Sisters of Blood and Spirit

  The interior smelled like Sarah’s perfume, cloves and fennel. It was a weird combination.

  “Sarah doesn’t like me much,” I said as I buckled my seat belt.

  He checked for traffic before steering the car out onto the street. “That’s random.”

  I shrugged.

  “She likes you fine. She’s just jealous.”

  That was a bit more direct than I had expected. I shouldn’t be surprised. “Why?”

  Mace glanced at me. “Because you and I have history.”

  I snorted. “Not the sexy kind.”

  He chuckled. “No. But we have a connection, and she feels threatened by it.”

  “I just can’t imagine her feeling threatened by anyone. She’s perfect.”

  I felt him look at me. “You think so?”

  When I turned my head he was looking at the road again. “Yeah. Don’t you?”

  “No one’s perfect.” We turned into the hospital lot. After a few moments he asked, “Can you do that thing you did to me to Gage?”

  “I can try.”

  “Good.” And then, “What the hell was it anyway?”

  I shook my head. “No freaking idea.”

  “Does it matter?” Wren asked from the backseat. She was frowning at Mace. “How about a little gratitude there, pretty boy?”

  I choked back laughter. Mace glanced at me. “You okay?”

  “As well as can be expected.”

  “Yeah. Hey, what did Joe Hard tell you about Olgilvie?”

  “Just what you heard.”

  He looked like he didn’t believe me, and I was okay with that. Joe Hard had a horrible name, but I wasn’t going to give away his secrets, not when I wanted to make them my own.

  Mace fell quiet. We parked near the door and went inside. A pretty woman with dark skin and a gorgeously huge head of corkscrew curls was at the front desk. The security guard nodded at Mace, who nodded back.

  “Hey, Ivy,” he said to the woman. “Can we see Gage?”

  She nodded. “Go on back. I’ll let Kevin know you’re here.” Then she looked at me and smiled. “You must be Lark.”

  This gorgeous woman was Kevin’s aunt? Had to be by marriage. No way they were related.

  “Um, yeah. Hi.” I didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Kevin had obviously talked about me. I could only imagine what he might have said.

  I followed Mace into the emergency ward. Wren stayed close to me. “I don’t like this place,” she whispered. “It’s too sad.”

  I took her hand and held it close to my thigh so no one would notice. Hospitals always had a lot of spirit activity, but they retained a lot of energy, too. Wren responded to both. I guess I did, too, because I really didn’t want to be there.

  Just as we walked into the fairly open area with the curtained-off beds, Roxi’s head popped out from behind a curtain down at the far end. She waved us down. As we walked, I heard a woman crying and someone else moaning in pain. Doctors and nurses scurried around, but no one seemed to pay much attention to us—not even the ghosts.

  Mace parted the curtain and we walked into the small area around Gage’s bed. Everyone was there. Ben grinned when he saw me. I smiled back like a demented idiot. I was just so glad that he was okay.

  “Hey, jailbird,” he teased.

  Better than Jail Bait, I thought. “Hey. How is he?”

  Ben shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

  Gage was in the bed. He wasn’t awake. His color didn’t look too bad, but he was sweaty with dark circles under his eyes. His arms were bandaged from wrist to just above his elbow. What had Bent made him do to himself?

  “Has he woken up?” Mace asked.

  Roxi shook her head. She’d been crying, poor thing. “Once. After the seizures stopped. He’s been asleep ever since.” She looked at me. “Is he going to be okay?”

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I hope so.”

  “Lark’s going to try to help him,” Mace said, practically shoving me forward. Then to Ben he said, “Keep a look out for doctors.”

  “What are you going to do?” Sarah asked.

  “Same thing I did for you,” I told her. It was probably better if I didn’t mention that I’d done it for Mace, too.

  Her eyes brightened. “You think you can?”

  “I can try.” My hands were not terribly clean. “I need some sanitizer.”

  Of course there was some nearby. I cleaned my hands and then peeled back the edge of the bandages on Gage’s left arm. Oh, hell.

  “I know,” Wren said at my side. “It’s awful.”

  Awful wasn’t a strong enough word. I did not want to touch those things. They were terrible—as bad or worse than what Bent had done to Mace. How had this happened? Poor Gage. I’d never seen anything like this—not on someone alive. And then there were the cuts he’d made himself with Bent’s razor. They were red and raw—and way too close to what I’d done to myself for me to look at them for long.

  I took a deep breath and set my hands over the worst part of the wounds. Oh, God. They were sticky. And wet. And warm. I had no idea how it worked, but I closed my eyes and tried to focus whatever mojo I had into my hands, into getting rid of the infection. Slowly, my fingers began to tingle and itch. I felt a strange sensation down my arms—like goose bumps on the wrong side of my skin. I stayed like this until my wrists began to feel numb and my knees trembled.

  I opened my eyes and staggered backward. Wren steadied me.

  “Are you okay?” Ben asked with a frown. He reached for me as well, but my sister kept me upright.

  I nodded. I wasn’t okay. I felt like I’d been hit with a sledge hammer. “I need sugar.”

  Roxi—one hundred pounds soaking wet—pulled a candy bar from her purse. “Here.”

  Heath. My favorite. My fingers shook as I tried to unwrap it. Finally, Ben took it and peeled back the paper. “Thanks,” I said. I used more sanitizer and wiped my hands on my thighs before taking it. God only knew what kind of ghost spooge I had on me.

  He made me sit down on the side of Gage’s bed and hovered a little while I ate. I kind of liked it. I mean, I was no damsel in distress or any of that crap, but most of the time people treated me like I didn’t need anything. Sometimes I felt like I needed a lot, and there was no one there to give it.

