a bit pale and wide-eyed, her breath coming fast.

I stood and returned to my own seat. "I'll tell you anything and everything you want to know as long as you promise me two things."

She nodded. "Anything."

"Never tell anyone else what I can do, and never ask me to talk to a dead person for you."

She nodded solemnly. "I'm not sure why you want me to promise that second part, but I trust you enough to promise blindly. So, um, yeah, I promise."

"Thank you."

"So what's the real deal with this Landon thing? How did you know Landon was dead? Did he appear to you as a ghost?"

I shook my head. "That's what's weird. He didn't appear to me in the usual way. He was in my dream, both him and Reid. I don't see how that is possible..."

"Why not? What if Landon can appear to you in dreams?"

"Then he can get inside my head, and I don't even want to imagine that's possible. It's got to be a weird coincidence. Reid is obviously unstable, and this is some sort of game."

"I'm not sure I believe in coincidences. In either case, you need to stay away from Reid, and if he bothers you again, call the cops, anyway. You can file complaints against cops, right?"

"I guess. Hopefully Reid or Landon, whichever one he is, will get bored with this whole game he's playing." I got up and headed over to the stove. "Anyway, your breakfast is ready."

"Aw, you are so sweet to me. Want to go to the bakery to get dessert after? Maybe say hi to your new friend, Bruce."

I almost dropped the casserole dish as I was taking it out of the oven. "I don't want to seem like some sort of stalker. He has my number...I mean, do you think he wanted my number so he could ask me out?"

"Hello? Yes, sweetie, of course he did. I'm sure he'll call, but it can't hurt to stop in and remind him how beautiful you are."

I did my best to accept her compliment without arguing. "Except that I've never been in there before, and it will be so obvious..."

"That what? You like him? Kelsey, three guys asked for your number last night. He is just another potential in a sea of men."

I laughed at that. "That might be true if he were even remotely aware that he has competition." Which he doesn't since I didn't expect any of those guys to call me, but I didn't say that because I didn't want to get yelled at.

"I'm sure it's assumed. He'd have to be a complete idiot not to assume you have other potential suitors."

"Potential suitors? What is this, the nineteenth century? It doesn't matter because I'm not going to the bakery with you." I put a plate of casserole in front of her and sat down at the table. "Why don't we talk about you and Caleb?"

"What? No way am I getting in the middle of that."

"The middle of what?"

Angelica eyed me carefully for a few minutes while she scarfed down her breakfast. "Let's just say I'm staying out of it."

I shrugged. "Whatever, but last night you seemed into him, and I'm not interested in him, so I don't know what's stopping you."

"Don't get me wrong; he is without a doubt the hottest dude I have ever encountered in my entire life, but he's only got eyes for you. Last night, when I called dibs, I wasn't in my right mind. In the light of day, it's clear that he's yours if he's anybody's."

"Ha, please! Are you still drunk? If I recall correctly, you had six guys flirting with you last night. If it's a competition between you and me, there is no competition."

She rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot, but you're a great cook. Thanks for breakfast."

"No problem. You wanna go for a run with me after you've digested."

"You know it, baby."

We were on our way back up the stairs to our apartment when I heard the phone ringing.

"I'll get it," I said to Angelica, who was still on the bottom step stretching. We had left the door to our apartment unlocked, since it was the middle of the day. So I hurried in, ran across the kitchen, and picked up the receiver from the end table next to the armchair. "Hello?"

"Kelsey?"

"This is she."

"Kelsey, hey. This is Cherie...at the store. Anyway, I know everything's been a bit of a mess, since, well, you know. But they opened the store today and you were on the schedule. I'm okay here. It's pretty dead and, well, really boring. But I can't close out or lock up. Could you just stop by tonight to...?"

"I just got back from a run. I'll be there after my shower." Somehow, I had completely forgotten about work.

"Oh, no, you don't have to...I'm sure—"

"Don't worry. I don't have anything else planned for this evening. Besides, I don't want to leave you there all alone after what happened."

"Yeah, thanks. It is kind of creepy."

"See you in a half hour or so."

I didn't stop to wonder if Landon's ghost might be lurking in the store. If I started trying to avoid ghosts, I'd go insane.

Cherie sat hunched over a fashion magazine, her long, brown hair curtained in front of her face, when I walked into the store.

"How's it going?" I asked.

She slammed her magazine shut. When she realized it was me who had spoken to her, she relaxed and giggled. "God, you sounded just like the owner's wife when you did that."

"Sorry."

"Oh, no problem. It's just that they've been hanging around all day." She scanned the store quickly. "They've been trying to call you, but you remember how Landon got your number wrong on the call-in sheet?"

I nodded. All of the employees had been keeping that error hidden from Landon for months. When he questioned why he always got some old lady's answering machine at my number, Isabella had told him that Angelica and I lived with my grandmother. He had accepted that answer, and always got on my case about not calling him back when he left me messages. Angelica told him that my senile grandmother had erased the messages before I'd gotten them. The sole purpose of all those lies was to test just how few brain cells Landon had left. Well, that, and we all enjoyed messing with him.

"I would have told them the right number, but they didn't ask me." Cherie grinned. "Rumor is, they might choose one of us to replace Landon. I think that's why they've been trying to call you. I told them that you pretty much run the place."

"But I'm not planning to stick around. I'm going to go to college...well, hopefully next year."

Cherie shrugged. "I doubt the job comes with a lifetime commitment. Besides, you practically live here anyway."

"Not quite." I looked around the store and tried to picture myself in charge. Once Landon had started working there, I had taken on more and more work. But Landon had still been the one to answer if anything major went wrong.

"They should hire someone from the outside, someone who has experience managing a place and can get the business going again," I said.

"Should we?" The deep voice made me jump. I turned to see a tall, lean man in the doorway. "Know anyone?"

As he walked toward me, I smiled through my intimidation. I didn't have to ask to know that the man moving closer was the owner. He looked like what Landon could've been if he stopped using drugs and lived another thirty years, clear eyed and confident. "Not right off, but I'm sure..."

The older man stuck out a callused hand. "I'm Al Wentworth, the owner of this fine store."

"Kelsey." I took his hand and was impressed by his warm, firm grip. "I'm sorry about Landon."

Mr. Wentworth's smile faded. "Yes, his pleasures got the better of him, I suppose. We felt that it was appropriate to keep the store closed all day yesterday. I hope this has not been too much of an inconvenience for you."

"No," I said, and Mr. Wentworth smiled down at me, his tough skin crinkling at the corners of his eyes. Judging by his tan and weathered features, I figured he was a diehard outdoors nut, involved in every kind of mountain sport. His face was wide, and his smile seemed genuine.

"If you have a few moments, I'd like to speak with you upstairs."

"Oh, yes... I mean, of course."

But he was already off, weaving through book shelves and end cap displays at a quick pace to the stairs at the back of the store. I glanced at Cherie, who gave me thumbs up, before following him.

I hadn't been in Landon's office since his death and, stepping into it now, I felt certain that Landon was just in the bathroom, snorting or shooting or using the toilet. Instead, I met Mr. Wentworth's penetrating green eyes across the desk. He would not be malleable like Landon, and he might be even more frustrating. I sat down across from him wondering if the firm set of his lips meant "you're fired" or "let's get down to business."

"Relax, child. I won't bite you. I don't even intend to bark at you."

I nodded, not the least bit comforted.

"The truth is, I find this whole mess terribly inconvenient. I'd like to get this all cleared up as quickly as possible."

"I'm sure I can understand..."

"I had hoped to show up, hire a new manager, and return to my home in Aspen. I own a shop there, as well, and I don't like to leave it unattended. I had felt that I could leave my nephew in charge here and that he would, at the very least, not take advantage of me."

The bell downstairs tinkled and the old man smiled a bit, as though he could hear money in that sound. His smile did not last long.

"I'm sure you will not be surprised to know that business has plummeted since Landon," he spat the name, "took charge."

"No, sir."

"Don't call me sir, Kelsey. Sir makes me feel old. Call me Al." He waited for me to nod in agreement. "Did you know that he was skimming from the profits?"

"No... I had no idea."

"Nor had I. He told me everything was fine here, business was just slow because of bad weather or an economic downturn or any number of excuses. He always had an excuse. I wanted to believe him, because he's my sister's only kid and I felt he had potential. I see now I didn't know him at all." He rubbed his temples and sagged just a bit. "Do I seem old to you, Kelsey?"

"No, sir—Al." Despite his wrinkles and grey hair, he exuded an energy and determination that made _me_ feel like the old one.

"Bullshit. I seem old to myself. Twenty years ago, I would have said no to Landon's parents. I would have stood my ground and not felt bad about it."

"You just trusted the wrong person." I spoke without thinking, and felt immediately that I had crossed a line.

Al didn't flinch. "Did you trust him?"

"Well..." I met his straightforward gaze with my own. "Not at all. But I'm not...I wasn't...related to him."

"I appreciate your honesty." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms on his chest. "If I can't find a replacement for Landon, I will have to close this store. I can't do that because this is my wife's favorite. She loves picking out all the...oh hell, the point is that I've talked to all the women here, and they've each pointed to you as the person they most trust and respect. I'd give you a significant raise, and the position wouldn't have to be permanent if you don't want it to be, as long as you'd agree to stay on until I find a suitable replacement."

"Stay on as what?"

"As manager, Kelsey. I'd like you to clean this store up and get it back in the black so that I can keep my wife happy."

"Manager?"

"Is that a yes?"

"Are you sure you want me? I've never been a—"

Al held up one knobby knuckled finger. "The first rule of business is, never turn down a promotion that includes a raise. If some old coot like me is willing to take the risk on you, you grab it and do the best you can. Unless, of course, you've got a better offer?"

"No. But I'm not sure... I'm planning to go away to college eventually..."

"Great, then it's settled. Any ideas for where we start?"

"Well, the biggest complaint I've heard is customer service. I think if we made the job a little easier on the staff, maybe give them a nice break room with a microwave..."

"You want perks when we're in the red?" Al shook his head. "We're gonna do this the old-fashioned way. You teach my employees what good customer service is and anyone who doesn't get in line gets fired."

I couldn't imagine firing anyone. But I couldn't argue with the opportunity I was being handed, and I could certainly use the extra money. Not to mention the fact that a managerial position would look great on my resume when I was looking for a part-time job at college. "Okay, I'm in."

Al smiled. "Do a good job, and you won't need that college degree anyhow. I've gotten along just fine without one."

Somehow, I doubted that I would be a life-long employee of Al's, but I couldn't help smiling about my good luck. It would be hard work, but hopefully, it would keep me too busy for ghosts and crazy, possessed cops.

### CHAPTER SEVEN

A knock on the door startled me out of the short nap I had managed to snatch between an early morning hike with Angelica and an evening work shift. I stood, disoriented for a moment, and walked to the door. I figured it was Angelica, forgetting her keys again.

A tall and strikingly attractive woman stood on the threshold. One of those creatures I had only ever seen on magazine covers, with long legs and perfect hair. She smiled at me. "Hello, I'm Cat Simmons."

I smiled back, wondering what she was selling. "Yes?"

She frowned slightly. "I'm interested in the room you advertised in the paper. I probably should have called first, but I was already on your street and my cell is dead, so I figured I'd just stop by."

I was stunned. It had been two months since Angelica and I'd placed that ad on the off chance that someone might be interested in renting the third bedroom, a room not much bigger than a walk-in closet. "I didn't think the ad was still being run."

Cat shrugged. "It might not be. I cut it out a couple of months ago when I was fighting with my boyfriend. Then we got back together. Then last week, he split for good, and the lease on our place was in his name. Is the room still available?"

I tried to clear the fog in my brain still left over from my nap. "Yes, actually, we could still use a roommate. The room is tiny, and Angelica would have to meet you, too, but if you have a few minutes to talk, I can show you the room. I'm Kelsey, by the way."

Cat stuck out a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

I stared at her hand blankly for a moment. I wasn't used to shaking hands with people my own age. She just stuck her hand out further until I shook it. "Please, come in." I opened the door wider and gestured her in.

Despite my best wishes, I wasn't sure I'd have much in common with the thin, elegant woman who walked so gracefully into our cluttered, low-rent place. Angelica and I weren't desperate for a roommate but neither of us would mind having the extra cash. Of the two of us, Angelica was the better judge of character, so I wasn't really paying too much attention to Cat. All I really cared about was whether or not she'd pay her rent on time and not cause any major problems.

"How long have you lived here?" she asked, running a hand with long tapered fingers along the wall.

"A year and a half."

Cat nodded and smiled. She walked around the living room and stepped into the small hallway that led to the three bedrooms. "May I?"

"Of course." I followed her, hoping I'd made my bed that morning.

She looked into both bedrooms briefly and poked her head into the bathroom. I had made my bed, but I hoped she couldn't see the thin film of dust covering every surface. She started back toward the living room and I followed. "It's so cute."

I had heard a lot of words to describe my apartment, but cute wasn't one of them. "The rent is eleven-hundred a month. Since the room is so small, we'd want a fourth from you, plus a third of the utilities."

"Oh, okay," Cat said, meeting my eyes directly. "I'd love to take it. If it's okay with you."

It seemed too easy and I felt there was something more that should be said. Hadn't I wanted to ask Cat some questions? But I couldn't think of anything to ask her. "Um, great. Angelica will want to meet you before we commit to you moving in. We both work full-time, so we aren't around much."

"I work full-time, too, so I won't be in your way. I'd love to meet Angelica. The sooner the better, actually. I'm just couch surfing right now."

"I'll call you tonight with a time to meet." She gave me her phone number and I typed it into my cell.

"Thank you. It was nice meeting you." And Cat headed out the door.

"Bye." I started to shut the door, but Caleb popped up in Cat's place.

"Hey," he said, his smile anxious. "I ran into Angelica and she told me where you live. I hope you don't mind me stopping by."

"Hi," I said. "I don't mind at all, but I've got to be at work in fifteen minutes, and I've got to change."

"Mind if I wait and walk with you?"

"I'd love the company," I said as I ushered him in. "Is everything okay?" It was nice to see him, but a little weird if he'd shown up for no reason. Did no one use the phone anymore?

He looked around the apartment as though he was expecting someone to be there. "Yeah, yeah, everything's great. I just wanted some company for dinner, but since you have to work, I'll settle for a walk."

"Oh, can I have a rain check on dinner?" I said as I headed back to my room to change.

"Sure," he called after me.

Walking from my apartment to the store in the deepening dusk of evening, I expected Reid to jump out of every shadow we passed. It had been too long since I'd seen him, and I was starting to get nervous about what he might do next. I was glad to have Caleb with me. His continuous chatter about what had happened to him the other night after I'd seen him at the club kept me laughing. The walk ended too quickly.

"I've got to get to work, but you're going to have to explain how Jed mistook a German shepherd for a cougar the next time I see you."

He laughed. "You'll have to get that explanation from Jed."

I started to step into the bookstore, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back. "Kelsey, about that girl who was leaving your place when I got there, is she a friend of yours?"

I almost asked him if he wanted to be introduced, but the serious look on his face stopped me. "She wants to rent the third bedroom. I just met her. Why, do you know her?"

"No, I... This is probably going to sound weird...I just got a really bad feeling from her. I don't think you should rent to her."

"Well, I'm not going to do anything until Angelica meets her, and Angelica is the best judge of character I know." I was a little annoyed at what felt like him meddling, but he looked so worried that I couldn't stay irritated. "Don't worry. If she's that bad, Angelica will pick up on it, but you only passed her on the stairwell, so maybe you were mistaken."

"No, I'm not," Caleb said. "I mean maybe, but just be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." I started to head into the store again, but decided to push him just a little bit. He was fidgeting and looking worried. I didn't know him well, but I could tell something was up. "That's not the only thing bothering you, though. Wanna tell me about it?"

He slumped and suddenly looked exhausted. "You don't miss much, do you, Kelsey? I'm fine. It's just been a long day and..."

"New place, new job, making new friends can be exhausting. Not to mention trying to keep Jed out of prison." I smiled and waited for him to tell me what else was going on, but he just laughed and shook his head.

"I'll see you later, Kelsey." He gave me a little shove toward the store. I waved and went inside. If he wanted to tell me what was going on or needed my help, I was sure he would.

The store was bright and cheery, as were Angelica and Cherie behind the register, and I tried to match my mood to the general atmosphere. I wished I could hang out behind the counter and chat and laugh like I used to, but there was too much to do. I headed upstairs to start with Landon's office and see what kind of files he had, if any. I didn't have to worry about the accounting; there was a store accountant in Aspen, but I was responsible for making sure everyone got paid and for keeping track of store sales and inventory.

The time had come to start figuring out long-term solutions to replace the band-aids I had established during Landon's management. I needed to clean his office, and I wanted to create a checklist of daily tasks for the employees. I hoped that a more organized store would encourage happier employees and, subsequently, better customer service. I really didn't want to have to fire anyone.

The office looked a bit neater than it had during Landon's reign and I hoped to find that Al had tidied up Landon's files. I started with the desk and my hope vanished. Each drawer was a jumble of papers, wholesale catalogs, and folders piled in no reasonable order. Obviously, Al had a great deal of confidence in my ability to get the store in order. Or, my cynical side whispered, he was expecting me to fail so he could get his wish of closing the store without his wife being able to blame him for it. I sighed and got to work.

I managed to get into a rhythm pretty quickly, creating general piles that I would later narrow down. I didn't realize how late it had gotten until Angelica knocked on the door to say good night and give me the money and closeout paperwork.

"I'm ordering pizza, so there will be dinner waiting for you when you get home. Don't work too late, or I'll bring the pizza over here, force you to eat it, and drag you home."

I laughed and wished I could go with her, but there was just too much to do and the sooner I got it done, the sooner I could work on getting the store back in the black. "Thanks, sweetie. I'll see you soon."

Angelica gave me a quick hug and hurried out of the shop. She never liked to stay there longer than absolutely necessary.

With a sigh, I looked over my piles and got back to work. I was so focused on what I was doing that I jumped and shrieked when a voice near my right shoulder said, "Sweetheart, you work way too hard."

I turned to see Reid standing in the doorway to the office with a crooked smile on his face, his eyes red and his pants cuffs dirty. My heart began to race as I stood and backed away from him. "You shouldn't be here," I said, my voice shaky. "How did you even get in? The door was locked."

"This place has terrible locks. It was easy to break in. It's not like I hadn't done it a million times before when I forgot my keys."

"I think you should leave."

He took a couple of steps toward me. "Truth is, Kelsey, I couldn't care less what you think. I'm starting to get tired of waiting. If I can't get inside your body, maybe I can still get inside you, if you know what I mean. Amuse myself."

I quickly considered my options, and lunged for the phone.

Reid knocked the phone out of my reach and shook his head. "I don't think so, Ice Princess. Why don't you just go ahead and have a seat while I perform a little demonstration for you?"

I sat down, because my legs were shaking so badly I didn't think they would hold me up much longer.

"Watch closely, Ice Princess." A moment passed and I saw a wisp of white drift out of Reid's right ear and materialize next to him.

Landon's ghost. It was really Landon's ghost.

Luckily, Landon wasn't looking at me but at Reid, waiting to see what he would do on his own. Landon didn't know I could see him, and that might be an advantage for me.

Reid swayed slightly in the doorway. "What the...where am I...?" His eyes focused on me. "You again. What the hell is going on?"

"Blah, blah, blah, blah. What happened? Where am I?" Landon had re-entered Reid and was again speaking for him. "No wonder this guy drinks so much. He is a simpering fool."

I have never been good at thinking on my feet and I had no idea what to do. I didn't want to make Landon mad, but I also felt certain that I shouldn't let him know I believed his story. At least not until I had figured out what to do.

"Reid, are you having some sort of episode? Or is this your idea of a sick joke? Either way, you need to leave right now."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He shouted and threw his hands up. "Of all the idiots in the world, I get stuck trying to reap the biggest idiot in the universe!"

He sounded like a five year old, and I almost laughed until he started moving toward me. I backed into the corner, the desk between us, planning to run, when he got to my side of the desk.

"I'm tired of waiting and I want you to feel a little bit of my pain." He seethed. "Maybe a daily beat down will be more effective than the conversations we've been having."

He was getting closer, and I rose to my tiptoes, preparing to run. Suddenly, he shoved the desk hard against the wall, blocking my escape route. He advanced on me, fists raised. The first punch knocked my head back into the wall and set my ears ringing. I slid down to the floor in an instinctive maneuver to escape, but he only laughed and punched me in the stomach. I curled into a ball, waiting for the next assault, but it didn't come. Instead, a familiar voice said, "I just called the cops, so you might want to stop struggling before you get yourself two assault charges."

Slowly, I uncurled and looked up to see Caleb and Jed with Reid. Jed was holding Reid in a headlock that was turning Reid's face slightly purple. Caleb knelt down and helped me up. "Are you okay?"

"I...I think so," I said, but my ears were still ringing and I couldn't stop the shaking in my voice.

Caleb pulled out a chair and helped me into it. "Did he touch you?"

Tears welled unbidden. I swallowed hard and managed not to collapse into a complete sobbing mess. "Other than punching me in the face and stomach? No."

Caleb's expression hardened and he stood, turned, and punched Reid so hard in the gut that both Reid and Jed stumbled back a bit.

"Thanks for the warning, asshole," Jed mumbled.

Caleb turned back to me. "We need to get you to the hospital."

"What? No, I'm fine. I don't need...no."

Caleb studied me carefully. "You're going to the hospital. Jed, have you got this?"

Caleb turned and moved out of my line of sight so that I could see both Jed and Reid. Reid had apparently passed out, whether from alcohol or Jed's choke hold, I didn't know. I could hear him snoring, faintly, so I knew he wasn't dead.

"Caleb, you should stay here. You're better at talking to the cops, and they are more likely to believe that _you_ knocked him out in self-defense," Jed said, looking at me.

"Jed, I really think that I should—" Caleb started.

"Yeah," Jed said gently. "I understand, but trust me when I say it's better this way." Jed stepped over to me and picked me up like I was a baby.

"He didn't break my legs," I said, although the room was spinning and my legs felt like jello.

He smiled at me. "I know, but I didn't make it to the gym today, and I could use the workout."

I laughed and relaxed in his arms. I was never going to admit it, but I was relieved not to have to walk.

"The cops are going to want to talk to her, too," Caleb said.

"They can find her at the hospital," Jed said as he carried me out of the office and down the stairs.

Jed's car was parked down the street, so he sat me down on the sidewalk while he sprinted to get it. He bundled me in the back seat like I was some sort of invalid, although it did feel good to lie down.

"How did you know?" I finally thought to ask as he drove.

"I didn't. Caleb ran into Angelica. She told him that some guy named Reid had been harassing you—"

"She what?" I sat up in the back seat so fast that my head started spinning again.

Jed chuckled. "Yeah, she said you'd probably be pissed about her telling Caleb. But..."

I felt like I might be sick. "What exactly did she tell him?"

"Not much, according to Caleb. Just that some guy, a cop named Reid, had been giving you a hard time, trying to scare you, and it was scaring her. She said she wanted his advice, but Caleb thinks she wanted us to keep an eye on you." Jed met my gaze in the rearview mirror and laughed. "Don't worry. I don't know anyone who hasn't gone out with at least one crazy person."

"Went out? I never..." I stopped myself. Maybe it would be better if Jed believed Reid was an ex-lover rather than a person possessed by the ghost of my dead boss. "I feel like an idiot."

Jed frowned and returned his attention to the road. "He's the idiot. You make sure you get a restraining order on him, okay?"

"That's a good idea," I said, but I wondered if I really wanted to draw more attention to the situation. More attention might be better than another beating, I decided. "You still haven't explained how you were there to rescue me."

"I wish we had been there five minutes earlier," he said. "Caleb told me the story over dinner, and we decided to stop in and see you on our way home and make sure you knew you could call us the next time Reid bothered you. Angelica told Caleb you were working late when she bumped into him."

"Lucky for me," I said, my teeth starting to chatter. "I was...so damn scared. I don't think I've ever been..." I stopped before I started crying again.

Jed didn't say anything; he just kept driving, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

In the movies, hospitals are a favorite hangout for ghosts, but I'd never met anyone who chose to stay in the hospital longer than necessary. Especially not if they'd died there. I didn't have to worry about being bothered or eavesdropped on by a ghost and I could pretend, for just a little while, that I was normal. If I blocked out the reason I was at the hospital, anyway.

Jed sat with me in the emergency room waiting area for three hours, and we talked the entire time. I was feeling a tad like I'd had too much to drink and a bit high from having been nearly killed, or badly beaten, or whatever Landon had done to me, so I just babbled on about everything from my favorite color—yellow—to my mom's chronic bad luck with men. Luckily, I was in good enough shape to avoid telling Jed about my dad's disappearance or my ability to see ghosts, but I'm pretty sure my incessant babbling effectively ended any chance he might ever want to hang out with me again. He was good-natured and smiled at me as I talked. He even threw in a few tidbits about himself. His favorite color is orange, he loves to snowboard and play the guitar, his parents are still happily married after thirty years, and he is addicted to reality TV. He didn't ask me any questions about my dad or my childhood or anything too personal. We laughed so much my cheeks ached. I was almost sorry when the nurse finally called my name.

When I left the hospital, with a mild concussion and a stomach rumbling with hunger, it was snowing, blanketing the roads in white, and I found it difficult to tell where the sky ended and the earth began. I'd called Angelica to pick me up, since Jed had left when I'd been called back, and she had the car waiting at the entrance to the hospital.

Alice, the ghost from my childhood, was also there. I walked over to Alice first, but she wouldn't look up and meet my eyes. I shivered in the chilly air and wished I could go to Angelica's warm car and ignore the child before me. Angelica leapt out of the car and jogged quickly over to me. "What are you doing? It's freezing out here."

I looked at Angelica, her face creased with worry, eyes darkened by sleepless circles. I looked at my best friend and I made a decision that terrified and elated me. I took her hand and pulled her close to me. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. "Can you wait for me in the car? There's someone here I need to talk to."

She pulled away from me, confused. "But there's no one..." Slowly, understanding dawned on her face. Her eyes widened and she took a single step away from me. That one step froze me more than the cold air, and I found it suddenly hard to breathe. But she smiled at me, wearily. "It's not Landon, is it?"

"No." I forced out with a sigh of relief. "It's a friend. A dear friend," I said, looking at Alice, who raised her head a tiny fraction of an inch.

"Okay, I'll be in the car. Take your time." And Angelica trotted back to the car, as though me talking to thin air was the most normal thing in the world.

"What's up, Alice?" I asked when Angelica was gone.

"I'm sorry, Kelsey," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I saw what happened, but there was nothing I could do."

"Of course there wasn't anything you could do. How could you have stopped someone you can't even touch?"

"Not Reid. Landon." She finally met my eyes. "I should have stopped Landon. I never should have let him take Reid into the store, but I was so afraid and I did not...I could not...I am not a fighter. I don't wish to be a fighter. When Reid started hitting you, Landon took off. There was nothing I could do to stop Reid."

"I was afraid, too, Alice. I'm not a fighter, either." I wished I could hug the little girl. "Have you ever seen another ghost take over a living person like that?"

She nodded. "Many times. I have never done it, and I do not show myself to those who do."

"What do you know about them?"

"They are dark, desperate, and I fear them. I don't know how they could hurt me, but I know that they could hurt me if they chose to."

"Are you in danger here, now, talking to me?"

"They are not paying attention to you or me right now. They do not know what you can do, and it is better that way."

"How can I protect myself?"

She shook her head. "If they want you, they will get you. I have heard of only one or two among the living who were truly safe from them and you do not have that gift. Stay sober, stay calm, and stay focused, and it will be more difficult for them to get to you."

I shivered. My teeth were chattering and it hurt to breathe. "But you say that no matter what, I will eventually lose."

She nodded. "I spend most of my time watching you, so I have not seen much of what the guardians can truly do, but I have heard the stories and they always end badly. Unless..."

"The guardians?"

"That is what they call themselves. There are those among the living who are aware of the guardians and have found ways to battle them. If you find members of that group, they might be able to help you."

"Do you know how I can find them?"

She shook her head. "I will try to find out, but in my world, asking questions is dangerous. I do not want to draw attention to myself or you."

I nodded as she started to fade. "Thank you." And I hurried to the car where Angelica was waiting.

The car was warm, and I sank into the passenger seat with a sigh of contentment. At that moment, I didn't have the energy to be afraid or ponder what Alice had told me. I just wanted to enjoy a few moments of perfect warmth with my best friend. Angelica seemed to understand and we rode back to the apartment in silence.

Back home, she tucked me into bed and curled up next to me. "Jed told me what happened when he called to ask me to pick you up. I'm so glad he was there to help you."

"Me, too," I mumbled, feeling drowsy.

"He said that Reid punched you a couple of times. Was it really Reid?"

"I'm not sure. Landon was the one who started Reid hitting me, but Alice says he didn't stick around after the first punch. I guess neither one of them like me very much. The police promised me that if Reid comes near me again, they will fire him."

"So, it's true, then. Landon can control Reid's body."

"Yeah. I saw him leave and enter Reid."

"It's good that the police are going to punish Reid, but that's not going to stop Landon. He doesn't care if Reid gets fired."

"Don't know," I said around a yawn. "As a cop, Reid is powerful. Landon won't want to give up that power easily."

"Maybe. You're exhausted. I'll leave you alone, so you can sleep. I'll have to wake you up in four hours to make sure you're okay, though."

"Don't go," I said as my eyes started to close.

She held my hand and brushed my hair back from my face. "It's okay, I'll stay."

And I fell asleep.

I awoke to laughter, a hoarse male laugh that I recognized immediately as Landon's. I sat straight up in bed and found that I wasn't in bed, but on a sandy beach, the ocean waves rolling up and kissing my feet. Landon stood in the surf, looking out at the ocean. I could smell salt in the air, feel the sand beneath me, and the cool caress of the water on my toes.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Landon asked as he turned to look at me. "It's almost as good as being alive, better even, because I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want to. The only problem is that it isn't real. I can feel the water touch me, I can feel the sun on me, but I can't bump into a hottie and go home with her. I can't get drunk and fall asleep on the beach. I can't do anything that matters." He gave me a quick once over. "You sleep like that every night?"

I looked down at myself and discovered I was dressed in the teeniest string bikini I had ever seen. My embarrassment lasted only long enough for my cheeks to warm briefly, before I decided not to think about it. There was nothing I could do to change it, and I was lucky to be clothed at all, considering Landon had full control here. "It's pretty cute. Can I keep it?"

A shiver of irritation crossed his face before he smiled. "Sure you can, sweetie. You stay here and you can have whatever you want. I'll just be having your body."

"Not a chance," I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. "How do you get inside my dreams?"

He laughed. "I'm not in your dreams, Ice Princess. I'm in your head. You won a couple of points getting Reid placed on probation. I don't want him to get fired, because I just never know when his job might be useful for me, so I won't use him to bother you again. I can still get to you without him, and I intend to fuck with your itty bitty mind every chance I get until you give me what I want."

I did my best to stay calm and smile coolly at him, but I'm afraid the expression I managed looked more like a grimace. "Too bad. I was just starting to like Reid."

He was suddenly right in front of me, his face only a couple of inches from mine. He held my chin in a grip that was real enough to hurt.

"Don't get too used to him being gone. If it becomes necessary to use a bit more physical force with you, I'll bring him back out again. Just remember, if you do see him again, it'll be because I'm really, really angry and I want to make you hurt." He jumped away from me and smiled casually. "Hopefully, it won't come to that, though, sweetheart."

"Why don't you just leave me alone, Landon? You already said you'd rather be a dude."

He nodded. "You aren't kidding. I'd rather be just about anyone other than you, but I don't have any choice. I can take your body as the easiest pickings or wait around a decade or so until I'm strong enough to take over someone of my choosing."

"What's wrong with Reid? You seem to control him pretty well."

"Glad you finally appreciate my work. I was beginning to give up on you ever believing it was me in that sad sack cop costume. The problem with Reid, sweetheart, is that I can only control him and live through him in the moments that he is blackout drunk. With him, that is a pretty frequent condition, but it's not permanent. Plus, when I'm in him, everything is muted through his drunken senses, and I don't feel truly alive. I can't take him over completely because I'm not strong enough, and he was too far from my physical body when I died. You, on the other hand..."

"I still don't get how it works."

He threw his hands up. "What damn difference does it make how it works? I don't know how it works and I don't care as long as I get a body."

"Who's told you I'm your only option? Are you sure you can trust them?"

His eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? You are in no position to question my judgment, honey. Stop asking so many damn questions and start acting scared like you should be."

I let my true feelings show for just a moment. I let the tears well up in my eyes and made myself shiver and shake. In that moment, I saw his eyes light up, and I appreciated how he enjoyed my fear and his control over me. I quickly regained my composure and met his gaze evenly. "Fuck you." I closed my eyes, laid back down, and tried to imagine myself back in my own bed with Angelica next to me.

Landon laughed. "You think it's that easy? You can just close your eyes, and I'll go away?"

I tried to block out his words and hear Angelica's heavy breath next to me. I imagined the feel of my soft flannel sheets and the weight of my down comforter. I imagined the aroma of flowers that wafted up from the flower shop even in the middle of the night. I imagined myself safe in my own bed and, gradually, I stopped hearing and smelling the ocean and Landon's voice.

When I opened my eyes again, I was home, in my own bed, with Angelica sleeping soundly beside me. I didn't know if Landon had released me or if I had escaped on my own, but it didn't matter because I was home and safe. Sleep, however, was out of the question. So I got up and headed for the kitchen where a new recipe for vegetable soup was waiting for me.

### CHAPTER EIGHT

Angelica bounced into the kitchen around 6 AM. "I was worried when I woke up and you were gone, but then I smelled yummy food cooking, so I knew you had to be okay. What's for breakfast?"

"Vegetable soup. I've got two batches, one with mushrooms and tofu, and one with just veggies."

"Yum. I'll try a little of both, please." She grabbed two neon green bowls from the cupboard and filled them from the two pots on the stove. I stopped washing the dishes, got a bowl of my own, filled it, and followed her to the table.

She took a couple bites of each and nodded. "Delicious. There's nothing better than veggie soup for breakfast."

"Do you like it better than the one we had last week?"

"Kelsey, honestly, it all tastes good to me. You're going to have to find someone with a more sensitive palate to tell the difference."

She ate a few more bites and looked at me. I had taken one bite and laid down my fork. I knew I must look only slightly better than death, after getting beaten up and not sleeping.

"You want to tell me what happened after we went to bed last night?"

I knew I shouldn't tell her the truth, but I couldn't stop myself. I was too scared or too desperate, and I just needed someone to talk to. "Landon visited me last night, in a dream. He manipulated everything down to my clothes, or lack thereof."

Angelica gasped. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know." I stood and started to pace. "He doesn't know. He doesn't care. He says he can get inside my mind like that whenever he wants and that he will keep doing it until I give him my body."

"Well, that's not an option," she said, but her voice came out a bit shaky. "Are you sure it wasn't just a bad dream?"

"Yes. No. Damn it, I don't know. It felt real, really, really real." I sat back down. "Last night, at the hospital, Alice told me she's seen this before. She's seen ghosts attack a living person and try to take them over. Angelica, she said that the living person always loses."

She shook her head. "Alice is the ghost you were talking to last night?"

I loved her more than life for her calmness in that moment.

"Yes, I knew her when I was a little girl. She says that she's been watching me all this time."

"That's so sweet. She's like a guardian angel." Angelica's face stiffened with seriousness and determination. "If she's been watching you all these years, she hasn't been watching everyone else, right. I mean, she couldn't know for a fact that no one has ever escaped, could she?"

I felt a moment of hope. "No, of course she couldn't."

"Okay, so we just have to figure out how to fight Landon."

"Landon and his legion of evil ghosts."

"What?" I filled her in on the rest of what I'd learned from Alice and Landon, and we spent the morning making a plan. Angelica would use her occult connections to try and track down the group of ghost fighters, and I would do my best to follow Alice's guidelines and stay awake so that Landon couldn't get to me in a dream again. That settled and breakfast finished, I headed back to the bathroom to shower and get ready for work.

I was halfway down the hall when Angelica's voice stopped me. "So, what did Caleb want to talk to you about?"

I walked back into the kitchen. "What?"

"He came to the apartment looking for you. He said he had to talk to you about something important. I told him about Reid harassing you and sent him to the store. I figure with all that time you spent with Jed in the emergency room, he must have talked to you about whatever it was."

"We talked about a lot, but nothing important." I racked my brain to be sure. I wasn't hit in the head so hard that I wouldn't remember, was I? "Are you sure he said it was important? Jed told me Caleb bumped into you and just happened to be in the area of the store so he and Jed decided to stop in."

"That's what I thought," Angelica said with a nod as she rinsed her dish and stuck it in the dishwasher.

"What is what you thought?"

"He likes you. He wanted to ask you out. Why else would he make up that story about accidentally bumping into me? He wanted it to seem casual."

I tried my very best not to roll my eyes. The idea of Caleb asking me out seemed silly at best. He had wanted to go to dinner with me, but that request had felt nothing like him asking me out. "I really don't think that was what he wanted to talk to me about. Jed certainly didn't say anything about it." It bothered me that Caleb had lied about how he'd found out where I was, and I did wonder what could be so important that he'd track me down like that, but I figured I'd ask him when I saw him again.

"Okay, whatever. You don't appreciate how attractive you are."

"Angelica, I love you for thinking I'm so pursued by the opposite sex, but the truth is, they are hardly beating down my door."

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Angelica gave me a pointed look and a smile. I rolled my eyes. "I've got to get ready for work."

When I walked into the living room, showered and dressed for work, I found Angelica and Cat in deep conversation. Doug, my ghostly friend from the plane, sat in a dark corner, and he winked and waved at me when I looked at him. I hadn't expected to see him again, but I ignored him and focused on the two living people in the room.

Angelica looked up as I walked in. "Here she is now. I was just telling Cat what a great roommate you are."

"She really was," Doug said. "She's a sweet girl."

I smiled and sat down on the couch next to Angelica. "Just don't tell her about the super long showers I take."

"You make up for it with all of the grocery shopping and cooking you do. Seriously, Cat, you'll never go hungry here."

Cat smiled and leaned back in the blue armchair. She seemed completely at ease and happy. Angelica usually brought out the best in people. "Sounds great to me. When can I move in?"

