Kady Cross - Sisters of Blood and Spirit

“She didn’t do anything,” Mason said, with a frown. “Why don’t you back off?”

The officer obviously didn’t like his tone. “You watch your tone, Mace.”

“No.” The boy who had rescued my sister, and earned my eternal gratitude, folded his arms over his chest. “There’s nothing going on here, so maybe you should go find some real trouble, because I won’t hesitate to call my father—you know, your boss—and let him know that one of his officers is bullying a teenage girl for no reason.”

The older man stared at Mason, who stared back. Oh, I wished Lark could have seen it! If I liked Mason Ryan before, I adored him now for standing up for my sister.

“Someday, you’re not going to be able to hide behind your daddy the chief anymore.” Olgilvie pointed a thick finger at him. “I’m going to be there when that happens.”

Mason shrugged. “Then I guess you and I will have trouble. Someday .”

The officer stepped forward, jaw tight. That was when I put myself, or rather Lark, between the two of them. I probably shouldn’t have done anything, but it was the only way I could think of to end this situation before it became any more out of control.

And the only way to get the ghost to go away.

“You hid behind your father when he was chief, Opie.”

The color drained from Olgilvie’s face. “What did you call me?”

“That was what they called you, wasn’t it? The kids who liked to tease you?” Sometimes I knew things about the living, but in this case, the name had come from the ghost with him.

I smiled a little, moved closer to him, so only he could hear what I said next—the secret his companion shared. He staggered backward after I spoke to him, looking at me like I was something unnatural, which I was, of course. I was glad Lark wasn’t awake to see it, because too many people had given her that same look over the course of her life.

The officer turned and walked away. He looked unsteady. The younger man’s ghost walked beside him.

“What did you say to him?” Mason asked when it was just the group of us again.

“Something only he and a dead man knew,” I answered. And that was all I was going to say. Things taken to the grave were taken there for a reason. By revealing it, and scaring the officer away, I’d basically indebted myself to the ghost haunting him. If the ghost ever needed a favor, I was obliged to reciprocate. No need to bring anyone else into that bargain.

I had bigger things to worry about. “Can someone help me? I need to wake up Lark.”

With the exception of Mason, they all looked at me in...well, it wasn’t quite horror. Surprise? That was when I finally let myself look at Kevin. My heart skipped a beat.

“Wren?” His voice was hoarse.

I nodded. His eyes were so blue, even in the dark parking lot. The breeze blew dark curls around his face. Such wild hair. It didn’t occur to me to speak. I just wanted to look at him. God, I could touch him if I wanted.

After that first connection when Lark had hurt herself, I didn’t expect to talk to Kevin again, but he reached out to me a day or two later. And when my sister had shut me out, he was the one person I could talk to about it. It took some time, and it wasn’t easy, but we got so that we could communicate fairly easily. He couldn’t see me, couldn’t touch me, but he could hear me.

“Oh, shit,” Gage said, staring at me. “That’s a ghost in there? Dude, that’s...fucked up.”

I blinked. There were other people with us. I hadn’t exactly forgotten them, they just hadn’t mattered all that much to me. Sometimes the living faded into the background, there were just so many of them.

“Where do you need to go?” Mace asked.

“Someplace private. Quiet. Not here,” I replied.

Kevin came forward. “My place. My parents are away for a long weekend.”

His house! Oh, no. Lark was going to kill me when she woke up. I didn’t care. I wanted to see his house. I wanted to touch the light switches he touched. Walk the floors he walked. I wanted to smell his toothbrush. Maybe try on his clothes. I didn’t care if it was weird—I spent 99.9 percent of my time incorporeal, damn it.

“I need someone to drive,” I said with a wince, gesturing to my grandmother’s hideous car. “I can’t.”

“I’ll drive you,” Kevin offered.

Oh, Lark, please stay asleep. Just for a little while longer. Please, please.

“Are you sure? It’s an ugly car.”

He smiled, and it was like watching the moon rise from behind the veil. So bright. “I don’t mind.”

Mason clapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll meet you there, man.”

The keys were already in the...thing. What was that called? The ignition? I managed to clomp around the back to the passenger side. Kevin opened the door for me. I smiled. “Thanks.”

I pulled the seat belt across Lark’s body and buckled it. No need for both of us to be ghosts. Kevin climbed in, fastened his belt and then started the engine. He glanced around at the interior.

“Wow,” he said. “It really is hideous.”

I laughed. “Isn’t it?”

He grinned, adjusted the stick thing and then made the vehicle move. “It’s weird, being able to actually talk to you, and have you be more than a voice in my head.”

“I know.” I sneaked a glance at him. “It’s nice.” There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but they all seemed so foolish now that I had the chance. We’d talked a few times over the past year and a bit, but this seemed much more...intimate. I could touch him if I wanted. Smell him. Feel his warmth.

I never realized just how cold I was all the time.

“Do you think Lark will help them?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t a lie. “She’ll do what’s right.” It just took a little prodding to get her there sometimes.

“Good.” He turned his head toward me just for a second before looking back at the road. “I can’t believe it’s you in there. Earlier that face looked like it wanted to kill me.”

“She felt ambushed. The song...”

“Did you like it?”

“ I did. Lark felt like it was an accusation.”

“It kind of was. She put you through something terrible.”

“She thought she was insane, Kevin. Living with me made her feel that way.” I couldn’t have expected him to understand.

His jaw tightened. “No. She let people make her feel that way. I know what that’s like, and it’s not your fault.”

He was sweet, but he really didn’t understand. “We can’t be friends if you hate her.” It hurt to say the words.

“I don’t hate her. I just think she made some bad choices.”

It sounded like something Lark would have said. As much as I liked him, this was my sister we were discussing. He had to be an only child, because he obviously didn’t know that the only person who could say anything bad about Lark was me. “She didn’t do it to hurt me. She did it so we could be together.” I had never told anyone that. In fact, Lark and I had only ever talked about it once—shortly after she cut herself. There had been that brief moment when we had actually been together behind the veil. She’d been dead for a few seconds.

It had been wonderful. I never had and never would tell her just how much. Lark and I could touch, but there was always this invisible barrier between us. We were in different worlds, even if they overlapped. To have her with me finally was incredible—and wrong. She didn’t belong in my world, and I couldn’t have let her stay.

Kevin glanced at me again. “Okay.” He only said that one word, but it seemed to mean so much more than that. I smiled.

“Can I...?” I swallowed. “Can I touch you?”