Page 17 of Ghostly

“That’s the part the contracthascovered,” Ida said with a bit of a smile. “Binding. I possess the contract, then you. Easy.”

“And by possessing me…”

“It’s nothing bad. Just like possessing an object.”

“So much about objectification,” he murmured.

“I’ll do the contract first. You’ll see nothing bad will happen.”

Before he could say anything, Ida laid her hand on the page and disappeared. A low humming noise, like a computer running in the background, emerged from the page, and then Ida was back out. “See, harmless.”

“Uh…” Gabriel pointed at the page. The nameIda Huxleyappeared on the previously empty line below the title, written in elaborate cursive letters.

Ida squealed. “It worked!”

No way that just happened.“How did you do that?”

“Simple haunting.” Ida looked at him with hopeful eyes. “Now I only need my TI.”

He retreated a few steps. “We didn’t agree on anything.”

“But—”

“You’re not possessing me.” If it were a signing thing, fine—with so many legalities missing, this thing was worthless, a signature or not. But to think Ida would go inside him, however that would look or feel like…

“Well, then.” Ida set her hands against her hips. “I guess with me unable to fulfill the contract, I’ll just stay here. There’s a lot we haven’t talked about yet. Did you know, when I was little, we didn’t have toilet paper. It existed, but my mother had this thing about it and—oh, to think now, it’s even perfumed—Rhonda liked it with a scent of vanilla, although if I haunted it, and not that I haunt toilet paper regularly, that would be odd, it smelled more like—”

“Okay.” He raised his hands. “Talk me through this possession.”

“It will only take a second. You may feel cold, but it won’t be harmful.”

“Can you”—he winced—“control me while you’re in there?”

“I won’t.” She sounded calm and sincere. “Believe it or not, I’ve no desire to roleplay as a lawyer. In and out.”

Gabriel sat down and sifted through the pages surrounding the contract. No additional information that would relate to it; just ghost mumbo-jumbo. Ida was right: if the contract didn’t work, he, as the TI, would risk nothing. She’d be disappointed, but he had warned her. Her problem. If the contract was real, he was only the executor. No effect on him directly. Plus, the tasks would give him something more to do.

He let out a deep breath. “Fine. Do your thing.”

“Really?” Ida clutched her fists to her chest. “Alright, let’s do it. It will be quick and painless, I promise.”

She sat beside him and tentatively extended a hand toward his forehead. Gabriel’s heart rate picked up, anxiety rising for a split second—and then, just as Ida’s fingers should’ve touched him, she disappeared, and his heart calmed. It felt as if being dipped into ice-cold water, but the water layer was underneath his skin, spreading across his body. His mind, still clear, told him he should panic, and yet, no panicking happened. He became woozy, his vision blurred—

Ida appeared on the sofa. She let out a whistling breath. “How do you feel?”

He blinked and shook his head. “Fine.” The wooziness and the cold were all gone.Huh. Not that bad.

“Thank god.” Ida fanned her face. “I’ve never done that before.”

Gabriel jumped. “Wait, what?”

“Well, I don’t haunt people.”

“You went inside me and you didn’t know if you were doing it right?”

“It’s just basic possession. I figured it would work. And it did—look!”

Ida’s name on the contract shifted up, and below it appeared, in the same writing:Transfer Individual: Gabriel Vane.