"Today, if you'd like," Angelica said, then looked at me. "I mean, if it's okay with Kelsey."

"It's great with me," I said, relieved that Angelica liked Cat. I had already gotten used to the idea of cheaper rent but Caleb's warning had made me nervous. If Angelica liked Cat, though, I could count on her being safe. "I was just waiting for the okay from you."

"Are you two for real?" Doug sneered. "I've never seen two women get along so well in my life. Of course, the only women I really know are my wife and daughter, and you know how tensions can flow there—"

Cat beamed. "Thank you," she said over Doug's rambling. "I can actually move in right now. My bag's in my car."

"Don't you think you should get some money up front?" Doug whispered in my ear so suddenly that I almost jumped. I hated the way ghosts could invade my personal space without any warning. As annoying as his method was, he had a point.

"Great," I said. "We'll just need two weeks rent up front."

"Oh." Cat had started to stand to go grab her bag, but she sat back down with a thump. "I actually just started my job and I haven't even gotten paid yet. I'm sorry, I didn't realize..." She looked like she might burst into tears. "I'm living in my car, actually, and I..."

Warning bells were banging in my head. I was only talking about a hundred bucks. If she couldn't come up with that... Then again, I'd been new here once, too. I knew what it felt like. Of course, I'd worked and paid my way.

"We totally understand," Angelica said before I could decide how I felt about our new roommate being broke and homeless. "Don't worry about it, just pay us when you have the money."

"Big mistake," Doug said.

I felt certain he was right, but I didn't want to question Angelica's judgment. She had the apartment first, so it was really her place to decide. Besides, she'd been so understanding about my ghosts that I really didn't want to go all judgmental on someone she liked and wanted as a roommate. "Yeah," I heard myself saying. "Don't worry about it. Just pay your portion of the rent when it's due next month."

Cat smiled. "Thank you so much. I have to be at work in an hour, so if you don't mind, can I bring my stuff in and hop in the shower?"

"Of course," Angelica said. She actually hugged Cat. "Welcome home."

Angelica's acceptance of me was beginning to look less exceptional. My feelings were a little hurt.

While Cat grabbed her stuff and showered, I moved around the apartment picking up dirty dishes and unread books, trying to make up for a month's worth of neglect. As I swiped dust off the mantle, I hoped that Cat wasn't a neat freak. Not that a girl who had paid nothing for her abode had any right to complain.

Cat walked into the living room, dressed in a uniform for a local fast food joint. "I'll be home around ten. Would you and Angelica like to hang out?"

"We should both be here. We usually stay up pretty late. What did you have in mind?"

She shrugged. "I don't know... Talk, maybe watch a movie or something?"

"Um, yeah, okay. I'll see you tonight," I said. She headed out the door, and I looked around for Doug to find out what he was doing back, but he had vanished again. I was halfway down the hall when my cell phone rang. I considered ignoring it, but it might be someone from work needing me to answer a question, so I hurried back to the kitchen and grabbed it. "Hello?" I said, a bit breathlessly.

"Kelsey?" asked a male voice, definitely no one from the store, unless Al was back in town.

"This is she."

"Hey, this is Bruce...from the club the other night...Landon's friend."

I smiled until he reminded me of his connection to Landon. "Sure, I remember you. What's up?"

"I hope this isn't too weird, but I just really need to talk to someone about Landon and, since you knew him, I thought maybe you wouldn't mind."

Seriously? This was why he asked for my number? "I really don't think I'd be the best—"

"You seem like a nice person, and I know you had every right to hate him, but it bothers me that you did. It's probably silly, but I think it would help me to tell you more about him. I hate to think of all the people out there who don't care that he's dead..."

I couldn't help admiring Bruce's sincerity and sweetness. What a good friend he must have been to Landon. I wondered if Landon appreciated it. "I'd like to help, but you really don't need to convince me. I'm sorry that he's dead." _And even sorrier that he is tormenting me from the other side._

"I'm glad to hear that, but I'd still like to buy you dinner and tell you more about him if that's okay."

"Not gonna turn down dinner. When were you thinking? I'm free Wednesday night."

"Me, too. Wednesday's perfect. Why don't we meet at The Bluebird's Nest about seven?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you then."

I walked to work. It was unseasonably chilly for the end of October, and I wished I'd worn a hat and gloves along with my winter coat. As I made my way, I tried to prepare myself for re-entering the store, expecting to have flashbacks of Reid punching me. I tried to visualize myself getting into the store and going up to the office, and I tried to imagine myself sitting at the desk and getting to work without any fear or hesitation. Instead, all I could think about was Landon. Reid could encounter me in any public place, but Landon could literally enter my dreams. With Reid, at least I was safe behind the locked door of my apartment, cuddled up in bed under my cozy comforter. Flashbacks to being beaten up seemed small compared to a fear of sleeping in my own bed, not to mention worries about what other new tricks Landon might have in store for me.

The store was busy when I walked in. Well, as busy as a bookstore in a ski town in November could be. There were about six people inside, five of them living, and Cherie and Isabella were each busy chatting with a customer. I assumed they were discussing books and didn't bother listening too closely. The sixth person was a ghost I'd seen there before. She was dressed in ski pants, a ski jacket, and goggles. The goggles weren't around her neck, but on her face. I wondered why she would wear goggles in the store, but I didn't want to know badly enough to introduce myself. I ignored her and pointed upstairs when I caught Cherie's eye. She nodded and returned to her conversation. It seemed as though they had everything under control, so I headed up to get started.

As I got to the top of the stairs, I could see that the light was already on in the office, the door open. I stopped myself from rushing back down to ask Cherie who had been in the office. It wasn't unusual for one or both of them to pop in to get something, like an extra roll of quarters or a paper clip, and leave the light on and the door open. Even so, I approached the door slowly and pushed it open gently as I peeped into the room.

Jed was seated at the desk in Landon's usual spot. He looked up at me and smiled, then quickly frowned. "Uh, I'm guessing Angelica didn't tell you I'd be here?"

"Uh-uh." I shook my head and walked into the room, relieved that I didn't have to be there alone quite yet. "What's up?"

"I thought it might be hard for you to come back here, so I called Angelica to find out when you were working."

"That's really nice. You know, I'm starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with how much I owe you."

"Don't worry," he said. "I've been keeping track. You can start by explaining to me why anyone reads these romances by Arthur West. I've been trying to read his last one and I can't figure out how anyone was ever able to get far enough through it to think making it into a movie was a good idea."

I laughed and peeked down at the book on the desk. It looked as though he'd made it through the first chapter, at least. "Don't tell me you actually paid for that?"

"I did." He groaned. "I was thinking of starting a career as a romance writer, I mean how hard can it be, right? Especially if this guy is the top of the heap."

"Just 'cause they make a movie out of a book doesn't mean the books are actually any good. There are tons of fantastic books that haven't been made into movies."

"See, I knew you'd make me feel better about it. You probably don't read this sort of stuff."

I looked around like I was worried about being overheard. "I do, actually, though I'm not a fan of Arthur West. I also love thrillers and mysteries, and science fiction and fantasy. I read just enough literature and nonfiction to keep my job here." He laughed. "Somehow, I doubt that wondering about Arthur West has actually been taking up that much of your time."

He shook his head. "You'd be surprised. This girl I dated dragged me to one of his movies, and I've been baffled by the allure ever since."

"I hope you dumped her immediately following that incident."

"Unfortunately, I'm not that bright. I dated her for three more months after that. I missed all the warning signs."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Not as sorry as I was," he said, but he smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I was doing great until you changed the subject. That story was just starting to get interesting." I sat down in a chair on the other side of the desk. He just looked at me, all humor fading to a look of concern. "I'm fine, I think. They wouldn't take out a restraining order, but they said Reid knows he has to stay away from me. I've been told that he can't bother me again without serious consequences."

"Yeah, I can think of a few consequences I'd like to inflict on that asshole."

"I don't think that'll be necessary. I don't believe he'll be bothering me again."

He leaned across the desk. "You sound pretty certain. What do you mean?"

"Nothing," I said a little too quickly. I didn't want Jed to worry, but I couldn't ease his worry without sharing more than I intended to. "I just think he wouldn't want to lose his job over me."

"He really cared about his job when you two were dating?"

Oh yeah, Jed thought Reid and I had dated. "He sure did. Not enough to get a handle on his drinking, though..." I was losing control of this conversation. I should have put more thought into this cover story. "Anyway, I never thanked you for saving me and for being here tonight. So thank you. That horrible Arthur West book is on me."

He laughed. "In that case, I think I'd rather you didn't thank me at all. I would donate the book to Goodwill, but I'm pretty sure even they wouldn't take it."

"Seriously, thank you," I said, and he nodded. "Where'd you learn to fight like that, anyway?"

"Fight? I put the guy in a choke hold. It's hardly what I would call fighting."

"I guess, but you did choke the guy unconscious."

He shrugged. "I guess I don't know my own strength. That choke hold was pure luck. A little tighter and we'd have had a lot more explaining to do."

I nodded. "Well, you guys did a lot better than I did. Cowering in the corner like a helpless chick."

An angry look crossed his face, but he took a deep breath and it was gone so fast I wasn't sure I had really seen it.

"You did the best you could. You never should have been in that situation in the first place." He looked down at the desk and took a deep breath, before looking back up at me and smiling. "By the way, what happened with that girl who wanted to rent your third bedroom? We saw her working at McDonald's, and Caleb told me who she was."

I tried not to squirm under his gaze. Did they talk to each other about anything other than me? It was my apartment and my decision, but I had a bad feeling now about Cat, too, and I felt a little bit guilty not standing up for that feeling, especially after what Caleb had said. "Angelica gave her the A-OK, and she's already moved in."

"Really?" He leaned back in the chair and ran a hand through his hair, revealing a nicely shaped bicep I hadn't noticed before. "Caleb told me that he shared his bad vibes about her with you. I wouldn't take him too seriously, though. She seemed nice enough to me, and if you like her, that's all that matters. Just don't let her stiff you on the rent."

"We won't," I said, not wanting to get into it any further. But then, suddenly, I did. With all the other creepy stuff going on, I just didn't want to worry about my roommate. Jed might be little more than a stranger, but I trusted him and his judgment. "The rent is actually the problem. Cat claims she can't pay and I don't think we should let her move in until she can, but Angelica trusts her. I'm worried that Angelica's need to help people who are, well, needy, may have overruled her judgment of character in this case."

He snorted. "That girl didn't look so needy to me."

"She is. She's broke and homeless and had a terrible boyfriend."

His frown deepened. "So she says. She was wearing Sevens the day I saw her."

I tried for a moment to understand his point, but it didn't make sense to me. "What has that got to do with anything? Are you judging girls by the size of their clothes now?"

He just stared at me for a moment then burst out laughing. "No, it's a brand of jeans. Seven for all Mankind is a really expensive kind of jean."

"Oh." I knew nothing about fashion. If it fit and it looked nice and I could afford it, I was happy. "Why do you even know that?"

"Sisters," he said. "Both of whom are obsessed with brand names and expensive clothes."

"Still..."

"Are you seriously questioning my masculinity and complimenting my ability to fight in the same conversation?"

I did my best to maintain a straight face and nodded.

He threw his hands up. "Whatever. So I know clothes. It's come in handy a few times, so I've kept up with it. The point is that your girl was wearing expensive jeans."

"Okay, but maybe she had them from her past. Maybe she was a rich girl a few years ago, who left home to make it on her own."

He shrugged. "Get the rent money from her or kick her out. If she's really broke, she should dress like it. I'm beginning to take Caleb's side on this one."

"That's extremely judgmental of you," I said, even though I agreed with him. "You haven't even talked to her."

"I liked you before I talked to you and that has worked out."

I swallowed my smile, but not before he had seen it. "We'll see. Now that I know how judgmental you are, I'm not sure I want to associate with you any longer."

He laughed, completely unworried that I was about to ditch him as a friend. "I'd love to stay and debate my faults with you, but I've actually got to leave town for a little while."

"Oh, really? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I just got a job offer I couldn't turn down," he said.

"A job?" I tried not to sound as upset as I felt. I realized then just how much I'd been enjoying spending time with him. "So you'll be gone a while?"

"Um, yeah. It could be a couple of weeks or it could be years. It just depends on how well I do and if I like it."

"Years?"

He smiled, but it looked a bit forced. "I'll be back to visit Caleb and I'll check in with you."

"Okay, good," I said, but I couldn't keep the disappointment out of my voice. "Good luck with your new job."

"Yeah, thanks. You take care of yourself, and don't ever hesitate to call Caleb if you need anything."

"Sure." But I didn't think I would call Caleb. As nice as Caleb had been, I just didn't trust him the way I trusted Jed.

There wasn't much to say after that. I walked downstairs with him and saw him out of the store. I barely knew him, but I missed him already.

I turned and faced the office, feeling immensely braver about being alone in there. Even so, I left with Cherie after we closed. I hadn't made as much progress on the administrative chaos as I would have liked, but I wasn't ready to be in the store alone, yet.

I said goodbye to Cherie and shivered as I stepped out into the damp, chilly night. She headed home, and I locked up and went the opposite way. Snowflakes seemed to stand, transfixed in the air, and I felt like I was swimming back to my apartment. I couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of me, and the spaces between street lights were dark. I almost called Angelica to drive and pick me up, but that would be ridiculous. If I couldn't walk the two blocks from work to my apartment after dark, I might as well give up and move back in with my mother. I jumped at every sound—a laugh that broke suddenly into the quiet night, the whoosh of a car, the distant ring of a cell phone. I quickened my pace, but refused to run. If I allowed myself to be afraid now, I would never stop being afraid.

### CHAPTER NINE

I heard the laughter before I stepped inside. Cat and Angelica were sitting on the couch, beers on their laps, watching _The Hangover III_. When I walked into the living room, Angelica paused the movie. "Hey, sweetie, you wanna join us?"

"I would love to." I sighed as I headed to the couch.

"Grab a beer, first," Angelica said.

"No, thanks."

She groaned. "Are you seriously sticking to that plan?" She turned to look at Cat. "Kelsey here is turning 21 in February and she has decided not to drink until her birthday."

Cat looked at me, eyes wide in horror. "Why would you do that? That's like four months away."

It was actually three months to the day, but I didn't correct her. "I just want my birthday to be amazing and special and if I'm just doing the same thing I've been doing every weekend, what's the point?"

"I don't..." Cat started, her blue eyes bright with concern. "I could never do that. Good for you."

"Cat bought the beer, Kels, and it's your favorite, Holy Spider."

Holy Spider was a light, honey lager from a local brewery called Arachnophobia.

I shifted on my feet. "One or two won't hurt, right? I can get back on track tomorrow."

"Sure," Angelica said. "Besides, I promised I'd make your birthday special. You don't need to put yourself through this."

"I'm doing it," I said as I walked back to the kitchen, grabbed a beer and popped the top. "Can I get anything for anyone else?"

"No, thanks," the two women called in unison.

I headed back and plopped down on the couch next to Angelica. She gave me a quick one-armed hug and pressed play.

Forty-five minutes later, the movie was over, I was on my third beer, and the three of us were sitting on the floor playing gin.

"I could really go for some of your blueberry pancakes right now, Kelsey," Angelica said as she eyed her cards and considered her move.

I popped up, feeling ready for anything and in the mood to cook. "Sure, I'll make them right now."

"No, no, sit back down, I was just making a comment. You don't have to make them. You must be exhausted."

"Nope," I said and headed for the kitchen. "I'm in the mood to make pancakes for my very best friend and my new roommate." The truth was that I was tired and it scared me. I didn't want to go to sleep and see Landon again. Sitting still playing cards had made me sleepy, and getting up and moving around to cook was just what I needed to stay awake.

"Thanks for hanging out with me," Cat said behind me. "I'm going to bed, though. I'm exhausted and I have to go job hunting tomorrow."

I almost gasped aloud, but I somehow managed to smile at Cat as she passed me. "Good night. Let me know if you need anything."

Cat nodded as she headed back toward her room. "Thank you. Good night."

"Job hunting?" I mouthed to Angelica as she entered the kitchen.

Angelica just shrugged. "Is there anything at the bookstore?"

I was relieved to be able to say no. My bad feeling about Cat just kept getting worse, and I didn't want her involved in my life any more than she already was. "I thought she had a job," I whispered.

"She got fired," Angelica said in a low voice.

I felt like pulling my hair out and stomping my feet. I wanted to say, _are you fucking kidding me?_ Who gets fired from a fast food restaurant? Instead, I did my best to look sympathetic. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She was really upset about it, and I didn't want to push her. She'll find something and, if she doesn't, we can afford to cover her for a couple of months. We've managed fine so far."

I couldn't believe my ears. One evening of drinking with Cat and Angelica was ready to let her live here for free. I turned away from Angelica before she could see the look of annoyance on my face. There was no way I was going to let Cat live here for free without a fight, but we didn't need to have that fight yet.

"How was your day, today?" I asked in a normal voice as I started pulling a bowl and ingredients from the cupboards. I made pancakes so often that I didn't need a recipe.

"I spent most of it at the gym. I've got to get in shape for this season if I'm ever going to make ski patrol."

"God, I hate the gym. I don't know how you can spend so much time there."

"I'm not like you, Kels. I get bored running outside all the time, and I need some variety. How was everything at the shop?"

"It was good, actually. Jed was waiting in the office when I got there, and it really helped. Thank you for your part in that."

"I hardly did anything. It was all his idea. He's a real sweetheart."

"Yeah, he and Caleb have been really great with this whole Reid thing. They still think Reid is an ex-boyfriend, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to give them any other idea. Jed is leaving town, so you don't need to worry about him, but please don't tell Caleb."

"Okay, but I think he'd understand if you told him the truth."

I beat the ingredients together a little harder than necessary at that suggestion. I was surprised that she didn't ask why Jed was leaving or where he was going. I guess she hadn't spent any real time with him. "No, Angelica. I'm amazed that _you've_ been so understanding." I dropped batter onto the hot pan and turned to face her as it cooked. "No one has ever reacted as well as you did."

"It's a little scary, but also kind of cool. You're so brave to talk to them and just keep living your life. Maybe the other people you've encountered have just been too close-minded. Caleb doesn't seem like that."

I nodded. "No, but I don't want to take any chances. I kind of like having friends."

"You talk like it's new to you."

"It _is_ new to me. The only friends I've ever had were chased away by my mother telling them that I was a) crazy, which she did until I was five, or b) supernaturally gifted, which she did starting when I was about seven."

"I would think you'd be the most popular girl in school."

"You'd think so," I said. "But that's not how it worked out. It's not like I could do anything really cool like move things with my mind."

"That sucks. I had no idea. You come across as so happy and outgoing." She paused as I flipped the pancake. "To tell the truth, your mother was a little over the top about the whole thing when she told me. She said that you were always surrounded by ghosts and that if it looked like you were talking to yourself, I should know that you were talking to a ghost and keep my distance."

I felt a bit sick. "God, even though she doesn't believe I'm crazy anymore, she still manages to make me _sound_ crazy."

Angelica grimaced and nodded. "Yeah, kind of. Can I ask you what it's like to talk to ghosts?"

"Sure," I said, as I flipped a pancake onto a plate and poured more batter onto the pan. "It's not much different than talking to you, except the ghost doesn't actually have the least interest in me as a person. They only care about what I can do for them."

"Do you help them?"

"No. They usually want ridiculous things that they have no right to meddle with, anyway."

"I heard that." I jumped as a new voice entered our conversation. I looked into the living room to see Doug seated in the blue armchair. I quickly turned my attention back to Angelica. She might say it was cool that I saw ghosts, but I didn't want to test that by telling her there was one in the room at that moment.

"Take, for example, this ghost I met on my flight east. He wanted me to prevent his widow from remarrying. Basically, he wanted me to interfere with what was perfectly healthy for her, moving on with her life after his death."

"The guy is a douche," Doug muttered.

"The thing is that the ghosts I meet haven't been magically enlightened by dying. If they haven't moved on to wherever they go next, it's because they are clinging to life in whatever way they can come up with. They often convince themselves that there is something important for them to do, when all they are really doing is avoiding moving on."

"I'm starting to get offended," Doug said.

"That sounds really annoying."

"It is," I said as I flipped another pancake out of the pan. I thought about Alice and my moment of understanding with Doug. "Sometimes, though, I make a connection with someone and it makes up for some of the annoyance." I smiled at Doug, and he beamed back at me.

I set the syrup and pancakes on the table while Angelica grabbed silverware and plates. She looked at me as we sat down. "Isn't there ever anyone with a worthwhile plea for help?"

I shrugged as I cut my pancakes with my fork. "I don't know. I don't usually let it get that far. Really, until very recently, I didn't have the ability to do what anyone asked me. What's a sixteen-year-old kid gonna do about a message to some ghost's loved one on the other side of the country?"

"Wow, it must be really hard to have to deny ghosts their last wishes. How often do you see them?"

"It depends on where I go. On an airplane, I'll see five to fifteen; at the mall, I might see fifty. For some reason, they love any place that sells coffee. Coffee houses are lousy with ghosts. When I do see a ghost, they don't automatically know I can see them, so most of them just keep on going by. Astute ghosts usually figure it out, but luckily, there aren't too many of them." I smiled at Doug again, and he took a quick bow. "Most of them are so caught up in their own pain or worries they don't notice what's going on around them."

"I guess that's why you like it here. Less people equals less ghosts."

"For the most part, yes. You'd be surprised where I find them, though."

She yawned. "That is a story I'd definitely like to hear, but I'm exhausted and I've got to get to bed." She ate her last bite of food and took her plate to the sink. "Thanks for the pancakes."

She started to head back to her room. "Are you staying up?"

"I'm just going to clean up the kitchen." And then figure out something else to do to put off sleep.

She stepped back into the kitchen. "Oh god, Kels, I forgot. Your dreams. You have to sleep."

"I know, just not yet."

"Well, when you're ready, you're welcome to sleep in my bed. That way, you can wake me up if anything freaky happens."

"Great. Thanks, Angelica." The last time Landon visited me in a dream, Angelica had been in bed with me and it hadn't made any difference. It might make me feel better not to sleep alone, though.

I headed over to the couch, placed my cell phone next to me, in case I needed to pretend I wasn't talking to myself in here, and smiled at Doug. "So, what's up?"

"You sure there's no one else you need to talk to, nothing else you need to cook, before you speak to me?"

That annoyed me. _He_ was the one who had shown up unannounced in the middle of _my_ night. I stood to head back to my room. "Actually, I just remembered that I need to file and paint my nails."

He sighed. "Wait. I'm sorry, okay? This being dead and having to wait around for you to find alone time to talk to me is frustrating."

I nodded in acceptance of his apology and sat back down. "So, what's up?"

"I heard you might be in some trouble, and I wondered if I could help."

"You talked to Alice?"

"More like she talked to me. She's one pushy brat."

"What is she, like, eight? I think you could take her."

"In your world, she looks like an eight-year-old, but she's more like ninety-eight and no weakling in mine."

"Did she also tell you that you could be in a lot of trouble with these guardians if you interfere?"

Doug snorted. "Nope. She was shoving me into the line of fire, apparently. I don't mind, though. It's not like I've got anywhere to be."

"I appreciate your offer, Doug, but I don't know what they're actually capable of doing to you."

"The more important question is, what can I do to help?"

"If Alice didn't tell you that, I certainly won't be able to tell you. I'd never even heard of these guardians before last week."

He nodded. "How about I nose around on my side and see what I can find out?"

"That would be incredibly awesome. Just be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Doug leaned back and started to fade a bit.

"So, how's the family?" I asked, desperate not to be alone.

Doug talked about his wife and daughter until I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was on the top of a mountain dressed in a bikini. I was seated in a snowdrift, snow whipping around my face, and my teeth were chattering so hard I thought they might break into a million tiny pieces. Landon stood next to me, dressed in a plaid flannel shirt over a T-shirt, and jeans with the knees ripped out.

"Thought you might like it here, Ice Princess," he drawled as he sat down next to me.

"Hey, Landon. You ever consider taking some time off from the nineties and joining the rest of us in the 21st century?" I stuttered out around the chattering of my teeth.

He scowled. "If you were smart, you'd show me a little respect. I have it in my power to destroy you."

I forced myself to swallow the bile that had risen in my throat and smile at him. "According to you, you've decided to destroy me no matter what I say or do."

He grinned. "Oh, that's right. Then I guess I ought to be thanking you for making this so much easier for me. I was beginning to feel a teeny tiny bit bad for you."

"It'd be easier to talk if we went somewhere a bit warmer."

"That's kind of the point, Kelsey. I'm sick to shit of hearing your whining, so I picked somewhere you'd be forced to do most of the listening."

I shrugged and gestured for him to have the floor.

"All right. This is the way it's going to be. Every single fucking time you close your eyes, I'm going to be there. If you aren't begging me to take over your tight-ass body by the end of the week, then I start fucking with your friends. My man Reid has been warned away from you, but not from Angelica or any of the other chicks at the bookstore."

"Even so," I chattered. "He'd still be in trouble..."

"As time goes by, I'm caring less and less about Reid being in trouble. Besides, it would just take one time of him beating the shit out of Angelica before I'm betting you'd cave and give me what I want."

"Leave her out—" I was getting colder, and it was proving harder to talk. Not to mention I was pretty sure my ass was developing a bad case of frostbite. I tried to stand, but Landon pushed me back down.

"Understand this, Kelsey. I want to be alive again, and I will get there no matter what it takes or who gets hurt along the way. I don't have a lot of patience, and I'm sick to death of being over here watching other people living the life I should be living."

"Constantly stoned?" I think I raised my eyebrows, but I could no longer feel my face.

"Fuck you, Kelsey."

"Don't know what Bruce ever saw in you."

Landon stopped then, the rage in his eyes dying down just a bit. "What the fuck do you know about Bruce?"

"He and me. Dinner tonight. To tell me you good guy." I was finding short sentences and small words easier to get out.

Landon stood and paced the snow. "You stay away from him, Kelsey. You understand me? He's a good friend and I don't want him knowing you."

"Might upset him if I die?"

"Far as I'm concerned, he'll never know you are gone. I'll be in your body, and he and I can go back to being buddies. I just don't want to have to fuck him, understand? Or break up with him or whatever." He threw up his hands and shuddered. "Just stay away from him, okay."

"Cancel dinner?" I almost hoped Landon would say yes. I was pretty sure I didn't want to hear Landon's sad story or learn to have any sympathy for him.

"Yes, cancel the fucking dinner." Landon looked at me and shook his head. "Shit, no don't cancel. Go to dinner and pretend you give a shit, it'll make him feel better."

"Or what?" I asked, wondering if I could get any leverage at all in this game.

"Or I go after Angelica starting tomorrow."

He had me there. Maybe I was better off with no friends.

He put a wrist up to his face and pretended to study it. "Looks like we have about three hours until the sun comes up on your side, so I've got a little job to keep you warm while you wait." Landon suddenly produced a shovel and threw it at me. "Clear the snow off the mountain."

I didn't move. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself back in my own living room.

"Ha," he said with a laugh. "You aren't going anywhere that way, sweet thing. I've fixed that little loophole. Start digging before you freeze to death."

I considered asking for warmer clothes, but I knew Landon would say no and decided not to waste energy asking. I picked up the shovel and used it like a cane to help me get to my feet. When I stood, it took everything I had not to curl around myself to try to keep warm. The icy wind hit my bare belly and I gasped at the cold that stung me with a physical pain. Standing still wasn't going to warm me so I started digging. I dug in deep, lifted out a heavy load of snow, and tossed it on the ground next to the hole. When I moved the shovel back to my starting spot, the hole was gone. I looked around for it, but there was no hole. The pile of snow was still where I'd left it. I looked at Landon, but he was staring at the blank snow, his eyes wide. "Are we in hell?" I asked.

He met my eyes then and the look on his face was one of primal fear. "Just shut up and dig," he said.

I went back to work and he watched, making comments on my snow shoveling form and on my body. Those three hours felt like twenty-four. Eventually, Landon stood, walked over, and took the shovel from me.

"Now, get outta here." He gave me a shove, and I started sliding down the slope. Somehow, I got my frozen body to work just in time, and I caught myself. "I said get out of here. I'm sick of looking at your goody-goody face." He gave me another shove and this time, I slid straight for what appeared to be the edge of a cliff. I scrambled for something to hold onto, but my fingers just slid over the icy slope. I fell for what seemed like an eternity. I could see the ground below rushing toward me, and I struggled desperately to wake up. I'd heard that if you die in a dream, you die in reality, and that was a theory I didn't want to test. As I fell, I imagined myself back in my own bed, under my own blanket. Too late, I remembered that I had fallen asleep on the couch. I hit the ground with a kind of squishy thud and a searing pain before my world went entirely black.

### CHAPTER TEN

When I opened my eyes, daylight streamed in through the large window in our living room, and I was on the couch. I was shivering uncontrollably, and all I wanted in the world was to be warm and go back to sleep. To achieve that goal, I would have to get out off the couch and find about ten more blankets. I started to push myself up to a sitting position but every muscle in my body shouted at me not to move. So I listened and tried to figure out why I hurt so bad. It took me approximately thirty seconds to remember that Landon had pushed me off a cliff and I'd been shoveling snow all night. That was the only physically traumatic thing that had happened to me in the last twenty-four hours, but it had happened in a dream. Maybe my pain was related to the beating I'd taken from Reid, but when I squeezed my stomach muscles I found that those were the only muscles in my body that didn't hurt. I gingerly reached up and touched my cheek to find that it was still tender and swollen, but it didn't seem likely that cheek pain had somehow magically become full body pain.

Unable to reach a definitive conclusion about the cause of my pain, I decided to pretend it didn't exist. I could stay on the couch and go back to sleep until I stopped hurting, but that would only give Landon another shot at me. I could get up and go discuss the incident with Angelica and let her decide what I should do next, but this was weird beyond weird. Once the ghosts started physically injuring the living, it was time to freak out, and I didn't want to freak out Angelica. I took a couple of deep breaths to avoid freaking out myself and a male voice said, "You okay, Kelsey?"

I carefully turned my head to the side and saw Doug still sitting in the blue chair. "Doug. Were you here all night?" I asked as well as I could around chattering teeth.

He nodded. "I wanted to help if Landon bothered you again, but I couldn't find you."

I forced my arms under my body, pushed myself to a sitting position, and dropped my legs over the side of the couch so that I was facing him. Luckily, it seemed that all of my limbs were still working and present. "I was right here, wasn't I?" I tried to hold back the panicky squeak from my voice, but judging by the concern in Doug's eyes, I failed.

"Your body was here, but you were gone. I don't know where he took you, but I couldn't find you, and I tried, Kelsey. I really tried."

"He took my spirit." My voice shook and I cleared my throat trying to get control of myself. "He took me to a mountaintop. A freezing, snowy mountaintop. Sound familiar?"

He shook his head. "I'm still getting the lay of the land over there. Most of what's there mirrors what's in the living world, and if I'm familiar with a place, I can be there in a thought. Maybe the mountain he took you to was the mirror of your mountain here."

"Probably." I shrugged and then wished I hadn't as my shoulder muscles screamed in pain. It didn't really matter where he'd taken me, since he'd take me somewhere different next time, anyway. What mattered was that he had taken me, my soul, my essence, away from my body and then thrown it off a cliff. "Doug, do you feel pain? Like if I punched you right now, would you feel that?"

"Nope, but Alice took my hand the other day, and I felt that. I hadn't realized how much I missed touch, until..." He looked away from me.

I nodded, sorry I'd asked. I felt suddenly sorry about a lot of things. All of the things I hadn't done yet, all the things I'd meant to do, the person I'd meant to be. If the pain I felt now was just the beginning, if Landon could make me hurt like this whenever he wanted to, I was going to lose. I was certain that I was not a strong enough person for this. "Landon pushed me off a cliff last night. Well, I guess he pushed my spirit off a cliff, and now I hurt. I really, really hurt."

"Well, at least you're still alive," Doug said without a smile.

"Listen, Doug. Please don't help me anymore."

"I haven't helped you, yet."

"No, you have helped me. You've been a friend to me when I really needed one and I appreciate that, but I don't think I'm going to win this one, and I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

He stood and strode over to get in my face. "Are you going to roll over that easily? Wake up one morning a little sore and—"

"A little?" I gasped.

"A little sore, and you're just going to throw in the towel? If it's that easy for them to take over your body, then maybe you really _don't_ deserve it. And if you are going to give up so easily, then I'm definitely not going to stick out my neck for you."

He was right. I knew he was right, but I was tired, and I hurt, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I needed to keep fighting, but he didn't have to keep fighting next to me. There was no reason for both of us to be destroyed. "Good, Doug. If you don't like it, you can leave."

He must have seen something in my face, because he smiled, walked over to the ugly blue chair, and sat back down. "That's better. I knew you still had fight left in you."

I sighed and started to shake my head, but it hurt too much. "Doug, if you get yourself hurt trying to help me, I'll..."

He just kept grinning at me. "Well, I should get going and see what else I can find out about these guardians."

"Wait," I whispered. There was something else I needed to ask him, something I wasn't sure I wanted to know. He looked at me and waited. "Have you heard...Does anyone know what happens to the soul of the person who gets kicked out of the body?"

He frowned. "Kelsey..."

"It's that bad, huh? Well, I guess that's another reason to keep fighting." I said the words to make him feel better, but I felt the little bit of fight I had in me wither. Rationally, I knew I had to fight with everything I had to preserve myself, but emotionally, I felt hopeless. How could I possibly fight a force so powerful that it destroyed the entire soul of a person?

Angelica bounced into the kitchen, humming, and Doug vanished. I didn't even want to think about trying to explain to Angelica why I was hobbling around so I carefully lay back down and pretended to sleep. I must have really dozed off because the next time I woke up, I saw Cat leaning over me and whispering my name. She jumped back when I opened my eyes.

"I'm so, so, so sorry. Angelica asked me to wake you up if you didn't get up on your own. She said you had to be at work at ten."

"What time is it now?"

"Um, ten?" She said it sort of like it was a question and sort of like it should have been obvious to me.

"Shit, shit, shit," I said as I freaked out because I was going to be so late and then because it hurt so bad when I jumped off the couch and tried to run to the bathroom. I made it about three paces from the couch before I crumpled to the floor.

"You okay?" Cat asked, without moving from her seat on the couch.

I was starting to dislike her. "I'm fine. I think my legs fell asleep."

She nodded. "Ewww, I hate it when that happens."

_Seriously?_ But I smiled, pushed myself up, and hobbled back to the bathroom. I somehow managed to brush my hair, but I didn't have time for a shower so it might have been better if I hadn't brushed it and had let everyone think that unwashed, bed head was the look I was going for. I tried to cover the bruise on my face with make-up, but I didn't do a very good job. In some places, the make-up looked caked on, and, in others, the bruise shone through like I wasn't wearing make-up at all. Everyone knew I'd been punched, and I didn't have the time to care. I even managed to wiggle into a pair of jeans, but the shirt I'd worn the night before was staying—my arms and back hurt so bad I could barely lift them. I brushed my front four teeth and limped to the door, where I wrapped a coat around my shoulders and headed out. For the first time, I wished I owned a car. The walk to the store took an eternity.

Luckily, Cherie was as late as I was, so we pretended we'd both arrived right on time and opened up only a tad quicker than we usually did. I then crawled up the stairs to the office, shut the door behind me, and sat down behind the desk, intending to do whatever required the least amount of movement. I had three messages on the office phone. Isabella had called in "under the weather." Al had called asking me to expect a shipment of about five boxes of books that needed to be inventoried and put on the shelves that day. And the guy who owned the deli next door called to ask if I was interested in changing my window display to match his Thanksgiving themed window. I swallowed hard, wondered if Landon had left a stash of painkillers lying around, then stood and moved downstairs by sheer force of will.

I was halfway through the book shipment when Caleb showed up. When I saw him push through the back doors into our receiving room, my heart sort of skipped a beat, and I couldn't help smiling at him. Not like I was into him or anything—just that he was really pretty and, after the night I'd had, pretty was nice.

"Late night? Or did Cat already skip out on a payment?" he asked.

I must have looked as bad as I suspected. "Late night." I winced like I had a headache, which I did if I really thought about it. "Too much to drink."

"You and Angelica go out again?"

I shook my head then wished I hadn't. "Nope, stayed in. How 'bout you?"

He looked a tiny bit uncomfortable. "Jed left yesterday, so I had a quiet night by myself."

"Oh, I didn't realize he'd already left."

"Yeah, I kind of hoped he would stay, but this really isn't his scene, you know. If Angelica had gone out with him, maybe..."

"I didn't know he'd asked."

"He didn't. It was joke." Caleb now looked truly uncomfortable. "A bad one, I guess."

"Um, no." I was beginning to feel uncomfortable myself, just standing there as still as possible so he didn't see what kind of shape I was really in.

"I don't want to keep you from your work. I just wanted to see if you and Angelica want to hang out tonight. I'm at loose ends now that Jed's gone."

"Unfortunately, I can't tonight. Maybe this weekend?"

"Sure. What's up tonight? You have a date?"

The way he said that, like he completely expected me not to have a date, really got on my nerves. I had dates. I hadn't had a date in six months, and I really hadn't had _many_ dates, especially if drunken sleepovers didn't count, but that wasn't the point. The point was that I was datable, and it shouldn't be surprising to him, especially not to him who had made my heart skip. So I lied. "I do, actually."

"Really?" His eyes widened. "With who?"

"Bruce. I don't actually know his last name. He works at the bakery next to our place."

He nodded, and then I did see something in his eyes. Maybe he was thinking of a way out of the conversation so he could go find someone else to hang out with. "Yeah, I've seen him around. I didn't know you knew him."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," I said in a tone that was supposed to be silly and flirty but came out serious and a little miffed. Why was everything suddenly weird between us? Oh, wait, it's because my heart did that little flip when I saw him and I suddenly cared what he thought of me. Which was ridiculous. He just caught me off guard.

He laughed, as though everything was normal between us. "You are so right. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Do you have plans?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm cooking a big turkey dinner with all of the fixings." I smiled, but I hesitated to invite him and, when I couldn't figure out why I was hesitating, I decided to go for it. "You should come over. Angelica has to work, so the party's not getting started until five."

"Perfect. I'll see you then." But he didn't leave. He just stood in the doorway and looked at me like he was waiting for something.

