Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Roux
“So, how’ve you been?” Lila said as she dropped a pint in front of me.
We’d come up to The Shack to speak to a few of the ghosts about the disappearances, but I’d learnt nothing. No one had seen anything, and I’d come away with a grand old pile of nada. “You ever get the desire to just run away from your problems?”
Lila grinned wide. “All the time, but I would only be running away from normal mundane shit. Not life-changing, potential end-of-the-world shit that might get you killed.”
She had a point. “But why me? Do I have a sign on my forehead or a big neon sign behind me that says ‘pick this idiot’?”
“No, babe,” she sniggered.
I plonked my head down on the table and sighed. Life was a lot, and the temptation to run away was real.
Lila wrapped her fingers around my hand, and a little jolt of electricity zapped my skin.
Ghosts naturally had their own energy source, and whenever they touched you, there was always a static shock.
“I know it’s tough, and I’m not going to say I understand what you’re going through, but you’ve got a lot of good people around you.
Lean on them, and they’ll help you through. ”
She was right. I knew she was right, but it didn’t take away the fact that it was me that had the face of a God or that it was my fault that the twins and I had to take part in the fucking Games. A tear threatened to fall, and nope. I was not going to cry.
My shoulders shuddered with the effort of holding the tears back.
I sat back up and sniffed. “I’ve been through worse, right?”
A look of pity crossed Lila’s face, and I winced. I definitely hadn’t been through anything worse, but, dammit, she was right. Me and the guys could face anything together. I slammed my fist on the table and shook off the misery. “I can do this. We can do this.”
“That’s the spirit,” Lila cheered and downed her cocktail. “Now, where are we going to go next to track down these ghosts?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I know what you’re doing, missy.”
She just smiled sweetly at me and batted her eyelashes like Marilyn Fucking Monroe. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I snorted, but I appreciated the distraction. “Sure, you don’t. Where else have people disappeared from? Or is there anyone else we could talk to?”
Ghosts were a bit like the mafia. Once you were in, you didn’t talk to anyone but your own. It was making these disappearances really difficult to investigate.
Lila pursed her lips. “Not sure. I have tried talking to a few different people, but there wasn’t anyone really willing to talk to me.”
That wasn’t a good sign. If the ghosts wouldn’t even speak to one of their own, what hope did I have? How was I supposed to help them if they wouldn’t speak to me?
“Excuse me.”
I jumped at the timid voice and looked towards the end of the table. A young woman stood there, her pale skin almost translucent. She was fading. That only happened when the ghost had decided to move on and no longer needed an energy source, or if something had infected their energy source.
“Hi,” I said, casting her a wary glance. “Can I help?”
She looked over her shoulder and scanned over the room. What was she looking for? The room was just full of ghosts who looked like this was their regular haunt. Ha! Regular haunt… sometimes I cracked myself up.
She twisted her fingers together. “I think I can help you, but not here.”
I turned to Lila and raised a questioning brow. She shrugged, and her white-blonde curls bounced around her face. I rolled my eyes at her because that just wasn’t helpful.
“Fine,” I said as I turned back to the unknown ghost. “But you better not be leading me into a trap. I’m really not in the mood for that shit.”
This ghost was probably leading us into a trap. We hadn’t seen another creature for a good few minutes, and the alleyway we were walking down was getting narrower and narrower.
“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Lila whispered in my ear.
I threw her a flat look. “Girl, we’re already dead.”
“Pfft, that’s just mean. But seriously, where the hell are we going?”
I knew we were somewhere in the Cemetery District, but it was a labyrinth down here.
I was just glad Lila would be able to dissipate if we got into trouble.
I should have asked the twins to join me, but they’d just mated with Magnus.
I wasn’t about to ask them to leave him behind to help me talk to some ghosts.
A pang of jealousy and hopelessness flitted through me as I thought of them.
I’d caught them sneaking back into the house after their trip into the woods.
They hadn’t seen me, and I had deliberately stayed hidden, not wanting to intrude in their moment, but as soon as I saw them, I knew.
They’d mated and claimed each other, and my heart yearned for that.
For them. I was also so happy for them. That they’d overcome their issues and found a connection so deep that it would outlast even time itself.
