Page 5

A few minutes later, I’m at my laptop checking the news for murders on campus when a knock at the door startles me .

“Hey,” I call back, closing my laptop lid hastily. I haven’t found anything. Kensey State doesn’t seem like it should be haunted .

“Hi.” It’s Jax’s low, honeyed voice, and suddenly my heart flutters. Isn’t that spike of nerves the way I should have reacted to a ghost in my mirror? Apparently the only thing that rattles me these days is a cute boy .

When I swing the door open, Jax stands there in a Kensey State hoodie, his hands in his pockets. His eyes crinkle at the corners when he sees me .

“Are you going to this thing?” He jerks his thumb in the direction of the lounge .

“Yeah. I’m ready to mingle, I guess.” I throw a look back at my laptop, feeling guilty for leaving my mystery ghost hanging, but I grab my keys off my desk anyway. I have to look normal, right ?

I will deal with one ghost, one supernatural situation, and then I’m done .

“Single and ready to mingle?” he asks, his voice light .

“Oh. Yeah.” I’m definitely single. Well, that was not subtle. That’s the Jax I remember. “How about you ?”

“Mingling has never been my strong suit.” His tone is confident and self-deprecating at the same time. Lord knows that his old crush on me was always clear. I wonder if he still has a crush on me, even a little bit. “But I am single .”

“I’m surprised .”

His brows arch, but he grins. “ Really ?”

“Really.” I bump my shoulder into his arm .

“I’m still waiting for you to fill me in on what happened,” he says lightly .

I nod. “Definitely. But not tonight .”

“Not tonight.” He echoes it as if he knows I’m going to do my best to avoid this conversation, and not just tonight .

“What classes are you taking ?”

“Smooth.” He grins, reaching out to rest his palm on my head, but that’s all he does. He knows how much I hate when someone rifles my hair. I don’t spend time with a straightening iron just for some guy to ruin it as he tries to flirt with me .

“You know me. Smooth is my middle name .”

“I thought I did.” But he goes on, adding, “I’m taking Calc 1, Chem 1, American Government, and Philosophy and Rhetoric .”

“You’re taking a Philosophy class ?”

“I had a lot to figure out senior year.” His voice is suddenly serious. I have a feeling the rest of that sentence was, I had a lot to figure out senior year, after you died .

I grab his hand, impulsively, and his eyes widen. “Do you want to ditch the popcorn and just go talk ?”

“Yes,” he says. “Sure. I want to hear whatever you’re ready to tell me , Ash .”

Ahead of us, the ghost flickers back and forth across the hall, just in front of the open door to the lounge. Her eyes lock on mine .

My chest tightens with guilt. I squeeze Jax’s hand—what the hell am I thinking—and then let him go .

“We should just get to know everyone in our dorm. Tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow I’ll explain everything. For real .”

He tucks his hair back behind his ears. It used to be Jax’s tell when he was annoyed by me but didn’t want to start a fight .

As much as he has always loved me, let’s be real, I also always did my fair share of annoying him .

“Okay,” he says. “ Tomorrow .”

It sounds like it had better be tomorrow, or never. Something about his tone makes my chest tighten because I’m still not sure what I’m going to tell him. I can’t tell him the truth. And I don’t want to look into Jax’s kind, thoughtful hazel eyes and lie, either .

There are a handful of people in the lounge. It’s a lot fewer students than live on the floor, despite our RA’s best efforts. The room is filled with plain blue couches and a big screen TV mounted on the wall, which is playing music videos for now. There’s a table in the back with a couple of two liters of soda and a stack of red Solo cups. The air smells like burnt popcorn kernels and floral perfume .

I scan the room for ghosts. Two girls look at Jax over their shoulders and then lean together, smirking as they whisper. My fingers flex before I even realize what I’m doing, then I make myself relax. I always had a jealous streak, but the new Ash has a temper to match .

A couple of guys in sports jerseys lean against the wall or sit on the couches on the other side of the room. Our RA, a tall guy with messy dark hair, is talking to a couple of guys and girls as he pours them soda .