"Oh, by the way. That night that you saved me from Reid, Angelica said that you had stopped by the apartment and that you had something important to tell me?" The question felt really awkward, since so much time had passed, but I was curious.

He fidgeted, taking his hands out of his coat pockets and putting them back in a couple of times. "Oh, right. Shit. Look, I really screwed that up. This is going to sound weird, but sometimes, I have these intuitions... They're usually wrong. I had a feeling you were in trouble, so I went to Angelica. I needed to make sure you were okay."

"Jed said you told him that you just happened to run into Angelica."

"Yeah, I didn't want to tell him about my intuition because I'm wrong so often and then, after I screwed everything up, I just didn't want to admit it."

"Seems like you did just fine to me. If it weren't for you, I'd have been hurt a lot worse."

"Maybe, but I could have been there sooner if I'd trusted my instinct. When Angelica told me you were at the store, I figured you were fine and I went out to eat with Jed."

"You were right on time as far as I'm concerned. You can't just stop what you're doing every time you have one of those feelings, right?"

"I guess." He looked down at the floor, but he still didn't leave.

I didn't have anything else to say to him, and I was waiting for him to leave so I could move again.

He started to turn then stopped. "Cherie said you looked like you'd been hit by a car, limping and stuff. She said you told her you slept wrong, but she's worried about you. Everything okay?"

Damn Cherie. Now I had to move and prove I was fine. "What is it about you? You walk in and my friends just fall all over themselves telling you my secrets. _She's working late and her ex-boyfriend Reid has been giving her some trouble, she's limping a little bit, please go save her_." I had started in a joking tone, but now I was getting truly annoyed. Who was he to nose around in my life? He may have saved me from Reid, but he didn't know anything about me. "How do I know you don't have a limp or a headache or a sore throat? You don't see me asking you about it."

He held up his hands and backed away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. That's what friends do."

Oh right. I forced myself to walk toward him as normally as possible.

"Can I ask what really happened to you, or is that being nosy?"

I had to tell him something or I would make it all look more mysterious. Unfortunately, thinking on my feet was not a skill in which I excelled. "I fell."

"Sounds like there's a story there. Did it involve alcohol?"

_Thank you, Caleb_. I did my best sheepish smile and nodded. "Yeah, Angelica and I were being stupid, and I fell down the stairs." I wanted to slap myself for not being able to come up with a better story than that.

"Been there," he said and smiled.

Thank god for boys and their stupid stunts.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Take some Ibuprofen and get some rest."

"Yes, Doctor," I called as he walked out. I tried not to sound giddy, but I was so happy he'd bought my terrible story. Maybe I was better at improvisation than I thought.

By the time I got home, showered, and headed out to meet Bruce for dinner, I was feeling more like I'd fallen from a first-floor balcony than a twenty foot cliff, and I thought maybe my symptoms were mostly psychosomatic. Like I had dreamt I'd been badly hurt so my body had created some sort of ghost pain to compensate? At least I wasn't dead. I got to the restaurant before Bruce did so he wouldn't see me limp in. When he walked in, saw me, and started heading toward my table, his eyes widened and I remembered I still had a pretty nice bruise on my face from being punched.

"Hi," he said as he sat down across from me. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"No, I was early," I said, meeting his eyes in an attempt to get him to stop staring at my shiner. "I'm always early to everything. I even try to be late sometimes, and I'm still early."

"Oh." He nodded at my bruise. "Good."

He picked up his menu, glanced at it for a second, and then looked back up at me. "So, are you okay? Is everything okay with you?"

"I'm fine." I decided not to tell him what he wanted to know unless he worked up the nerve to ask me directly. I hadn't figured out what I'd tell him, anyway.

"Okay. Good." He returned his attention the menu for several long moments. "Thanks for meeting me. It probably seems pretty weird to you."

"Yeah, it does." He looked at me then and actually met my eyes. The smile that had been plastered on his face since he arrived faded a bit. I actually felt bad for giving him a hard time. He looked like a lost little boy for a moment, his longish brown hair tousled, his freckles standing out in the absence of his brilliant smile. "But I want to help you anyway I can. I understand what it's like to lose someone." Literally, in the case of my father, and I'd never felt the need to defend him to anyone.

He nodded and sighed in what seemed like relief. "A friend of yours?"

"Yes," I said. I had lost a lot of friends. Maybe not in the way he meant, but we were here to talk about him. "So what are you getting?"

"What?"

"For dinner? What's good here? I don't eat out much."

"Right, I think I'm going to just get spaghetti and meatballs. I don't feel like being adventurous tonight. What about you?"

"A garden salad and French onion soup."

"That's right. You're like super-healthy or something, right? That's why you never stop in at the bakery with your roommate."

"Or something." He was getting on my nerves, and I wasn't sure why. Maybe I wasn't being fair to him because I knew that he had been friends with Landon. "I really love to bake and cook, so I don't usually buy anything I can make myself." I flashed him my most friendly smile. His shoulders dropped a tiny bit and he smiled back at me.

"I don't blame you. I only eat bread and cakes from the bakery, unless I make them myself at home. I read the ingredients list for store-bought bread, and I have no idea what I'm about to eat. It doesn't seem like anything close to bread."

"Exactly. I just feel better when I eat homemade foods." The other reason I never went to the bakery was that he sold coffee there. Too many ghosts.

"Me, too," Bruce said, accepting my answer.

He smiled at me, and I relaxed a bit myself. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought.

We made small talk until after we'd ordered and our food had arrived, and I began to worry the night would end without Bruce ever getting around to talking about Landon. I mean, Bruce seemed nice enough, but the conversation was awkward at best, and he wasn't someone I wanted to hang out with after dinner. "So, how did you know Landon?"

"Oh, right. Sorry. I was having such a good time I forgot all about that." He took a quick swig of wine and cleared his throat. "I've known him forever. He and I were in the same kindergarten class and we were friends, I think. You're kind of friends with everyone in kindergarten, right? That's the way we were until...well, there was some stuff with my family. Most of my friends kept their distance, but Landon, he stood by me and kept me sane."

Landon had been hanging around the restaurant for a while, watching us, but now he moved closer and sat in the chair next to Bruce. Landon just watched Bruce talk about him and what I saw in his face was love.

"What happened with your family?" I knew as soon as the question left my mouth that it was the wrong thing to ask. Both Landon and Bruce looked at me like I had suddenly stopped speaking English. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business."

Bruce's expression softened, and he smiled. Landon continued to glare at me. "It's fine. I'm the one who brought you here to explain Landon to you and you won't really get it if I don't tell you the whole story." He put down his fork and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "My parents divorced when I was twelve. My dad moved away and my mom started dating this guy who was pure trouble. I hated him for taking my dad's place with my mom, but I couldn't help but admire him, too. He was a big guy who could bench press me, drove a motorcycle, and had amazing stories. I stopped hating him after two months of my dad not bothering to spend more than ten minutes a month on the phone with me, and I came to flat out worship the guy. He got me drunk when I was thirteen, arrested when I was fourteen, and then he killed my mom when I was fifteen."

"He killed your mom?"

Bruce shrugged. "Car accident. He was drunk. He lived, and she died. I never saw him again."

Landon was still glaring at me. "He shouldn't have to tell you this."

I ignored Landon and nodded at Bruce, urging him to go on. I had no idea what the right thing to say was. _I'm sorry about your mom_ just sounded pathetic in my own head.

"Yeah, it was really bad for a while. My grandmother took in my sister, Rose, and me. Rose took it harder than I did. She'd been struggling for a while, and no one had really noticed. I'd been spending my time with buddies at school or with Mom's boyfriend, and Rose was just the annoying sister hassling me to stay home with her. Mom and Gus'd stay out all night, and they never paid much attention to her, either. She told me once that she couldn't sleep because the ghosts wouldn't stop bothering her." He shook his head. "I thought she had an overactive imagination. I didn't see the signs."

"Signs of what?" I tried to look interested and not eager. I'd never met someone else who could see ghosts.

"That she wasn't well."

"Wasn't well?" I knew what he was getting at, but I didn't want to believe it.

"She was diagnosed with severe depression and paranoid schizophrenia when she was fourteen. Supposedly, the trauma of everything brought it on earlier than it would have otherwise manifested."

"You think she's crazy?" I knew that was the wrong thing to say, but I had lost all control. This was no longer about Bruce's delicate feelings.

He frowned at me. "I never use that word. She's troubled...mentally, she has a sort of disability."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, it's just..."

"What?" Landon asked me, hate burning in his eyes. "You a shrink now?"

I kept my attention focused on Bruce.

Bruce had been staring at me, almost like he could hear Landon. Then he shook it off and smiled. "It's okay. I'm overly sensitive."

"I just...I mean, don't some people see ghosts who are perfectly sane?"

He laughed then. "I don't think so, Kelsey. Besides that's just one of my sister's many symptoms. She could have been treated as an outpatient and lived a normal life, but she asked to stay in an institution, and my grandmother had the money and the inclination to grant that wish. To get back to the point of the story, most people were uncomfortable around me, the guy who'd lost his father to another woman, his mother to a drunken accident, and his sister to an asylum. Landon was the only guy who didn't act any differently around me." He looked at me expectantly.

I'm pretty sure he was waiting for me to suddenly agree with him that Landon was great and that I should forgive him for everything he'd done to me. I suppose I should have said all that to make him feel better, but I'm just not that kind of girl. "I guess that's great, but was he actually anyone you wanted around? I mean obviously you liked the guy, but was he really any help?"

He didn't get annoyed or defensive. "He actually was a huge help. He helped me and my grandmother find the best place for Rose, and he visited her there as often as I did. He was incredibly loyal, and he always knew exactly what to say to cheer me up. Then he left to go to college and when he came back...he wasn't Landon anymore. He was... But it didn't matter. He had helped me in my worst moment, and I did everything I could to help him. Nothing I did seemed to make any difference. I couldn't reach him the way he had reached me."

At some point during Bruce's story, Landon's attention had shifted back to Bruce. Landon was closer to him now, talking to him in a low voice. I had to wait for Bruce to stop talking to catch any of it, and even then all I got was "nobody could've helped me." That, more than anything that Bruce said to me, made me feel a twinge of sympathy for Landon. Sympathy which was obliterated the moment Landon turned back to me with an unspeakably crass hand motion. The movement was so disgusting that I flinched and looked at Landon a moment longer than I should have. His eyes widened and he started to open his mouth to speak.

I did my best to pretend I had no idea he was there. "It sounds like you were a really good friend to him."

"Can you see me? Can you tell him that I was an idiot? I was so high I couldn't see straight most of the time. I didn't even realize..." Landon was shouting at me, but my brief burst of sympathy for him had died. He was still the jerk trying to take my body and destroy my soul. Besides, I couldn't risk giving away the only advantage I had. If he really wanted to get a message to Bruce, he could tell me in a dream.

"I wanted to repay him somehow for how much he had helped me, I guess. Talking to you about him feels like doing something. It would be nice if he could be the Landon I knew in someone else's memory."

I finished the last couple bites of my salad and wondered what I could say to make Bruce feel better and, at the same time, end the dinner before Landon figured out I really could see him. "Look, I have a hard time believing there was anything good about Landon, but you seem like a really nice guy so I'll take your word for it. I'll tell the girls at the store what you told me, too, and maybe we can all remember him a little differently."

He smiled. "That would be great. Thanks." He was only halfway through his dinner, and I thought suggesting he get a to-go box might be a little pushy. He took another bite while I tried to think of a new conversation topic. Then he looked up at me and smiled. "You want dessert or something?"

"No, not really," I said, wishing someone would call me and give me an excuse to leave. A lot of girls would kill to be in my place. Bruce was good-looking and he seemed nice enough, not to mention that he actually had a job, but none of that made him any more attractive to me. He loved Landon, and right now, I needed to hate Landon, or I wasn't going to survive. Not to mention that this dinner threesome was the most uncomfortable and awful date I'd ever been on.

"You don't have to hang out and watch me eat. You listened to me go on about Landon, and I feel better. You're free to go."

The smile he gave me was a little sad. I had no clue what the right thing to do was. Maybe he was as uncomfortable as I was and wanted me to leave. No, better to assume he wanted me to stay and avoid depressing further the man whose best friend had just been killed. "Actually, I do think I'd like dessert."

His smile brightened. "I'll flag down a waiter and get a dessert menu."

I'd love to say that the conversation picked up after that, and we both had fun, but that was not the case. When we did talk it was awkward, and the conversation dragged. Even the dessert was overly sugary and tasted artificial.

He walked me back to the flower shop. "Well, thanks for letting me take you out," he said.

I nodded and smiled up at him. "I enjoyed learning more about Landon," I lied as warmly as I could manage.

Suddenly, Bruce was kissing me and it was bad, really, really bad. Too aggressive and way, way too much tongue. I pulled away instinctively.

"Oh, wow, I'm sorry. I thought..."

"No, no. I just wasn't expecting that. I mean I thought this was just..."

"A chance for me to tell you about Landon. It was. But you look so pretty, and you actually stayed for dessert, so I thought..."

I looked at him again. He was cute, and he was nice, and it takes two people to make bad conversation. Maybe if I got to know him better...okay, so this was probably all just rationalization because it had been too long since I'd been kissed by anyone. "It was just unexpected. Maybe we could try again?"

He leaned in again, and I stretched up to meet him. The kiss was sweet and soft, and I felt nothing. Not the slightest bit of attraction to him. We stepped apart, and he grinned at me sheepishly. "It was worth a try...but I don't think..."

I smiled, relieved. "Me, either. Thank you for dinner. If you don't have any plans for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I'm making a huge meal and you're welcome to join us." I suddenly felt friendlier with Bruce now that we'd shared a mutual lack of attraction.

"I do have plans tomorrow. Thanks for the invitation, though."

"No problem. If your plans change, feel free to stop by. If not, I'll probably see you around."

"Yeah, have a good night."

He walked away, and I headed upstairs.

### CHAPTER ELEVEN

I was glad to find Angelica alone in the apartment curled up on the couch with a book.

"Hey," she said when I sat down next to her. "How was your date?"

She was wearing pink flannel pajamas with little hearts, her hair loose around her face, making her look like she was six and ready to go to bed.

"It wasn't a date. Although, he did kiss me at the end of it, so does that make it retroactively a date?"

"Yep. How was the kiss?"

"Terrible. Both times. Before that, I had to listen to him tell me what a great guy Landon was before he got into drugs."

"Was he really a good person? That makes me kind of sad."

"According to Bruce, he was, and I promised I'd tell everyone at work the same thing."

"That's sweet of you. Think it'll make any difference?"

"Not really, but I am less than inclined to believe any good of Landon at the moment."

"Oh, no, you can't. You have to hate him, or you won't be able to live with yourself when you destroy him."

"I appreciate your confidence."

She grinned and pulled me in for a sideways hug. "Have you heard any more from him?"

"No. Maybe he's moved on to harass someone more interesting." I'm not sure why I lied to her, but it felt like the right thing to do. She didn't need to be stressed out or upset about it, especially when there was nothing she could do to help me.

"See, he's moved on already. That's such a relief." She smiled and some little bit of tension or sadness vanished from her face.

"Yeah." I pulled away from her. "How was work tonight?"

"Allison convinced three people not to buy books, but to see the movies, instead."

"No." I groaned. "Did she at least show up on time?"

She shook her head. "You need to fire her."

"I know, I know. I just really don't want to do it."

"You need to do it, Kelsey. She's not even very nice. You shouldn't feel bad."

"Okay, I'll call her in after Thanksgiving."

"Then you can hire Cat to take her place."

"That won't look like nepotism or anything."

"Kelsey, she really needs a job."

"And I really want her to pay rent. If she wants to work there, she can submit her resume, and I'll interview her. I can't promise anything."

"Fair enough." She stretched and yawned. "I should be getting to bed. I'm exhausted."

"Where is Cat, anyway?" I was only mildly curious. I was really trying to keep Angelica up with me, so I wouldn't have to go to sleep and face Landon.

"Out with Caleb."

My heart stopped for a moment in what felt strangely like jealousy. "Our Caleb?"

Angelica studied me for a moment and smiled. "I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"I knew you'd like him eventually. There is no way you could _not_ like him when he's so hot and sweet and totally saved your life."

"I don't like him. I mean, I do like him, just not the way you think. He's a good friend."

She nodded. "Okay. He showed up here looking for someone to go out to eat with. I guess he doesn't like to eat alone. I'd already eaten and Cat didn't want to go, but Caleb convinced her."

"Huh," I said in the most casual tone I could muster. "Maybe he likes her."

"I don't think so."

"What about you? Decided what to do about Paul?"

"Oh, yeah." Angelica turned a bit red. "Isabella swears she didn't sleep with him, so I guess I'm free to date him."

"That's great."

"Yeah, it kind of is since I already went out with him. We saw a movie after work, and then he took me back to his place. I tried talking to him about the aura of this lady in the theater, and he said he thought that type of sweater was really itchy. Apparently, all that crap about sharing a past life with me was just a line to get me to sleep with him."

"What an asshole. Did you sleep with him?"

"I considered it. I mean, he is really cute, and he bought me dinner, but I had gone out with him with other intentions, you know."

"And he's an asshole."

"Yeah, that was really what decided me against him."

"I'm sorry he turned out to be such a loser."

"At this point, I would have been completely shocked if he were anything else. It would have ruined my streak." She yawned again. "I'm seriously going to bed. You should, too. You look exhausted. Now that Landon is leaving you alone, you should be safe."

"I'm not tired. Mind if I read your book for a while?" She had put down the latest offering from my favorite horror author.

"Help yourself. Have to say I'm underwhelmed. Doesn't live up to the last one."

"Too bad. I was really looking forward to this one."

"I'm kind of relieved, to be honest. Her books are really too scary for me. I'm going back to my Gothic romances."

"Good night, sweetie," I said as she headed off to bed.

"G'night." She yawned.

I moved into her warm spot and dove into the book. I tried to stay awake, but my eyelids kept drooping. I stood and paced the apartment while I read. I even took a couple of trips downstairs and outside into the cold to wake myself up, but nothing worked. As soon as I sat down, my eyes started to close. Even my fear of Landon and what he might do to me couldn't get my heart racing fast enough to keep me awake. I debated going for a run and, somewhere in the middle of that thought, I fell asleep.

Landon appeared almost immediately. This time, I was completely dressed, and he was in my living room.

"It took you long enough." He sighed, leaning back in the blue chair. He looked strangely like he belonged there. His blue eyes were clear and bright, his face more filled out in death than it had been in life. He could easily be someone Angelica and I would be friends with, someone we might date.

"Got something important to talk to me about?" I asked in my most confident, least terrified tone.

"I really don't like you."

"That's it? I'd kind of figured that out already."

He smiled, almost kindly. The first time he'd ever really smiled at me and, for a moment, I saw in him the guy Bruce had described to me.

"You're a seriously nice person, and I realized tonight that is what I dislike most about you. Everything about you grates on my last nerve, but your idiotic kindness is what really makes me want to spew chunks."

"Is this some sort of attempt to soften me up before you get back to kicking the shit out of me?" I didn't want to remind him to hurt me, but if it was going to happen, I wanted to get it over with.

"Not tonight. Tonight, you get a break. My keepers are otherwise occupied, and you were nicer than you needed to be to my best friend."

"Your keepers?"

Landon waggled a finger at me and shook his head. "Sorry, babe. No information. I'm not giving you any leverage to fight back." He looked toward the window and frowned, then he met my eyes and smiled again. "When Bruce knew me, I really was a good person. I was probably nicer than you."

"Yeah, I heard that from him."

"That Landon died a long time before you met me. I'd love to be that person again, but I can't." He stood and took a seat on the coffee table, facing me. "The truth is, after I heard Bruce tell you how wonderful I was, all I wanted to do was go get so high I could pretend that conversation never happened."

"So why don't you do that and leave me alone?"

"The only way I can get high again is through the body of a living person."

"I'm sure Reid would be more than willing to help you out there. You probably wouldn't even have to do anything but squat in his body and soak in the alcohol."

"Doesn't work like that." He sighed. "The point is that I've been telling myself that if I get a second chance at life, I'll really do _something_ , but the truth is, I'll go out and get high the very first moment I can after I've taken your body."

"Making you feel a little bit guilty?"

"Not the least bit. I really mean it when I say I'm not that good person I used to be. That guy is gone, and I had forgotten all about him until Bruce reminded me tonight. Even if I wanted to be a better person, I'm no longer capable of it."

"Everyone's capable of change. Especially someone who's gotten a wake-up call like death by drug overdose. I'd think you'd—"

"I didn't OD."

I found that oddly humorous, and I chuckled. "I'm not surprised you don't remember how you died, but I wouldn't think it would be any surprise to you. You've accepted you're dead, so how else do you think you would have died?"

He shook his head. "I remember exactly how I died, sweetheart. I remember staring down the barrel of a gun, and I remember the heat of the bullet in the moments before it touched my skin and entered my brain."

I sat up straight. "The police told Bruce you'd OD'd. Why would they lie?"

"Beats the fuck out of me, but they did. I was definitely shot, Kelsey. I was a junkie, sure, but I had the sense not to overdose."

I didn't bother to argue with that self-assessment. "Did you see who shot you?"

"Uh-uh." He shook his head. "It was dark, and all I saw was that fucking gun." He stood and started pacing, running his hands through his hair. "Shit, Kelsey. What the fuck is going on here?"

"I don't know, but there has to be some mistake, some sort of miscommunication. If you were murdered, they would have had to talk to everyone at the store, right?"

He stopped and looked at me. "Unless, whoever killed me made it look like a suicide or...I need you to find out for me, Kelsey. I need you to make this right. I was murdered, and someone needs to pay for that."

"You wanna tell me exactly why I should help you?"

His eyes blazed and he took a few steps closer and got in my face. "You do it or I start fucking with every single person you care about. Angelica, your mother, Cat, any and all of the above and anyone else I find you give a single shit about will have me doing my utmost to make their lives fucking miserable."

"Fine." I knew I should have been scared, but I was sick of his threats and it made me angry that there was nothing I could do about it. "I'll help you. Just leave everyone alone."

He started pacing again. "Just make sure you don't ever start talking to me about this before I've introduced it, okay. We can only talk about this when we are alone."

I had never seen anyone else around when Landon brought me over to his world, but I was in no position to argue. "Okay, but you have to let me get some sleep."

He grinned. "I don't _have_ to do anything. I'm giving you a break tonight. You do what I tell you, and I'll consider giving you an hour or two off sometime."

"Landon, I can't help you if I'm exhausted."

"Not my problem." He leaned his head toward the window of the apartment, like he was listening. "I've gotta go. If anyone asks, this conversation never happened."

Before I could say anything to that, he picked me up, carried me to the window, and threw me out of it. I felt the glass break and scratch me and then I was freefalling again.

### CHAPTER TWELVE

I hopped out of bed, dressed quickly, and stepped out to the kitchen. I felt sore, but not as sore as I had after Landon pushed me off the side of a mountain, and I was determined to ignore any pain. It had been a dream, and dreams couldn't really hurt me unless I let myself believe they could.

The kitchen was warmer than my bedroom. Cat was at the table, a full bowl of macaroni and cheese on the table in front of her. "Good morning, Cat."

She lifted her head and smiled a slow smile. "Hello, sleepyhead. Happy Thanksgiving. Your mother has called three times today. Some guy named Bruce called once. They both want you to call back. I tried to wake you, but you were sleeping so soundly..." she said into her breakfast, looking like she was still drunk from the night before.

"Oh, no, it's Thanksgiving. I've got to call my mom, I've got to shop, and I've got to cook. What time is it?"

"It's only seven," Cat said around a bite of macaroni. "What time is the big dinner?"

"I asked everyone to come over at five. I should have plenty of time to get everything done."

"I can help, if you want. I don't know much about cooking, but I'd be another pair of hands."

Cat hadn't impressed me with her intelligence before, but I really didn't have much choice. Angelica had to work, and I was so tired, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get my eyes to focus to read the recipes. "Okay, that would be great." I checked the refrigerator and found the turkey there already thawed. Thankfully, Angelica had remembered to take it out of the freezer. We'd bought it on sale a month ago. "The turkey doesn't need to go in until 2:00. So we could do the shopping in an hour."

"Aren't you a vegetarian?" Cat asked.

"Yeah, but no one else is, so this is easier. Would you mind going to the store with me?"

Cat smiled like I'd just given her a fabulous gift. "If you give me your list, I'll go for you."

I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down next to her. I scribbled my list on the pad we kept by the phone.

"Who's going to be here for dinner?" she asked.

"Just a couple of girls from work, Angelica, Caleb, and you, I guess."

"Oh, god, Caleb is such a jerk."

"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound as curious as I felt. "Angelica told me you guys went out to dinner last night. I take it you didn't have fun."

"Not at all. I thought I'd made it so obvious I couldn't stand him and then he just kept sitting there, after we were done eating, chatting away. Like he wasn't completely boring me."

My good mood vanished. "How long did you hang out after dinner?" I stopped what I was doing and looked at Cat. Even in pajamas and without make-up on, she was undeniably gorgeous. Her huge blue eyes stood out against her dark hair, and her cheekbones just iced the cake of her beauty. Not to mention that she had a perfect, tall, thin body and good-sized breasts. Any guy would be crazy not to be at least physically attracted to her.

"It felt like hours, but I think it was just forty minutes. Then he wanted me to go back to his place and watch a movie with him. Can you believe it?"

"Huh," I said as though his behavior completely bewildered me, but it seemed obvious that he really liked Cat. I finished the list and my breakfast, and I started on the biscuits since I had all of the ingredients for them. I made up the dough and put it in the refrigerator while Cat showered and got dressed.

Cat left for the store, with my money for groceries, and I sat down to make my calls.

I called Mom first, but I got her voice mail. "Hi, Mom," I said as cheerily as possible. "Happy Thanksgiving. I love you. I won't be around for the rest of the day, but I'll try to catch you tomorrow."

I felt a tiny bit bad about lying to my mom, but for all I knew, she would be relieved not to have to talk to me, either. Holidays had always been weird for us when I was at home, and they'd only gotten weirder since I left. Mom didn't have much family other than me—not any that she talked to, anyway—and she used to try to make the holidays fun by inviting friends of hers and mine over. She usually succeeded only in making the holiday awkward and uncomfortable for everyone. Since I moved away, it had only gotten weirder with both of us trying to act like we really missed the other when I suspect what we both felt was relief.

If I think back, really, really far back, I can remember a time when my mother and I laughed together, and I thought she was perfect and beautiful and genius. When she had time for me, she was more fun than any of my friends alive or dead. She would put on CDs of music from her childhood and we'd get dressed up in the prettiest dresses we had and dance and laugh. She was the one that started me cooking. She taught me the basics from how to make a perfect roux to the best seasons for fruits and vegetables. At some point, everything changed. The obvious moment would be when she discovered that I could see and talk to ghosts, but that wasn't it. At that point, she just thought I had imaginary friends or some mild psychological disorder. She didn't listen to me when I told her the shrink she was sending me to was horrible, but she still danced and laughed and cooked with me.

The moment when our relationship became tense and miserable was several years after my father left, when she finally accepted he probably wasn't coming back, and I've always suspected that she blamed me for his leaving. To admit that it was my fault he left, though, she would have to admit he left and she wasn't ready to do that, either. Instead, she created a mythical world for herself, where her husband had been kidnapped, her daughter was normal, and someday, her husband would return to her and her life would be perfect. My being so far away actually helped her maintain her myth, and I was happy to play along. For some reason, my mother found it most difficult to maintain her happy little pretend world around the holidays and she survived with distractions and by avoiding me.

As relieved as I was to escape having the usual uncomfortable conversation with Mom, I missed her. Not being able to have a pleasant chat with my mother on Thanksgiving made me feel like I had no family. I chugged a glass of wine and dialed Bruce's number. I could hear the smile in his voice when he recognized mine, and it made me feel considerably better. He just wanted to let me know he'd make it for dinner and that he'd bring a couple of pies. I was surprised at how glad I was that he would be there.

After I hung up the phone, the apartment suddenly felt suffocatingly empty. Since Bruce was bringing dessert, I had time to get out and go for a run before I went crazy. With the holiday and dead Landon, the last thing I wanted to do was sit around and be alone with myself.

I left a note for Cat, pulled on leggings, a sweatshirt, hat, gloves, and shoes, and was out the door. Outside, the sun shone, making the snow that had fallen overnight sparkle so brightly I almost turned around and went back inside for my sunglasses. After a few moments, though, my eyes adjusted and my lungs were so full of sweet, cold air that the thought of returning to the apartment, even for a moment, became unthinkable. I popped in my ear buds and cranked up the latest _Rise Against_ album. I'd only made it three blocks when I saw Caleb heading toward me. He was several yards ahead of me, and I thought about pretending that I hadn't seen him and crossing the street, but he was already waving at me. I didn't slow, hoping he'd just wave and let me go on by. I felt hurt that he seemed interested in Cat, but I didn't understand why it hurt me. I'd felt a few flutters for the guy, but I wasn't into him, and he'd given me no reason to think he was into me.

"So you and Cat, huh?" I said as soon as he was close enough to hear me. I slowed down to a walk and almost clapped my hands over my mouth, but it was too late. He'd heard, and he was starting to smile. I chuckled like it was a joke. "Why didn't you tell me you had a thing for my roommate?" I asked, doing my best to sound like I was happy for him. His smile faded.

"Well, good morning to you, too." He faced me. "I was just on my way to see if I could do anything to help with the dinner, but you must be doing all right if you're out for a jog." He didn't mention anything about Cat, and I realized that I must have embarrassed him. He had a thing for Cat and she'd blown him off.

"So far, so good." I hopped from foot to foot to keep my heart rate up. He looked past me, like he wanted to get away. "Um, you wanna go for a run with me?" I would have rather jogged alone, but I felt that I'd made a mistake and I wanted to right it.

Finally, he smiled at me. "I'd like that. Do you mind walking back to my place with me so I can change?"

"No, of course not." I actually did mind, but I'd invited him, and it would look bad if I said I couldn't wait for him to change. "Lead the way."

"That's right, you haven't been to my place before, have you?"

"Nope," I said as I fell into step beside him. He walked pretty briskly, whether to help me keep my heart rate up or because he always walked that quickly, I didn't know. His bare hand brushed my gloved one, and I jerked away in surprise. His touch had sent a jolt of something electric and unexpected through me. He stepped away from me and put his hands in his coat pockets.

"I'm actually just one street down. My condo is on Cherry."

"Wow, you live in one of the Newton Village condos?" Newton Village was a pretty little area about a mile from the ski resort with incredibly expensive condos, town houses, and houses, the attraction being the views and the golf course. "You must have, like, sixteen roommates."

"Jed was my only roommate."

I whistled. "That's gotta hurt. No wonder you're working two jobs."

He cleared his throat. "It's not too bad. I like it there."

I couldn't continue the conversation without asking very personal questions about his finances, so I didn't say anything at all as we walked toward the village of Newton. He led me to the first residential building, and I saw that his condo was one of the smaller and older condos in the place. He probably got a little bit of a discount on rent, but the location was too prime for him to live there cheaply. I glanced at him again, wishing I knew fashion as well as Jed did so I could get some idea of how much his wardrobe cost. Was he secretly rich?

He led me into his place and offered me a seat on an obviously second-hand couch. The living room was neat, clean, and sparsely furnished. He had about six paperbacks on the coffee table, and I was about to peruse the titles when Caleb grabbed them. "Sorry the place is such a mess. Would you like a drink?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't usually drink in the middle of a run." I smiled to let him know I was teasing, and he smiled back.

"I'll change quickly." He disappeared into the next room and shut the door. True to his word, he was back out in less than five minutes in sweats, sweatshirt, hat, gloves, and tennis shoes. "All set."

I stood, and we set out. We started into a jog as soon as we were out the door. He let me set the pace, but he led the way and took me on a trail around the golf course. He kept up with me and didn't try to make conversation. The path he took me on opened up to some incredible views of the mountains and the countryside extending past town. By the time we got back to his condo, about an hour and a half later, I was feeling really good. Inviting Caleb on my run had been one of the better ideas I'd had lately.

"You're welcome to come in," he said.

"No, thanks, I've got to get back."

He nodded. "I'll shower and come over to help you get ready."

"You don't have—" I started to say, but suddenly his lips were on mine, and he was kissing me. I kissed him back without thinking about what I was doing and just kind of sank into him. Kissing him felt like the most natural thing in the world, and I didn't want to stop.

He pulled away first, but just far enough to be able to whisper against my cheek. "Sure you don't want to come in?"

I really, really did want to go in, but if I went in, I was pretty sure I would forget all about dinner, and I'd have several unhappy guests. Plus there was the small matter of Cat. "I thought you liked Cat?"

He pulled away and laughed. "No, I can't stand her, to be honest. I just didn't want to eat alone."

His hands were still on my waist, and I stepped away before he could do anything that would make it impossible for me to resist his invitation. "I have to get back."

He released me and nodded. "I'll be there in half an hour." He gave me another quick kiss on the lips and went inside.

I was so high on that first kiss I practically skipped home. That kiss had erased any doubts I'd had about my feelings for Caleb. Well, it had at least established that I was physically attracted to him, and he felt the same. That was enough to make me happy, with the week I'd been having.

I picked up my pace and sprinted the last three blocks back to the flower shop. The owner, Nate, was on his way out, locking up the store, and I waved hello to him. He waved back, but didn't look like he wanted to chat. I slowed and walked to the end of the block and back before I went inside and up the stairs to my apartment. Angelica was at the kitchen table with Cat, looking at something on Angelica's laptop.

"How was your run?" Angelica asked.

"Great! I'm just gonna head back and take a shower and get changed."

"Yeah, the store was totally dead, and we made small paper dolls of you and burned them in effigy for making us work today, thanks for asking."

My good mood took an abrupt nose dive. "God, I'm sorry. Was it really awful?"

Angelica smiled. "It totally sucked, but it's okay, Kels. Everything's open at least half a day for the fifteen or so tourists here for early season skiing. No one blamed you. Well, they did, but that's the way it is when you're the boss. Don't take it personally."

I sighed. "I should have worked. If I was going to make everyone else work, I should have been there."

"It was just me and Isabella, and she's coming over for dinner tonight. I think feeding her will make up for paying her holiday time to work today." She laughed. "It's totally fine. Don't worry about it."

"Okay. I'm sorry, Ang. You can have an extra slice of pie, calorie-free."

"What about me? I helped you with the vegetables," Cat mock-whined.

"Calorie-free pie for everyone," I shouted, spreading my arms wide.

Angelica made a face. "Please go take a shower before you do anything like that again."

I hurried back to the bathroom to the sound of Cat and Angelica laughing. When I got out of the shower, I could hear Caleb's voice. I wrapped a towel around myself and scurried to my room, where I dressed in my favorite pair of jeans and a tiny T-shirt that I didn't mind getting turkey grease and flour on. As I was brushing my hair, there was a knock at my door. "Come in," I called.

Cat pushed the door open and stood in the doorway. "I had to get away from Caleb. I cannot stand that guy."

"Come on in," I said, vaguely annoyed that she thought it was okay to talk that way about one of my friends. She sat down on my bed and watched me put on make-up.

"Ouch, what happened to you?" She hissed.

I looked at her reflection in the mirror. "What?"

"Your hip. I can only see about a millimeter of it, but it looks black. Did you fall while you were jogging?"

I put down my make-up brush and lifted my shirt. A dark, almost black, bruise ran from the top of my hip to the bottom of my rib cage. It was as wide as my fist, but I figured it couldn't be very bad since I hadn't felt any pain from it. I touched it gingerly and a searing pain burst from the small spot of contact and rushed through my entire body. I doubled over and only kept from falling by grabbing onto the top of my dresser. I couldn't catch my breath until the pain subsided, like a wave cresting and falling. Carefully, I stood back up. Cat was at my elbow, and she helped me sit down.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

I did a mental assessment of my body and felt pain all down the left side of my torso. The pain flared and then decreased to a bare numbness in a steady pulse that matched my heartbeat. "I don't know." I couldn't tell her I'd been thrown out of a window in a dream. People didn't get bruises from dreams. The bruise must have come from something else, but there was nothing else that had happened to me. "I slipped on a patch of ice and fell on the way back. I didn't even realize I was hurt, but touching that bruise...That hurt like nothing I've felt before." Falling on ice seemed like a reasonable way to hurt myself, but Cat kept looking at me, silently, like she was waiting for something. When I didn't say anything for several moments, she nodded.

"Maybe you should, like, go to a doctor."

"No, I'll be fine. It's nothing." I could just imagine that conversation with a doctor.

"Well, at least put ice on it."

"No, it's fine, Cat, really. Just don't..." I tried to think of a way to put the next part that didn't sound completely weird. "Please don't tell Angelica or anyone about this. I want everyone to have fun tonight." I didn't want Angelica to think that I was having more trouble with Reid or Landon. "She tends to be a bit of a worrier."

Cat smiled and nodded. "I've noticed. I won't mention it to her."

I changed into a slightly larger T-shirt and finished putting on my make-up while Cat chattered on about her exhausting but fruitless job search. We walked out to the kitchen together to find Caleb and Angelica standing in front of the open refrigerator.

"Is there something wrong with the food?" I asked, my voice a bit higher and more panicked than I would've liked it to be.

Angelica smiled at me. "Caleb and I were just taking stock of the alcohol, and we decided there isn't enough."

Caleb looked at me and smiled, and I literally couldn't breathe for about ten seconds. I quickly returned my attention to Angelica's safer face. "I'm not drinking, so I figured there'd be enough."

Angelica shook her head, her blond curls bouncing around her face like a halo. "Um, there's enough for maybe two underage girls to get tipsy, but that's it."

Caleb laughed, and I sneered at both of them. "I've got a couple of bottles of liquor in the pantry. Did you count that?"

"Still not enough." Angelica shrugged. "And you are drinking."

"But my plan is—"

"First of all, you never stick to the plan, and second, it's a dumb plan." Angelica smiled to take the sting out of her words. "I mean, have you really thought it through, Kels?"

"Sure, if I abstain for three more months—"

" _Three_ months," Angelica said, reminding me I hadn't officially stopped drinking yet.

I ignored her. "Then when I drink on my twenty-first birthday, it will be like my first time all over again. It will be magical." I leaned against a counter in the kitchen. Caleb was laughing so hard I'm pretty sure he'd stopped breathing.

