All-Star and the Amateur (Frostbitten #3)

Prologue

The Ghost

Everyone in Orion, Michigan, knew about the ghost, but no one could agree on where it came from, who it was, or what it wanted.

Some said that it was the soul of a long-dead camper from Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp (the owners of the camp would vehemently point out that never in the camp’s history had a camper died during a session).

Others said it was the angry spirit of a lover abandoned by his beloved (who, though, no one could agree).

Others said the “ghost” was just a series of pranks played by kids.

Whatever the truth was, everyone could agree on one thing: the ghost was officially back this summer, and causing more havoc than ever before.

All summer, there had been issues in and around Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp.

Things that no one could explain rationally, though people certainly tried.

The local conspiracy theorists had been going wild, and the volunteers and staff who ran the town's ghost tours were having a field day—at least a teenager almost drowned trying to investigate what they claimed was a ghostly apparition on the water. Then the campers’ parents started intervening, someone got the mayor involved, and the local police had some questions.

No one had answers, or if they did, they weren’t saying anything.

The ghost himself certainly wasn’t talking.

It was early August, halfway through the camp’s second-to-last session of the summer.

There hadn’t been any issues, haunting or otherwise, that session, and the people at the camp were starting to get more relaxed and at ease.

It was nighttime, and everyone at the camp was gathered in the mess hall for a lively dinner.

Everyone except the ghost. The ghost had a plan for the night.

After tonight, there would be no denying his presence at the camp.

The people of Orion, Michigan, would know that the hockey camp was haunted, and the campers would finally leave, and he would be able to rest.

He would finally be able to rest.

The ghost had a plan, and it was a good plan.

Everyone was exactly where he wanted them, together eating dinner.

They weren’t worried about anything. They seemed happy and at ease.

They wouldn’t be, not for much longer. His plan was simple.

No one would see him, but when he was done, they would have no choice but to acknowledge that he was real.

People might get hurt, but he didn’t think so.

And if they did, it was a small price to pay for him finally being free.