“I just realized that this is exactly the kind of thing I hate,” Jax says, his voice low and confidential in my ear. A strange but pleasant sensation runs up my spine at his lips brushing against my hair. “Small talk and strangers .”

“Then why’d you come?” I flash him a playful smile. “They won’t be strangers for long, hopefully. They’ll be friends .”

“Just an excuse to hang out with you,” he says bluntly, resting his hand on my shoulder, just for a second, before he looks past me. He moves toward the knot of guys, holding out his hand. “Hey. I’m Jax Carter. Nice to meet ya .”

I still feel a warm handprint on my shoulder even though he’s gone, as if his touch has lingered .

You’re going soft, Ashley Landon .

There’s no ghost now, and I relax as the RA introduces me to everyone. After a while, Jax settles into the couch to watch the movie. I hang back, still talking to Raya, a girl who lives down the hall, until she says she wants to go watch the movie .

Jax is casually sprawling, taking up more than one space on a couch in the last row, but I don’t know if he wants me to sit with him .

He twists in his seat, his arm on the seatback, and his gaze meets mine. He raises his eyebrows, a question, and his fingertips pat the back of the seat once .

I sit down beside him, folding my hands in my lap. His eyes flicker toward me as he shifts to one side. He was holding the space for me the whole time. Butterflies rise in my chest .

I try to watch the movie, but really, my attention is on Jax’s arm, hovering on the seatback behind me. He’s so close I can feel the warmth of his body, but he never touches me .

During the funny parts in the movie, I find myself casting surreptitious glances at Jax, because I like to see the way his lips turn up, and the faint dimples in his cheeks. He could use a shave, but the stubble across his tanned skin looks pretty good, too. It gives him a roguish air .

And then the ghost shows up .

She paces back and forth in front of the movie, so that the projected image falls across her pale face and fills it with swirling color. I almost lost sight of her each time until she emerges on the other side, her figure more visible against the white wall. She seems desperate. Wondering if anyone else sees her, I lean forward. Everyone else’s eyes seem fixed on the screen .

She opens her mouth, her gaze fixed as if she’s screaming at the guys sitting in the front row. It’s the first time I’ve heard her voice, which comes out as an angry, frustrated short scream .

I jump, pressing my hand to my chest. The effort to pretend, when my blood curdles in my veins, is intense .

One of the guys sits forward, resting his elbows on his knees, as if he’s trying not to react. I stare at his tense posture, his white-knuckled hands. If he heard that, why? Is he a psychic too? Is he being haunted ?

I need answers. And I’m not going to find them sitting here, obsessing over how many millimeters are between Jax’s arm and my shoulder .

“Are you okay?” Jax whispers. His brows draw together as if he’s worried .

I nod. “I’m fine. I’ve got to go, but I’m fine .”

“Ash…” He glances after me as I rise from the couch, but I’m already trying to duck out of the room without disrupting everyone. Faces turn toward me in the dark, and then look back to the screen .

I look back at the ghost when I reach the door, wondering if she’ll follow me, but she’s pacing again, unseen by the rest of the room .

I step out into the fluorescent-lit hallway. The bright lights and clean linoleum floor feel eerie .

Thank God my roommate is still out with her boyfriend. I flop onto my bed with my cell phone, already dialing Ellis. I can’t stop thinking about the way Jax looked at me, his eyes perplexed, his head cocked to one side. He looked at me like I’m crazy. What if he always looks at me like that, from now on ?

Because I keep replaying that moment, that look on his face, I’m almost too distracted to notice when the ringing cuts off. I drag my attention back. Ghost. Focus on the ghost .

“Hey,” Ellis sounds breathless, as if she ran to grab the phone. Or as if I interrupted her and the guys— oh my god, do not think about that. “How’s it going ?”

Part of me wants to keep the ghost a secret from Ellis, but as much as I would prefer she doesn’t fuss, I’m not stupid. I don’t know enough about the supernatural to handle this alone. “My dorm is haunted .”