"Do you remember your first time?" Angelica asked, not cracking a smile.

I quickly thought back. Seventeen, sneaking booze at my cousin Lillian's wedding, puking all over my pretty dress, and getting reamed out by my mom in front of everyone. "Oh."

"What will you be having tonight? Spider? Or the hard stuff?"

"Both," I said.

"Right, so we don't have enough booze. Cat and I are going out to buy some more."

Cat left with Angelica, looking not the least bit disappointed to be escaping from Caleb. Once they were gone, I smiled at Caleb, expecting something, a kiss, a touch, or a look, to note that our relationship had changed. He just smiled back at me and said, "Tell me what we need to do."

"We just need to make a couple of vegetable casseroles and the stuffing. I'll put the turkey in the oven in an hour. The cranberry sauce is from a can. Isabella is bringing potatoes, and Bruce is bringing dessert."

His smile drooped a bit, but the expression was so fast, I was sure I had imagined it. "Bruce is going to be here?"

"Uh-huh." I went to the refrigerator and started pulling out green beans and butter. I didn't think I needed to explain Bruce's attendance. Caleb was acting like our kiss had never happened, which sort of bothered me, and explaining could make it seem like I thought we now had the sort of relationship where I needed to explain, and if he obviously didn't feel that way, I would be totally embarrassed. I put the beans on the counter and leaned against it for a moment. I needed more sleep for this thought process.

"How was your date?"

Oh, right. I had told Caleb that I had a date with Bruce. No reason to disavow him of that belief. "It was fine. He's a nice guy."

"Good for him," Caleb said, and that was all he said for the next half hour, other than what was necessary for him to help me make casseroles. Then Cat and Angelica were back with the booze, and I decided a drink would help me finish cooking. As I took my first swallow, Alice's warning to stay sober flitted through my mind, but I brushed it away. A beer or two wouldn't hurt me as long as I didn't get drunk.

It wasn't long before the turkey was in the oven, the casseroles ready to join it in a couple of hours, the table set, and all I had to do was wait. Caleb, Cat, Angelica, and I moved into the living room with our drinks. Caleb sat as far away from me as possible, his drink water. Totally silly, but I couldn't help thinking that he was acting distant because he didn't want anyone else to know we had kissed, and he didn't make a move when we were in the apartment alone, because Cat or Angelica could have walked in at any moment.

Deep down, I knew I was overreacting, but his behavior reminded me of a couple of jerks from my past. Guys back home who had liked me but hadn't wanted to be known as involved with the freak who talked to ghosts. I can't say I ever really blamed them. Obviously, they were cowards, but at least they were honest. Caleb didn't know I could see ghosts. Unless...

A lead weight dropped in my gut as I remembered that he had been out here talking to Angelica alone, and she could have told him my secret. That would certainly explain his sudden distance. Giving Angelica the benefit of the doubt, there was either something freakish about me that I was unaware of, or he was interested in making a serious play for Cat and was keeping his options open. Or nothing was wrong, and I was blowing everything out of proportion, an option that seemed less likely the more I drank.

I tuned back into the conversation.

Cat was talking about her unfruitful job hunt. "I just don't get it. I know the jobs are there, and I'm a great interviewee, but no one is calling me back."

"Did you use spell check on your resume?" Caleb asked. "Employers really frown upon it when you misspell professional dominatrix."

Cat sneered. "Fuck you, Caleb. Don't you have to go wash dishes at that cockroach inn you call a restaurant?"

"You guys don't need to pretend to like each other on our account," Angelica said with a laugh.

Okay, so Caleb's methods wouldn't appeal to me, but some guys considered that sort of banter flirting. I decided to stop wasting time trying to figure out Caleb and had another drink.

### CHAPTER THIRTEEN

By the time people started arriving, I was feeling pretty good. Dinner was a success, and almost all of the food was gone by the end of the meal. I was clearing the table with Angelica when I noticed Caleb and Cat talking in a dark corner, their heads close. Caleb glanced my way, and I looked quickly away, hoping that I didn't look as jealous as I felt.

"Do you need help with anything?" Bruce asked, walking into the kitchen. He didn't know anyone but me at the dinner, so he'd been hanging kind of close.

"Nope, we've done all we're going to do tonight."

"Either one of you up for a game of charades?" Angelica asked.

"Sure," Bruce said.

I grimaced. I was abysmally bad at charades.

"You're in whether you like it or not, Kels." Angelica squeezed my shoulder. "I'll go see who else I can round up."

After she moved into the living room, Bruce stepped closer and leaned on the counter next to me, our shoulders touching. "Think I've got a shot with Angelica?"

"A shot at what?" I knew exactly what he was talking about. I could tell he was nervous and in that tipsy moment, I felt like teasing him.

"Do you think she'd go out with me?"

I widened my eyes and stepped away from the counter to face him. "What about us? I thought we had a good time on our date."

"Um, yeah..." He grew a shade paler.

"And I invited you to my dinner, and you decide to hit on my best friend?"

"I'm sorry, Kelsey. I thought that we both agreed there was no spark between us. If it makes you uncomfortable..."

I couldn't help but smile. "It doesn't make me uncomfortable at all. I just wanted to see the look on your face, and it was totally worth it." I moved back to my position next to him.

"You're not a very nice person," he said, pretending to pout. "Do you think I should ask her out?"

"Yes. Maybe..." I suddenly remembered that I had told her about Bruce kissing me. I had better make sure she was clear that there was nothing going on between us. "Um, let me talk to her before you ask her out. Maybe the three of us could do something together."

"What was that?" Bruce was facing me now.

"What?" I pretended to be fascinated with the label on my beer bottle.

"That 'oh shit' look on your face. What's the problem?"

"I just think that I should talk to her first, because I might have told her that we..."

"Kissed? Did you tell her we kissed?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, yes, I told her we kissed. I'm not sure it will make a difference. I just think I should talk to her, or maybe we should plan something casual for the three of us so—"

"Did you tell her the kiss was bad?"

I pretended that I didn't hear him. "...she can get to know you better."

"You did tell her it was bad." He groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

"I told her it was bad for me, not that it was generally bad. This is still salvageable." I don't know why I wanted so badly to help him get a date with Angelica, but he seemed like a truly nice guy, and Angelica hadn't had the best luck with guys. "We'll all go out together and do something fun. She'll get to know you, and then I'll talk to her afterwards and tell her the kiss was nothing, and I really would love it if she went out with you."

"Really?" He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time. "You barely know me."

"I know enough. You stood by Landon when he didn't deserve it. That earns you a lot of points in my book."

He knocked his shoulder against mine in an 'aw shucks' kind of way. "So what should we do? We could go skiing tomorrow."

I shook my head. "I've only got one pair of skis, and I paid a lot of money for them. I am _not_ wrecking them rock skiing." Around Thanksgiving, there would be just enough snow to ski on, but not enough to completely cover the odd rock, which would gouge deep ruts in my skis since I was basically guaranteed to hit every rock on the mountain.

"I'll loan you a pair of mine. I've got, like, three pairs of rock skis."

"That's really nice, but—"

"Kelsey." A hand gripped my elbow, hard, and I spun around to find Caleb on the other side of me, his mouth set in a grim line.

I tried to shake him off because he was actually hurting me, but he wouldn't let go. Bruce stepped toward me with a serious look on his face, and I figured I'd better defuse the situation before there was fight.

"I'm sorry, Bruce, I'll talk to you later. Right now, I have to talk to this rude asshole." I probably wouldn't have said the last bit if I hadn't been a little drunk, but Caleb completely deserved it.

Caleb loosened his grip and I followed him into the entryway. We were only a few steps from Bruce, but Caleb didn't seem to care. He pulled up my shirt and gasped. "What happened?"

I had to look at my stomach to realize what he was talking about. I had forgotten about the bruise. Alcohol had long ago dulled any pain I felt from it. "I'm assuming Cat told you about the bruise, so I'm sure she also told you what happened."

I was so mad, I was shaking. What right did he have to pull me out of a conversation with a friend and interrogate me like a child? None, that's what, and I had a nice buzz that was in full agreement with that sentiment. If I hadn't been drunk, I might have recognized that a good bit of my anger was really fear that he would find out where my bruise had actually come from, but I wasn't interested in any hard truths at that moment.

"She doesn't believe you, and I don't, either." His tone softened a bit on the last words, but I still wanted to punch him. If he hadn't saved my life once, I might have followed through on that wish.

"So you two have finally found something you agree on. That must be why you're getting along so much better now."

His eyes widened in what seemed to be understanding. "Kelsey..."

I might be terrible at reading people, but when I'm drunk, I'm a freaking mind reader. As far as I was concerned, he had just reached the conclusion that my anger was jealousy, and I wanted to make sure he understood in fine detail that it was about so much more.

"Just what, exactly, is wrong with you, Caleb? This is my party to which I invited you, and you're treating me like some sort of lying criminal and embarrassing me in front of my friends."

"Look, Kelsey, I'm sorry if I've been rude, but I'm worried about you."

He actually looked worried, and I felt myself soften, which only made me madder. "I. Slipped. On. Ice."

"Just tell me if this has anything to do with Reid."

I did not think it was possible to get any angrier than I already was. "Do you think I'm a total freaking idiot? If it was Reid, I would have called the police and his ass would be in jail—"

"Right, but sometimes in these sorts of situations...I mean, you cared for him once."

Oh, yeah, I was supposed to have dated that loser. I'm sure that made me look like a real catch to Caleb. I was too drunk and too angry for this conversation. If it continued, I'd be admitting that I never actually dated Reid, but that he was possessed by my dead boss who wanted my body. "I think you should leave."

"Kelsey, I—"

"Now's not the time, Caleb. Please. Just leave."

He nodded and left without a word to anyone. As I turned to go back to the kitchen to find Bruce, I saw that everyone in my little apartment was staring at me in different states of shock and amusement.

"Caleb's not feeling well," I said, feeling angry and guilty and horrible.

I'm not sure what happened after that, except that I kept drinking. At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I found myself back on a beach with my face stuffed into the sand and Landon screaming obscenities at me. I twisted and struggled against his hand, the fine sand scratching my face and my lungs burning. When he finally let me up for air, I screamed back at him. I just flat-out screamed like a crazy woman, and he took a couple of steps back. I stood, finding that even in Landon's dream world, I was still wobbly and drunk.

I marched up to him and got in his face. "What is your problem?"

"You were supposed to be finding out what really happened to me, not getting drunk at some party."

"Really?" Somewhere deep down, a small voice was screaming at me to play nice with the psycho, but I didn't care. "Because last time I checked, this is still my body and my life, and I can do whatever I want. It's not like you have any right to preach to me about staying sober."

"We had a deal, Ice Princess. You do what I ask or I start hurting your friends. You want to try playing matchmaker for your friend, Angelica, when she's missing her pretty face or dead?"

That shut me up, for a second. "How do you know I was matchmaking?"

He smiled and tsked. "You've underestimated me despite all I've done for you. I can see you whenever I want, and you have not been doing what I asked you to do. I have to punish you for that, but don't worry. It'll hurt you more than it will hurt me."

How could he have been around when I didn't see him? Not that I'd been looking, but I thought if ghosts were present, I saw them. I did my best to smile back at Landon and not let him see how much the idea of him watching me freaked me out. "Aren't you worried about doing some permanent damage to this body you keep telling me will be yours?"

"What I do to you here doesn't affect your physical body."

"Huh, I guess you weren't watching all night or you would have seen Cat and Caleb checking out the huge bruise I got when you threw me out the window."

He looked lost for a moment, before his normal cocky expression returned. "You're lying."

"No, Landon, I'm not lying. You can see for yourself anytime you want. Let's say you send me home, and I'll show you the bruises?"

"That wouldn't prove you got them from me."

"Punch me in the face right now, send me back, and watch the bruise appear." As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back, but I could hardly back down at that point. He would probably hit me anyway and somehow use my weakness against me.

"You're just trying to get me to send you back, but if you really want to be hit, I'm happy to oblige." He punched me hard in the right eye, and I staggered back but didn't fall. I turned to look out at the ocean so he couldn't see the tears in my eyes.

Once I'd gotten myself under control, I faced him. "You might want to consider that not only are you damaging the body you hope to possess, but you are also drawing attention to me. People are starting to ask questions that I can't answer, Landon. Questions that could cause us both a lot of trouble." Okay, so those questions were only causing me annoyance at the moment, but I'm sure that some sort of trouble could result if they continued.

He shrugged. "So when I take over your body, I say I had a boyfriend who used to beat me up a lot, but I've dumped him, and I've discovered that I'm a lesbian."

I didn't have anything to say to that. I would have to think of some reason for him to stop beating me up when I was sober and awake. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out. If only Bruce could see you now, beating up a poor, defenseless friend of his." Damn, my eye hurt. I gritted my teeth and smiled.

His angry expression faltered for only a moment before he snarled. "I'm not a nice person, Kelsey. I told you that. Bruce is an idiot." He looked out at the ocean for another moment. "Make sure your friend goes out with him. He deserves a nice girl."

"The same girl you're threatening to maim or kill if I don't do what you want?" I probably shouldn't have said that out loud. Confronting him with his own contradictions could only make him angrier. I really needed to stop drinking.

He shrugged. "You think I'm going to hesitate to follow through on my threats because of Bruce? I'm not that selfless, Kelsey. I just want him to get a good lay. I'm not expecting a long-term relationship for him. That chick is a freak with all of her talk about past lives and the healing energy of nature."

This time, I wisely kept my mouth shut about the freakiness of his current state of existence. "Okay, so I'll talk to Bruce and find out what he knows about your death the first chance I get. I have to say, I don't see the point. However you died, you're still dead." I was mildly curious about the nature of his death, but I figured drugs were to blame one way or another.

"Wow." He rocked back on his heels. "I really don't give a fuck what you think."

I shrugged, feeling as calm as I appeared. Landon's concern for his manner of death might be something I could use against him. He was excitable on a good day, but this small detail of gunshot versus overdose had him in a mood that might make him careless. "I'll do my best, Landon, but I'm not a cop. Why don't you just hop inside Reid and find out for yourself?"

He sneered. "Because I'm telling you to do it, waste of space."

I covered the smile that threatened to sneak out. I had suspected that Reid was not as useful as Landon pretended, and his obvious annoyance proved me right. The way Reid drank, he probably wasn't a very capable officer, and I'd bet his co-workers, whether they knew about his alcoholism or not, didn't reward him with much responsibility or information. Certainly not enough for Landon to get what he needed using Reid. I frowned out at the ocean. "Can I go now? I'd like to sleep off this drunk before I go skiing."

He chuckled. "It's after six on your side. I don't think you'll be getting any more sleep."

"Then how about you let me go and get ready to meet your buddy, Bruce?"

Landon strode over, grabbed my shoulder, and pushed me down hard onto my knees on the sand. With my face in his crotch, fear ratcheted up through my body and I found it suddenly difficult to breathe. I felt instantly sober as I was reminded once again that I was in Landon's world and he could make me do anything he wanted.

"How about I teach you a little respect?"

"I respect you, Landon." I managed somehow to speak around the lump of terror in my throat. I looked up at the bottom of his chin and did my very best to appear subservient.

"Oh, yeah? Because it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. You talk to me like I'm beneath you. I own you, Kelsey. Do you understand that?"

I fought back tears and nodded. The anger that had sustained me up to this point vanished. "I'm sorry if I was disrespectful."

Landon shoved me back onto my butt in the sand. "Fuck you, Kelsey. You're saying that because you're scared of what I might do to you. You have never respected me."

I didn't think that lying would be wise at that point so I stayed quiet.

"Tell me, Kelsey, what do I have to do to you to make you respect me?"

How did I always get into situations that required a tactful, smooth answer, when I was so far from being the kind of person gifted with smooth, tactful answers? "Isn't fear good enough, Landon? I really do fear you."

He smiled, baring his teeth at me. "Oh, fear is good, Kelsey, but I'd prefer respect. I'd love a little admiration, even lust, but I'm not going to push my luck. Right now, I'll settle for you speaking to me respectfully from now on. One little slip, and I'll make you pay sevenfold."

"Yes, sir," I said, through gritted teeth.

"Try it again, Kelsey. But this time, say it like you mean it."

I imagined Landon as someone I truly did respect, his uncle Al, and gave it another try. "Yes, sir."

"That's better. Now, you want to go back to your little bed, you beg me for it in a respectful tone."

My stomach heaved, and I vomited a little bit of bile into my mouth. I think I preferred getting beaten up. I swallowed and felt a little bit of my pride curl up in a dark corner of my brain and begin to weep. "Please, Landon, sir, may I be returned to my bed? I will do everything you asked me to do."

He reeled back and slapped me hard on the face with the back of his hand. I closed my eyes against the blow, and when I opened them, my face stinging, I was back in my own room.

According to the clock next to my bed, I had exactly thirty minutes to get my shit together and meet Bruce and Angelica downstairs. I sat up and the room spun around me. I felt only a little nauseous and a lot drunk. I debated curling back up in bed and blowing off the ski outing. They'd have even more time together if I didn't show up...or they might not go at all. Angelica might not like Bruce any more than I did, but I was pretty sure he was just the kind of guy to get her out of her rut and help her see she deserved better than a loser like Paul. So, I got out of bed for her. I also got out of bed because I was scared to fall back asleep and face Landon, but I told myself I was getting out of bed for Angelica.

I walked into the bathroom and bent over the sink to splash cold water on my face. After I'd used the towel, I looked in the mirror and gasped aloud. My left eye, where Reid had punched me, was a sickly yellow, and my right eye was puffy and red from Landon's punch. There was no bruise yet, but it wouldn't be long before the puffiness went down and the purple moved into its place. Worse than that were the four red marks on my left cheek where Landon had backhanded me. There was no way anyone would believe that an accident had caused those marks. If I was lucky, maybe they would fade before I had to see anyone. In the meantime, I couldn't leave that bathroom until I'd covered every mark with make-up. That meant no shower for me, but being a bit stinky was better than looking like I'd been beaten up.

I looked around the bathroom for Landon so I could show him the damage he'd done, but I didn't see him. I hadn't seen him last night, but he'd obviously been close to me then, so I tried harder. As I strained, a memory from my childhood returned, and I realized I had done this before. When I was little, I had heard the ghosts before I had seen them. I had known they were there and I had felt certain that if I could look harder, I would see them. It took me weeks, but eventually, I got the knack. It's kind of like looking at one of those weird pictures-within-a-picture. You just have to cross your eyes and look at the world a little differently. Once I had figured it out, I didn't even have to try anymore.

Now, I had to see even farther, and I had to remember how I'd managed it when I was five. As I strained, I realized that the issue wasn't my eyes. It was my mind. I stopped trying and just let the room around me blur away, and I saw Landon, standing in the shower with another man. The other guy was ascetically thin and a good foot taller than Landon. His features were awkward taken by themselves, his mouth crooked, and his nose looked like it had been broken a few times, but then he smiled at me and I noticed his eyes. Big, blue eyes that a girl could get lost in and never find her way out again. I realized he was staring at me and would quickly figure out I could see him, so I fell back on an old trick.

"Ewww," I squealed. Then I grabbed some toilet paper and squished it over a spot near the shower. I held the tissue away from me, like it contained a dead spider and dropped it into the toilet.

"I could have sworn she saw us," Landon said.

His companion laughed. "No one can see us, unless we want to be seen."

"Yeah, and you're the guy who told me whatever I did to her in her dreams wouldn't have any lasting effect."

"She is unusual. But I am certain she cannot see us. No living person is that powerful. If such a person existed, we would destroy her."

I quelled a shiver and forced myself not to look in their direction again. After several moments of hearing nothing from them, I glanced at the shower and they were gone. I was glad that Landon had seen my swollen eye, making the punch worth the pain, but I would have to be even more careful about acknowledging ghosts. Apparently, there were ghosts with the power to kill me if they felt I threatened them. Or at least, they claimed to have that power. I'd never known a ghost to hurt anyone until I met dead Landon.

### CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I did the best I could with the make-up—which wasn't great considering I usually only wore chap stick—hurried into my room, dressed quickly, and rushed to the kitchen, where Angelica sat at the table finishing a bowl of cereal. She whistled when she saw me. "I thought you weren't into Bruce."

"I'm not."

"Then why are you wearing makeup to go skiing?"

Dammit, why hadn't I prepared for this question? "Um, I didn't get much sleep last night, and I don't want to scare any little kids on the slope." There, that was a convincing answer. Unfortunately, Angelica didn't look convinced. She stared at me for a full minute before shrugging.

"Whatever."

I knew that tone. It was one she'd never used on me before, but I'd heard it often enough to know it meant she was really fed up with me. "You ready to go?"

She picked up her bowl and got up from the table. She paused there for a minute and then turned to face me. "Kelsey, are you still my friend?"

"I hope so." Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse.

She must have seen something in my face, because hers softened a bit. "Then please tell me what's going on. What happened between you and Caleb last night? Why are you wearing ten layers of makeup and looking like a dog that's been kicked this morning? Why are we going skiing with Bruce?"

"Bruce likes you." I probably shouldn't have told her that, but I had to give her something, and that one was the easiest.

She sat back down. "No, he can't like me. He likes you, remember. He took you out and he kissed you. Plus, last night, he was hanging around you like you were his new best friend."

I sat down across from her, no longer concerned that we'd be late. Bruce would wait for us, or he'd come up and knock on the door. "I'm pretty sure he just kissed me to be nice. Since he'd taken me out and bought me dinner, he figured he at least ought to kiss me and see if there was anything there."

"That's weird," she said.

"I think we bring that out in each other, somehow. I felt bad for him when he kissed me, and so I kissed him back to see if I felt anything for him. But I didn't. Angelica, I didn't feel anything for him. And he didn't feel anything for me. He was only hanging out with me last night because he didn't know anyone else. I really think he's a good guy, and you could use that... You deserve that."

She studied me for a minute. "I haven't been picking any winners lately, that's for sure."

"I'm pretty sure I know Bruce well enough to know that he's a good guy, a loyal friend. He stood by Landon and that's saying a lot."

"He could also be an idiot," she said, but she was smiling. "I'll give him a chance. He _is_ cute. But you're avoiding the real issue. What's going on?"

I fidgeted in my chair, pulled a strand of hair into my mouth, and tried to think of a good answer.

"Oh, my god," she gasped. "Landon's still bothering you, isn't he?"

"How do you know?"

"Because you always chewed on your hair when you talked about Landon or worried about Landon. It's what you do generally when you are stressed, and Landon was your biggest stress."

"Yeah, he's still hanging around. I'm sorry I lied to you, Angelica, I just..."

She sighed. "Why Kelsey? I want to help you. This is all super scary and..."

"I don't want you to be scared. I can handle this on my own."

"No, you aren't going to handle this on your own. You're going to let me help you."

I glanced at the clock. "Okay, I'll tell you everything, but right now, we should probably go. We're already twenty minutes late."

"He can wait five more minutes."

I shook my head. "He'll be up here banging on the door in three." A loud knock at the door proved me right.

She gaped at me. "Dude, I thought you just met him. How did you know he would do that?"

I shrugged as I walked to the door. "I don't know. Maybe he's a lost twin or something?"

My smile faded when I opened the door and saw Caleb standing there. He frowned back at me. "Hi," I said. I hadn't decided how to feel about him, except that the anger I'd felt toward him last night had faded only slightly, and I definitely didn't want him to get close enough to see the new bruises on my face. Even so, I couldn't help noticing how good he looked. Apparently, he hadn't lost any sleep over our spat. "Angelica and I were just about to leave."

He nodded. "Yeah, Bruce is waiting for you downstairs. He asked me to tell you to hurry up."

"We're going skiing, Caleb. You wanna go with us?" Angelica called from the living room where she was pulling on tennis shoes. I must have flinched at the suggestion, because Caleb's frown deepened.

"No, thanks," he said. He looked at me for a long moment, and I worried that he could see through my slap-dash make-up job. "I was just checking on you. I called you and texted you like six times."

"Oh, I turned my phone off before the party in case my mom called."

He nodded as though turning off one's phone to avoid one's mother was completely ordinary. "I wanted to apologize. You were right. I was out of line."

I smiled despite my anger, and he smiled back, slightly. "So was I. You were just worried about me. I get it."

"I should have believed you. You wouldn't lie about something like that."

I couldn't meet his eyes. I looked at his chest, which was covered by a ski jacket, goggles around his neck. "You hitting the mountain today?"

He looked down at himself, like he'd forgotten what he was wearing. "Maybe. I was going to get breakfast first. Wanna join me?"

"Go ahead, Kelsey. You haven't eaten, yet, and Bruce and I will be fine on our own for a little while."

I looked back at Angelica ready to accept her offer. She looked so cute in her ski pants, with her hair in two messy ponytails on either side of her head. I remembered that Landon could hurt her just like he'd hurt me if I didn't talk to Bruce. I needed to avoid Caleb until my bruises faded, and I needed to talk to Bruce before Landon got any ideas. First, though, I needed a reasonable excuse. I returned my attention to Caleb and the smile on his face completely destroyed my ability to think. Instead, I said the first thing that popped into my head. "I'm not hungry, and I really want to ski." His smile vanished, and I wondered if it were possible for me to have been any ruder.

"Wow, you really know how to reel them in," a male voice behind me said with a chuckle. I turned to find Doug in my living room next to Angelica.

"Some other time, then. Maybe I'll see you on the mountain," he said over his shoulder as he walked down the stairs and back outside.

"Wow, Kelsey, what happened? I thought you and Caleb were friends," Angelica said when I closed the door after him.

"We are." I walked past her to grab my shoes and coat.

"Really? Because I wasn't getting that vibe from you."

I sat down on the couch next to her and dropped my head in my hands. "Was it that bad?"

"Pretty much. You want to tell me what's going on?"

"Yeah," I said. "I want to tell you everything. Tonight. Right now, Bruce is waiting for us. Why don't you go ahead? I'll be right behind you."

"Okay. But I'm sure he wouldn't mind waiting if you wanted to talk now."

She was the most amazing friend. "Thanks, but we should go. This story is going to take a long time to tell."

"Well, I'll see you down there, then," she said with a smile, leaving me alone with Doug.

"You've been awfully quiet," I said to him as soon as she'd gone.

He looked rather sad. "This is because of us, isn't it?"

"Us?"

"Me. Ghosts like me. The problems you're having with this guy Caleb and the distance between you and Angelica is because you can see ghosts."

"How did you get all of that from two short conversations?"

"I'm not a complete idiot, you know. When there's something to do with ghosts that you can't tell them about, you get this look on your face, like you want to run away from yourself."

I nodded and sighed. "I'm that obvious?"

He shrugged. "Only to me. I'm pretty sure Caleb just thinks you can't stand him."

A slow throbbing pulse began in my temples. "Why would he think that?"

"You said everything short of 'stay away from me'."

"I just said I didn't want to go to breakfast with him."

Doug shook his head. "It wasn't the words, Kelsey. I've been rejected often enough to recognize the tone and, from the look on Caleb's face, so did he."

I pulled on my sneakers and tried not to vomit. My drunk was wearing off, and nausea was starting to kick in. "I don't want to reject him. It's more like I'm expecting him to reject me and..."

"You want to beat him to the punch? What makes you think he's going to dump you?"

"Why do you think? No guy is going to stick around after he finds out I can see ghosts, and one of those ghosts is trying to take over my body."

"Yeah, especially if you don't give him the chance."

Doug was starting to make me mad. "I've got to get going here, Doug, so if you wouldn't mind getting to the point of your little visit, that would be great."

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, closed it, and then opened it again. "I came to tell you that I have nothing to tell you. Your Landon, ghosts who can hurt the living, no one over here knows anything about it."

"Nothing?" My heart sank. I was so screwed.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure they know something, but no one is sharing. Some people have even warned me off talking about such things. Apparently, it can be dangerous."

"Look, Doug, I don't want you getting hurt on my account. Maybe you should just stay away from me."

"Rejecting me, too? Lucky for you I'm not as easy to get rid of as Caleb. I was an atheist all my adult life, so any extra time I get is pure icing on the cake. What can they really do to me? I like you, and I'd like to help you, if you'll let me."

"I like you, too, and I will blame myself if anything happens to you, whether you're okay with it or not."

"It's my choice, Kelsey. I'll keep digging, but you should go join your friends." And he was gone, end of discussion.

I pulled on my coat and left, locking the door behind me. Before I headed outside, I stopped at our small storage locker at the bottom of the steps and grabbed my boots and poles. Bruce and Angelica were already seated in his Explorer, deep in conversation. I had to knock on the window before they noticed me. Bruce smiled and motioned for me to get in. I didn't bother to throw my stuff in the back; I just dropped my boots on the floorboard and leaned my poles against the seat.

"Sorry I kept you waiting," I said as Bruce started the engine and pulled out onto the street.

"No problem," he said. "It's not like we're missing a powder morning or anything. They've only got twenty runs open."

"That's enough for me," Angelica said in her super-chipper, I-like-this-guy voice.

I tried to feel as cheerful as they both sounded, but all I could think about was how badly I had screwed things up with Caleb, and how there was no way for me to fix it. All the make-up in the world would only hide my problem from him for so long and, even if I waited for the current bruises to fade, new ones would shortly take their place, _if_ I survived Landon's attempts to take my body. Before I knew it, Bruce was parking his car in a VIP lot about ten yards from the gondola.

"Wow," I said. "You've got a lot more nerve than I credited you with."

He winked at me in the rearview mirror before pulling a parking pass from the center console and attaching it to the mirror. "One of the perks of being the grandson of the guy who built this place."

"No shit," Angelica said. "You didn't tell me that."

Bruce shrugged. "I don't tell anyone that. Most people around here already know."

"Guess I don't get out much." Angelica giggled.

"I can help you with that if you'd like."

I couldn't help the warm glow that filled me at the easy way Bruce and Angelica flirted. I got out of the car, hoping to give them a few moments alone, but they followed me out. Bruce walked straight to the back of his Explorer and started pulling out gear. He handed me a pair of skis that was worth about five months of my income. I almost dropped them. "Bruce, no way am I using these skis. If anything happened to them, I could never replace them."

He was already closing the back gate and starting toward the mountain. "I'm lending you those skis because I don't like them. They were a gift, and I almost never use them."

I couldn't really argue with that, but I cradled the skis across the front of my body and did my best not to allow them to rub or slide or hit anything.

Bruce looked back as we approached the gondola. "Good grief, Kelsey, relax. You can throw them off the side of the mountain and I'd be relieved to be rid of them."

I didn't believe him. He was just trying to be nice or he was trying to impress Angelica. Either way, I wasn't taking any chances.

Angelica and Bruce both had season passes, but I didn't. I couldn't afford it. When they queued up for the gondola, I told them I'd see them on the mountain after I'd gotten my ticket. Bruce fished around in his pocket and handed me a guest pass. "Don't ever pay for tickets, Kelsey. Just come see me. I can always get you a pass."

"Um, okay, thanks." I probably should have refused and paid my own way onto the mountain, but tickets were expensive and I was damn near broke.

We managed to get a gondola car to ourselves. Bruce and Angelica sat next to each other, facing me. They looked good together, both appearing to be much younger than they actually were and both of them so good-looking. I was studying them and enjoying the view when Bruce blindsided me.

"What the hell did you two do to Caleb? He looked like a kid who'd just found out Santa Claus isn't real."

What I wanted to say was _none of your business_ , but I didn't. I changed the subject instead. "Before I left the apartment, I got a phone call from one of the girls I work with. She's scared to go into work, because—"

"Who? That sounds like something Allison would say. Aren't you going to fire her?" Angelica interrupted me.

"Yeah, it was Allison, but that's not the point. She's afraid to go into work because—"

"Who cares? I'm sure it's ridiculous. She is such a drama queen."

"Because she heard that Landon was shot at the store," I lied.

That shut Angelica up finally.

Bruce just stared at me for a long moment. "Seriously? Where'd she hear that?"

"I'm not sure. Apparently, someone is claiming they heard gunshots the night he was killed, and—"

"What are the police saying?" Bruce asked. He looked really worried, and I felt terrible for bringing this up on what should have been a fun day for all of us.

"I don't know. Didn't they tell you what happened? I thought you said it was a drug overdose."

"That's what Reid told me, but I doubt he's exactly in the loop at the station since he's such an idiot..." His cheeks flushed red. "I'm sorry, I forgot that you dated him."

My mouth almost dropped open, but I clenched it shut and glared at Angelica. She shook her head and shrugged, in what I took to be a denial of guilt. Apparently, word about my pretend relationship with Reid had gotten around. I wondered what Reid thought of it. "No worries, he's an idiot. So none of the other officers told you anything? Weren't you helping them?"

"Yeah, sure, but they wouldn't tell me anything. I...I'm not a cop."

"Oh," I said.

"So he might actually have been shot in the store?" Angelica asked. "What if whoever shot him comes back?"

"As far as I know, they didn't take anything. I'm pretty sure Al would have told me if they had, or if he thought there was a threat to the store or the employees," I said. "I figure Isabella is making the whole thing up for fun. Even if Landon really was shot, I'm sure it was completely personal." Shit. "I'm sorry, Bruce." I forced myself to meet his gaze, but he didn't look offended, just worried.

"Yeah, no one said anything to me about anything being stolen. Maybe you should check with the cops, though, just to be sure you don't need some sort of extra protection or alarm system," Bruce said, his worry obviously about Angelica's safety and not about the nature of Landon's demise.

"I'll talk to them." I looked out the window and took in the view as we rose up the side of the mountain. The slope beneath us was covered with snow and groomed, but most of the surrounding slopes had grass and rocks visible through a light covering of snow. The view of the valley and the mountains that surrounded us was truly amazing. I might not be around for much longer to enjoy it, but I still felt damn lucky to be there at that moment. "It's a beautiful day."

Both Bruce and Angelica were facing me and the mountain, but they turned in their seats to admire the view. "Good day to be outside," Angelica said.

I followed them off the gondola, but I didn't expect to keep them in my sight for long. Angelica was a much better skier than me, and I assumed Bruce was, too, so I told them not to wait up. I'd meet them at the bottom at noon. We'd get lunch then and decide whether or not the skiing was worth spending the rest of the day on the slopes.

I took my time skiing down behind them, getting used to being on skis again. The sun was out and it was in the thirties, a perfect day. I hit a few patches of ice, but nothing too bad. Some days, I liked to push myself and see how fast I could go, but that day, I took my time and just enjoyed being outside and on the snow. Of course, I was also conscious of the expensive skis on my feet and I was careful to avoid anything that looked like a rock or bare earth peeking out of the snow.

Despite my leisurely pace, Bruce and Angelica were waiting for me at the lift. They were laughing so hard, they didn't even notice I was there until I announced myself. "I told you guys not to wait for me. I'm fine on my own."

"We know." Angelica smiled at me. "We wanted to make sure Bruce's skis were working okay for you before we took off."

"Are you kidding, they're awesome. I don't think I've ever skied this well or with this little effort before in my whole two years of skiing experience."

"Great," Bruce said. "They're yours."

I laughed. "No way. If these were my skis, I'd be heading home right now. I wouldn't risk ruining the first nice skis I've ever had."

"Okay, then. I won't give them to you, but please don't worry about scratching them. Just have fun," he said.

I rode up the lift with them and they took off, heading for a black diamond that I knew I wasn't ready for yet. I took the turn for a blue slope that challenged me, but wasn't so hard that I spent most of my run on my butt.

There weren't enough people on the slopes to create lift lines, but I rarely had a slope all to myself. I took my time again and worked on my form, as I'd learned in a ski class. When I heard the scrape of a snowboard that meant someone was behind me, I changed my pace a bit so that I wasn't taking up as much of the slope. I was on the downhill part of my turn when the snowboarder crossed behind me so close he ran over my skis. I lost my balance and tumbled down. It wasn't a hard fall, but I lost both my skis and sat up, pissed and ready to start looking for them. The snowboarder had stopped a couple of feet below me, and I looked up expecting an apology. The face I saw was a familiar one, and it was furious.

"Landon, what the hell?" I asked as I pushed myself back up onto my feet.

"Who the fuck is Landon?" Reid asked. His face was red with anger or cold or drink, possibly all three. "I would hope that since you accused me of beating you up, you would recognize me."

Shit, I had never considered that Reid might not believe he had beaten me up all on his own in a drunken blackout. I had no idea what to say to make him calm down, and my heart was starting to race with a fear that made it hard for me to breathe, much less speak. I had no idea what Reid was capable of. "You did beat me up."

"Really, 'cause I don't remember it. I do remember waking up in a room with you and two other guys, any one of whom could have given you those bruises. Especially since I'd never seen you before in my life."

"You did it." I knew I needed a better line. I needed to feed him a story that he could believe. Alice said that Landon left after Reid threw the first punch, so either Reid was lying, or his body had been on some mindless autopilot for a few moments after Landon left.

"That's what everyone keeps saying. They also keep saying that you and I dated, but I can't remember that, either. You going to tell me I was in a blackout state for our entire relationship."

"We never...um...we never dated. I was working, and you started banging on the door, wanting to come in. I opened the door to tell you—"

"I don't want to hear your bullshit story. I want you to go to the cops and say you made a mistake." He had taken off his board while he was talking and he walked back up the slope to me. He bent over me, his hot breath smelling of vomit and beer, and shoved his finger in my face. "You do that, or I will do some permanent damage to that pretty little face of yours."

"You'd lose your job," I forced out, my heart in my throat.

He stood and looked at the slope and the trees around us. "You know one of the best things about being a cop? You learn exactly what sort of clues they look for to catch a killer or find a body. I want someone gone, I make sure they stay gone. You think it was just luck that I found you here, today? I've been watching you, waiting for my opportunity. I can get to you whenever I want. You understand what I'm saying?"

I was shaking so bad I couldn't speak, so I guess he assumed I didn't understand.

"What I'm saying is, you go to the cops and tell them you made a mistake, or I permanently scar your face. If you let on that I'm the one who hurt you that time, I will kill you. You understand?"

I nodded, hoping he would go away. But he smiled at me and stood his ground. After a few moments, he shook his head. "I'm not real sure you do understand..." he started, but just then someone must have crested the hill behind us, because he looked up and hurried back to his board. He was gone before I managed to get back on my feet. I made my way down the hill, heart still racing, whole body shaking, and headed for the closest open restaurant at the base of the mountain. I wanted to be around as many people as possible until it was time to meet up with Bruce and Angelica.