It was truly beautiful, and it was worth celebrating.
I’d focus on that and not on my selfish pining.
“Here,” the ghost whispered before she walked through a door.
A door that looked like it was clinging onto its hinges like a life raft.
A door to a house that looked like it was one step away from crumbling into dust.
“Nope. I am not going in there,” Lila said, then started to fade away into the night air.
“Hey, don’t be ridiculous. What’s the worst that could happen?”
She popped back into a solid state, hands on her hips. “You mean something worse than being put into the Games of the Gods?”
“Fair point,” I said as I stepped closer to the house. The acrid scent of death and decay permeated the air around the house, and I wasn’t sure whether that was just a deterrent or if there was a festering soul in there.
I put my hand out and reached for the doorknob, internally praying the thing didn’t fall off in my hand, but before my fingers touched it, the door swung inwards with a loud creak.
“Fuck this,” Lila said as she peered over my shoulder and into the darkened building.
“It doesn’t look that bad. With a bit of TLC, I’m pretty sure this place would clean up a treat.”
Lila rolled her eyes at me. “You’re ridiculous. The place is close to being a pile of bricks.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” I pulled my scythe out of the shadows; the weight of it was familiar and comforting. It pulsed in my hand, clearly glad to be back in business after Thane’s scythe had been given back to him.
Lila and I shuffled across the threshold, ready and braced for attack.
The creaky door slammed shut behind us.
Well, that was ominous.
“Hello,” I called out, stepping slowly down the dark hallway.
“In here.”
The ghost popped her head through the wall, and I might have screamed a little.
“Wow, you’re jumpy,” she said before disappearing back through the wall.
Of course I was fucking jumpy. I’d been brought to an actual ghost house. I shouldered my scythe, straightened my jacket, and brushed off the fear. I was a goddamn Reaper. I was afraid of no one.
Yeah, if I said that enough times, hopefully, I’d start to believe it.
I entered the room where the ghost had disappeared to and found a spectral welcoming committee. There were at least ten ghosts, maybe more, all with the same translucence as the woman I’d followed. Some of them looked terrified, and they huddled together at the back of the room.
I put my scythe away, not wanting to scare them anymore than they already were.
“You shouldn’t have brought them here, Penny,” one of the men hissed. He was about forty and of medium height, and the only noticeable thing about him was that I could see right through him. There was barely anything left of him. “Especially not her.”
The woman I’d followed—Penny—faced the man who’d spoken. “Hush, Jack. They’re here to help.”
“Am I?” I asked. “With all due respect, I don’t know why I’m here. Who are you, and why are you all fading?”
Penny stood protectively in front of the ghosts. They were all different ages, races and genders. This wasn’t just affecting one type of ghost.
“We noticed that ghosts were going missing a few months ago,” Penny started, her voice steady. “But then my friend faded away right in front of my eyes. I couldn’t stop it, no matter what I tried. We even tried to change her power source, but nothing worked.”
“I’m sorry,” Lila said as she drifted closer.
Penny sniffed and brushed away a tear. Her brown hair looked limp, and her essence was incredibly dull compared to Lila’s. What the hell was happening to them?
Another ghost stepped forward. At least I think he did; his feet had completely gone. “Look, Jack doesn’t speak for us all. Thank you for coming here.”
This ghost looked older, about sixty, with a mop of white hair neatly combed to one side. I could just about make out the lines in his face and the smile about his eyes.
“We don’t need her, Bernard,” Jack hissed as he confronted the older ghost.
“Yes, we do. We need help. We’ve tried solving this on our own, and we’ve gotten nowhere. Now, unless you have anything useful to say, back off,” Bernard said, his tone short and sharp. Boy, the guy might be fading, but his spirit definitely wasn’t.
“Sheesh,” Lila whispered out the corner of her mouth. “I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of Bernard.”
No, we definitely would not. The guy probably spent his life in a courtroom as a cutthroat lawyer. And yet he looked so sweet.
“We heard that you were looking into the possibility that our fading might be connected to the drained vampires, and we’ve been waiting for you to visit the area,” Penny said. “Have you found anything?”
I shook my head. “Not yet, but I am looking into it.”