Page 19 of Ghostlighted (Ghost Townies #2)

Avi grinned at me. “Use the royalty money on it, Maz. With no guilt. I owe it to Gil in return for what he gives me.” His grin faded a bit, turning into a fond smile as he gazed down at Gil. “Connection.”

Well. I could hardly argue about that.

“Consider it done.” I set my tea mug on the counter. “I’ll change quickly and we can head outside. If you’re ready.”

“More than.”

I ran upstairs to change into gardening clothes. When I came back down, I detoured into the library to collect the ring. The chain was long enough that I could fasten it around my belt loop and still tuck the ring deep into my pocket for double protection.

When I returned to the kitchen, Avi was still petting Gil, but he was gazing out the window at the brightening day. I cleared my throat, and he shifted his attention back to me.

“Ideally,” I said, “I’d like to check vertical limits as well as horizontal distance, but there’s no point in trying that now because you’ve already got full access inside the house and I’m not about to climb a tree. But maybe we can test it at the Manor later. It’s got levels and angles galore.”

“Sounds reasonable.” He gestured to me. “Since I can’t open the door, the next step is on you.”

That made me pause. “Do you think you could walk through the door if it was closed and I was on the other side?”

Avi’s brows disappeared behind the frames of his glasses. “Yes and no?”

“Meaning?”

“It’s logistics, I suppose.” He held his hand out flat, palm toward the floor.

“To get from here”—he slid his palm forward and stopped—“to here, I don’t need to physically traverse the whole path.

I just go from here”—he waggled his fingers—“to here.” He held up the other hand and dropped the first. “So it doesn’t matter what’s in my way. Because nothing is in my way.”

“But I’ve watched you climb stairs and walk from room to room.” I gestured to the window. “Outside last night, you kept pace with me the whole time.”

He shrugged. “I think it has more to do with my location relative to others and their expectations, and, I don’t know, muscle memory?”

“If that’s the case…” I squinted, tapping a finger on my chin. “Okay. First test. I’ll go out onto the porch and close the door. You join me as soon as you can.”

I stepped outside. The moment I turned from closing the door, Avi was beside me, smirking. “Looks like that’s one test passed.”

“Not entirely. Stay here for a sec.” I trotted into the yard and stopped next to the magnolia tree. I beckoned to Avi. “Join me here?”

Avi’s smirk vanished, and if he weren’t a ghost, I’d say he looked constipated. Then he shook his head, walked down the steps, and crossed the grass to me, his feet mostly in contact with the ground.

“Maybe it’s a sightline thing,” he said. “If I can see you, I have to traverse the distance. If you’re out of sight, I can just be there.”

“Hmmm. I think we can explore that a little more later. Now, onward.” I pointed toward Sofia’s garden. “I’ll walk that way slowly, aiming for that first row of tomato plants. You stay here as long as you can.”

“All right.”

I paced forward, counting steps and seconds, but when I’d passed our property line and was halfway to the garden, I glanced up at the scarecrow and winced.

Since Carson was responsible for Avi’s death—and hadn’t been appropriately punished for it, in my opinion—Avi might not be comfortable keeping company with Carson-in-effigy.

I turned back to where he was standing at the foot of the porch steps, about thirty feet away.

“Feel anything yet?”

“Maybe a twinge?”

“I should, um, mention something before you get any closer to the garden.”

Avi’s expression turned serious. “If it’s because that’s where Sofia collapsed?—”

“No.” I swallowed. That would probably affect me more than Avi. In fact, it was affecting me, if my cold hands were any indicator. I was just pretending to ignore it. “It’s… You’ve seen the scarecrow from above, right?”

“Yes.” He drew out that word in his typical fashion. “So?”

“It’s… Well, it looks like Carson. I don’t know if you—” Avi’s laugh cut me off, and I scowled. “What’s so funny?”

“You think the scarecrow is Carson?” Avi could barely get the words out.

I scowled, because this level of hilarity was hardly a proportional response. “Yes. It has the same hair. The same clothes. The face shape is a little different, but then, it’s straw-stuffed burlap.”

“The scarecrow isn’t supposed to be Carson ,” he wheezed. “It’s Liam .”

I blinked at that. “Liam? Really?” Come to think of it, the later photos of Liam in Sofia’s house—the ones where he was a blond—did bear a striking resemblance to the scarecrow.

The face shape was definitely right. “Do you mean he and Carson actually dressed alike?” I couldn’t keep the revulsion out of my tone.

“Oh my god, it was practically a uniform for them.” Avi took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with a palm.

“I’m not sure either of them even owned a pair of jeans or a single graphic T-shirt.

For them, it was all about designer labels and name brand logos.

I think they liked to pretend they were at an elite private school so they could look down on the other kids. ”

“Figures.” I gestured toward the garage. “I’m heading over there to grab the hose. Give a holler when you feel like you’re about to poof.”

Instead of heading over, I backed away, keeping a close watch on Avi’s expression for any sign of discomfort. When I reached the far edge of the garden, within five feet or so from the hose bib, Avi suddenly vanished.

“Well, crap,” I muttered.

An instant later, he was beside me, a rueful expression on his face. “The sensation doesn’t graduate. One moment I feel a twinge and a tug, and then I’m back in the house.”

“That still gives us good information.” I squinted at the property line where he’d been standing. “How far would you say that is?”

He rolled his eyes. “I was a writer. Oren’s the one with spatial awareness. He could judge distances within an inch.”

I cut a glance at Avi. He was looking back across the yard too, just as I’d been, and this was the first time I’d heard him make a comment about Oren that sounded almost absent and not as though he was trying to hold his heart inside his chest.

It occurred to me that getting out of the house, engaging in other activities, investigating his own abilities, might be more necessary for Avi’s well-being than I’d considered. At home, he had nothing to distract himself from his grief.

Not that I imagined he’d get over Oren’s loss any time soon, if ever, but I made a vow to myself to involve Avi in more… what? Enrichment activities? The house caged him in a way, and though he wasn’t an infant by any means, he was still learning about himself and his world, much like a baby would.

I hoped the EVP equipment would arrive on schedule, because giving Avi the tools to make choices about his new reality had just shot to the top of my to-do list, and my reasons for making him my unofficial assistant at the Manor changed, too.

While helping Ghost-with-a-capital-G was important, it was no longer my top priority. My top priority was helping the ghost-with-a-lower-case-g.

My top priority was helping my friend.