I got a table by a window, so I could see Angelica and Bruce when they arrived at the base of the slope. I sipped an ice water and munched on breadsticks. I was lost in thought, watching people go by, when someone sat down at my table.

"Alice sent me," Doug said. "She told me what Reid did to you, and she wanted me to tell you that she's sorry."

I took out my cell phone and put it to my ear. "She couldn't have done anything to stop him."

"Maybe not, but she still feels like she let you down." He looked exhausted.

"Are you okay?"

He smiled at me. "I feel old, Kelsey. I'm dead. I shouldn't ever have to feel old again, don't you think?"

"Feelings don't go away just because you die. What's making you feel old?"

He looked around at all of the people in the restaurant, and I thought he wasn't going to answer. I was about to ask him to tell Alice that I was fine when he looked at me.

"I miss being a part of all of this. I thought that by helping you, I could feel like I had a purpose and I could forget how much I miss being alive. I haven't been able to do anything at all to help you, other than deliver Alice's messages."

"You help me just being here." It sounded like he was going to leave me soon, and I didn't want him to go. I knew that it would be the best thing for him, but, for once, I wanted to be selfish. I had too few friends to lose him now.

He sighed. "I'm tired and I feel like I need to...but I'm going to see this out, Kelsey. I'm going to make sure you're okay."

"You don't have to..." I tried to sound sincere.

He placed a ghostly hand over my own. "I want to make sure you're okay. My wife is happy and my daughter seems to have adjusted better than I had expected. You're the only one I still worry about, and I need to know that you're okay."

Tears pricked my eyes. "Thank you."

"I'll be back to check in with you, soon." And he was gone. Eventually, he would leave me for good, but I didn't have the energy to accept it at that moment. I focused on the next time I would see him and how grateful I was that he was sticking around a bit longer.

Angelica and Bruce showed up an hour late, apologetic and too happy for me to be annoyed with them. I pretended that I'd gotten there only half an hour before them. We all agreed that we were ready to call it a day and headed back to Bruce's truck.

"Where should we go for lunch?" Angelica said, smiling at me to let me know that she was including me.

"I'm going home. I drank too much last night and I'm not ready to eat yet," I lied.

"I guess it's just you and me, Angelica." Bruce made no effort to hide his happiness at that prospect, and I was reminded, for the first time that day, of how annoying I'd found him on our dinner date.

"You sure you don't want to come just for the company, Kels?"

I looked at Angelica to make sure she wasn't inviting me as protection from this guy she had decided she had no interest in, but her smile was open and honest. She looked happier than I'd seen her in a long time. "No, thanks. You guys are great and everything, but..."

"You'd rather find Caleb and see what his lunch plans are?" she asked.

"No, I'd just rather nurse this hangover alone for a little while."

We reached the truck, loaded up our gear, and took our seats. Bruce started the engine as Angelica looked back at me. "You don't feel too bad, do you? Did you have fun skiing?"

"I had a great time," I said. "But I've used up whatever energy I had, and I'm starting to get a tiny headache."

"I'm sorry you have a headache, but I'm glad you had fun skiing," she said. She proceeded to tell me her opinion of the conditions of each of the slopes and what kind of day she and Bruce had.

I let her words flow over me as I stared out the window and continued to wonder what to do about Reid, as I'd been doing for the past few hours, with no resolution. If I did what he asked, I was pretty sure I would be in trouble with the police for lying to them. Of course, I had been hit pretty hard and could claim confusion. It might put me in a good position to ask about Landon's death. The problem was that I didn't believe Reid would leave me alone if I did what he asked. I had never encountered someone who carried so much rage and who was so truly frightening. When he said he could kill me and get away with it, I believed him. If I told the cops he was innocent and he was returned to good standing, he'd have no incentive to stay away from me.

"Earth to Kelsey." Bruce was standing in front of my open door looking at me. "We're here. You can get out of the car now."

"Oh," I said with a forced smile. "I'm sorry. I am so out of it. Where's Angelica?"

"She ran in to get a quick shower before lunch. I guess she didn't take one before we left this morning."

I climbed out of the car and laughed. "She told you that? She must really like you."

He was standing at the back of the Explorer, ready to open the tailgate, but he dropped his hand when I said that. "You really think so?"

"I really do. There's something that's still bothering me, though."

He sat down on the curb and motioned for me to sit next to him. "Tell me about it."

"When exactly did your interest in Angelica begin, because..."

"Because I knew her before I knew you, and I kissed you."

"Exactly."

He sighed. "I know that seems totally weird and I'm not really sure I have the answer myself. The past couple of years, I've had some really, tragically bad experiences in the dating department, and I'd kind of sworn off dating and girls altogether. I noticed Angelica every time she walked into the bakery, and I thought she was cute and sweet, but that's as far as it went, you know? Then Landon died, and I had the usual epiphanies you have when someone dies, and I decided I needed to get back out there. I asked you to dinner for completely platonic reasons, and I kissed you because you are a beautiful girl and..."

"I get it. You were putting yourself out there just to put yourself out there and then you saw Angelica again."

"I felt drawn to her in a way that I hadn't felt before, probably because I'm open to it now."

"Careful, if you say that to Angelica, she'll be investigating possible past lives in which you two had a relationship." I tried to keep my tone light, but I wanted to make sure he was aware of the way Angelica viewed the world. It had caused problems in a couple of her previous relationships.

"No, actually she said that we have similar auras...or compatible auras...I don't know. I like the way she looks at it. I could use a bit of happy magic in my life." He looked out at the road and, while I watched him, his face tightened. "The truth is, sometimes I think I'm cursed. My sister, Rose, says that our whole family is cursed. I know she's schizophrenic, but it doesn't mean she's wrong."

"I don't believe in curses, and I'm pretty sure Angelica can figure out how to break the curse if you really are."

He didn't smile. "She is so sweet and honest and happy. I'm not sure it's fair of me to bring her into my dark world."

That was a sentiment to which I could relate. I was opening my mouth to ask him for more details when he smiled and waved at someone. I looked up and saw Caleb across the street. Caleb waved back and kept walking away from us. "I'm sorry, Bruce. I should talk to him."

Bruce smiled at me and nodded. "I'll see you later."

I jogged after Caleb, not quite sure what I was doing. Whatever we were to each other, I needed to make up for the rudeness I'd shown him and try to make things right. "Hey, Caleb," I called.

He stopped and turned, but he didn't smile at me. He just waited for me to catch up. "Hi, Kelsey. It looked like you and Bruce were having an intense conversation. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"Um, yeah, you didn't. I wanted to apologize—"

"No, you were right. I was rude and pushy and I'm sorry."

"Yes, you were, but I was drunk and I was angry...I was in a bad mood for no good reason. I reacted badly. I'm sorry. And about this morning..."

"Don't worry about it. You had plans. I understand." His words were conciliatory but he didn't smile and he didn't meet my eyes. "And you should probably get back to your date now. I wouldn't want to keep you from him."

It occurred to me for the first time that Caleb might be jealous of Bruce. Even if he wasn't, it was going to be obvious pretty soon that Bruce and Angelica were dating and if I continued misleading Caleb, I'd look like an idiot and a liar. "He's not my date. In fact, he's waiting for Angelica so he can take her out on a lunch date."

He looked at me then, but he still didn't smile. "Didn't you two just go out?"

"Yeah, but it was pretty obvious he and I will never be more than friends, and even that will be seriously in question if he doesn't continue dating Angelica."

"You seem to get along well enough."

"Sure, but I don't think I would go out of my way to spend time with him, you know what I mean?"

Caleb smiled then. "Yeah, I do. What are you doing now? Do you want to grab lunch?"

I really wanted to go with him and laugh and forget about Landon and Reid for a little while, but I needed to check my make-up and make sure all my bruises were completely covered. I also needed to go to the police station to ask some questions and, possibly, recant my accusation against Reid. "I can't right now, maybe..."

"Don't worry about it." He was already turning away from me. "Some other time."

I wanted to stop him and explain, but there was nothing I could tell him that wouldn't make him think I was crazy. So I watched him walk away, pretty sure that I had lost the second real, living friend I'd ever had.

### CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I went back to the apartment, showered, and changed into my most comfortable jeans and sweatshirt. While I was in the shower, I debated again what to do about Reid. If I was lucky, he would see me enter the station and assume I was there to do what he'd asked me to do. I could tell the police that Reid had attacked me and claim the bruises on my face were from him, but I had no witnesses and no real proof. I couldn't imagine it would do anything but make Reid angrier. I mean really, what would they do? Fire him? Put him in jail for a couple of days? Then he'd probably skip the permanent scarring and go straight to the killing.

The truth was, although I found his method of conveying his anger completely psychotic, I couldn't blame him for being angry. He didn't initiate the attack on me, and he shouldn't have to pay for what Landon did. The only solution was to recant my story.

I walked to the police station and enjoyed the cold, crisp day. The afternoon was cooling off and the sky was filled with fluffy, dark clouds. It looked like we might get snow soon. I headed into the police station and asked at the front desk to see someone who could help me with an assault case from a couple of weeks ago.

The officer at the desk asked for a bit more information and then told me to have a seat in one of the two chairs in the waiting area. I sat there for an hour and a half, flipping through magazines that were three years old and trying not to catch the eye of the elderly male ghost pacing the waiting area, before I heard my name called.

As I stood, my legs felt stiff from sitting for so long and I did my best not to hobble after the officer who met me. He took me back to a quiet room with a table, a coffee maker, and not much else. He was an older man, probably old enough to be my grandfather, but he looked to be in fantastic shape and only the lines on his face made me suspect he was beyond fifty.

"You wanted to talk to me about the assault case in which one of our officers, Reid Thompson, assaulted you?" he asked as he sat across from me and gestured for me to sit.

I sat and nodded, doing my best to appear sincere and easygoing. "That's right. I feel really bad about all of this. I was hit in the head pretty hard, and it's only now that some memories are starting to resurface. I think that maybe Reid wasn't the one who hit me."

The officer nodded as though I had said that it looked like it might rain, jotted a few notes on a small pad, and then met my gaze. He smiled at me, but his eyes didn't twinkle or dance. They were cold and unyielding, maybe a bit angry, reminding me that this man was not my sweet old grandfather but someone who could put me in jail for causing him too much trouble. "Has Reid been in touch with you? Has he threatened you in any way?"

"What? No." The officer's expression seemed to suggest that he knew I was lying, although he didn't say a word. I'm a terrible liar. I quickly decided to go with a story closer to the truth. "I mean, I talked to him, but he didn't threaten me. He just, um, he apologized and he swore that he didn't beat me up. So, I tried to remember...I mean, I've been trying not to think about that day, but I don't want to accuse the wrong guy...I just don't remember Reid actually hitting me."

"So what was Reid doing there?"

I was prepared for this question. "He must have been helping me. Someone else hit me and ran off, and he helped me."

The officer nodded, but he didn't make any more notes. "Uh-huh. So who did hit you then, Ms. Fitzhugh?"

Okay, now his tone had become obviously condescending. He was talking to me in that slow tone one uses for children.

"I don't know. I don't remember what he looked like, but I do remember him talking to me, swearing at me, I should say, and he didn't sound like Reid. Maybe it was the same guy who shot Landon."

The officer froze, and his face hardened. "What makes you think that Landon was shot?"

"That's just what everyone is saying. I mean, that is what happened, isn't it?"

"Landon shot himself, accidently. The nature of his death is public record, but his family has asked that we keep it as quiet as possible and I would ask that you do the same." He cleared his throat. "To get back to your case, can you explain to me how the two young men who came to your rescue that night saw Reid hit you?"

"They didn't see him hit me. They came in after...I mean, they must have seen Reid helping me up and made a mistake."

"I see." The officer pushed his seat back and started to stand. "If you think of any more pertinent details regarding your attacker, please let me know."

"Are you going to remove my accusation against Reid?"

"I will investigate your claim more closely." The officer stood and looked down at me. "I want you to understand, Ms. Fitzhugh, if we discover that you were trying to cover for Reid or lie for him, we could hold you guilty of a crime."

For the briefest moment, I considered asking him to forget I'd ever been there, but there was no way for him to prove I hadn't had a weird flashback of someone other than Reid hitting me, so I continued. "I'm just trying to piece it all together from my rather damaged memory, officer, and I don't want the wrong man accused. I don't mean to waste your time."

His expression softened slightly. "It is not a waste of my time, Ms. Fitzhugh. I hope that your memory comes back and that you have a full recovery. Can you find your own way out?"

"Yes, thank you."

I hurried out of the police station imagining that the cop I'd spoken to was now grumbling to his colleagues about the idiot girl who couldn't remember who beat her up. I was embarrassed, and I was angry. When I hit the sidewalk, I broke into a jog and then a run, glad I'd worn my running shoes and lightest winter jacket. I couldn't really blame the officer; he'd probably heard the same story a hundred times from different women who were beat up by their boyfriends or husbands. He looked at me and he saw just another statistic. His unwillingness to see me and hear my story was understandable, if wrong. Then again, it probably never crossed his mind that Reid could have been possessed by the ghost of my dead boss. If that scenario were a possibility in his universe, maybe he would have been a better listener.

I reached the apartment before I was ready to be home and took a couple of laps around the block. By the time I was ready to start a third lap, snow had started to fall and I had to worry about my make-up being washed off to reveal my bruises. I hurried inside, hoping that no one would be there so I could go straight back to my room and take a nap. Either Landon would show up and I could talk to him or I'd get some much needed sleep.

Unfortunately, I walked into my apartment to find Cat on the futon, a bottle in one hand and a joint in the other.

My first instinct was to be annoyed that I wouldn't have the place to myself, but then I realized that a little hair of the dog might be exactly what I needed. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and joined her in the living room.

She scooted to the end of the futon near my chair and passed the joint to me. I took a long, slow inhale and handed it back. I immediately felt my body relax and had the happy thought that my mind would follow suit after only a couple more hits. "Thank you."

"No problem. I hate to smoke alone," she said as she passed the joint back to me.

"Where's Angelica? She's usually game for a few hits."

Cat shrugged. "I haven't seen her."

"She must still be out with Bruce."

"Bruce?" Cat accepted the joint with a confused look on her face. She was obviously more than halfway to stoned. "Aren't you dating Bruce?"

I twisted the cap off my beer and took a long swallow. "Not a chance."

"Does Caleb know that? Because he told me you were dating Bruce."

"Why should he care who I am or am not dating?" I was tired and angry and frustrated, and maybe I have been a bit harsher than I'd intended.

"Wow, having a bad day, or mad at Caleb in particular?"

"No." I sighed. "I mean, yes, I'm having a bad day. I'm sure you witnessed the argument I had with Caleb last night."

"Kind of hard to miss."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's just...well, he was being pushy, you know."

"He can be pushy," Cat said with a nod.

"Yeah, but it was also me." I took another drink and thought about my next words carefully. I wasn't ready to tell Cat the whole story, not when I thought she might have a thing for Caleb herself. Not when I wasn't yet sure how I really felt about him, beyond the fact that I missed him. "I took some things too personally, mixed it up with some shit from my past, and kind of took it out on him unfairly. He was rude, but I understand that he was worried about me. I shouldn't have kicked him out. The thing is, we were getting to be friends, and now I've screwed it up irreparably."

"With Caleb, nothing's irreparable. He's very forgiving. He has to be with that temper of his. He's pissed off more than a few people."

I looked at her, really looked at her, without jealousy or rent concerns clouding my thoughts, and I put together what I knew about her. "You knew Caleb before you came here."

Her expression hardened, but she quickly covered it with a smile. "He tell you that?"

"No, it's just a guess based on the way you two are together and how well you seem to know each other."

She took a long slow drag and handed the joint back to me. "We worked together last season at a different resort. We spent some time together."

"You dated."

She nearly choked on her beer. She coughed and wheezed for several minutes, took another swallow of beer, and laughed. "Fuck, no. He is so totally not my type."

"Good-looking and fun aren't your type?"

She laughed again. "You've got a lot to learn about Caleb. He's charming, that's for sure, but he's not my idea of fun and not my type of good-looking, either. I like 'em a little more rough around the edges and free-spirited." She laughed again.

I didn't know what to say to that, and I realized how little I actually knew about Caleb. "So what created the animosity between you two?"

She smiled slowly. "Let's just say he has a habit of spoiling my fun. He's very good at appearing to be the happy life of the party, but when you really get to know him...he's just not that interesting. He's a bit of a one-track record."

I thought about what I knew of Caleb, and I just didn't see her version of him at all.

Cat's gaze was on me when I looked her way, but she quickly smiled. "Don't worry about Caleb. He's not one to carry a grudge, but he's also not a big risk taker. If he thinks you're angry at him and don't want him around, I doubt he'll try so very hard to get into your good graces."

"Really? So you're saying I need to apologize first?" She obviously didn't know he'd been over here already to apologize and that I'd only made things worse.

"Look, Caleb's not my favorite person, obviously. But he's sensitive," she said the word like it was the worst insult. "If you want him to continue to be your friend, you need to pretty much flat out tell him that. He's a guy, right? He doesn't do nuance."

I really wasn't sure about her analysis of Caleb. She wasn't exactly the first person I'd go to for advice, but right now, she was the only person I had, and she knew Caleb better than anyone else I knew. Plus, the tactic she was suggesting sounded pretty good to me. I should have thought of it before. _"Caleb, I really want us to be friends, but right now I am ugly with bruises, so could we just not hang out for a couple of weeks until I get this psycho ghost and scary cop off my case?"_ Yeah, that would fix everything.

"What was your job at the last place?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get a job, Kelsey, I swear. I've been to, like, sixteen different places today."

I laughed. "No, I was just curious. Just trying to get to know you better. How about, where are you from originally, is that better?"

Before she could answer, there was a loud knock at the door. I stood and walked over, careful to check the peephole before I opened it. Caleb was pacing in front of the door. I opened it and smiled at him, trying to look as friendly and apologetic as possible.

He pushed past me and stormed into the kitchen. "What the hell is going on, Kelsey?"

I shut the door before turning to face him. I had a pretty good idea what he was upset about, and I had no idea how I was going to get out of this one. "Well, hello, Caleb. It's good to see you. How are you?"

His hands were in hard fists at his side. "Please tell me that you didn't go to the police and tell them Reid didn't hit you?"

I considered doing just what he asked, but that would be not at all funny. "I'm not sure he did," I said honestly.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Kelsey? I was there. I saw him hit you."

Oh, shit. I had considered this possibility and dismissed it. I guess I just wanted to believe that Caleb and Jed had shown up after Reid had hit me the second time. "I just...I wasn't sure...with the head injury, everything was mixed up, and I didn't want the wrong guy..."

"Jesus, Kelsey, are you really this dumb? Or has that asshole—"

"Caleb, you might want to shut the hell up before you say something you regret," Cat said as she walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. "Reid threatened her."

That got Caleb's attention, but he didn't take his eyes off me. "Is that true?"

I didn't say anything. If I admitted Reid threatened me, there was no way Caleb wouldn't go back to the police and make things worse for Reid and me. If I lied and said that Reid hadn't threatened me, then I had to come up with a better reason for going to the police.

"Caleb, I tell you all the time that the truth is in the small details and you never get it. Have you noticed anything different about Kelsey today?" Cat asked calmly.

His hands relaxed as he studied me and he calmed himself enough to see past his anger. "You're wearing a lot more make-up than I've seen on you before." He paused and his fists clenched again. "That son-of-a-bitch hit you?"

"No, Reid didn't hit me. He might have told me that he was innocent and that I should really think about what happened that night, and... You know what? It doesn't matter. It's under control and I will handle it. You don't need to worry about it."

"What do you want me to do? Go back to the police and lie for you? Tell them I didn't see him hit you?"

"They didn't waste any time calling you, did they, Caleb?" Cat asked.

He glared at her. "I was on the same block when they called, so I stopped in."

"Hmmm, that was lucky," Cat said.

"Stay out of this, Cat," he said, looking at me.

Cat sighed. "Why don't you both have a seat at the table, and we can discuss this rationally?"

He sat as far from Cat as possible, and I sat across from Caleb, who was doing his best not to look at me or Cat.

"You should tell them the truth," a small voice said from the hall. I turned to see Angelica in her pajamas. She must have already been here asleep when Cat got home.

"Angelica," I said, shaking my head. I had worked too hard for a normal life to throw it away now. If it was just Caleb, I might be okay with it, but I doubted Cat would keep such a good story to herself. "Please." My chest felt tight and I was sure that I was on the verge of crying.

"Kelsey, it's not right for Reid to be in trouble for something he didn't do. You have to tell them," Angelica said. "I'm sorry."

"You promised," I said, somehow hoping I could convince her to unsay what she said and make them unhear what they'd heard.

"I'm sorry, Kelsey. But I'm scared for you."

I looked at Caleb, and he was looking at me with something like fear in his eyes. I knew that, after I told this story, I would never see him again. Before I started, I checked the room to make sure Landon wasn't lurking somewhere, listening, but we were alone. "I've been able to see and speak to ghosts since I was a little, little girl," I said, my heart racing. "After Landon died, he used Reid's body to attack me."

"Tell them the rest," Angelica urged.

"He claimed that he wanted to take over my body, permanently, but that he needed my permission. Basically, he was trying to scare me into giving him that permission."

"Shit," Caleb breathed.

"How the fuck did you not see that, Caleb? You were right there," Cat said, her voice hard with real anger for the first time since I'd known her.

"I don't know." He shook his head. "Jed didn't see it, either." He looked at me. "I'm so sorry, Kelsey. I should have known."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "How could you have possibly known?"

"Because it's my job to know," he said. "Look, we can explain everything to you, but Angelica can't be here for this. The less she knows..."

"She should stay," Cat said gently. "She can see auras."

"That's what she claims, but we have no way to prove that," he said.

"She and Jed played a little game one night in a bar, and he told me that she got everyone right," Cat said.

"Why didn't he tell me that?"

Cat shrugged. "Said he tried, but you were..."

"My temper. Right. That's another issue for another night. Has she been cleared?"

Cat rolled her eyes. "By my people. The ever-loyal, idiot Jed hasn't gone to your people about her."

"Convenient for you," he said.

"Not really the issue now, is it, Caleb?"

He sighed. "Right." He looked at Angelica. "If you stay, you're going to hear some things that may upset you. Once you hear them, you're going to be expected to keep them to yourself. You may even be called upon to use your skill of reading auras and it will be very difficult for you to say no."

I was trying to follow the conversation, but was failing miserably. I couldn't even understand enough to ask what they were talking about.

Angelica looked a bit shaky, but she seemed less confused than me. "I want to help Kelsey."

"That's what Cat and I are here to do. If you stay, it will be unlikely that you will be placed in any position to help Kelsey."

"The truth is that I'm scared," Angelica said. "But if I don't stay, I'll always wonder. If there's some use for me, some way I can help...anybody. I want to know about it."

Caleb nodded. "Okay, Angelica can stay. How do you want to do this, Cat?"

"Deferring to me already, Caleb? Without a fight? Sure you want to do that so early in the game?"

"She's already pissed at me. She might be more willing to listen to you and, if I'm lucky, you'll say something to make her mad at you."

"If you insist," Cat said. "Kelsey, there are several different planes of existence as we understand it. Tonight, we're only concerned about the plane of the living and the plane of the dead who have chosen to stay close to the living. You call them ghosts; we call them reapers, and they call themselves guardians." Cat took a drink and shook her head. "Sorry, Caleb, I can't do this."

Caleb studied her for a long moment. "I thought..."

"Doesn't matter what you think. I don't have the clearance."

Caleb leaned forward and smiled gently at me. "I know that I'm not your favorite person right now—"

"I don't know who you are right now," I said.

His face closed and he leaned back in his chair. Wrong thing to say, but it was the truth. I'd been silent while they acted unsurprised about my ability to see ghosts, while they'd debated Angelica's right to hear what they had to say, because I had been a bit stunned. Now, Caleb was looking at me and acting like the biggest problem in his life was that I might be mad at him. All of this was just a bit too surreal even for me. "I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just... You and Cat aren't just accidently in my life, are you?"

Caleb shook his head. "No, we're here because of you. Cat is actually here on a different job and, when she saw me, she figured out why I was here and asked to help me look out for you. Cat and I work for two different corporate groups who make it their job to take care of people who have the sort of skills you have."

Everything suddenly fell into place. Caleb was working and he probably wasn't supposed to kiss the clients, or whatever I was. That's why he'd been acting so weird. "So your concern about the bruise had to do with your job?"

"I was worried about you, Kelsey." He frowned.

"Maybe you should just tell them what's been happening to you?" Angelica suggested.

"I think that's an excellent idea, Angelica," Cat said, and I noticed for the first time that she sounded different, her voice clipped and business-like.

"Um, okay." I quickly detailed the highlights of the past several days, many of which were surprises to Angelica, but she managed to hide her reaction, a mixture of shock and fear, every time Cat or Caleb looked her way. When I'd finished, both Cat and Caleb were silent.

"That's not possible," Caleb breathed. "He shouldn't be able to get inside your head like that."

"He's not getting inside her head," Cat said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice. "He's taking her to the other side. Weren't you listening? He's controlling everything over there, and he's doing physical damage to her."

"Shit," Caleb swore. Then he looked sharply at Cat. "Have you heard of anything like this before?"

She considered for a long moment. "I've heard talk, but I've never heard of it succeeding."

"So this Landon, he's..."

"He's nothing. He's only been dead, what? A couple of weeks? It's Kelsey."

"How... She hasn't been trained, and even if she had—"

"You know what Len believed, and you know what he could do. Looks like he was right."

My heart froze at the sound of the name. I don't know why; they could have been talking about a woman or any one of a million other Lens in the world, but I had to check, anyway. Despite all my rationalizations and my disgust at my mother's unrelenting hope, I had to ask. "Len?"

Cat swore under her breath, but Caleb didn't look at her. He was looking at me. His expression was gentle, a crease of worry between his brows. "Yes, Kelsey. She's talking about your father."

"Wow, Caleb, don't hold anything back," Cat said.

He looked at her, opened his mouth to say something, and then shook his head. "She deserves to know everything, after what she's been through. We were supposed to be protecting her."

I had so many questions. I had thought that Landon was a rogue ghost with unusual abilities, but from the way they were talking, the idea of a ghost taking over the body of a living person was nothing new. I wanted to know what that meant about me and how I could escape Landon, but more than anything else, I needed to know about my dad. "You know where he is? What happened to him?"

"Happened to him?" Caleb asked. "I don't know that anything happened to him. Do you know what she's talking about, Cat?"

"Why don't you ask her, Caleb?" Cat said, her face revealing nothing.

He turned slightly red. "I'm sorry, Kelsey, I just...I understand this is very difficult for you, and I'm trying..."

"Stop sucking up to her, Caleb. We're not trying to recruit her yet."

Caleb threw her a look that I hoped I was never on the receiving end of. I had never seen him like this before, so uncomfortable and worried. In any case, I was tired of being talked about like I wasn't in the room. "My dad disappeared when I was just a kid. It was never clear to my mother or me if he was killed or if he had just run off or if he was kidnapped. He left me. Do either of you know anything about that?"

Caleb looked like he wanted to punch somebody. Cat just laughed. "That sounds like Len. He's always hated goodbyes."

He pushed back his chair and stood. He offered me a hand, and I took it before I understood what he was doing. He gently pulled me to my feet. "Kelsey and I are going somewhere to talk alone for a while."

"You better not put any of your moves on her, Caleb. If she comes back saying she's going to work—"

"For once in your life, Cat, shut the fuck up," Caleb said without turning around as he led me out of the apartment.

I followed, leaving Angelica alone with Cat, because I wasn't sure I wanted her to hear any more and because I felt certain that I would get the answers I needed more quickly without waiting for Caleb and Cat to finish arguing.

### CHAPTER SIXTEEN

He led me to his car, silently gestured for me to get in, and sat down behind the wheel. He drove us to his place in silence, led me up the stairs, and sat me down next to him on the couch. "I can't imagine how Cat and I could have possibly fucked this up any more than we have. I'm sorry, Kelsey."

I looked at him and wanted to make him feel better. He looked miserable and lost. Unfortunately, I didn't understand what he was apologizing for well enough to accept his apology. "You and Cat really don't get along at all, do you?"

He shrugged. "We have our moments. She's better than most of the alternatives and I think she feels the same way about me. If you want, I can ask to be replaced by someone else. If that would make you more comfortable."

A prideful part of me wanted to say yes, but the larger, terrified, utterly lost part of me wanted him to stay. "No, I trust you, Caleb. You have saved my life at least once. I'm sorry about the way I've been acting. I didn't want you to see the bruises and think..."

"Yeah, I get that. I'm sorry. I haven't handled any of this well at all. I thought that Reid gave you those bruises . . . I never thought . . . I'm usually much better at my job."

"No. Now that we are on the same page, I'll tell you what's going on. I wish you had told me about this earlier. Why waste all of that time pretending you were my friend?"

He winced and shook his head. "I wanted to tell you, but we've had problems in the past with people who don't have the skill level we've expected or who have learned to ignore their abilities. Secrecy is imperative in this business and approaching people who don't believe in our world can create the sort of scene that draws way too much attention." He paused. "But Kelsey, you should know that I—"

"So, when were you going to tell me?" Maybe I was just too tired to get it, but it didn't make sense to me. Were they just going to watch me until they caught me talking to ghosts?

"It's not like that." He ran a hand through his hair. "We usually maintain a distance. You know, we interact with the potential talent, but we don't become their friends. We just spend enough time around them to be able to tell if they are communicating with reapers and, if they are, slowly get to know them better until they trust us enough to open up..."

"And you expect them to trust you after that?"

"It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got. We can, sometimes, send in a reaper who's on staff and get him or her to make first contact, but the reapers aren't always interested in what's best for the corporation or the individual. We don't trust any reaper enough to try that with someone as potentially valuable as you..."

"Valuable?" I snorted. "If I could give away my abilities, I would, Caleb. I don't want any of this. Don't you ever let anyone just walk away?"

His shoulders slumped. "It's too late for that with you. There's no way Landon is working alone. Too many people know what you can do."

"Landon doesn't know I can see gho—reapers."

"Cat does, and she's probably on the phone to Harvest One about you right now...but I'll talk to her for you, Kelsey. I'll see what I can do." His voice changed as he said the last words and so did his entire demeanor. He was sitting up straighter and his tone was light and as smooth and warm as honey.

"Are you trying to be charming?"

He ducked his head. "Shit. I'm sorry, Kelsey. It just happened."

"So there's no chance of me walking away from this and having a normal life?"

"No chance in Hell."

I nodded and let that wash over me. I felt a bit numb and shaky. If what he said was true, I would have no reason to fight Landon. I didn't know anything about the corporations he was talking about, but if they knew what I could do and if scary reapers knew what I could do, my shot at a normal, ghost-free life was gone. I'd never be free to be myself or live my life as I chose, if so many people knew what I could do and wanted me for my "talent." So I determined to prove him wrong. I would be the first person to walk away. There had to be a way.

"So, do you know where my dad is?" I asked, changing the subject. A teeny tiny part of me thought my dad might be able to help me get away.

He sighed. "No, I don't. He used to work for Varius, that's the corporation I work for, but he left suddenly one day about two years ago and went to work for Cat's corporation, Harvest One. Then, about six months ago, Cat claims he left there and no one knows where he's gone."

I was having a hard time processing all of the information he was throwing at me. "If my dad worked for you, then he must have some sort of skill or ability, right?"

Something like anger flashed on Caleb's face, and he looked away from me. "Not everyone who works for Varius has a skill, but your father did. He was one of the more powerful mediums in the company."

"He could see..." I had never imagined it possible to feel as angry and hurt as I did at that moment. "All those years, he stood by and did nothing when my mother told me that I was crazy for believing...and he...Then he just leaves us, without a word? For what? What was so important?"

Caleb stood and paced the room a couple of times. "How much do you really want to know?" he finally asked as he stopped in front of me.

I'd had a few moments to calm down, but in those few moments, my anger had been replaced by a hurt and disappointment that threatened to dissolve me into tears. "Tell me what was so wrong with me that he could just leave me like that?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. Caleb looked like he was wishing he'd left this job to Cat, and I swallowed hard and shook myself. "I'm sorry. I'm exhausted and not thinking straight. Just tell me everything you know, please. I've wondered for so long, and...I just need to know."

Caleb nodded, his tawny hair flopping over his eyes, and sat back down next to me. He made a motion like he might put his arm around me and I scooted farther down the couch. I didn't need his pity or his false comfort.

"Your dad is an arrogant, selfish asshole. He's also the best medium that anyone dead or alive has ever come into contact with." He paused and looked at me. "Kelsey, you aren't his only child, and your mother... We're pretty sure she's not the only woman he's married."

The idea that my father might have another family was not a new one for me, but to hear it as truth was different than believing it as possibility. "How many other children?"

He must have seen something in my face that he didn't like, because he looked away from me. "I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, Kelsey. Len should have to do this, but he... I don't know how many other children he has. When I knew him, he had two sons, who both had promising skills. He brought them in to Varius and let them be trained, but their abilities did not progress to the level Len felt they should. He blamed the training. He was untrained, and he thought people with skills should be allowed to grow into their abilities naturally. For the most part, skills seem to be passed on genetically, so he was asking the skilled people at Varius to risk their sons and daughters to his theory. Understandably, no one wanted to chance it. Len was often off-site on missions and, in the last couple of years, it's become clear that he fathered other children. We've been trying to track them and that's how we found you."

"He wanted to create more people with his abilities, so he ran around getting women pregnant and then leaving them and their children?"

He nodded. "That seems to be the case. We've only found two other of his children and, if it helps, he didn't stick around for either of them past confirming that their mothers were pregnant."

I guess I should have felt sorrow or anger, but I couldn't really feel anything at the moment. "Thanks for that, but it doesn't change the fact that he left me. He got to know me, and he left me, anyway." I stared at the carpet. "Do you think I could crash here for a little while? I just don't have the energy to face Cat and Angelica tonight."

"Sure. You can take the bed in the guest room. It's got clean sheets."

I nodded and leaned back on the couch, trying to sort through everything I'd learned.

"Can I ask a few questions?" I turned to look at Caleb and found him staring at me, a worried line between his brows.

He sighed and a little of the tension eased from his face. "Yes, please. I don't think I've been making much sense."

I picked up a few strands of hair and started to bring them to my mouth before I stopped myself and folded my hands in my lap. "So, you and Cat work for two separate corporations who do what exactly?"

"Starting with the most difficult questions? Okay. Varius is to outside observers a pharmaceutical company. We employ an entire staff who do pharmaceutical work without any knowledge of the real side of Varius. On the other side are people like me, who do various jobs. Cat and I are, among other things, headhunters of a sort who go out into the field and find people with skills. We try to bring those people back to be trained by and to work for our respective corporations. Once trained, those skilled people go to work doing things like trying to stop unauthorized reapings, where a reaper permanently possesses the body of a living person. Another situation—"

"You authorize ghosts to possess bodies?" This was just getting worse and worse. They really expected me to trust them when they allowed reapings?

"In very rare and special instances."

"Has clearance been given for Landon to reap me?"

He shook his head. "Absolutely not. Landon and whatever group he is a part of are breaking the law and we have the right to use any means necessary to fight them."

"That sounds good. So you can help me get Landon to leave me alone?"

Caleb ran a hand through his hair. He was touching his hair so much that it was now falling in his face every time he moved and was looking a bit rumpled. I realized that every time I'd seen him before, his hair had been perfect and out of his face. He must use a lot of product to keep it that way.

"We will do everything we can to help you. Cat and I both have a lot of experience helping people who are in danger of being reaped. The most important thing we and you can do is make sure that you are mentally, spiritually, and physically well. In that case, your soul is most strongly attached to your body, and a reaper is less likely to be able to take over."

I brought my hair back up to my mouth and started chewing on it. "And what is your success rate in these sorts of situations?"

"Fifty-fifty, generally, but both my corporation and Cat's will be throwing everything we have at Landon and whoever he's working with."

I considered telling Caleb about the man I'd seen with Landon, but I wasn't ready for anymore revelations that night. "So what's your skill?"

Caleb laughed. "You're taking all of this very calmly."

"I don't have much choice, do I?"

I realized as I spoke that it was true. Breaking down and freaking out would only give Landon what he wanted, and it wouldn't get me out of any of this. "So, your skill?"

"I'm a psychic, but I can't read minds, so don't even start worrying about that. I can sense the presence of reapers, I can tell whether someone is a taken or a living—"

"Taken?"

"A body inhabited by a reaper."

"That's what Cat meant when she asked why you hadn't seen anything off about Reid."

"Exactly." He stood and started pacing again. "I don't know what went wrong there. I just seem to be really off my game...lately. I'm sorry about that."

I shrugged. "Ali...a ghost I know saw what Reid did to me, and she said that Landon took off after Reid threw the first punch. Landon wasn't even there when you got there. Besides, I'm fine. Everything's working out."

"But everything you had to go through... That was my fault."

"It was Landon's fault," I said firmly. "What's Cat's skill?"

"You'll have to ask her that yourself. You'll also have to ask her exactly what her corporation does, because I'm not quite sure. No one outside the company is really sure what they do, except that they turn a profit and help others only when it benefits them."

"So she's only here because I'm Len's daughter, and she thinks I have a skill."

"That's what she wants us to think, but I'm pretty sure something else is going on here. She brought up Len and it's not like her to make a slip like that. She is obsessively precise with the words she chooses."

"So you think my father sent her to keep an eye on me?"

Caleb considered his words for a long moment. "Yeah, maybe so."

"And Jed? What's his superpower?" I already knew he could read auras, and I wanted to know if he was like me, if he could see and talk to ghosts.

Caleb shrugged. "He's telekinetic."

He said it like it was no big deal, but I almost fell out of my chair.

"He can move things with his mind?" I asked in complete amazement.

Caleb frowned hard. "Yep." He stood and walked to the kitchen. "I'm going to make some coffee. Would you like anything?"

"No, thanks. I really should just get to bed. Any advice on how to handle Landon when he visits tonight?"

Caleb froze. "Shit, I'd forgotten about that. I'm sorry but reapers invading dreams is new to me, and I'm pretty sure it is to Cat, as well. Just...act naturally and...see if you can get him to talk about who he's working with. Make sure you don't give him any information... Of course, for all we know, he could have been listening to this entire conversation."

I didn't really want to lay all of my cards on the table, but if Caleb was going to help me, he should know. "He wasn't listening."

