Page 92 of Ghostly

“Oh, fuck it.” Gabriel slammed the laptop closed and hurried outside. He squinted in the dark, eyes still adjusting from the light in the kitchen.

A solid shape, sitting down, must’ve been Perry. Another shape, shimmering slightly in the dark, sat close to him.

No, no, no. Don’t tell me they’d startedalready.

“Stop!”

As he ran to them, Perry and Ida looked up.

“Don’t do it,” Gabriel said. “I mean…” he swiveled his gaze to Ida. “Don’t do it with him.”

Ida blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“Let me be the bonding person.”

“Duuude!” Perry’s smile spread wide.

“Uh, could you give us a moment?” Gabriel said.

“Sure, my man. You two talk.” Perry stood, comically winking at Gabriel. “Just don’t forget! Nine minutes!” He scurried to the side.

Gabriel kneeled inside the circle, the pure white petals of the lily almost glowing in the dark. The temperature was perfect for the early spring—the soothing warmth Ida described of the night she’d died—and even the sky cooperated, sprinkling silver-lined clouds here and there. Subdued, chirping noises came from the forest.

Gabriel cleared his throat. “Ida.”

He didn’t know what he expected—not quite that she’d run into his arms, but something ghost-appropriately similar—but it wasn’t Ida pursing her lips.

“Listen, I don’t know what kind of a joke this is, and I’d advise you to stop because we don’t have much time left—”

“It’s not a joke. I want to be the one to help you. To bind you back to this world. And I can, because I… I…”

Ida tilted her head. “Gabriel?”

“I care a lot about you.”Oh, god.Wasn’t that what people usually said when they wanted to getoutof a relationship?

Ida covered her mouth.

Dammit, he did use all the best stuff on Natalie. “I… I…”

“It’s okay.” Ida reached a hand toward him, as if to calm him down, and her eyes glistened slightly. “Actions. Words.”

“So you…”

“I care a lot about you, too.” Her mouth drew up, and up, until she burst into a laugh, dragging him with her.

“I thought after the perfume incident, it had been too much. That I’d gone too far, and you didn’t like, didn’t want—”

“Didn’t like? I thoughtyoudidn’t likeme. I mean, other than… you know.”

“I don’t know what she’s saying, but you’re being very vague!” Perry shouted from the darkness.

“Perry, I said ‘privacy’,” Gabriel shouted back.

“Theoretically, you didn’t! You only said ‘a moment’!” And, after a second of silence, “Okay. Understood. Going further away. Seven minutes!”

“So, where were we?” Gabriel looked back to Ida.

“The, ahem, perfume incident.”