Page 103 of Liminal

I chuckle under my breath. “You have no idea.”

Her yellow eyes trace my body, and I reflexively shift to try to make my torso more difficult to see; only, she’s not focused on the cracks.

“I hate to break it to you, but you might need a makeover first.”

The harmless comment relaxes me.

“Oh, I know.” But I have a fantasy plan for that, too. “I saw this dress once… It was the most gorgeous shade of blue.” I drag on the Arcanaeum’s magic and cast the illusion into the space between us, where it spins slowly. “Covered in sequins. Completely impractical…”

I fill in the details. Everything from the midnight colour to the twinkling silver and pearl beads that made it look like the night sky.

“But it would’ve made your boobs look great,” Eddy whistles. “Where did you see this?”

“Some drunken demons from another realm fell into the Arcanaeum by mistake a few years ago,” I say. “They were hilarious, but I kicked them out because they were breaking almost every rule and talking about stealing the books.”

“Demons are real?” Eddy sits up.

“In other dimensions, yes. But not here. There are all sorts of worlds out there, with all sorts of races. Some aren’t so dissimilar to our own.” I turn my head back to look at the cogs above us. “I would’ve travelled to them all, if I could. After I tried pizza, of course.”

“Pizza?”

“That’s the list.” I nod sagely. “Sex, pizza, and travelling. In that order.” Sighing, I shove myself upward. “You should go to that bar. Lambert would take you.”

“Lambert is too much competition.” Eddy snorts. “He’d have all the good choices wrapped around his fingers before I could even stammer out hello.”

The reminder sits sourly in my gut. “Yes. I imagine he would.”

Eddy grimaces. “Uh oh. Tell me you didn’t…”

“Of course not.” I turn away to hide my face. “I’m a ghost, remember?”

It’s too easy to fall into camaraderie with this girl. Perhaps it’s because she’s acted like my friend from the second she entered the Arcanaeum, or maybe she’s just that likeable. Either way, I’m not about to divulge what happened in that shower. Or suffer her judgement for it.

In any case, I still haven’t allowed myself to think too hard about his offer. After seeing him with his hands so casually on that new girl…

“Lambert isn’t the type to settle on one girl,” Eddy murmurs. “Shame, given how pretty he is. But after what happened with his mum, I get it.”

“What happened?” I ask, before I can stop myself.

“She died, or at least, that’s what North told me. Apparently, his parents were devoted to each other, so his dad quit magic altogether after that. He refuses to practise it or hear anything about it. Made himself a real pariah in the community, too. The only exception is magiball.”

That…explains a lot, actually.

“So yeah, that’s why North reckons he doesn’t want to get into anything committed. But it’s just a guess, and honestly, the way Lambert babbles about you, I’d say he was already half in love.”

I scoff at her words and turn over.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t deter her. “What’s it like to be a ghost?”

Swallowing back my impatience, I think about it for a second. “Cruel,” I finally settle on.

Rather than accept the answer as a sign I don’t want to talk, she asks, “How so?”

I’m glad she can’t see my face as I huff out a breath. “You know how, when you feel an emotion, it collects in parts of your body?”

“Yeah.” It’s clear she doesn’t get where I’m going with this. “Like heartbreak.”

“Exactly. Except, I can’t feel. The emotion is there, but it’s muted. I can see and hear, but can’t touch, and that extends to sensations inside my body as well.”