He smiled gently at me. "I guess that's another thing I haven't told you. Just because you can't see Landon doesn't mean he's not here."

"I know. There's a second curtain that they hide behind. But I figured out how to get past it. I've been watching both planes, or whatever, and, aside from the odd passing ghost, no one has been hanging out listening."

Caleb put down the coffee filter he was holding and walked back over to the couch. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "When I was a kid, I could only hear ghosts. Then one day, I noticed the curtain... That's what I call it; it's not really like anything I can describe...and I knew the ghosts were behind it, so I concentrated and moved it aside. It's been open to me ever since. A few days ago, I could hear Landon talking but I couldn't see him, so I used the same idea and I pushed the second curtain aside and there he was. Unless there's another curtain, no one's been listening."

"Shit," he said, his eyes bright with excitement. He just stared at me for a moment and then he smiled. "You weren't going to tell me that, were you?"

"Not unless I had to." I smiled at him. "Not that I don't trust you..."

"No, that's good. You shouldn't trust anyone right now. I mean, of course I want you to trust me, but you need to be careful with everyone else." He sighed. "Am I making any sense at all?"

I nodded. "I think so."

"Good. Don't tell anyone else what you've just told me, okay. Don't even mention it to me again. If anyone found out—"

"They'd kill me," I said for him.

He looked at me as though he were reassessing me. Then he nodded. "There are some who would see you as a threat, particularly among the reapers. The rest of us, the living, we aren't much better. You're the only one we know with this ability, and if anyone else knew, your life would no longer be your own to choose."

_Not that it is now_ , I thought, but I managed to keep that thought to myself. He didn't have to keep my secret, and he could probably gain a lot of brownie points at Varius if he shared it. "Thank you," I said.

"For what?" he said absently, his mind obviously somewhere else.

"For not using that information to get ahead in your job. I would imagine it's the sort of information that would put you in line for a promotion or whatever. I don't know how your corporation works, but..."

"Kelsey." His face was suddenly close to mine. "Are we still alone?"

I looked around as much as I could, with his face only inches from mine. "Yes," I breathed.

He kissed me, gently at first, and then harder as I responded. He pulled back only long enough to say, "You have no idea how badly I've been wanting to do that again, but if anyone saw us..."

"You aren't supposed to date potential recruits?"

He smiled. "That, and there are a lot of people, living and dead, who would take any opportunity to hurt me. And they wouldn't hesitate to use you to do it."

"You didn't seem too concerned about that when you kissed me on your doorstep yesterday."

"That was really stupid. Running with you, I kind of forgot about all of the other crap, you know."

"I do." And he was kissing me again. It felt so good, and I wanted to get lost in that feeling, but my mind wouldn't stop racing with all of the new information he'd given me. I was exhausted and confused and scared, and I wasn't even sure how I really felt about him. I pulled away from him. "I'm sorry, but..."

He sat up. "No, you're right. You should get some sleep. Do you mind if I stay for a little while?"

"That would be nice."

I fell asleep, held tight in his arms, more relaxed than I'd been in a week.

### CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I actually got to sleep for a couple of hours before Landon jerked me out onto the beach. This time, I had on a T-shirt and jeans, and Landon sat next to me.

"Hey," he said with a smile. "Had a hard time finding you tonight. I hope you aren't trying to hide from me."

"No, I was just too tired to go home."

"I can imagine."

He leered at me. I worried for a moment how much he had seen. Me asleep in Caleb's arms could be bad enough.

"It seems to me that you are spending way too much time with your friends, having parties, when you should be investigating my death, or at least quaking in fear at what I might do to you next."

"I spent—"

"Do you know what I did when I couldn't find you at your apartment?" he said lazily, inspecting his fingernails. "I decided to see what kind of trouble I could cause with Angelica."

My stomach dropped. "I did what you asked, Landon. You said you wouldn't hurt her."

"But I didn't know that. You weren't where you were supposed to be, and I thought maybe you had run away and hidden from me." He grinned. "Lucky for me, she was halfway to drunk, so it was real easy to just slip inside."

"What did you do to her?"

"Relax, Kelsey. I just manipulated her conversation with Cat a tiny bit. I got from Cat where you were and I left." He moved closer to me so that our shoulders touched and I could feel his breath on my cheek. "I expect you to be grateful for that, Kelsey, and to show me a bit of respect." He moved back out of my space. "Now, what did you find out?"

"You were shot. Apparently, Reid gave Bruce incorrect information about your death, and I guess your family wants it that way." Weird that they were okay with let the rumor that he'd overdosed circulate, but maybe they didn't know about that. "I went to the police station, and they told me you shot yourself accidently."

"I don't even own a gun!" He paused and took a deep breath. "How the hell would I have shot myself? Someone killed me, and we have to find out who."

"How?"

"Fuck if I know." He sighed and slumped. "Did you tell Bruce I was murdered?"

"How would I explain that I knew that? He did seem to think he was wrong to believe you'd overdosed."

"That's good." Landon looked out at the ocean for a long moment. "It's not so bad here, you know? Except, I can't forget for even a second that it's all fake."

"Why don't you borrow Reid again and get the full 4D experience?"

"I told you why. I don't want to get him fired and lose my police connection."

"From what I hear, he's a pretty useless police connection. Besides, you could use him without endangering his job as long as you don't beat me up."

"What do you care?"

I shrugged. "I'm just trying to understand. Couldn't you find someone else?"

"If it were that easy, don't you think I'd be doing it? You think I'm so stupid that I couldn't have figured that out?"

"No, I'm just trying to be helpful."

"Yeah, well, don't bother. I'll have my own full-time body soon enough. I've just gotta make your life so miserable that you beg me to take over."

"Maybe you should accept that you're dead as a result of the choices you made and move on. Even if you're right and someone killed you, you must have given them a reason to do it."

"Wow, that's some pep talk. You're right, I should just stay dead. Not." He giggled. "What I've been trying to figure out about you, Kelsey, is what you hold most dear. I can threaten your friends, and I can make you miserable by hurting them or removing them from your life—"

"Can't we just leave my friends out of this?"

"How selfless of you, Ice Princess. As I was saying, I need to make you wish you were dead, and to do that, I have to remove from your reach what you hold most dear. You wanna tell me what that is?"

The word leapt to my mind immediately—normalcy. Landon could ruin my life by taking from me any opportunity of having a normal one. Although, based on what Caleb had told me, a normal life might already be beyond my grasp. "Um, these killer new running shoes I just spent half a paycheck on?"

Landon smiled. "Don't worry, Kelsey, I'm not expecting you to tell me. I've already figured it out, and I'm pretty proud of myself. See, I never liked you because you seemed so boring. You had moved to Briarton on some sort of impetuous whim, right? You told me one time that you had come here on vacation and just stayed, right? That seemed like a pretty fucking cool thing to do, so I thought maybe you were more interesting than you seemed, but if you were, I couldn't figure out where you were hiding it."

"I have a safe at the—"

"Shut the fuck up, Kelsey. You are not funny. You're not funny, or fun, or even remotely interesting, yet you moved here. Why? As far as I could tell, you only skied about once every couple of weeks, and you weren't into anything else that could only be had here in Briarton, so I figured you must be running from something."

"You got me, I'm a runaway. I just couldn't take another day in a world without snow."

Landon didn't even look at me. "You know what I've figured out about you today, Kelsey? I've figured out that you are a freak, and you had to run halfway across the country to get away from yourself. It's your boring little normal life that you cherish so much, and I am going to take it from you."

I think my heart stopped beating for a few seconds and I felt the beach shift under me like I was about to drop through and freefall into the abyss. I tried to cover my fear as quickly as I could, but Landon was watching me and smiling. "Oh, God, please," I said as sincerely as possible. "I am so bored. You'd be doing me a huge favor."

Landon shook his head and tsked. "Keep acting like this is a joke, Kelsey, and I'll draw it out more. If you want to keep your dignity and your reputation, just give in to me now. Let me have your body and your dull, worthless little life, and save us both a lot of pain and effort."

Part of me was caving in to the idea of letting him have what he wanted. If it weren't for the fact that the people I cared about most already knew all of my secrets and still wanted to be my friends, I might have just let go. Even so, the idea of people at work, people I passed on the street, and all the potential guys I might want to date would look at me like I was a freak, and might even avoid me, scared me to a degree Landon had not previously reached. "No matter what you do to me, I'm not going to let you have this body without a fight."

He rubbed his hands together and grinned. "Oh, goody." Then he shoved me over hard, so that I fell on my side in the sand. I pushed up and stood to move away from him, but he was already standing next to me. He handed me a shovel. "Start digging. Right..." He walked a few steps and pointed at the ground. "Here."

"Haven't we played this game before?" But I walked over and stuck my shovel in the sand, anyway. I knew that arguing with him was a waste of energy.

"This time, it's a little bit different. Be gentle; Angelica is down there."

That stopped my heart for a moment, but I shook it off. Caleb and Cat had been sure I was the first person who a reaper had been able to bring over. There was no way he could have brought Angelica here. Still, I dug carefully, and after just a few shovelfuls, I saw the tip of a nose. I dropped the shovel, got down on my hands and knees, and carefully scooped sand off the face. In a few moments, Angelica's face stared up at mine, her eyes wild with fear. She took one quick gasp of air and she was gone. The sand was back in place, as though I had never touched it.

I dug like that again and again. Angelica got one gasp of air before she was covered again. I worked steadily and quickly, even as I reassured myself that it was all an illusion. I had long ago lost count of how many gasps of air Angelica had gotten, and my arms were screaming with the constant work, when Landon told me to stop. Despite my belief that Angelica wasn't really there, I couldn't make myself stop digging. If I was wrong, and it was all real, my digging might be all that was keeping her alive.

Landon growled at me, then grabbed me around the waist, threw me over his shoulder, and walked out into the ocean with me. He dropped me into the icy cold water and held me down. I struggled against his hand, beginning to panic as I found him unmoveable and my lungs started to scream. Just as I thought I would black out, he released me. I fought for the surface, flailing and kicking...and woke up tangled in a blanket on a couch in a strange room. Staring at me was Caleb, in pajama bottoms and nothing else. He sat on the coffee table, and I instinctively reached for him as though I was still drowning and he could pull me to safety.

"Kelsey, are you ok?" he asked, kneeling beside me and rubbing my back.

"Yeah, yeah," I gasped. "Just a rough landing." I caught my breath, and Caleb moved back to the coffee table.

"You were with Landon?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Yes, sort of. After you fell asleep, I went to my room and went to sleep, just in case we had uninvited guests. Speaking of which...?"

"All clear." I tried not to be disappointed that he had left me. He was right that anyone might be able to see us, but I couldn't remember why he didn't want anyone to know that we had slept together. Last night, it had all made sense, but this morning... I peered around the room again and realized that the second curtain was closed to me. I concentrated and pushed, but I couldn't get past it.

"Um, actually... I'm really tired and I'm not seeing so well for some reason. Do you have any coffee?" I started to push aside the blanket to get up and go make it, but my arms wouldn't obey my wishes.

"Yeah," Caleb said as he stood and headed for the kitchen. "I'll make you some."

I gave up and let Caleb wait on me. My arms and I needed a break.

He returned to his seat. "Coffee's brewing. It's not unusual for exhaustion to interfere with your abilities. How much sleep have you gotten since all of this started?"

I quickly calculated my sleep for the last few days. "Um, about six hours."

"Oh, well, six hours a night isn't too bad."

"No, six hours total."

"Oh, shit. Landon isn't letting you sleep?" Caleb frowned. "I guess that's one way to wear down a potential host."

"I think it's just the start." I couldn't stop myself from shivering when I remembered Landon's threat to return me to freak status, not to mention that he might start bringing my friends into my nightmare. "This time, Angelica was there. Is that possible?"

"No," he said quickly. Then he thought for a moment. "I don't think so. We can ask Angelica when we see her." Caleb was already standing and on his way back to the coffee pot. There was a quick knock at the door and the sound of a key turning in a lock.

"That's Jed. I asked him to come here to back me up."

"Oh," I said as I tried to fold the blanket that had been covering me and finger comb my hair at the same time.

Jed walked in, dropped a large duffel bag on the floor, and closed the door behind him with a loud, "Hiya, Sugar. I'm home."

"Hey, Jed," Caleb called from the kitchen. "You remember Kelsey."

Jed noticed me for the first time, and his smile widened. "Of course, I remember Kelsey. And not just because she's the reason I'm back." Jed dropped his broad body down next to me. "How are you, Kelsey? What are you, an insanely early riser, or did you sleep over?"

He asked the question in a joking tone, and I answered him the same way, hoping he wouldn't notice my red cheeks. "Caleb won't admit it, but I think he's afraid of ghosts. He didn't want to be alone last night."

Jed's smile faded and he studied me for a long moment before turning his attention to Caleb who had just walked in with two steaming mugs of coffee. "Cat was here with you, too, wasn't she?"

"Um, no," I said, feeling like a kid who's been caught sneaking out. Caleb put a mug on the table in front of me.

"Little brother," Jed stood and headed toward the bedroom. "We need to talk. In private."

"Jed, I really don't—" Caleb said, but Jed grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back to the bedroom. "I'm sorry." Caleb said to me with a grimace, before he disappeared behind the door.

I sipped my coffee and hoped the guys weren't discussing me. The voices from the bedroom grew louder and, when I began to be able to make out words like "what the hell were you thinking?" and "none of your business," I moved out to the balcony. Not that I wasn't curious, but I didn't want to overhear anything bad about myself, or misinterpret something I heard as being something bad about me.

There were a couple of weather-beaten Adirondack chairs on the deck and I sat down in the one farthest from the sliding glass door that led back into the apartment. In my peripheral vision, I saw a ghost sit down next to me. He was only behind the first curtain, and I still couldn't see beyond the second. I stared straight out at the view of the mountains and he laughed.

"I know you can see me, Kelsey. I am not so young or so stupid as your friend, Landon."

I didn't move.

"Your friend Doug sent me. I am sure that you can both see and hear me, and I would very much like to speak to you."

He might know who Doug was, but that didn't prove he knew what I could do, and I saw no reason to give him that information. I kept my eyes on the mountains and sipped my coffee. He could give me Doug's message without me looking at him.

The ghost sighed. "It seems silly for me to talk to you while you pretend not to listen, but I don't seem to have any choice. I am Tucker Greyson and my body has been dead for a hundred and thirty five years. I was twenty-five when I died and my ghost bears my appearance at that age, not that you are going to look at me, anyway. Doug is worried about you, but he doesn't have the strength or the right connections to be able to help you. He thinks I can."

I took another sip of my coffee, leaned back in my chair, and closed my eyes. It was cold out there and I considered going back inside, but I wanted to hear what Tucker Greyson had to say.

"I try not to get involved in reapings. I was once a very powerful figure among the guardians, but in the past quarter century, I have become disillusioned. They claim to be improving society, by reaping the lives and bodies of people who are only wasting what they have, but I have seen too many people better themselves and their situations without the help of the guardians to believe they are in the right. Even so, I have minded my own business, and I haven't interfered with their reapings. I am making an exception for you, because your friend, Doug, believes you're worth it."

I was having a hard time buying that this guy was the Good Samaritan he claimed to be. It just didn't make sense that he would take a risk like this on Doug's behalf.

"I'm not claiming to be a saint," he said as though he heard my thoughts. "I like you, Kelsey. You're beautiful and smart and, according to Doug, you have overcome hardship in your life and continue to trust and love people. Your love of life is indomitable and the guardians have no basis to justify reaping you. All of that is enough for me to want to help you. Selfishly, though, I just want the opportunity to be closer to you and to know you."

He waited a long moment, probably hoping that I would turn my attention to him and speak, but I remained still.

"I'll do what I can to help you, but I have to act carefully. Landon has attracted a great deal more attention than I think is warranted by this reaping, and some of the guardians involved are stronger than I am. I am not powerful enough to openly fight all of the guardians working with Landon, but I can and will help you in other ways. What I need you to do is to rest. Get as much sleep as you can and—" He stopped abruptly, and I was sure that I felt him brush the hair back from my temple. "I must go, but I won't be far." And he was gone.

I was so cold, I couldn't feel my nose or my toes, but the sun had come out and was beginning to warm my face, and I felt so sleepy. Logically, my mind should have been racing with the new information from Tucker, wondering what Jed and Caleb had been discussing, or contemplating what Landon had in mind for me next, but I couldn't focus on any one thought for more than a few seconds. I fell asleep wondering what Tucker looked like.

When I woke up, I was still on the deck, but I was under a down comforter. My back and neck were stiff from sleeping in the Adirondack chair, but I felt more rested than I had in a week. I stretched and straightened up and saw Caleb sitting next to me in the other chair, a steaming cup of coffee on the armrest.

"Hey." I smiled at him so hard I felt silly, but I was happy to see him. For a moment, I forgot all of my problems and basked in the happiness that washed over me just because he was sitting next to me and smiling at me as goofily as I was at him.

In an instant, fear began to seep in and corrupt my happiness. I realized for the first time how much I liked him, and that was almost as scary as Landon's threats and Reid's violent anger. Caleb could hurt me just as badly as they could without a single bad motive.

He must have seen something in my face, because his smile faded a bit. "I thought about moving you inside, but you looked so peaceful, and I knew how badly you needed sleep."

"Thanks for the blanket."

"Yeah."

I gave him a count of sixty to step up and explain what Jed had been so upset about, but, when he said nothing, I spoke up, "So, Jed figured out that you and I ..."

He jumped in. "Yeah. I should've seen that coming. He can read auras, and he could tell almost immediately. He could also tell—"

The sliding door slid open and Cat stuck her head out. "She's up. We can see you two through the glass, you know."

"Yeah. Can you just give me five minutes, Cat?" Caleb said, sounding exhausted and angry.

"You've had all night with her. What can you possibly—?"

"Go, Cat," he said with an edge in his voice that made me wince and sent Cat back inside, slamming the door behind her.

Caleb sighed. "I've handled all of this really, really badly, Kelsey, and I'm sorry."

"I think she deserved it."

"What? Oh, Cat. Yes, she does. But I was talking about us. The truth is that I don't date, and I haven't dated in a really long time. With the work I do, dating isn't easy, and I...I just haven't met anyone I've liked enough to make it worth the effort. Then I met you, and I just wanted to be around you..."

"Which was convenient since it was your job." I knew I sounded like a whiny brat, but I couldn't help it. I needed to know that he wasn't just handing me a line.

He laughed. "Yeah, it was, and it wasn't. There are rules, and dating a new recruit, especially one who is being targeted by reapers, is at the top of the list of don'ts, as Jed reminded me this morning. Reapers target you on every conceivable level, but they hit hardest on an emotional one by trying to make you believe your body and your life would be better managed by one of them. Somehow, I made you feel like shit at a time when I should be supporting you. At least, Jed saw from your aura that you felt bad, and he and I assumed that was because of me."

I considered lying to him; I mean, I had more than enough reasons to have a bummed out aura, but this morning Caleb was definitely bumming me out more than anything else. Plus, he had saved my life. I figured he deserved a little honesty from me. "Growing up, my mother told everyone she could about my ability to see and talk to the dead. As you can imagine, that didn't make me particularly popular among my classmates."

"Really? They didn't think it was cool?"

"Um, people either decided that I was a fake and a liar, or they believed me and decided that there was something sinful or weird about my ability. These feelings spread and the kids at school pretty much universally ostracized me as a freak. When a boy did like me or wanted to fill the freak notch in his proverbial belt, it was always with the understanding that we would keep our relationship secret from everyone else."

"So when I told you I didn't want anyone to find out that we were..." He groaned. "Shit. I haven't even taken you out on an actual date yet. I must seem like the biggest asshole to you."

"No. I get that my issues with you come from my past and not from anything you've done. I don't think that you are even a little bit of an asshole, but I don't really understand why we need to keep it such a secret that we like each other."

He smiled when I said that. Maybe I wasn't the only one who was worried.

"Probably because I haven't been completely honest with you. Of course, I don't want Cat to know because she will do her best to poison you against me."

"She would do that, anyway."

He smiled at me, and his cheeks reddened a bit. "Yeah, you're right. The truth is that I'm not only worried about getting in trouble for breaking the rules. Varius is extremely family-oriented. My parents met while they were working there, and Jed works there with us. The leadership at Varius encourages dating and marriage between employees, and someone with your skill level will be very, um, popular. If my parents or anyone at Varius finds out that we are anything more than colleagues, they will consider every aspect of our relationship their business. And there will be an uncomfortable amount of pressure from my parents for us to be serious."

"Oh." That was not at all what I had expected. "Exactly what sort of pressure are we talking about? Loud opinions about when we should get married pressure, or locking us in a room together until we agree to wed pressure."

Caleb laughed. "More like the first."

Maybe it was the sleep I'd gotten or maybe I was accepting that I might not have much time left with my body and I wanted to make the most of it, but I was thinking more clearly than I had in days, and I knew exactly what I wanted. "I can handle that kind of pressure, I think. If you're interested in dating me, then I'd like for it to be in the open. I'm getting kind of tired of secrets, and I've got so many now I'm having trouble keeping them all straight. If that's okay with you. I mean if you don't want to or if—"

"Kelsey." Caleb leaned over the two armrests separating us and gave me a kiss that shut me up so well I was speechless even after he moved away.

### CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The sliding door banged open and Cat stormed onto the balcony. "This is low, even for you, Caleb. I'm pretty sure it's against the rules to literally seduce a recruit to your team."

Caleb took my hand, which rested on the armrest of my chair, and interlaced his fingers with mine. "Kelsey and I are dating, and that has nothing to do with recruiting her. She's free to choose whichever company she wants to work for."

Cat snorted and threw her hands up. "Right. Well, you can bet I'm going to go straight to my boss with this, Caleb, and then I'm going to your parents."

Caleb's hand tensed in mine. "Cat, I know you don't like me very much."

She snorted again.

"But if you feel that you are in my debt in even the smallest way, please just give us a few days to enjoy each other before the others get involved."

Cat glared at him, but her expression softened when she looked at me. "I'll do it because I owe you, Caleb, but that's it. After this, we're even."

"Agreed," he said.

She looked away. "We should get inside. We've already wasted too much time, and Angelica is starting to freak."

"Angelica? What happened?" I stood and gathered the comforter in my arms.

"Reid broke into your place last night." Cat was already pushing the sliding door open and walking back inside.

"Is she okay?" I tried to hurry after her, tripped on the comforter, and almost went headfirst over the railing.

Caleb grabbed my arm and steadied me. "Other than being shaken up and scared, she's fine." He gently steered me inside.

Cat smirked at me and Jed stared at the floor, but all I saw was Angelica. She sat on the couch next to Jed, and she looked pale and drawn. Her hair was down, brushed but unwashed, and she hadn't bothered to put on make-up. She was wearing old jeans and a ragged sweatshirt, which I knew were her "comfort" clothes. The clothes she cuddled up in when she was tired or sick or hung-over and intended to spend the day at home. When she saw me, she burst into tears, and I dropped the comforter and hurried to sit next to her and wrap her in a hug.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

She nodded against my shoulder.

"What happened?" I looked at Cat, not expecting Angelica to tell me.

Cat shrugged. "Reid broke into the apartment. He thought Angelica was you, and he tried to cut her, but she screamed and kicked him in the balls. I went in when I heard her scream, and he ran away like the little coward he is."

"Was it Landon?" I asked, but I knew the answer before she shook her head. I hadn't wanted to believe Reid was capable of carrying out his threats, but deep down, I'd known that he would. I'd seen it in his eyes.

Angelica pushed away from me and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "God, I don't know why I keep doing that."

"I'm so sorry, Angelica," I said.

"It's not your fault," she said, but she didn't meet my eyes. "It's Reid's fault." She looked at me with an expression I'd seen before. "I love you, Kelsey, but I can't do this. I thought I could, but I can't. I don't want to know that there are ghosts who can take over the living and make them do things. I don't want to have to worry about when Reid or someone else is going to come for you and get me instead."

"It's too late for that, Angelica," Cat said. "You know too much now."

Jed groaned. "We aren't the fucking mob, for Christ's sake. If she wants out, she's free to go."

"Is she?" Caleb asked. "You know they won't leave her alone."

"Who?" I asked.

"Did you call her in?" Jed asked.

"I didn't," Caleb said and looked at Cat.

"Not really on the top of my list of priorities, right now," Cat said. "They know she can see auras, but that's all they know."

"They'll leave her alone as long as they believe she doesn't know anything. We've got enough aura readers right now and so do you, Cat," Jed said. "So she can go, as long as she agrees to keep her mouth shut."

"Assuming no one was listening in." Cat gestured to the empty air.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't care. I'm out. And you don't have to worry about me saying anything, because I intend to do my very best to pretend that none of this ever happened," Angelica said.

"I'll move out tomorrow," I said. "And so will Cat."

"I didn't agree to that," Cat said.

I gave her a look, and she shut her mouth.

"Kels, you don't have to do that," Angelica said.

"Yes, I do." I managed to speak without my voice cracking, hoping she would say it didn't matter, that we could still be friends, but I knew we couldn't. I think I had known since the moment she told me she knew about my ability to see ghosts. I swallowed hard and forced myself not to cry. I wasn't going to make this any harder on her than it already was.

Angelica nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. She stood. "I want to be there for your 21st. Let me know what the plan is."

For months, she'd been telling me that she'd plan my party, and I tried not to let her see how hurt I was that she'd changed her mind. I tried to be happy that she was still willing to attend my party. She walked out, and no one spoke for several minutes. I needed to get away from them all, get away from myself. I stood. "Caleb, can I borrow some clothes? I need to go for a run."

"Yeah, I'll get you something," he said and headed back to his room.

"Caleb, get back here. We need to discuss—" Cat started.

"There's time," Jed said.

"And how do you know that? Do you have any idea...?" Cat clamped her mouth shut and crossed her arms over her chest. "We need to discuss our tactics now."

"Really?" Jed stood and faced her. "Why don't you tell me why we can't let Kelsey have an hour to herself? What do you know?"

"She's had the whole morning to herself."

"Yeah, to sleep, Cat. She needs to be strong physically and mentally..."

I walked out of the apartment. I already had my running shoes on, and it wouldn't be the first time I'd run in jeans.

I kept the pace hard and fast at first, trying to outrun my sorrow and humiliation. I had lost another friend because of my freakish abilities, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to change it. I didn't blame Angelica. If I could cut me out of my life, I would. The thought occurred to me then that I _could_ cut myself out of my life. I could just let Landon take over. He was going to do everything in his power to make me miserable, anyway. Of course, that would mean letting Landon win, and giving up my very existence, and I wasn't ready to go that far quite yet.

My cell phone rang, and I considered ignoring it, but I slowed and stopped. There were too many people who would really worry about me if I didn't answer. I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and answered without looking to see who was calling, "Hello?"

"Kelsey, oh my God, did you forget you're supposed to be at work today?" It was Isabella.

"Shit, I did. I'm sorry. What time is it?"

"Noon. It's totally dead, so don't rush or anything. It's just not like you to be late."

"Yeah, I'll be there in an hour."

I changed direction to start heading back to my apartment and saw Caleb jogging away from me. I sped up to reach him and matched my speed to his.

"Sorry," he said. "I wanted to give you space, but with Reid still out there..."

"I get it. Thanks for looking out for me."

He smiled at me. I slowed down as we approached my apartment, and his smile faded. "You aren't going in there, are you?"

"I have to go to work, and I need a shower and clothes."

He came to a dead-stop. "We can send Jed over to pick stuff up for you, and you can shower at my place. I think you should give Angelica some space for now."

I hesitated. He was right about Angelica, but moving in with him before we'd gone out on an actual date didn't seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, I really didn't have any other choice. "Okay. Thanks. I'll find my own place as soon as possible." I started jogging again.

He jogged next to me, but he was silent for a long moment. "Do you really think you should go in to work today? We haven't worked out a plan for Landon or Reid yet."

"They need me at work. I have to fire Allison today, and I have to check in with Al. I've been out too long as it is. I don't want to lose this job." I hadn't been sure when I'd accepted Al's offer, but I found I really did like running the store. "Besides, it's not like I can offer any great assistance with the planning, and Landon's not going to bother me unless—" My phone rang, interrupting me. I stopped and pulled it out of my coat pocket. "I should get this, just in case..." Just in case Angelica has changed her mind, I added mentally. Caleb nodded and kept jogging to give me some space I assumed.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Kelsey Fitzhugh?" The voice sounded like it belonged to an elderly woman.

"This is she."

"Hi, I saw your website and I was hoping you could help me talk to my husband."

"My website?"

"Yes, you say that you can talk to those who've passed on, and I really need to talk to my late husband."

I almost dropped my phone. I had a pretty good idea that Landon was behind this. "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I'm not a medium, and I certainly can't talk to the dead. That website is a sick joke by an ex-boyfriend of mine. I'm sorry." I was pretty proud of that bit of improvisation.

"I know you said on your site that you're taking a very limited number of clients and that you like to keep a low profile, so I understand you trying to put me off, but I can assure you that I can pay, and I won't be any trouble to you."

Caleb stopped and started walking back to me. I waved to him to hurry up. "Um, that's all part of the prank, I guess. My ex-boyfriend really didn't have any sense of humor or, um, revenge pranks. I'm sorry. I'll make sure the site is taken down right away."

"Ms. Fitzhugh, I'll pay double, no, triple whatever your going rate is...please."

I actually considered it for half a second. I could really use the money now that I had nowhere to live.

Caleb reached over and took the phone from me. "Hello, I'm Kelsey's father, can I help you?" he said in a deeper than usual voice. "Yes, I see. No, I can assure you that my daughter has no interaction with the spirit world. No, you have been misinformed. My daughter is only sixteen, and I will make sure the website is disabled. Thank you. Goodbye."

"Damn it," I said. "Landon didn't waste any time, did he?"

Caleb shook his head as my phone rang again. He answered it with a curt, "wrong number" and turned it off. "You think Landon did this?"

I was fighting back tears. I could not handle it if everyone in Briarton started looking at me the way people back home did. "I know he did. He figured out that what I want more than anything is a normal life, and he promised me he wouldn't let me have that."

Caleb frowned. "Is that really what you want?"

It took me a moment to fully understand what he had said. I was so frustrated in general and bewildered specifically that he would question my desire. "Of course. Isn't that what everyone wants?" I paused. "Have you figured out any way to prevent someone from being able to communicate—?"

"No," he interrupted me. "Kelsey, you have an amazing gift, and you're going to be able to help a lot of people."

"I've never been able to help anyone with my gift. I'm good at my job, and I used to have friends here."

"You haven't been able to help people in the past, but you will be able to help them now. Just like I'm helping you."

"Really? You're helping me? Since I've met you, everything in my life has gotten worse, not better." I regretted the words as soon as I spoke them. I knew it wasn't his fault, but I was angry, and I wanted to blame someone I could actually yell at without worrying they would suck my soul dry. "I'm sorry."

He started walking again and didn't look at me. "I haven't done a great job so far, but I'm going to help you."

Shit, I was the worst person ever. "You have been helping. I'm just...I'm mad, and I'm miserable...and..."

"The most beautiful woman I have ever encountered," a voice near my ear said huskily.

I jumped and spun around to come face to face with Tucker, who was laughing so hard I swear his cheeks were turning red. At least, he had the same voice and profile I'd seen out of the corner of my eye when he'd been with me on the balcony.

He calmed down and smiled at me. "Gotcha."

I spun on my heel, trying not to think about how blue his eyes were or how his smile lit up his whole face and made me feel warmer than I was. I should have been angry and scared, but I was noticing how good-looking he was. Something was truly wrong with me.

"I know you heard me, and you probably saw me, so you might as well talk to me."

I caught up to Caleb who looked at me, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, I know. His name is Tucker something and he is gloating about proving that I can hear him."

"Talk to me, honey. Don't waste your breath on the boy scout," Tucker said next to me.

Caleb stopped, a smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. "Tucker, why are you bothering Kelsey?"

Next to me, Tucker shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she's the one."

"The one what?" I asked.

Caleb groaned and rolled his eyes. "Tucker, please don't tell me you think she's your soul mate?"

"Don't listen to anything he says, Kelsey," Tucker said, linking his ghostly arm through mine. I couldn't feel his touch, but he was even better looking close-up. "He thinks my story is a joke or a line to get women into bed."

I had to laugh at that last part. I'd never heard of ghosts having sex with each other, but I supposed it was possible. "He seems to think I don't need to hear his story," I told Caleb.

Caleb chuckled. "He would. A week before he died, a fortune teller told him that he would meet his soul mate when he was 160 years old. He turned 160 this year and every woman who has any ability to communicate with him has become a possibility."

"Wow," I said to Tucker. "What have you been doing in the meantime?"

He smiled at me. "Thanks for not asking why I've stuck around for 135 years based on something a psychic told me. I've been—"

"He's been flirting with every living woman he meets and sleeping with every dead one," Caleb interrupted.

"They can do that?" I asked at the same time Tucker said, "That's a bit of an exaggeration."

When Tucker processed my question, he nodded. "If you knew the things I have learned, you might beg Landon to trade places with you."

"Except that I wouldn't be trading places. I'd be completely gone."

"What are you talking about?" Caleb asked as Tucker shook his head.

"I was told that if Landon takes over my body, my soul would be destroyed and I'd cease to exist."

Caleb joined Tucker in the head shaking. "No, you'd become a ghost. Another ghost could then destroy you in battle, but Landon can only remove your soul and take its place."

_Interesting_. Tucker must have seen the look on my face, because his smile widened. "Perhaps my reputation has proceeded me? As a ghost, you and I could have a lot of fun."

"Tucker, as flattering as your attention isn't, if you don't have anything important to say to me, go away. I'm not even sure you're on my side, here."

"Of course I'm on your side," he said.

"Tucker is only ever on his own side," Caleb said, but he smiled. "But his own side usually coincides with the morally right side, even if he won't admit it."

"Tell Caleb I've been watching Landon, and he's not working alone. Caleb would have already suspected that, but what he won't know is that some of the biggest players from all over the country are involved," Tucker said.

I relayed Tucker's message to Caleb. Caleb's eyes flashed with anger, not surprise. "It's time for you to leave, Tucker."

Tucker stood his ground. "He's probably angry because he thinks this information will make you more likely to give in to Landon, but I think that it might be the incentive you need to fight. This is not a typical reaping, and there are some large wagers being placed on you losing to Landon. Unless you go out without a fight, the most powerful ghosts will be waiting for you on the other side so they can battle Len's daughter."

"Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't," Tucker said sadly. "Right now, you shouldn't trust anyone, even Caleb. When the time comes, fight with everything you've got and make sure that you win, because if you lose, you might wish your soul had been destroyed."

"Can't I just cross over?"

Caleb stopped and stared at me. Tucker looked thoughtful. "For my sake, I'd rather you didn't, but the truth is, I have no idea. We don't know why people cross over or stick around. We don't even know where they go if they do cross over."

Okay, so giving in to Landon wouldn't be an easy fix. "I don't know how to fight him," I said. Caleb was walking beside us again, frowning but not interrupting.

"They talk about you on the other side, you know?" Tucker said. "They say you're more powerful than your father. The son of a bitch never bothered to teach you how to use that power, but it's there, and if you want it bad enough, it will work for you. I'm more worried you aren't going to want it bad enough. You already look defeated, and when I saw you earlier—"

"My best friend doesn't want anything to do with me anymore." A lump formed in my throat, but I swallowed back my tears.

Tucker reached up as though to wipe away the tears I was holding back. "People are alone for all kinds of reasons, some of us for 135 years, but I believe that the people who are meant to be in our lives will be there, no matter what."

The tears really did fall then, and I had to stop and take a deep breath to keep from crumpling into a teary mess. Luckily, we were just steps from Caleb's building.

"You're going to be okay." Tucker smiled at me. "But I'm not going in with you. I can't stand that bitch, Cat."

I couldn't help but laugh, and Tucker faded out while I was laughing. Caleb was watching me with a worried furrow between his brows. I must have looked manic, on the verge of crying one moment and laughing the next. "I'm okay," I said. "Tucker gave me incentive to fight by scaring the shit out of me."

"Tucker doesn't usually get involved. He must like you."

"Or he's expecting me to lose and hoping to get laid on the other side."

Caleb didn't laugh at that, which made my stomach knot. He must think my losing a definite possibility himself. Together, we climbed up the stairs, and he promised to send Jed out for my stuff while I showered and got ready for work.

### CHAPTER NINETEEN

Cat and Jed were on the couch talking, but they shut up as soon as I walked in. I ignored them and walked back toward Caleb's room and his bathroom.

"Kelsey, where are you going?" Cat stood and followed me into Caleb's room.

"I have to go to work, Cat. I'm going to take a shower."

"You're going to work? Where? At that bookstore?" she said the word like it was a venereal disease. "Jed and I have been waiting for you so that we can discuss a plan to fight Landon and whoever is helping him."

I shrugged. "I really don't see what help I'm going to be in creating a plan. You're the ones with the experience here. I'm needed more there than here."

Cat looked at me like I was completely insane, her pretty face scrunched somewhere between disgust and disbelief. "And Caleb agreed to this? He's okay with you going off to work like everything is normal?"

I felt dead tired all of a sudden. "I need to keep this job, Cat. I've already lost Angelica and if I lose my job, the life I have built here will be over. If I'm going to fight Landon, I need to know there's something worth fighting for." I walked into the bathroom, but Cat followed me too closely for me to shut the door in her face.

"Fine, but I'm talking to you while you're getting ready. There are a couple of questions I need answered." She shut the door behind her and sat on the closed toilet. I considered racing out of that bathroom into the one I assumed would be in Jed's room, but that just seemed childish. She had a right to ask me some questions.

"What do you want to know?" I'm not shy about taking off my clothes in front of other girls, so I just stripped right there, figuring if it made her uncomfortable, maybe she'd leave me to shower in peace. I turned on the water and stepped into the shower.

"How often—"

"Wait," I interrupted. "Can I ask you something first?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you know where my dad is?"

"No, sorry. He was working for Harvest One until about two months ago, when he disappeared."

"You don't have any idea where he went?"

"There are some who have ideas. I try not to speculate. I didn't know him very well."

I thought about asking her what the people with the ideas thought, but figured there would be time for that later. What mattered was that Cat didn't actually know where he was at that moment. "Okay, thanks."

"How often do you see ghosts?"

