Kady Cross - Sisters Of Salt And Iron

“She looks ill-tempered,” Noah remarked.

Lark shot him a glare. “And you look like a butler.”

I don’t know which surprised him more—the insult or the fact that she had heard what he’d said. Noah had said he’d heard of me before, so I assumed he knew about Lark as well, but he obviously didn’t know as much as I’d thought.

“She can see me?” he asked, incredulous.

“Even when it’s not Halloween, Mr. Darcy,” Lark retorted.

I frowned at her. “Don’t be rude.”

She looked as though she could cheerfully punch me. What was wrong with her? She needed to get over it, and quickly.

“Noah’s my friend,” I informed my sister. “I asked him at the last moment to come with me so I can talk and dance with someone who isn’t you. Someone who can see me. Someone I can touch.”

Lark’s expression could only be described as annoyed contrition. She wasn’t happy about the situation, and I knew part of that was because she distrusted any ghost that wasn’t me. I couldn’t blame her—she had an awfully violent history with many of my kind—but Noah wasn’t like that.

“You should have told me,” she said. “What if someone sees the two of you? It’s too close to Halloween for surprises.”

“What if someone does see us?” I asked. “You’ve spent most of your life trying to prove that I’m real.”

She looked surprised at the question. “Because I don’t know what people would do to us if they figured it out.”

People could be such...douche bags. “They can’t do anything. Not to me.” The words felt hard in my mouth, but they slid out anyway. “And I don’t care if someone sees me. I’m not afraid of a bunch of teenagers.”

My sister stared at me. I didn’t like the suspicion in her gaze. I hadn’t meant to upset her, but I was through behaving as though I was something to be ashamed of. Tugging Noah with me, I turned around. “Let’s go dance.”

“Hey, Lark,” Roxi cried from further up the corridor. “Smile!”

A flash went off, and for a second all the world was sharp and bright. The eyes of the dead don’t need to physically respond to light or dark, so the light didn’t blind Noah or myself like it had Lark.

Roxi stared in my direction, her eyes wide.

“Something wrong, Rox?” Lark asked.

The dark-haired girl shook her head. “No. I thought I saw something, that’s all.” She shook her head, and her normally cheerful expression returned.

In the next room the music for “Thriller” began to play. I pulled Noah out into the small group dancing in the middle of the living room, leaving Lark behind. She could be as upset as she wanted. I was going to have fun, and if my sister didn’t like it she could...well, she could just not like it all she wanted.

I spotted Kevin talking to Ben and Gage. Was it wrong of me to wish he could see me with Noah? I wanted him to know I wasn’t crying over him. That I didn’t miss him, because I didn’t.

“This music is strange,” Noah remarked. He gestured to the small group around us. “Is this what qualifies as dancing these days?”

I laughed. He looked horrified. “Just move to the music,” I instructed, raising my arms over my head and moving the rest of me to the beat. “Do what feels right.”

He was awkward, and a little stiff, but the best part of being a ghost meant that very few people could see you make a fool of yourself.

But this was Halloween week, and I’d forgotten what that meant. I bumped into a girl—and felt it. She didn’t go through me. And when she turned around, she looked surprised not to see someone there. I moved away. Maybe dancing wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“I’m sorry about my sister,” I said to Noah as we drifted away from the dancing.

He shrugged. “She’s very protective of you. I cannot fault her for that.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need protection. I’m supposed to be the scary one.”

“Scary?” He frowned. “Is that what she thinks of you?” The look he shot my sister was one of indignation. Thankfully, Lark was paying attention to something Ben was saying and not my date.

My date. I never thought I’d call someone my date. Never thought I’d ever meet a boy who was a ghost like me.

“No,” I said, putting my hand on his arm. “Lark doesn’t think I’m scary at all.” That was a lie. There were times when I knew my sister found me terrifying, but she loved me anyway. I never understood why I was so frightening until I saw Lark in my world. Sometimes people didn’t have to be hideous or monstrous to be frightening. In fact, simply looking “not right” could be disturbing enough.

Noah relaxed. “Good.” He turned to me with a soft smile. “I cannot imagine anyone thinking you anything but perfect.”

“Oh.” That was the only word I could remember at that moment. He was so handsome, and so tall, and so saying everything I wanted to hear. Lark would tell me he was too good to be true. That I shouldn’t trust him.

Sometimes, my sister didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Are you having fun?” Noah asked. “Do you want to stay? Or can I steal you away?”

I glanced around the room. I was having fun—sort of. As much fun as a dead girl could have in a room full of people who couldn’t see her. But then my gaze fell on Kevin.

He was staring straight at me. Or rather, he was staring at Noah. With the veil between worlds thinning, his abilities as a medium were magnified. My wish that he could see me there with another boy had just come true.

He looked like someone had punched him in the throat. I had hoped for regret, not pain. The satisfaction I had thought I’d feel wilted under an emotion I couldn’t quite identify.

I turned away, facing Noah, who thankfully hadn’t realized we had an audience. It wasn’t too difficult to smile at him. “Let’s go,” I said. “This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.”

Noah took my hand, and then we were gone, back to the grounds of Haven Crest where we talked and danced to our own music for hours. And I concentrated all of my attention on the boy I could have, rather than the one who could never be mine.

LARK

Wren had taken off with Casper the Friendly Douche a few hours earlier, and I hadn’t seen her since. It wasn’t like her to just disappear on me, which meant she was all twitterpated over Mr. Darcy. Noah. Whatever.

I was not jealous. I was, however, worried. What if this guy was a jerk? Wren didn’t know anything about relationships outside of TV and movies, and Noah had spent at least part of his existence among the living. Any guy that polished and pretty had to be a player as far as I was concerned.

I really wanted to be wrong, but something about him bothered me.

I was not—repeat—not jealous.

A few of us stuck around after the party to help clean up. It wasn’t a terribly late night. Mace and Ben volunteered to drive those who’d had too much Halloween “spirits” home.

Carrying a recyclable bag full of soda cans, I walked into the kitchen. Sarah and Kevin stood in front of the sink. He leaned back, slightly, as though trying to put as much distance between them as he could when she had him practically pinned between herself and the counter.

“He’s my friend,” Kevin said, his voice low, his hands gripping the edge of the sink behind him.

“What am I?” Sarah demanded.

Okay, I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what was going on. “The friend’s girlfriend?” I volunteered. Was this any of my business? Nope. But Mace had saved my life, and had become a good friend. I felt strangely protective of him, and in the hierarchy of friends, both Kevin and Sarah were near the bottom of my list.