Page 45 of Ghostly

Nothing.

“I definitely forgive you.”

Jason squinted. “Are you okay?”

“Yup. I’ll just take this back to the car.” Gabriel waved his scarf and turned.

“I think you’ll have to commit a bigger atrocity,” Ida said.

“The problem isn’t what I’m doing. I have to make other people do bad things to me.” A passing woman gave him a strange look. Gabriel pointed to his ear. “Friend calling. We’re playing long-distance Monopoly.”

He disposed of the scarf, then approached the square by slowly circling around it, looking for opportunities. Who appeared dangerous in the right way?

A smooth, black ponytail caught his attention. That hair, that side profile—for a second, Gabriel was frozen to the spot; in the next, he was hurrying toward the woman, dressed in a familiar fashionable mohair coat. “Wyn! Wyn!” What was Wynona doing here? Was it possible things had improved in the city, and she came here to tell him the good news?

He tapped her shoulder. “Wynona.”

She turned around, unfamiliar blue eyes gazing at him from under furrowed eyebrows.

Gabriel took a step back. “I-I-I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

“No problem.” The woman gave him a slightly weirded-out smile and turned back to the man she’d been talking with.

Gabriel remained in place, one arm still half stretched out. Of course it wouldn’t be Wynona, and he was delusional about possible surprises. And outside of that, one would never find Wyn at some cutesy little fair. She’d be as out of place here as he was.

Drifting snowflakes blurred in front of his eyes, and Christmas jingles faded into the background. He’d expected a heavy lump of disappointment in his chest when the woman turned out not to be Wyn, but there was none. Or perhaps, the feeling was too subtle to reach over the joyous surroundings.

No, it wasn’t the fair. Or at least not only. He hadn’t thought of Wyn in— hell, he hadn’t even countedthat. When had he last missed lying next to her, her sweet perfume lingering on his pillow the next day? Before all the fuss with the Christmas fair, before digging up graves, before Rosalie, before Ida—

With the rest of the world subdued, he grew painfully aware of the silence in his ear. “Ida?”

No response.

“Ida? Are you there?” Panic sneaked into his voice. Had he accidentally fulfilled the last condition, and Ida disappeared? There was no shimmering feeling in his chest, but maybe it was different for the ending. “Ida! Please!”

The earbud screeched. “Sorry. I’m here.”

He slumped in relief. “Thank god. I thought I’d lost you.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, literally. That I’d fulfilled the last condition and you were gone.”

“No, no.” Ida’s voice sounded light, but there was something underneath it. “An online game popped up. Something with having a farm. So I tried it and got distracted. What were you doing for the past few minutes? Any progress in your scheming?”

“None. Just walking around.”

“Gabriel, dear!” Marge materialized from the crowd and popped a kiss on Gabriel’s cheek before he could react. “So glad to see you here. Would you like to play our games?”

“I seriously hope she means actual games,” Ida said.

“Same.”

“I’m sorry?” Marge blinked.

“S-some. Some games!” Gabriel smiled back.

“We have a treasure hunt with drawn clues. One for kids and one for grown-ups.”

“You promised you’d have fun,” Ida said.

Gabriel swallowed a “treasure hunt doesn’t count as fun” reply. “Sure.”