I put my face in the spray and thought before I answered her question. "When I was a kid, I saw them every day. I liked having them around. Now, I see a ghost about once a week. More if I go somewhere like a mall or an airplane."

"How did you get them to leave you alone when you were a kid?"

"When my mom started to freak me out about seeing ghosts, I asked them to leave."

"And they just left?"

"They didn't want to leave, but my mom had convinced me I was crazy and they weren't real. I told them they had to go away and never come back and they did."

"You've never seen them again?"

"Just one of them. She visited me again for the first time last week."

Cat was so silent I thought maybe she'd left. I peeked around the curtain and saw her still seated, staring at Alice who stood in front of the bathroom door. "Is that her?"

"You can see her?" I asked, but Cat ignored me. "Yeah, that's Alice. Alice, this is Cat."

"We know each other," Alice said. "Cat, you should not be speaking to Kelsey of such things."

"So it's true? She..." Cat glanced at me. "They just left when she asked them to?"

Alice nodded. "They are where they should be, and you should change the subject."

"Don't you think this information might be relevant to her current situation?"

Alice looked at me. "Yes, I suppose it is, though I fear it may do more harm than good. She did it unconsciously before and she could again."

"Did what before?" I turned off the shower, reached for a towel, and stepped out, soap still in my hair. I wrapped the towel around me. "Please, Alice, I want to know. What did I do to my friends?"

"You 'crossed them over' as you call it. Some would say you banished them from your living world."

I sat down hard on the edge of the tub. "I didn't know...I didn't mean to..."

Alice was suddenly beside me. "I know, and I'm sure they know that, too. They loved you, Kelsey, and they are in a good place."

"How do you know?"

Alice didn't answer me.

"Why weren't you banished?"

"I'm older than the others," Alice said carefully.

"She's a damn angel," Cat said.

"An angel?" I breathed.

Alice glared at Cat. "I am what I am, and I do not appreciate labels. I am stronger than those who have been dead for less time. That is all you need to know, Kelsey. You have the ability to banish ghosts, and you also taught yourself how to defend yourself from them."

I smiled at that. "You mean by pretending I don't see them."

"No. Ghosts are usually drawn to mediums with your ability by a sort of sixth sense. You have blocked their ability to find you."

"But some do find me. Doug and—"

"I think that if you really think about it, you will recall that you gave him a more obvious reason to talk to you. The ghosts you meet are accidentals, and you give away your ability by noticing them."

"Accidentals?"

"Ghosts who just happen to be crossing the street at the same time you are or whatever," Cat answered. Alice was gone.

"So I can get rid of Landon by asking him to leave me alone?"

"There's probably more to it than that."

"Don't you know?"

Cat shook her head. "I've never heard of anyone doing it before. I doubt Alice has, either. She just observed that you asked the ghosts to leave, and they all crossed."

"Maybe they were just ready to cross?"

"Not likely," Cat said. "You should try to remember exactly what you did when you were a kid to get the ghosts to leave you alone."

"Does it have anything to do with me blocking my signal or whatever it is?"

Cat shrugged. "Maybe. I've never heard of anyone being able to do that, either. All the mediums I know get rid of ghosts by being assholes."

"You aren't a medium?"

Cat looked at me for a long moment. "I'm a reaper. This body is one I took from someone else on a permanent loan. Turns out the body I've got has the ability to see and hear reapers."

"The body?"

"Sometimes, the ability is with the soul and sometimes, it is physical. For Agatha Simpson, it was physical. Other reapers don't waste their time bothering me for anything; I have a reputation."

I stared at her, feeling like I ought to be shocked or sickened, but actually feeling neither. Maybe my shock capacity had been reached. I started to get back into the shower when I thought of something else. "There's something I wanted to ask you, Cat. Landon used Reid's body when he attacked me the first time, but he hasn't used Reid or anyone else since. Do you know why he would do that?"

"Landon's young, and it takes more energy than he has to enter multiple host bodies. The first time requires the most energy, but slipping back into Reid again would've been easy. Based on what you've told me about Reid, he's a crazy motherfucker, and Landon probably didn't like sharing in that."

"So Landon would feel that?"

"When he's just squatting in a body, he would get a good bit of the host's thoughts and feelings."

"I wouldn't think that would bother Landon," I said, getting back into the shower.

"The only other possibility is that it's some sort of strategy. Like, he's enjoying messing with you in your dreams, and he's saving Reid for some sort of big finale."

"Great." I groaned, turning the water back on.

"You just work on figuring out how you banished those ghosts when you were a kid, and we'll figure out the rest."

I heard the click of the door closing and then blissful silence.

When I stepped out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, I found clothes waiting for me on Caleb's bed. Jed had laid out my nicest pair of dry-clean only black slacks and the only cashmere sweater I had ever owned. The sweater was pale pink, like the luminous inner lining of a seashell, and I almost never wore it. I was too scared of something happening to it. For the most part, I kept it in my closet and visited it every couple of weeks, just to feel it against my skin. I dressed and went out into the living room. Jed was on the couch playing a video game with Caleb. "Thanks for the clothes, Jed, but did you bring any of my other clothes?"

Jed didn't look at me, just pointed at a trash bag near the door. My thrifty version of a laundry hamper. I usually did laundry on Sundays, but I'd been a bit preoccupied.

"I brought this, too," Jed said and he held a ring out to me without taking his eyes off the video game. "It was on your dresser so I figured you wore it all the time."

I took the ring from him and slid it on my finger. It was the ring Angelica had lent me when we went dancing. Hard to believe it had only been a few days ago. The ring looked good on me and if I squinted my eyes just right, I could almost believe she was still my friend. Her ring on my finger proved it. I'd give it back to her the next time I saw her.

Caleb looked up at me. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'll be back before eleven," I said on my way to the door. I was putting on my coat when he stood and walked over to join me.

"I'm going with you," he said, and his tone didn't leave any room for arguing, and I didn't mind having him with me. I might not be ready to hide in the condo forever, but I didn't want to face Reid on my own again, either. Caleb had already pulled on his coat and was putting on his hat and gloves as I opened the door and started out.

We were at the bottom of the stairs when he spoke. "So Cat tells me you have a guardian angel."

"What? You mean Alice? I didn't think there were any such things as guardian angels."

Caleb laughed. "Technically, there aren't. I was pretty sure they were just an urban legend."

"Doesn't everyone have one?"

"Nope. If Cat's right, Alice isn't an angel at all. She's just a very old, very powerful ghost who decided you're worth protecting. The legend is that guardian angels are linked to a living person on a level so deep that they can sense if the person they are protecting is in danger, even over long distances."

"So that's why she showed back up so suddenly and why she appeared at the moment Cat was about to tell me something she thought would hurt me."

"Pretty much. You must have done something pretty special for her."

"I just played with her."

Pounding footsteps behind us made my heart race and I froze. I hadn't realized how afraid I was until that moment. The footsteps couldn't be Landon, of course, but they could be Reid, ready to carry out his threats. The footsteps caught up to us, carrying a gasping, winded Jed. "Hey, we're all set."

Caleb nodded and kept walking as Jed fell into step beside us. "Good. I'm going to run ahead and check out the store." And Caleb was off without another word.

"Wanna fill me in on what's going on?" I asked, but Jed just smiled at me.

"Only if you tell me what's going on between you and my brother."

"No," I said.

"He seems to really like you, and he won't tell me anything about what's going on between the two of you, so I figured I'd ask you."

"And you think I'm going to tell you anything after you told me Caleb's not talking?"

Jed smiled. "It never hurts to try. I mean, I can get why he likes you, though you're not my type or anything. You're too girl-next-door, like that chick from the Wonder Years."

"I don't look anything like her."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean."

"Um, no, I don't." He laughed and I couldn't help but smile. The word jolly would perfectly suit him, and he made me want to laugh with him. "What is your type, anyway?"

"Oh, you know." He used his hands to outline a curvy woman in the air. "Not that you don't have a beautiful body, but I go for chicks that are more...not trashy exactly, but well...strippers. I date strippers or girls who look like they could be strippers if given the opportunity."

Somehow, I couldn't imagine Jed dating strippers. "You date them?"

"I use the term date loosely, but yeah, I take them out and buy them dinner. Sometimes, I even take them to see a movie."

"Okay, but stripper is a profession, not a type, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but in order to be a stripper, a girl's gotta be a little bit of an exhibitionist and a whole lotta fun."

"With a lot of issues, I imagine."

Jed shrugged. "Sure, some of them do, I guess, but not all of them. I usually avoid chicks with baggage."

"Good to know. And Caleb, what he does think of you dating strippers?"

Jed looked at me sideways and smiled. "He's my little brother and he knows better than to try to lecture me." Jed was silent for a few steps. "What about you?"

"I've never dated a stripper."

He laughed. "No, I mean, what's your type? Is Caleb the kind of guy you usually date?"

"We aren't dating," I said, in a harsher tone than I meant. I guess it bothered me more than I'd realized, but I hadn't even had a chance to figure out how I really felt about Caleb. We hadn't been on a real date, but as far as Caleb and everyone else was concerned, we were dating. Jed frowned at me. "I mean, we haven't actually gone out on a date, yet. I'm sorry. Caleb's great, but I don't even really know what kind of guy he is... I'm just tired, and nothing makes any sense, especially me right now."

First, I was upset with the poor guy for not being more open about our relationship, and then I was uncomfortable with people saying we were dating. I was really losing it.

Jed looked at me with a serious expression on his face and nodded. "It makes perfect sense to me. This is a really crummy time to try to get to know someone, much less start a relationship."

"Yeah," I said, suddenly sad.

"Especially with...well, I'm sure he's told you about the potential problems if you keep dating."

"He told me about the potential marriage pressure."

Jed stopped walking and looked at me. "He told you that?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "He wanted me to understand why he'd been keeping our...relationship a secret. He said it won't be too bad, just a lot of very loud hints that we should get married."

"We?" Jed shifted uncomfortably and didn't meet my eyes.

"Me and Caleb," I said, the heat rising in my face for no reason I could understand.

Jed's face reddened and his hands clenched. "Kelsey..."

His gaze was so intent that I flinched and looked away. I saw Caleb heading down the street toward us and waved at him, feeling a bit relieved.

Jed followed my gaze and stormed up the street to meet Caleb. When he reached him, he grabbed him by the shoulder and started talking to him. Jed's whole body was tense with anger, and I decided to stay where I was and let them work it out.

### CHAPTER TWENTY

I looked around and realized we had just passed Bruce's bakery. I walked back to peek in the large glass to see if he was there. I just wanted to ask him if Angelica was okay. There was a glare on the glass from the midday sun, and I stepped closer to peer inside. An arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me back toward the street. I expected to see Jed when I turned to face my captor, but whoever had me tightened his grip so that I couldn't do more than crane my neck and get a view of Jed's back, where he was still standing up the street. I tried to call out to him, but a firm hand clamped over my mouth. I was dragged down a small alley between the flower shop and the bakery until we were far enough from the street that no one walking by would be able to see us. Something cold and hard was pressed against my cheek, and the man or woman who held me spoke in a gravelly whisper so low that it took me a moment to realize it was Reid.

"I warned you, and I always follow through on my threats."

I felt the first stab of pain and a warm trickle of blood as whatever he held cut into my cheek. I was certain he was going to kill me, and I felt strangely numb and completely helpless.

"Fix this or I will kill you," Reid said, as he sliced deeper into my cheek. He let me go with a shove that knocked me to the ground. My cheek burned and stung like it was on fire, and I didn't dare reach up and touch my wound, because I didn't really want to know how bad it was. I heard Reid's footsteps behind me and, when I looked, I saw him silhouetted in the light from the other end of the alley where it exited onto Cherry Avenue. I looked down at the ground to find a place to put my hands and push myself to a standing position, and I noticed my blood had fallen onto and stained my beautiful cashmere sweater.

The stain covered my left breast and was starting to run down onto my stomach. I felt numb and oddly calm as I looked around the alley for something to use to catch my blood, so that my sweater wouldn't be stained any worse. I considered taking it off, but I was worried about it brushing against my damaged cheek as I pulled it over my head. I heard footsteps and looked up to see Jed and Caleb hurrying toward me.

"Kelsey, what happened?" Jed asked when he reached me. He already had his cell phone in his hand, and he started pushing buttons as soon as he saw my face.

"My sweater is stained. I'm afraid it might be ruined."

Jed looked at me as though I were speaking a different language and I wondered if my cheek was so badly damaged that I could no longer speak clearly. He pulled his shirt over his head, handed it to me, and told me to hold it to my face. He put the phone back up to his ear. "Hey, Cat, Kelsey's hurt. We're in the alley next to Bruce's place." Jed watched me as he spoke. "Yeah, just hurry." He ended the call with Cat and started pushing more buttons.

"Did Reid do this?" he asked as he put the phone up to his ear.

I nodded.

"Landon?" Caleb asked. He was behind Jed, who was taking up so much of the alley that Caleb couldn't have gotten past him without shoving him aside. Caleb stepped closer, and I could see that he was pale and shaking.

I shrugged. I was scared to talk and further injure my cheek, or increase my blood flow and further damage my sweater.

"Which way did he go?" Caleb asked.

I pointed, and Caleb took off. He shoved Jed aside, with a strength I wouldn't have expected from him, and headed down the alley at a sprint.

"Caleb, get back here," Jed called after him, but his tone suggested he didn't expect him to listen.

"Hospital?" I asked, trying to speak as clearly as possible.

"Cat will fix you up."

I nodded, feeling a bit drunk and woozy. I think I would have gone along with anything in that state. It seemed like only seconds later that Cat was there helping me into her car. She had covered the back seat with a towel to protect it, and I wondered how I could have not noticed that she owned a car. Jed got in with me and pulled my head down into his lap, holding his shirt against my face so gently that it didn't make my cheek hurt any worse.

Cat drove down the block and around it, heading back in the direction of Caleb and Jed's apartment.

"What the fuck happened?" Cat asked Jed. "Where's Caleb?"

"He went on ahead to check out the bookstore. Kelsey must have stopped for some reason and Reid grabbed her. I didn't even realize she wasn't next to me any more for at least half a block," Jed said.

I almost spoke up and contradicted him, but I figured he had his reasons for lying to Cat.

"You didn't notice? What the hell kind of bodyguard are you?" Cat sneered.

Jed sighed. "I screwed up. Kelsey got hurt, but she's still alive, and I'd like to keep her that way, so can we please move on and focus on what happens next?"

I tuned out their bickering and stared out the window, wishing I could curl up in the fetal position and cry. I didn't want to get bloodstains on the plush interior of Cat's car and the tears wouldn't come. What Reid had done to me was real and scared me more than anything Landon had thrown at me so far. I should have been more careful of Reid, especially after he had broken into the apartment. Even after everything that happened, I had still believed that people were basically good, that the world was a good, safe place, and that I could walk down the street without fearing for my life. I no longer believed any of that, and I realized, with a pang that sliced through my numbness, that Reid hadn't just physically hurt me; he'd taken something from me I could never get back. He had taken from me the ability to believe that bad things would never happen to me. The world I saw from the car window was a place I no longer recognized, and I wanted to run from it and go somewhere no one would ever be able to find me or hurt me again.

Cat pulled the car to a stop in front of Caleb's apartment building. Jed hopped out, opened my door, and lifted me into his arms like I was a baby. I let myself go limp against him, enjoying the comfort of his warmth and the consistent thud of his heart. For a moment, I felt safe. He carried me to the building and up the stairs like I didn't weigh anything. He placed me gently on the couch, but he didn't release me right away. He gave me a quick squeeze and whispered, "You are still beautiful."

It hit me then that I didn't really know how much damage Reid had done to my face, or to my appearance. Jed let me go and stepped aside to let Cat kneel on the floor next to me. She was carrying a small duffel and she began pulling things out as she spoke.

"I'm sorry we can't take you to a hospital, Kelsey, but we don't want to draw more attention to you right now. The hospital would mean you'd have to talk to cops and probably stick around to testify."

I opened my mouth to ask her where she thought I would be going, but she waved my unasked question away with a sweep of her arm.

"Don't worry. I've stitched up a lot of people in my time, and I will make the stitches on your cheek as tiny as I can." She bent over to look at my cheek, and hissed involuntarily. "He cut all the way through your cheek, but only for about an inch. The longer cut is just through the skin. You'll have a scar but I doubt anyone will notice it." She wouldn't meet my eyes when she said that last part. She lifted my head to place a sheet of plastic between me and Caleb's couch.

Jed brought over a bottle of Jack and offered it to Cat, but Cat shook her head. "They're likely to show up any minute. She needs to have full use of her facilities."

"I think you mean faculties," Jed said, and Cat threw him a glare that made me cringe.

Cat dabbed at my face with a cotton ball loaded with what could only be liquid fire, and then she gave me a shot in the uninjured part of my cheek. "We should wait for this local anesthetic to start working, but we just don't have time. If you're lucky, it will kick in before I'm done." She pulled out a curved needle and string. "This is going to hurt like a bitch," she said as she pushed the needle into my skin.

She was right. I felt every millimeter of that needle as it pierced my flesh and passed through it. I hadn't thought it possible that that part of my body could feel any more pain. I did my best to stay perfectly still and distract myself. Luckily, Cat stepped up to help me with that.

"Landon is probably going to choose to attack you in the next hour. He will want to capitalize on this extremely weak moment for you."

I felt that I was being particularly strong in that moment, since I wasn't screaming out in pain at every prick of her needle.

"He is going to try to push your soul out of your body and replace it with his own. How easy that is or isn't for him depends on your state of mind and your physical energy level. Both of which affect your life energy and the force with which your soul and your physical body are connected. A reaper with more experience would have the knowledge and the finesse to recognize that moment and slide in effortlessly, but Landon is an amateur and will likely try to force his way in."

I wanted to remind Cat that Landon couldn't take over my body without my permission, but I couldn't talk. Maybe Landon pushing on my soul was supposed to get me to submit.

"You are going to have to hold on to this body with every bit of energy and love you have. Think about all of the things you love about life and all of the reasons you want to continue in your physical body. We have devices here that will slow him down and weaken him, but only you can stop him from reaping your soul."

I knew I should be listening carefully to everything she was telling me, but I couldn't help wondering how much longer the stitches would take and if she was now just pushing the needle through my cheek for fun.

I looked up to see Jed standing over the couch, rapidly texting with a worried crease between his brows. Right next to him was Landon. I knew I should look away and not let on that I was able to see him, but I couldn't take my eyes off him. He kept glancing at me and then turning away, and he looked like he might throw up. He couldn't even look at the carnage he had caused. He was still a coward who couldn't take responsibility for his actions, and I was so sick of having to look at his face.

I had picked up the slack for him at work on an almost daily basis, and I had done it politely, for the most part. If I had quit, I was willing to bet everyone else who had worked there would have quit with me. I was the barrier between them and Landon, and I was the one who had protected him and his job from the inevitable wrath of Al, had he had any inkling of how bad a job Landon was really doing. I had held his life together, albeit to my own advantage, but still... If he owed me anything, it was a heartfelt apology and the decision not to attempt to rip my soul from my body.

Landon met my eyes and I had no choice but to continue looking at him, or he would have known for sure that I could see him and wasn't just staring at the wall. A fire of pure, red-hot rage started burning in my gut and worked its way up to my brain. I wanted Landon to pay for all of the physical pain and sleepless nights he had caused me. For the way Angelica had looked at me this morning. Most of all, I wanted him out of my life. I never wanted to have to see his face again. I wanted to hurt him as badly as he had hurt me.

I couldn't attack him while he was an intangible ghost, but the next time he pulled me out of a dream and into his world, I was going to make him pay. I stared at him and imagined all the ways I would hurt him when I got the chance. I would shove his face in the sand, drop him into the ocean, and hold him underwater. I would throw him out the window of my apartment. I would punch and kick and, since it was my dream, I'd be a really kick-ass fighter.

"Kelsey, stop smiling or the stitches will be uneven." Cat said. She looked into my eyes, giving me an excuse to look away from Landon. "What is so funny, anyway?" When I shrugged, she frowned. "Okay, tell me later."

I knew I shouldn't look back at Landon, and I tried really hard to look away from him, but the only fun I'd had in recent memory was imagining all the ways I was going to torture him. I let my eyes drift back to his face, and his eyes widened as though he suspected I could see him. He took a step closer to me, and I reached out for him without thinking about what I was doing. Landon gasped and took a step away from me. I looked down, moving only my eyes and saw three arms and three hands connected to my body. The hand reaching for Landon was a wavering, shimmery ghost of a hand, and I marveled at it for only a moment before I stretched for Landon to see if I could touch him and hurt him on my own terms. I felt my hand close around his solid wrist and almost shouted for joy.

"What the hell?" Landon's eyes were wide with fear.

I took a step forward, and I was no longer on the couch. It was so easy to leave behind my physical body and all of that pain. Stepping out of my body was like stepping inside on a hot day, instantly refreshing and wonderful. I looked back at the couch to see my physical body still reclining there, but I had a second, ghost body on Landon's plane. I had been sitting so still for the stitches that neither Cat nor Jed seemed to have realized I was gone.

I faced Landon, feeling happier than I'd felt in a very long time until I saw the five other ghosts standing several feet behind him, watching. They must have been screened by the second curtain when I was in the living world. My injury and exhaustion must have made me too weak to penetrate it. I scanned their faces quickly to see if I recognized any of them, but the only one who was the least bit familiar looked like an older, fatter version of my father. The anger that had propelled me into this world faded in a rush that made me dizzy. As I breathed that one word, "Daddy?" I felt like the seven-year-old I had once been, begging for his help and his attention. Only now, I knew that he had never helped me and probably hadn't wasted a thought on me in the last fourteen years.

His face softened a bit when he heard me call him Daddy, and all of my rage returned. He was no father to me, and he never had been. Calling him Daddy was a mistake, a reflex, and I wanted him to know it. "I mean, Len. Is that you?"

He frowned at me and nodded quickly.

"Don't worry about them," Landon said. "They are just here to watch. I'm the one who is going to take over the body you have left unattended."

Landon started to move toward my body, but I was closer, and I got there first. I tried to step into it the way I had seen Landon step into Reid's body, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't even touch my body; my hands just passed right through it. Cat looked up at the ghost me when that happened, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, shit," she said. I could see her mouth move, but her words sounded muffled and burbly like she was underwater.

"What's wrong?" Jed said, running over to kneel next to Cat. "Did you screw up her stitches?"

By that time, Landon had reached my body and was also trying to enter it without success. "What the hell?" he shouted.

I looked at Cat. "How do I get back in my body?"

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before. I—"

Landon delivered a swift kick to my gut that knocked me on my ass and stopped Cat's words. The floors in that plane felt like cement, and my whole body rang with the impact. He grabbed my arm and dragged me over to where the others stood.

"I'm not letting her help you," Landon said.

I looked back at Cat, but she appeared infinitely further away and out of focus. We were behind the second curtain.

One of the other ghosts, a male, tall and lanky with bug eyes, shoved Landon hard. "You don't have to bring her closer to us. Put up your walls."

Landon released my arm and whirled on the man. "That takes energy, asshole, and I haven't got a whole lot of it to spare."

"I'll do it," said a petite woman with silver hair to her waist. Her face looked younger than mine and calmer, despite her hair color. She raised her arms and nodded to Landon. "Take her away from us."

Landon yanked me back into the center of what now looked like a room, with white walls and a white floor. I could glimpse Cat and Jed, but they were blurry and far away, like I was trying to see them through frosted glass. I couldn't see my own physical body and that started my heart pounding with a fear that threatened to dissolve me into a useless puddle on the floor. I took a deep breath and focused on Landon. Destroying him was all that I needed to worry about in that moment.

He came at me and I tried to block him, but his fist met my stomach with a blow so hard I fell backwards. I couldn't catch my breath, and my stomach felt like I'd eaten a bowling ball. I pushed myself up onto my side and tried to get back on my feet, but Landon didn't give me the chance. He punched me in the nose and I saw fireworks and was back down on the floor. I had what felt like a very long moment to wonder why I had never taken a single one of those self-defense classes Mom had always been after me to take. Then Landon was on me again. He sat on my stomach and got in my face. He was dead, so I didn't feel his breath or smell him, but his nearness to me still made my skin crawl, and I tried to push him off me.

"Just give up now, Kelsey, and make it easier on all of us." Landon was actually pleading with me. "I really don't enjoy beating up girls."

"You could have fooled me," I garbled around the blood that was filling my mouth from my broken nose and, possibly, the hole in my cheek.

"I'll do what I have to do to live again, Kelsey. I'm not going to stop until I have what I want. I won't let you sleep, I'll torture you every night in your dreams, and I'll do everything I can to have everyone in Briarton calling you a freak. I'll push away everyone who cares about you, until you beg me to take over." He shrugged. "Although, now that you're here, I guess I'll just try to beat the life out of you."

Any remote inkling of sympathy I had ever felt for Landon left. "You don't deserve my life. You are a fuck-up, Landon. You've always been a fuck-up, and, if you do get my life, you'll fuck that up, too."

His face reddened in rage, and I closed my eyes, expecting him to punch me again. Instead, I felt his weight lift from my stomach and, when I opened my eyes, he was offering me a hand up.

"This is going to be fun," he said. I accepted the hand up and punched him hard in the stomach as I stood. I was aiming for his balls, but he pulled me up faster than I had anticipated. My punch seemed to have no effect on him except to widen his smile. "That's the best you've got?"

"Don't try to push him away," shouted a small, feminine voice from the group of reapers watching me fight. "Pull him into yourself." I followed the voice and saw Alice standing in front of the group. My father's meaty hand was reaching for her, and she blinked out of sight. "She'll pay for that," Len snarled. Pretty obvious whose side he was on.

Landon's next punch caught me in my damaged cheek while I was watching Alice's show, and I fell to the floor, clutching the fire that had become one side of my face. I pretended to be immobilized longer than I was and, when Landon's next punch came, I dodged, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him bodily into me. We collided and knocked heads so hard we both fell to the ground. Clearly, I didn't understand Alice's advice.

Landon actually seemed to be a bit dazed by that one. He stood and shook his head as though he were trying to clear it. I wanted to lie on the ground and enjoy a much-needed breather, but I couldn't afford to miss an opportunity to cause Landon pain. I jumped up and, using all the strength I could find, I punched him hard in the chest. He fell back with a grunt, and I couldn't help but smile. I was pretty sure I was going to lose this battle, but I could still enjoy hurting Landon. While I was gloating, Landon swung his legs and swept my feet out from under me. I hit the ground hard, and then he was on me again. He sat down on my stomach with a thump that knocked the air from my lungs and blackened my vision for a moment. "You're going to pay for that, Ice Princess."

I gasped for air and motioned for him to get off me, but he just smiled. "In case you haven't noticed, you don't actually need to breathe on this side of the curtain. You don't have lungs."

I considered what he said as I tried not to panic. My spirit might not need to breathe, but my brain was still freaking out about the lack of inhalation and exhalation. Of course, technically, my brain was still in my physical body which was breathing just fine, I hoped. So how was I even having this stream of consciousness? Somewhere in the middle of trying to figure all of that out, I stopped trying to breathe and, though it felt really weird, I wasn't dying. "Huh," I said, as I shoved hard on Landon. "I still don't want you on me. I'd prefer that no part of you touch me ever again."

Landon ground into me with his butt bones. "You've always thought you're better than me, but you're nothing. You're insignificant, and soon you'll be the dead one."

His use of the word dead caused me a tiny tremor of fear, before anger rushed in to take its place. I shoved against him with all of that fury and, shockingly, he fell off me and slid a few feet across the floor. I was running on anger and thinly contained panic, so I didn't waste too much time gawking at my sudden increase of strength. Instead, I ran and jumped on him, sitting on his scrawny belly.

"You might get my body, and I might be the one stuck over here, but that won't make you a better person. You'll always be the loser who has to do drugs to get through the day and screws up everything he touches. You had a good friend in Bruce and a decent job at the bookstore, and you wasted them. You left a trail of shit a mile wide to show where you had been, and everyone in your wake remembered you with scorn and contempt, if they remembered you at all." I tried to think of what I'd said to the ghosts to make them leave when I was a kid, but my brain wasn't working. "Go from here, Landon," I said. "Go and never come back." I put as much command into my voice as I could, but it didn't work. Landon remained where he was.

At some point during my tirade, I had put my hand over Landon's mouth to keep him quiet, and I could feel him blowing on my hand. It tickled a little, but mostly, it skeeved me out that his nasty breath was touching my spirit. I pulled my hand away, but it was like pulling my hand out of glue, and when I finally got it far enough away to inspect it, I realized that little bits of Landon were stuck to it. Not his skin or his teeth or anything, but more like a pale blue light the color of his eyes. It was quite possibly the weirdest sensation I've ever had, but my hand felt sad and angry, the same expression I saw on Landon's face. I jumped off Landon and rubbed my hand on my jeans.

I understood now what Alice had been trying to tell me, but I had no idea what I'd done. And I was pretty sure I didn't ever want to do it again. If that was the only way to keep my body, it looked like I was going to have to take up residence behind the curtain.

"What the hell was that?" Landon roared at the group of reapers, which had now grown to about 20. "What did she just do to me?" When no one answered, Landon kept yelling. "You didn't tell me she could see ghosts. You didn't tell me that she could come over here to fight me. You sure as hell didn't tell me she could do _that_."

"We didn't know," said a young reaper with striking brown eyes.

"Really?" Landon had his back to me now, and I knew it would be a good time to jump on him, but I didn't want to touch him again and risk getting more of his essence on me. "Because it's starting to feel a little bit to me like I'm being set up."

Len raised a hand and glared at Landon. "Enough. If you don't like it, don't fight her. But you won't get another opportunity like this in her lifetime."

Landon looked at me like he thought I could help him. I shook my head and shrugged.

"Kelsey, girl, you finish him. This is no time to be kind," Len said to me. I just stared at him, trying to decipher his words. Was he actually pushing me and Landon to destroy each other?

"Look, I don't know what the hell is going on, but I'd rather not finish anybody if you don't mind." I looked at Landon. "If you fight me, and I win, there will be no you left, do you understand? If you walk away now, neither of us will be any worse off than we already are."

Landon looked at my father and at me, his face contorted in a mixture of anger, fear, and pain. Then Landon met my eyes, and his features smoothed out. He nodded at me and rushed for me, knocking me onto the ground. He pressed my hands onto his chest and let himself sag against me. "Do it now, before they stop me," he whispered to me.

"Landon, please, just let me go. I don't want to do this."

"They aren't going to let me stop until one or both of us is destroyed. I've been thinking about it, Kelsey, and there's only one way that someone could have killed me and made it look like I'd killed myself." He looked at me and then slanted his eyes toward the reapers watching us. "Someone else was controlling my body," he said the last words so quietly that I had to strain to hear him.

"They killed you?" I breathed. It was perfectly believable that he had gotten stoned and shot himself accidently, but what he was saying made sense, too.

"They've been lying to me all along. I don't know what the hell is going on, but I don't like being anyone's tool. So screw them." His eyes were damp, and his unshed tears made them dazzling blue. "Let me do one good thing in my life."

"Landon, I can't. Please just cross over and leave all of this."

He wrapped his hands around my throat and started to squeeze. "I can't face them without beating you, Kelsey. I'm sorry, but it's you or me, and if you aren't going to reap what I'm offering..." He squeezed tighter, and I realized that his aim was not to cut off my non-existent breath, but to sever my head from my body. I wasn't sure he'd really do it, but as his grip continued to tighten, I started to panic and to fight back. I wanted to live. I didn't want to have to hurt him, but I didn't see any other way out.

A sharp pain started where Landon's hands touched my neck and traveled up into my head, to start a pounding ache in my head and all the way down my body to my toes. I pushed every bit of fear and anger and sorrow I felt into my hands on Landon's chest and pulled him into me. At first, I only succeeded in letting him collapse lower on top of me, but then I started to feel his fear, anger, and sorrow mingle with my own and sink into me. I could hardly bear to feel his emotions, so much deeper and rawer than my own, and I wished I could heal him, rather than end him. His grip around my neck tightened as though he knew what I was thinking, and I focused on all the ways he had hurt me and how much I just wanted him to go away. I met his eyes, and I couldn't look away. He had amazing irises, with tiny specks of green and grey mixed in with the brilliant blue. How could I destroy something so beautiful?

"You need to leave and never come back. Just go from this place, and we'll both be okay," I choked out, surprised that I could still speak at all. If only I could banish him as I had those ghosts from my childhood, but his grip tightened, and I pulled him into me with the last bit of strength I could find. Then my world went black.

### CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When I woke up, I was on Caleb's couch. My head pounded, and my cheek ached. I fought the urge to vomit as I pushed myself into a sitting position. "Cat?" I croaked.

"Kelsey?" Caleb said. He came from the kitchen or one of the bedrooms. I didn't want to waste the energy turning my head to find out. He sat down on the couch by my feet. He smiled slowly at me, and I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"Landon?" I could barely say his name without dissolving into tears.

Caleb shook his head. "It's Caleb."

"Is Landon okay?"

"I don't know. What happened over there?"

Cat appeared and sat on the coffee table. "I couldn't see anything after you passed behind the second curtain. Jed is on the phone now, trying to find out if our reapers have any intel."

"He's gone, Kelsey," Tucker said. I noticed him, for the first time, sitting in an armchair in a dim corner of the room. "Can't you feel it?"

"Oh, my God," I said. "I didn't want to hurt him."

"What?" Caleb asked. "This guy's been making your life hell, and you didn't want to hurt him?"

"Tucker's here," Cat told Caleb in a low voice. "He just told Kelsey that she absorbed Landon."

"I wanted him to leave me alone, but I couldn't... I didn't want to be responsible for destroying anybody's soul." My stomach roiled at the thought, and I wanted to go back in time and undo it all.

Caleb opened his mouth and then closed it. He looked completely confused.

"It's how the reapers operate, Kelsey," Cat said. "The more powerful absorb the less powerful over any number of offenses. So to us, well, it doesn't seem so horrible. They can do worse things to each other."

"Landon could have gone after someone else, if he didn't want to take the risk," Caleb said and shrugged.

"But he couldn't? I was the last person to see him alive so I was the only one he could reap."

"He told you that?" Caleb asked.

I nodded.

"Why would he lie to her about something as basic as that?" Cat asked.

"Maybe to convince her that he would never give up on her, to scare her?"

Cat nodded but she didn't seem convinced. "Maybe, but I've never heard that line before, and the guy doesn't exactly seem like the brightest ornament on the tree."

"Um, I don't think he was lying," I said when they paused long enough to give me a chance to speak. "He really wanted to re-enter life as a dude. I wasn't exactly his favorite person."

Caleb and Cat looked at each other as though I hadn't spoken.

"Why would the others lie to Landon?" Caleb asked. Before Cat could answer, he stood up. "Unless they didn't want him to back out once he found out how powerful she is. They wanted him to go the distance with Kelsey."

"But why?" Cat asked. "If they really want to reap her, why not use someone more powerful? Landon didn't stand a chance against her."

"That's not the way it looked today," I said, hurting all over.

"There's no way they were going to let Landon keep her if he successfully reaped her," Caleb said. "Someone more powerful would have taken her from him. Maybe they're just letting him do their dirty work."

"He did seem pissed off at them. Like he thought they weren't being straight with him," I said.

Cat and Caleb were silent.

"They knew what she was before they sent Landon after her," Jed said from somewhere on the other side of the couch.

"That's more than I knew," I said. "I mean, unless you're referring to me being able to see ghosts, but that just isn't super scary."

"You have anything to offer, Cat?" Jed asked.

Cat glared over the couch. "Fuck you, Jed."

"No, thanks." Jed chuckled at his own joke. "I'm not trying to be a dick, but we both know the kind of people you work for and what they'll do to you if you overshare. I respect your decision to keep your mouth shut in most cases, but this is beyond the pale, sugar, so if you know something..."

Cat glared at Jed for a long moment, and I could almost hear him taking a step back, then she looked at me and something in her face softened. "Kelsey, what can you tell us about the other people who were there with you?"

I felt like an idiot. "Um, yeah, I guess I should've mentioned before, but my dad was there. So that means he's dead, right?"

Cat didn't look at all surprised, but Caleb slapped a hand to his forehead. "Damn it. He set you up."

"What?" I asked.

Caleb looked at me and sat back down slowly, then he looked at Jed, and he must have gotten some sort of signal from him, because he sighed and looked back at me. He seemed scared, and that scared me. "Maybe you guys should let me and Kelsey talk for a few minutes alone, okay?"

"Come on, Cat. I'll buy you a cup of coffee," Jed said as he moved into my line of sight by the front door. He grabbed his coat and hers and helped her into it when she joined him. My heart started to race when she walked out with him without a word of argument.

I forced myself to remain sitting and face Caleb. No matter how bad it hurt, I wanted to be upright for this conversation.

"Kelsey, I'm pretty sure that your dad set this whole thing up as a test for you."

"What do you mean by 'this whole thing,' and what kind of test?"

"I don't know the details, so I can only guess at how this all went down. Do you want worst case or best case?"

I took a deep breath. "Just go ahead and give me worst case."

Caleb nodded, but he didn't look at me, and that scared me even more than anything else. "We told you Len doesn't believe in training, right? So when his kids came of age, he had to have some way to gauge how powerful they were. When he was working with us, he tried to convince us to send in one of our team, a reaper, to each of his kids to talk to them and see how far their abilities went, if they existed at all. No one agreed to it, because we knew the potential of his kids, and we couldn't trust any reaper to be honest with us about their abilities or not try to eliminate the person if they discovered she or he was extremely powerful. Plus, Len has a lot of enemies among the reapers. He was willing to take that risk, but we weren't. Len moved on to Cat's company and he must have struck out there, because he left." Caleb sighed. "I'm guessing he outsourced and found someone to talk to you enough to know that you could see and talk to ghosts."

"He already knew that," I whispered.

Caleb nodded. "He knew that you could when you were a kid, but some people lose the ability as they get older. He would want to check and, when he found out that you can see and talk to ghosts, he would have wanted to find out if you had any more abilities."

"So after Landon was killed, he sent him after me to test me?"

Caleb swallowed. "If I had to guess, I'd say that he killed Landon and then sent him after you."

I felt cold. "Look, my dad is an asshole, but he's not a killer."