“It is?” She sounds delighted .

“Stay there,” I tell her firmly. “It’s not a poltergeist. Not that I’ve seen yet, anyway .”

“What do you mean ?”

“It hasn’t done anything. Just popped up in my mirror and wandered around acting angsty .”

Ellis sounds skeptical when she asks, “Then how do you know it’s there ?”

“I can see it .”

“Hold on,” she says. “Let me put you on speakerphone. I want the guys to hear this, so we can do some research .”

“What were you doing?” I ask, because I’m a glutton for punishment .

She laughs. “ Nothing .”

That laugh and that nothing don’t go together .

When I’ve told them about the ghost—and talked them out of coming down here right now —I ask, “Can I talk to Ellis alone for a sec ?”

“Of course,” she says. I can hear her get up and make her way out of whatever room the guys are in, and there are low murmurs of their voices as they talk. I get the gist of their disapproving grumbles. They don’t like leaving me here. The door clicks softly shut behind her. “ What’s up ?”

“It’s not anything about the ghost.” I hesitate, because I know she’s going to overreact. “Jax is here .”

For a second, there’s no sound on the line. Then she exhales slowly . “ Ash .”

“I didn’t expect there to be ghosts and people who knew me, all right?” I wanted to go on this little adventure on my own, but it’s getting more and more complicated, and I haven’t been on campus for twenty-four hours .

“No, it’s not that,” she says. “How are you doing? Seeing him again ?”

Her words surprise me, and my defenses can’t hold. “It’s weird .”

“ Weird ?”

“Good weird. Not like the ghost. That’s bad weird .”

“You sure you don’t want me to come up? We can track down where the ghost comes from and send it off to the Far .”

“No,” I say. “I’ve got to make my own life, remember ?”

“But that life doesn’t include fighting ghosts,” she reminds me .

“She doesn’t seem like a fighting ghost .”

“They’re all fighting ghosts . They don’t belong here .”

I’m about to argue with her, but I hear a knock on the door in the background. “Hang on,” Ellis tells me. “Come in. Oh, it’s Jake .”

“Hi Jake,” I say, for no reason, because he can’t hear me. A year in the Far may have changed me, but it did not make me any cooler .

“Speakerphone,” he says .

“Manners,” she tells him, but then I can hear the faint static that comes with being on speakerphone. “Okay, what is it ?”

“I think Ash came back from the Far a true psychic,” he says. “A medium. While we can all see evidence of ghosts at particular times, most of us only see them when they expend the massive energy to impact our world, whether that is just to be seen or to move things .”

“I’m a psychic?” I repeat out loud. That sounds weird. That sounds wrong. I’ve always been more ordinary than I wanted to be. Or at least, I was until I died .

There’s a knock, and this time it’s on my door .

God, I hope no one heard me say that. I groan. “I’ve got to go .”

“You’ll see them all the time,” Jake says doggedly .

“I will not,” I say. “How many can there be ?”

There’s a silence on the line, a loaded silence .

“I’ve got to go,” I say again. “Love you guys .”

I don’t realize I mean it until I’ve said it. I’m accidentally encompassing my sister’s harem in my family now. But I do mean it .

“Love you too,” Ellis says warmly .

“Bye, Ash,” Jake says, and I can’t quite read his tone. It makes my cheeks flush, embarrassed, before he adds, “Stay safe. We’re here if you need us .”

“Believe me, I know.” I swear Ryker had the car running as soon as he heard the word ghost. Thankfully, Ellis held them back .

I hang up on them as I go to answer the door .

Let’s be honest, I’m hoping it’s Jax .

Instead, I open the door to the awkward face of my RA. He’s come to check on me, obviously wondering if I’m okay, although he doesn’t ask why I ran out of the lounge. I reassure him everything is fine, smiling so hard it hurts, until I can close the door between us .

I wonder if Jax thinks I’m a weirdo. The thought makes me ache .

Even though obviously, I am a weirdo .