Caleb winced when I said that, but he nodded and continued. "Generally, when reapers go after a host body, they spend months infiltrating their lives, so that they can slowly tear them apart. Len's not the most patient sort of fellow, so he, I'm guessing, killed someone who was already in your life in some form, someone who would know your weaknesses and your fears."

"Except that Landon was an idiot who didn't see much past where his next hit was coming from." I so did not want to believe that my father was a killer.

"Yeah, but Len also needed someone completely green who would believe that he didn't have any choice but to go after you, so that he'd keep going after you even if you were as powerful as you are."

"No, no. Landon believes that a reaper killed him. That's the only way there wouldn't have been some sort of evidence of another person in the store with him."

Caleb's face stilled into a hard mask. He stood and walked to the window, his back to me. After several moments, he turned and looked at me. His expression was completely calm. "When did you find that out?"

"When I was fighting Landon. I didn't really believe him, until—"

"If he's right, then this is worse than we thought. Len has reapers working with him."

"What's so bad about that? You work with reapers."

A shiver of irritation whispered over his face. "We don't ask them to kill people for us. The promises he must have made to get a reaper to agree to that...." Caleb shook his head. "But that's Len's problem. What matters is that he set up you and Landon in order to find out how powerful you are."

"That makes sense," I whispered. "So is the test over? Have I passed?"

Caleb stood and started to pace. "It depends on whether or not Len got enough to know just how powerful you are. In his mind, giving you any advice or help at all will weaken your abilities, so he's not going to just show up and pat you on the back until he's convinced he's pushed you as far as you're going to go, and you've displayed the extent of your power."

"And if I die first?"

"Kelsey...shit." Caleb ran a hand through his hair. "Your dad... How much do you really want to know?" He sat back down on the coffee table and met my eyes.

"I get the idea. Finding out how powerful I am, proving himself right about the no-training thing, is more important to him than my life."

"Unless you're as powerful as he wants you to be, in which case, he will protect you with everything he has. The question is, what does he want you to be?"

"And if I don't want his protection or his stupid test?"

"He's not going to give you an option, and, honestly, Kelsey, it's already too late. Too many reapers know what you can do, and they're going to want to kill you."

My heart literally stopped for a few seconds. "Wouldn't they just try to reap me and possess my abilities?"

Caleb shook his head. "By fighting in spirit form, you proved that your abilities aren't attached to your physical body. They would remain with your spirit when you left it. The reapers who fear you will want you dead and your spirit annihilated." He paused. "Or they might just want to force you to work for them."

"Can my dad really protect me?"

"He thinks he can, but he's vulnerable. Unless he's into something I don't know about, which is highly plausible. For all I know, he's dead and King Reaper or whatever."

"So what are my options?"

"You're going to have to disappear from their radar. I would like to say that your only option would be to come work for Varius or Harvest One. My bosses have basically ordered me to tell you that those are your only options, but if you want other options, I think I can help you find them."

"You'd be willing to do that?"

Caleb didn't hesitate. "Yes, I'd do that. Doing anything else would be forcing you to work for a corporation, and I don't believe in forcing anyone to do anything. Especially not my friends."

"I'm assuming that staying in Briarton and continuing to work for the bookstore is not an option."

Caleb shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kelsey."

"Well, shit, so Landon won, anyway." My head was spinning, and my body hurt all over. I wasn't in a good place to be making life decisions. Caleb grimaced, but he didn't argue with me. "How long do I have to decide?"

"You have six hours until our flight leaves, and then you have two days, during which Jed, Cat, and I will tell you everything we can to help you make an informed decision about your future. Those two days have to be spent in a safe house. We can't risk exposing you to any more danger here."

"Six hours during which some other reaper can try to rip me from my body?"

"It's possible." Caleb said slowly. "After what you did to Landon, today, I doubt any reaper is going to be willing to come after you without some sort of preparation."

"Preparation?"

"Look, I don't really have time to get into it right now—"

"They will want to have a plan, a strategy. They may even want to power up," Tucker said. I had forgotten he was still there. Caleb must have noticed I was staring intently at an empty chair because he didn't interrupt. I was surprised he hadn't asked Tucker to leave with Cat and Jed, but maybe Caleb had forgotten he was there, too.

"Power up?" I asked

"Feed on other reapers to gain more power," Tucker said, and I shivered. "I understand it disgusts you, Kelsey, but don't feel guilty or blame yourself or you'll be wasting Landon's gift to you. You possess his energy now and, possibly, some of his emotions."

I searched my mind and my body, but I didn't feel anything— Wait, underneath my confusion and guilt, there was a muddled sense of despair and anger. "That's horrible. Will I always feel him?"

"I don't know. It's different for everyone. Some believe that if the emotions of the absorbed spirit are strong enough, they can permanently alter the personality of the taker." Tucker stared at the floor for a long moment while I hoped that I never became like Landon. He looked up and met my eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help you. I'd been talking to Landon, when I could get him alone, and I tried to help him see he was being used. I think you had more of an effect on him than I did."

I shrugged. "Thank you for trying. How is Doug?"

Tucker met my eyes and smiled sadly. "He was weak before the fight and, when he was sure you were okay, he crossed over."

I hadn't thought it was possible for me to be any sadder, but Doug's loss hit me hard. "I'm sorry, Tucker. Thank you for telling me."

He placed a hand on my leg, and I almost thought I felt it. "It was for the best, Kelsey. I promised him I'd look out for you, and I will. Right now, I should go and see if I can find out who's planning to come after you next."

"Thank you," I said, and he was gone.

Caleb visibly relaxed. "I can feel that he's left. Why don't I order some food, and you can take a nap until it gets here?"

I nodded. "That sounds wonderful. Sometime before I leave, I'd like to say goodbye to Angelica."

Caleb stood and started pacing again. I picked up a hank of hair and chewed on it.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Kelsey. She told you she didn't want to be a part of this and—"

"I don't care. Once we leave, I'm not going to be able to e-mail her or call her, right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"I'm going to say goodbye to her. Before I do that, though, I need something to eat, and I need you to tell me how bad my face looks where Reid cut me."

He looked at the floor. "Kelsey, right now, it's still red and swollen. It's going to look better tomorrow or the next day."

"Okay." I should have gotten up and looked in the mirror, but I'd had enough bad news for the moment. "I'll sleep until the food gets here, then we eat, and then I go say goodbye to my best friend."

There was a soft knock at the door, and Jed opened it and peeked in. "Hey, guys. I hate to interrupt you, but we're freezing out here."

"Come on in. We were just about to order some food."

Jed smiled and pushed the door open, and Cat followed him, an angry frown on her face. Neither of them had coffee, and both of their faces were red from the cold, so I assumed they had stayed close to the apartment. "Good, I'm starving," Jed said.

Cat growled and sat down next to me. "Caleb fill you in on all the crap that might upset you?"

I nodded. "You probably could have stayed. I'm sorry you had to wait out in the cold."

"Not my place," Cat said. I wasn't sure if she meant the condo or some hierarchy I was unaware of, but I didn't ask.

Jed plopped down on the other side of me. He had an easy smile on his face, but his jaw was clenched. "How you holding up?"

"I've been better."

### CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

That night, I waited until everyone had been silent for forty-five minutes in the dark apartment before I eased myself up and hobbled to the door. I might have convinced Caleb that he should let me see Angelica, but Jed and Cat were dead set against the idea. Apparently, I was their captive and no longer had the right to make my own decisions. A woman who called herself a witch had sprinkled holy water all over the floor and chanted for half an hour. It was supposed to keep the reapers away, but it seemed silly to me and I didn't believe it would work. There was no way I was going to fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Landon's. There was even less chance I was going to lay awake for four hours and not just get off the couch and go see my best friend.

I unlocked the door and eased it open. With each sound it made, I paused for thirty seconds but no one stirred. I crept out and pulled the door closed behind me. I literally tip-toe hobbled to the end of the block, before I relaxed enough to risk the noise of full-footed steps. I was exhausted and sore, but there was nothing wrong with my legs and, once I got going, I found I could walk pretty comfortably. There was no moon, so the only light came from streetlights. The shadows made me nervous. I picked up my pace to a jog and was feeling pretty good when I got to the apartment I had shared with Angelica.

I was halfway up the stairs to the apartment when someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me tight against a well-padded chest and belly. "Hey, sweetheart," Reid said in a low voice that I recognized immediately. Somehow, I had forgotten about him. "You're a hard one to find."

I turned to face him, my heart racing. "Not hard enough, apparently."

I felt him shrug against my back. "Just meant I had more time to think about how to kill you, while I was looking." He shoved me hard against the wall, pressing my face into the bricks. I gasped and shouted for help as loudly as I could. Reid shoved a hand over my mouth and pulled me back against him.

"None of that now. You're coming with me, and you're going to come quietly." He held me still with the hand over my mouth, and I felt something cold and metallic against my temple. I guessed he'd pushed me away so he could get his gun out. "Make a sound, and I will put a bullet through that pretty face of yours."

My heart raced so hard, I thought it might jump up into my throat and choke me, but I was sure that dead on the steps was better than going anywhere with Reid, so I pulled back when he tried to drag me down the stairs. I grabbed onto the railing and held on with everything I had. He hit me in the back of the head with his gun and it felt like my head had exploded. It hurt so bad that for a moment, I thought he'd shot me in the head. I dropped down onto the stairs, and Reid dropped with me, keeping his hand over my mouth. He leaned in, and I could feel his breath on my ear. I shivered as I tried to get my bearings and figure out how to get away from him.

He flipped me over onto my back and punched me hard in the same spot he'd cut me. I screamed against his hand as the pain erupted. I was sure he'd popped the stitches and I thought I could feel warm blood dripping down my cheek.

"Your boyfriend paid me a visit, and I think it's only fair that I put as many bruises on your face as he put on mine."

I noticed then that he had a black eye and what looked like a broken nose. I started to ask him who he was talking about, but his hand was over my mouth, and I figured out pretty quickly that he had to mean Caleb. He was the only one who knew what Reid had done to me, other than Jed, and Jed had been with me all afternoon. I tried to open my mouth to bite Reid's fingers, but he had my jaw clenched so tight I couldn't open my mouth.

Reid started pulling me back down the stairs, by my face and one arm. I twisted as much as I could and kicked him with everything I had. I don't think I hit anything vital, but he was already off-balance struggling with me and my kick knocked him off his feet. He took me down with him, but his grip loosened and I was able to get free as he continued to slide down the stairs. I turned and started up, but he was faster. He grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me down hard.

"Help! Angelica! Call the police." I didn't want Angelica out here with Reid, but I needed help, and she was the most likely person to hear me.

Reid clamped a hand over my mouth, and hit me again with his gun. Suddenly, the full weight of him was pressing down on top of me. I tried to get to my hands and knees, but he was heavy, and I was exhausted and shaking.

"Kelsey, are you okay?" Angelica asked, and Reid's weight lifted enough for me to push him the rest of the way off me.

"Yeah, I think so." I stood up and moved away from Reid as fast as I could. He appeared to be unconscious, but I wasn't taking any chances. "What did you do to him?"

Angelica hefted a skillet to my eye level. "I hit him with this." She lowered the pan and, as she did, I noticed that she was shaking. "Did I... Is he?"

I bent down and stuck my finger on his neck, but I didn't actually know the right place to find a pulse. I felt around on my neck until I found my pulse, and then I felt his neck in the same spot. "I feel a pulse. He must just be unconscious."

Angelica nodded and tears started down her cheeks. "Thank God. Why don't you come inside and sit down, while I call the police? You don't look so good."

"Angelica, thank you, but you don't have to do this. I know that you asked me to stay away from you and..."

Angelica rubbed her eyes with her free hand, looking exhausted. "I was scared, Kelsey, I never should have said that. I should've supported you. Please, come inside."

"Thank you." I followed her inside, and sat down in the blue chair.

She leaned over me and studied my face without touching me. "Are you hurt?"

The adrenaline that had kept me going was starting to wear off and pain was taking its place. I touched my cheek and found the stitches still in place and no blood dripping, though it pounded and pulsed so hotly it felt like it must be bleeding. I ran my hands over the rest of my body and knew I'd be bruised and have a headache for a while, but nothing seemed broken. "I'm okay. Before you call the police, let me call Caleb."

Angelica, in a tank top and pajama bottoms, flopped down on the futon, cell phone in hand. "Why? I really think we should just call the police and, probably, an ambulance."

"Yeah, it's just that Reid said something about Caleb beating him up. I think there's more to this than I know."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Angelica said.

I was already dialing. I didn't want to risk Reid waking up and breaking down our door.

Caleb answered on the first ring. "What happened?"

I told him what had happened. "I just thought we should check with you before we called the police."

"Yeah, thanks for checking. Jed and I are here now. Reid's still alive. We'll take care of this. Just sit tight for now."

"You're here already?"

"Jed heard you leave and woke me up. I knew we'd find you here. We're going to leave and take Reid with us. We'll be back in an hour, tops. Please don't go anywhere."

"Yeah, okay." I hung up the phone and met Angelica's worried gaze. "Caleb and Jed are already here and they're going to take care of it."

"So we aren't calling the police? Because I'm pretty sure I should be giving a police report, and we should be getting this guy locked up."

"Yeah." I knew that Caleb and Jed didn't care about Reid going to prison, since I would be out of town in a few hours, but that didn't protect Angelica. There was no way a guy like Reid wasn't going to look for payback from her. "Caleb didn't give me the details. I'll ask him when they get back." I realized I was chewing on my hair and stopped, letting my hands fall into my lap.

"Has he given you details about anything?"

"Enough, I guess. I'm leaving in a few hours and they're going to give me a new identity and set me up with his company or with Cat's."

"And you trust him?"

"I think so." The truth was, I wasn't sure I did trust Caleb, but I didn't have a whole lot of choice. I wanted to trust him. I wanted him to be the good guy he claimed to be, but I was almost positive he wasn't being completely honest with me. I needed to trust someone, so I was willing to blame his lack of honesty on corporate secrets, as much as that might hurt my feelings. If he really cared about me, would corporate secrets matter?

"You have good instincts about people."

"No, I really don't, Angelica. I'm scared, and I'm lost, and I haven't had a full night's sleep in three days. I...But you have good instincts about people. You were right about Cat...I mean, has she paid any rent yet?" I realized as I spoke that saying goodbye hadn't been the only reason I'd needed to see Angelica.

She shook her head.

"Well, so maybe you don't have the best instincts, either, but what do you think about Caleb?"

"I haven't gotten the best vibes from him lately, but I know he really likes you and would never do anything to hurt you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Cat told me some stuff. Like that he hasn't shown interest in any girl in all of the years that she's known him."

"Like he would tell her."

Angelica shrugged and frowned. "Yeah, probably not. But apparently, his company really wanted him to go with Jed when he left, but Caleb stayed to look out for you. He was sure that something was up, so he stayed without pay. Pissed off the people he works for, according to Cat."

"She told you all of this?" It was nice, if it was true, but I wasn't going to get all sentimental about Caleb over hearsay. Cat had stuck around, and I was sure she didn't do anything altruistically, so Caleb may have had an ulterior motive of his own. Like being the guy who recruited me, the most powerful medium they'd seen since my father.

"She was drunk and—"

A knock at the door interrupted her, and she got up and answered it without even checking the peephole first. She was braver than me. Jed walked into the apartment first, followed by Caleb. They both looked tired, but they smiled at us. I was a little worried they'd be angry at me for sneaking out and getting myself into trouble again, but they didn't seem to be.

"So, is everything—" I started.

Jed nodded before I finished the question. "We dropped the psycho at the hospital. Cat called in anonymously to the police to say that Reid had attacked her in the alley and her boyfriend beat him up. Police will figure she was scared of getting her boyfriend in trouble. Dude was pretty well worked over. I didn't know you could fight, Kelsey."

"I can't," I said, forcing myself not to look at Caleb. He obviously hadn't told Jed about what he'd done to Reid, and I wasn't going to be the one to let that secret out. "I just got lucky. Plus, I had Angelica and her skillet backing me up."

"Yeah, you must have gotten really lucky," Jed said, but he looked at Caleb when he said it.

Caleb ignored him and looked at me. "We've only got an hour until we need to be at the airport, so Jed and I threw your bag in the car when we left. Do you want to go downstairs and make sure we got everything?"

Jed looked at Caleb with raised eyebrows, but, when Caleb started leading me out of the apartment, he dropped onto the futon. "Keep it short, Caleb."

I followed Caleb out of the apartment and downstairs. "Get in the car," he said as he placed a hand on my lower back and guided me to the passenger side door.

For a split second, I considered running back upstairs and locking myself in the apartment with Angelica and Jed. Caleb just didn't sound like Caleb, but then he smiled at me.

"I thought you might like to see your mom, and we're going to have to go right now before Jed can stop us."

"Won't you get in trouble? I don't want Jed to worry."

"Yeah," he said. "Look, I'm probably going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but I've got us tickets to go to Norfolk in two hours. We'll only have one day to spend with your mom, before we have to fly to meet Jed and Cat. Jed will be pissed, but I'll call him as soon as we land, and tell him not to worry."

"I don't want to get you in any trouble. Why don't you just say I ran off—?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight. I think you should be able to see your Mom, and I'm willing to risk getting heat for it, but I'm not going to risk you getting hurt, or worse, because I let you go there alone."

He glanced at me and smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back at him. My mother and I might not have had the best relationship, but I was glad to have one last chance to see her and say goodbye. I couldn't do to her what my father had done and just disappear from her life.

"If you want to see her, we have to go now."

"Thank you." I got in the car and buckled myself in. We had only gone about two blocks when I leaned back in the seat, closed my eyes, and went right to sleep.

When I woke up, we were in a residential neighborhood and Caleb was pulling into the driveway of a house. I sat up straight in my seat and looked around. It almost looked like my mom's neighborhood, except for the two feet of snow on the ground. "I thought we were going to the airport."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Cat called while we were driving and said they'd changed plans and found this safe house which is closer and easier for everyone. Since there was no need to fly, I didn't have any way to explain us disappearing for a day." He patted my knee. "Don't worry. I'll get you to see your mother."

Something was off about him. His smile was bright, and his voice was gentle, and it all seemed false.

"Be very careful, Kelsey. I don't trust him." I whipped around to see Alice in the back seat staring at Caleb. Her expression was hard, and her mouth was set in a grim line.

"Something wrong, sweetie?" Caleb asked in that same honey warm voice.

Alice blinked out of sight the same moment I realized what was wrong. "You're trying to charm me. I told you I hate that." I knew I sounded snappy, but I was on edge and tired.

His eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, I guess I was. When I'm tired, I just fall into it." He opened his door and stepped out. "We should get you inside. You'll be safe there, but out here, you're visible to anyone who's looking."

I opened my door and stepped out with him. "The ghosts can't see me in there?"

He shook his head. "This house is spelled. No one who has passed from this life can see you in there." He headed to the trunk and pulled out my suitcase and a small duffel that had to be his.

"Spelled? As in witches?" I thought of the woman who had been at the condo the night before and wondered if I had underestimated her.

"Yes, ma'am." He carried the bags, put them on the stoop, and unlocked the door, before picking them up and heading into the house. Everything felt wrong about this. For the first time in my life, I was going to be completely free of ghosts, but that also meant that Alice wouldn't be able to see me or help me if I needed it. I shook my head and laughed at myself. I was being paranoid. Caleb had saved my life, he was on my side, and he had no reason to hurt me. I followed him into the house.

The house smelled like cigarette smoke, but it was clean and furnished. It looked more like a hotel room than a house that someone actually lived in. There was a couch and a TV in the living room, but no knick knacks or even pictures on the wall. Caleb dropped the bags on the floor and plopped on the couch. He patted the seat next to him, and I walked over and sat without touching him. The couch looked nice, but I sank way down into it when I sat. Whatever support it may have once offered was gone.

"It feels good to be completely free of them, doesn't it?" he asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to him.

Before I could answer, he started kissing me with an urgency I hadn't felt from him before. My body responded and I kissed him back, even though my brain was shooting off warning alarms. He pulled away from me as suddenly as he had started kissing me and said, "I love you, Kelsey."

My eyes widened, and I moved away from him instinctively. My mind was whirring in disbelief. He _loves_ me? I focused on his face, but what I saw there wasn't love; it was fear. He smiled at me, but his eyes kept shifting to me and away, like he was searching the room for something. "I need to know that you love me, Kelsey. I couldn't bear it if you went away."

"Caleb, you barely know me. We haven't actually spent that much time together."

He stood and started pacing. "But it's been enough, Kelsey. I felt it the first time I saw you. We are meant for each other, and together, we can take on anything."

His voice had acquired that honey quality again, but I wasn't impressed. The best he had was a series of worn-out clichés to try to win me over? "The others will probably be here soon, right? We should talk about this later."

"No!" he shouted. He took a long, deep breath and steadied himself, but his voice was still hard and angry. "We have to talk about this now, while we have time." His phone rang, and he jumped. He pulled it out of his pocket and hit a button without looking at it. "I need to know you're on my side."

"Your side?" My heart was racing with fear, and I felt sick with exhaustion. Something was very wrong here, but the others would arrive soon, and it would all be okay.

"Kelsey, you need to understand—"

I stood and walked toward the front door. "What I need is some more sleep. Please, point me in the direction of the nearest bedroom." I needed to get away from him, where I could think.

His shoulders sagged, but he nodded. "Up the stairs. Take any room you want."

I grabbed my suitcase before he could offer to help me and headed upstairs. I dropped it on the floor of the first bedroom I found, shut the door behind me, and flopped on the bed. The room was like the rest of the house, clean and bare. There was only the twin bed I was laying on and a small nightstand with a lamp. The comforter on the bed and the lamp were the same shade of navy. I reached for my phone to call Angelica and find out how close they were, but came up empty-handed. It wasn't in my front pocket where I usually stashed it. I checked all the pockets in my jeans and my suitcase, but it wasn't there.

My vision was blurring with exhaustion and panic when I opened the door of the bedroom to call down to Caleb and ask him about the phone. Before I could make a sound, I heard his voice raised in anger. I crept to the top of the stairs and listened.

"Listen to me, Jed, it's fine. Kelsey wanted to see her mother, and I couldn't tell her no, could I? We're just going to be a day late to the safe house."

There was a long silence, and then Caleb started yelling. "I can protect her, damn it, and I will. You are just like the rest of them. You think I'm worthless, but you're wrong, Jed, and I'm going to prove it."

I had heard enough. Caleb was lying to me and Jed. Nobody was going to be here soon. There would be no rescue from whatever Caleb had planned for me. I tiptoed back to the bedroom and closed the door silently behind me. I needed to figure out what to do.

I was staring out the bedroom window, contemplating the two-story drop, when there was a soft knock at my door.

"Kelsey," Caleb called in a quiet voice.

I considered just not answering him, but he would probably just come in anyway.

"Come on in," I called. "I'm not asleep yet."

He opened the door and smiled at me. "Mind if I join you?"

I resisted the urge to tell him what I really thought with every bit of strength I had. He had the car keys, my cell phone, and he was blocking my only chance of escape. I needed to play nice. "I heard you on the phone with Jed. This isn't the new meeting place, is it?"

Caleb frowned and leaned against the door frame. "I'm sorry. I should have told you... I just didn't think that you would come with me if you knew what I really want."

"What do you really want?" I asked, shaking.

"I just wanted some alone time so we could get to know each other better and see if you want to give this thing between us a real shot. I promise I'll take you to see your mother, as soon as we've gotten to know each other better."

My mind raced as I tried to figure out his game, but it just didn't make any sense. I didn't believe for a minute that all of this was just to give him more time to convince me I loved him.

"Can I just _call_ my Mom? I'd really like to talk to her." I reached into my front pocket and gave a little gasp when I found it empty. "I just have to find my phone." I squatted to re-open the suitcase and look in there, but Caleb pulled me to my feet.

"Give me twenty-four hours. Please, Kelsey. I know you love me; you just need to spend more time with me, without Landon or anyone else interfering." He hugged me tight and started kissing me again. He slid his hands under my shirt and up my back. The feel of his skin on mine made me shiver with disgust, but he must have mistaken it for pleasure, because he moaned and walked me back toward the bed. I tried to push away from him, but he just held on tighter.

### CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

There was a loud knock on the door, followed by the doorbell ringing repeatedly, but Caleb only stopped kissing me long enough to say, "Someone's got the wrong house. Just ignore it."

A loud crash and the sound of wood splintering was finally enough to stop Caleb. He didn't let go of me, though. He turned me so my back was to his chest, wrapped his arms tight around me, and waited. The man who raced up the stairs and into that room was the last man I would have expected to see.

My own father.

His face was red and twisted in anger. He paused in the doorway long enough to catch his breath, and I realized what a giant of a man he was. In my memories, he'd been like a giant to me, but I had thought that was because I was so little. He was not anyone I would want to be on the wrong side of.

"Caleb, you little shit. Let go of my daughter."

Caleb didn't seem the least bit shaken. "Come any closer and I will snap her neck. You know I can do it." He put one hand on top of my head and the other on my shoulder.

A cold fear washed over me and I stopped breathing for a moment. I was afraid to move, but my mind raced as I tried to understand how Caleb, once my friend, almost my lover, could now become my killer.

Len nodded and took a small step back. "And you know how quickly I can kill you if you hurt her."

Caleb laughed. "You'd be doing me a favor. I've got a lot more clout on the other side than I have here."

Len smiled, but his body remained tensed. "You're as predictable as always. You still think power and influence is all that matters. How exactly does Kelsey figure into all of this?"

"If I'm so predictable, why don't you tell me?"

"Well, I had a little chat on the way here, and I heard that you've been fired from Varius, so I'd guess you're a little desperate right now. I'd say you figure on using Kelsey as a bargaining chip to get back in with the folks."

Caleb snorted. "They've never appreciated me or what I can do. I'm done with them."

"What can you do, Caleb? The only thing I've ever thought you had going for you was your charm, and your anger and resentment had worn that pretty threadbare when I knew you. I'd say you've got a whole lot of nothing, and Jed's been covering for you this whole time. I don't even believe you can really tell when there's a fucking reaper in the room."

Caleb's arm tightened around my shoulders and I felt him take a deep breath. "You're trying to piss me off, so I'll get angry and do something stupid, but it's not going to happen."

"Oh, right. Those anger management classes are really paying off. I'm sure Reid would agree with me on that one," Len said, calmly. He didn't seem to be concerned about my imminent death.

"Reid got what he deserved. I'd think you'd be glad he was dead."

"Dead?" I squeaked.

Len met my eyes for the first time. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Caleb killed him."

"I did it for you, Kelsey. He was never going to leave you alone."

Len shook his head. "I can't imagine he'd have bothered her too much from prison, which was where he was headed if I know your brother at all."

"He deserved to die," Caleb said in a voice that didn't even sound like his. I wondered if he'd been taken, but I was sure Len would be able to tell if that were the case.

"Why don't we agree to disagree on this one, and you hand over my daughter?"

"She loves me, Len, and I love her and we won't be separated."

Len looked at me again, and I firmly mouthed _no_ , just in case he suspected I had a thing for sociopaths. Len nodded subtly and returned his attention to Caleb. "You've got a funny way of showing someone you love them. You see, I know that I didn't set that reaping in motion. I've never dealt with those fellows in Briarton before, and I didn't even know Kelsey lived there."

"Like hell, you didn't," Caleb said.

Len smiled. "Believe me, I tried to keep track of her, but everyone I sent to watch her liked her better than me. Alice hadn't said one word to me until she popped up tonight and told me where to find Kelsey."

So that's how I ended up with a guardian, and she liked me better than my dad. I might have smiled, if I weren't so scared that my teeth were chattering.

"You're skirting the issue, Caleb. You set Kelsey up. You killed Landon and set the whole game in motion. Until tonight, I was sure it was Cat who had organized it all, because you just don't have the skills—"

"I have connections."

"And favors owed. I know how you operate. What I don't know is why you let it go on so long. Kelsey could have been killed, and now she's got a big fat neon bull's eye on her. So I figure, you had one of your _connections_ give Landon the game plan, but then you lost control."

Caleb shook with what I assumed was barely controlled anger. "I was in control the entire time."

"Really? So why risk killing the woman you claim to love? What are you after, Caleb?"

"She was never in any real danger."

"Tell that to Landon. He had every intention of reaping her and you know what would happen to her on the other side." He looked at me again. "Sorry, sweetheart, but you'd be on everybody's list of most desirable to consume and accrue." I must have looked confused. "Basically, they'd eat you to absorb your power."

I shivered at that, and Caleb tensed behind me, his grip tightening.

"If you had shown up sooner, Landon wouldn't have had _time_ to reap her. How long did you know about the reaping before you showed up?"

Len stood straight and his face reddened. "You trying to say this is my fault?" He paused and took a deep breath. "I was on the other side of the country. I got here as fast as I could. You're the one who put her in this situation in the first place.

"She'll be fine, now, if you do what I want," Caleb said.

"Now you want something from me?"

"I've always wanted something from you, Len, but you never paid enough attention to me to hear it. I've got your attention now, though, and you can see that I have a lot to offer as a team member."

Len's eyes widened, but he stayed calm. "You want to join my team? Why in the hell would I ever agree to that after the stunt you've pulled?"

"Because Kelsey loves me, and she will go wherever I go. You do want her on your team, don't you? That's why you came for her and why you stayed with her so long when she was a kid, right? And now I've shown you what I can do, you can see what an asset I could be."

Len looked at me. "Is it true, Kelsey? Do you love this little shit?"

He already knew how I felt about Caleb, so he wasn't asking to get a real answer. Since Caleb was still in the position to snap my neck, I decided to answer in the way least likely to piss him off "I do, Daddy."

Caleb's grip loosened a tiny bit, and he sighed.

Len nodded silently for what felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds. "There's just one problem with your little plan, Caleb. I don't want Kelsey on my team, and I sure as hell don't want you. You've made her a liability, and I can't protect her. She'd be nothing but trouble to me."

Caleb's grip tightened on me again, and I thought for sure I was going to die. He just laughed. "Well, now, Len, you don't have much of a choice. Cat and Jed believe you set the reaping in motion, and they're going to be after you. If I can't join you, I'll drag you to them myself and watch as they destroy your soul."

"Huh," Len said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Guess we'll be joining forces, then. How about you let go of my daughter, and we head downstairs to discuss this like teammates?"

I was sure that there was no way Caleb would fall for it. He was crazy, but I knew he wasn't stupid. I almost fell over when he released me and walked over to Len with his hand extended like he hadn't just been threatening to kill me. Of course, Caleb had been crazy enough to think that his plan would work in the first place, so maybe it wasn't so hard to believe. He couldn't exactly hold me hostage forever. Len grabbed his wrist, spun him around, and bent his arm up behind his back. I heard bones snap and Caleb screamed.

"Isobel," Len called down the stairs and a girl, who looked a tiny bit like me, trotted up with ropes in her hand. "Tie this asshole up, and make sure he can't get free."

"Yes, sir," she said with a quick smile at me.

Len motioned for me to come with him, and I followed him down the stairs and into the bland living room. "Are you okay, honey?"

"Yes, thanks. He told me he was taking me to see Momma."

Len shrugged. "He always was a good liar. I've never trusted him, but then I can't stand charming people."

I might have laughed at that, but I was pretty sure if I started laughing, I wouldn't stop. "What now?"

"Well, sugar, that's up to you. I would love for you to come with me and join my team, but I don't have the power to protect you like the corporations can. Cat is every bit the bitch she appears to be, and Jed was unfailingly loyal to his asshole brother for all the years I knew him, but I'd trust either one of them to protect you with their lives. They may be flawed as people, but they're good at what they do. I'll take you back to them and you can work it among yourselves."

I nodded.

Isobel trotted back down the stairs with my suitcase in one hand. "He's not going anywhere."

"Good work." Len nodded, but he looked at me. "His people will pick him up sometime tomorrow. I'm not sure what will happen after that, but he might be right about them blaming me for the reaping. I plan on lying low until this all shakes out, and I'd advise you to do the same."

I nodded, and followed him and Isobel outside and into the minivan parked next to Caleb's car. I was still shaking as I buckled myself into the back seat, and all I could feel toward my father at the moment was gratitude. I wasn't sure he wouldn't have let Caleb kill me, but what mattered was that he hadn't. I was grateful that he had saved me and I couldn't help being grateful that he was alive. He was also someone who could cross over into the spirit world, as I could, and that made me feel a little bit less alone.

"Listen, Kelsey," Len said as he backed the van out of the driveway. "Cat and Jed, or whoever handles your training, is going to pressure you to pick a team and sign a contract. Don't forget that you are the one with the power. Don't sign anything unless it's on your own terms. Get as much as you can from them. Either corporation would pay just about anything to have you working for them."

I nodded, but my thoughts weren't really in the future. All the questions I'd been carrying with me for so many years seemed less important. Maybe I wasn't in the mood to hear any excuses from him, or maybe I finally understood that it didn't matter. He had left me, and no reason he could offer me would ever make up for that. He was there now, when I needed him, and I couldn't be happy about that and angry at the same time.

"You should try to get some sleep." Len smiled at me in the rearview mirror.

I was bone tired, but I didn't want to close my eyes and wake up in Montana. "Isobel," I said. "Are you my sister?"

Isobel looked at Len before turning halfway in her seat to look at me. "I'm your half-sister. Isobel Montefort."

"Nice to meet you."

She nodded and started to turn back to face forward.

"How long have you worked for Len?"

"That's enough, Kelsey," Len said. "I don't want you carrying information about me back to Varius or Harvest One."

"But she's my sister. I want to know her."

Isobel smiled weakly at me. "If you come to work with us..."

"Yes, Kelsey," Len said. "In a few years, when you're ready, you can come work for us and get to know all of your brothers and sisters."

"Caleb said—"

"Caleb is a great liar," Len said.

"So it's not true that you..."

"I can't get into it, Kelsey. The less you know, the safer you will be. Just understand that there is a very good reason for everything I've done. There's a war coming, and we will all need to be prepared. I tried to tell that—"

"I'm going to tell Mom that you're dead," I said. Len was starting to sound as crazy as Caleb, and I thought it was time for a subject change.

"I'll never give her reason to doubt it," he said, without looking at me.

We were silent then. I watched the scenery pass and my ears started to close up as we headed into the mountains. Caleb must have taken me east to the flat lands and now we were heading back into the Rockies. I should have stayed quiet, but anger threatened to consume me if I did. "You let me believe that I was crazy. You should have told me that the ghosts were real."

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror, but I could read nothing in his eyes. "It wasn't my best moment, but I was trying to protect you. I hoped that maybe your mother and that psychiatrist could destroy your ability, and you'd be spared from some of the pain I've—"

"Caleb is a much better liar than you." I sank back into the seat and stared out the window. Talking to Len was a waste of time and energy.

Tucker popped up in the seat next to me. "I don't like him," he said, his eyes on my father.

"I can hear you," Len said, looking at Tucker in the rearview mirror.

"I don't trust him, either." I spoke to Tucker, but I watched the rearview mirror for Len's reaction. His eyes glinted hard with anger before he looked away. Tucker shook his head when I looked at him and was gone again.

I made small talk with Isobel, to help me stay awake, until she fell asleep around midnight. Len didn't say a word to me until he dropped me off back at Caleb's condo in Briarton. "Good luck, sugar," he said.

"Goodbye, Len. Tell Isobel goodbye for me," I said as I grabbed my bag from the seat next to me, opened the van door, and started to step out.

"Remember what I said. Don't let them pressure you into doing something you don't want."

I smiled at him, before I realized what I was doing. "I've been thinking about those words all the way home. I don't intend to let them push me around."

"That's my girl."

I got out and closed the door behind me, trying to ignore the hard lump in my throat. My father's support mattered to me, no matter how much I wished otherwise. I watched Len back up and drive away and then I went inside.

The condo was dark and I dropped my bag on the living room floor. I fell onto the couch, and Cat squealed under me and sat up. She punched me hard in the shoulder. I jumped up and moved to the safety of the doorway.

"Cat, it's me, Kelsey." I flicked the light switch by the door and the living room lit up.

Cat squinted in the light, her dark hair a rat's nest. "What the hell, Kelsey? Are you okay? Where have you been?"

I crossed back over to the couch, but I didn't sit down. "Can we talk about it later? I need to get some sleep."

"Okay. Sure. Jed's out looking for you, but I'll call him back. Tomorrow, we can talk about it together. We can figure out who you want to work for and start training you right away."

"I'm not working for anyone. I'm going to find my own place to live tomorrow and I'm going to go back to work, if I still have a job." I started to head back toward one of the bedrooms, but I couldn't decide where to go. I didn't want to sleep in a bed that smelled like Caleb and I didn't want to be in Jed's bed in case he came back in the middle of the night.

"You won't survive a month without protection," Cat said, interrupting my debate.

"That'll be my problem." I turned back to the couch and sat down next to Cat's feet. "Can I sleep on the couch?"

"Um, okay." Cat swung her feet to the floor and sat up. "I can't let you go out there alone, Kelsey. I have to protect you."

I sighed and leaned back against the couch. "I don't trust you and I don't trust Jed. The only person I trusted was Caleb and he screwed me over in every way imaginable..."

"What did Caleb do?"

"Tomorrow. Right now, I need to sleep."

"Kelsey, I can't let you leave this house tomorrow without protection."

I was so tired I was shaking. I was scared of the monsters waiting for me outside the condo, but if I gave in to that fear and gave up my job and my life in Briarton, Landon would have won, anyway. "I'm not staying here, Cat. If you want to protect me, teach me how to fight the reapers and then leave me alone."

Thank you for reading The Reaping. The next book in the series, The Revolt, is now available.

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### ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katharine Sadler lives with her husband in North Carolina. She's been writing since she was ten and has wanted to be a writer even longer. When she's not writing or otherwise gainfully occupied, she reads like it's an addiction, exercises, skis whenever she gets the chance, and adds more books to her Amazon wish list.

Learn more about the author at: http://www.KatharineSadler.com.

### OTHER WORKS BY THIS AUTHOR

THE REAPING (Book 1 of The Reapers Series)

ON A WHITE HORSE (1.5 of The Reapers Series)

THE REVOLT (Book 2 of The Reapers Series)

THE RIFT (Book 3 of The Reapers Series)

SWITCH (Book 3.5 of The Reapers Series)

THE RESONANCE (Book 4 of The Reapers Series)

Dying Dreams (Book 1 of the Dying Dreams Series)