  “Did it work?” Kevin asked.

  I glanced at Gage’s arms. They were still pretty bad, but... “Yeah. I think so. Definitely.” I could see now that the spectral gouges had closed up some and weren’t so wet and black—which was good.

  “Has his mother been here yet?” Mace asked.

  Roxi made a face. “No. We called her, but she’s in New York with her boyfriend. Didn’t know when she could get back. His dad should be here soon, though.”

  “Seriously?” I asked. “His mother wasn’t worried?”

  Roxi shook her head. None of them looked terribly surprised. I felt a strange kinship for Gage at that moment. It seemed like so much more of a betrayal when it was your mother who didn’t care. Your mother was supposed to be the one person you could always count on. The one person that would love you forever no matter what you did.

  Your mother wasn’t supposed to toss you over.

  We all stayed for a little while longer—until Mr. Moreno, Gage’s father, arrived. Then we decided to make ourselves scarce fast.

  Ben offered me a ride home and I said yes. To be honest, I’d rather go with him than anyone else. Wren gave me a sheepish glance. “Do you mind if I hang out with Kevin for a bit?”

  I shook my head. I was too tired to mind. That didn’t stop me from shooting Kevin a dark look. If tonight had taught me anything it was that the living and the dead didn’t mix. He caught my arm when I walked by him in the hall. Wren
had gone ahead with the others and didn’t seem to notice—which was weird.

  “Problem?” he asked.

  I looked at his hand on my sleeve, then up into his bright blue eyes. “You’re going to hurt her. We both know it’s going to happen. That’s when you and I will have a problem.” I pulled my arm free and glanced back into the ward. I stopped. Was that...? No, it couldn’t be. There was no way Bent could be here.

  Was there?

  I walked away from Kevin, back toward where Gage was. There was no one there but him and his father. No ghosts at all, especially not Bent.

  I needed to get some sleep. I could barely stand up, and now I was hallucinating.

  “Do you mind if we take Roxi home?” Ben asked when I’d caught up with him outside.

  I shook my head. “Of course not.”

  We all said good-night in the parking lot. We were a somber little bunch, everyone worried about Gage—and worried about what his condition might mean for them. I wished I knew enough to tell them if they ought to be worried or not. My instinct said they should be very worried. Then again, my instincts weren’t always reliable.

  Roxi sat in the backseat. We were pretty quiet during the drive, but when we pulled up to her house, she leaned between the seats and hugged me. “Thank you for helping him. For helping us.”

  I nodded. I would have spoken but my throat felt like there was something stuck in it. She hugged Ben, too, before getting out of the car. He promised to call her in the morning.

  “I feel bad for her,” he said as we drove away. He’d waited until she opened the door of the house to back out. “They just got together, but she’s had a thing for Gage since freshman year.”

  “That’s a long time to have a crush.”

  “You think so? I’ve had a crush on the same girl since I was twelve.”

  My head whipped around as disappointment flicked me in the chest. “Really? Does she know?”

  He shook his head, a sad little smile curving his lips. “I used to think she was either blind or dumb, but now I think she just had more important things to think about than whether or not some chubby Twinkie kid liked her.”

  “Twinkie?” I asked.

  “Yeah. You know, yellow on the outside, white in the middle.”

  I made a face. That was awful. “Don’t call yourself that.”

  He shrugged. “Why not? I’ve never even been to Korea. Although, I have watched Best of the Best.”

  I glanced at him. “All I know about Korea I learned from M*A*S*H reruns.”

  Ben grinned. “That was filmed in California.”

  “Then I know nothing.” We laughed. I leaned back in the seat. “I want to hear more about this crush of yours.” Sure, why not? I could compare myself to her or something equally stupid.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “I find it hard to believe she never noticed you. Have you ever tried to get her attention?”

  “To be fair, I never really spoke to her until recently. I was shorter than her for a long time, and fat. I was pretty unattractive.”

  “The proverbial ugly duckling.”

  He grinned. “Are you calling me a swan?”

  “You know what I think, Ben? I think if this girl isn’t kicking her ass for not noticing you earlier, you should say fuck it and move on.”

  “How do I know if she’s kicking her ass, though?”

  “Ask her.” I knew that was easier said than done, but wasn’t it time to stop pining over some chick who didn’t appreciate him? I mean, I could get seriously appreciative all over him.

  “Okay. So, Lark, how’s your ass? Left any footprints on it lately?”

  My heart jumped so hard I felt it bounce off my ribs. “What?”

  He laughed—there was a nervous edge to it. “You really didn’t know, did you?”

  I shook my head. This was what shock felt like. “How could I? No one’s ever liked me. I was the crazy girl.”

  “Yeah, well I was taught to respect the dead, so I never thought you were crazy.” He pulled the car into my drive. Nan must have parked her car in the garage. He cut the engine.

  Silence.

  Never thought I was crazy.

  “Where did the ghost scratch you?” I asked, unbuckling the seat belt. “Can I see it?”

  He looked confused. “My back. Sure.” He unfastened his seat belt and turned in the seat, lifting his shirt.

  I turned on the dome light, illuminating the inside of the little car. Ben had a really nice back—his skin was that smooth golden color that I envied so much, and I could actually see his muscles move beneath.

  Running down the center of his back were three thin scratches. They were pink with a bit of dark around the edges, but nothing more substantial than what human fingernails might inflict if someone really tried. They were nowhere near as bad as Gage’s, Mace’s or even Sarah’s or Roxi’s.

  He had been taught to respect the dead. He had looked at death and ghosts differently than the others. He wasn’t afraid of them—and they weren’t able to hurt him so much.

  “Are they bad?” he asked.

  I touched them, watched as one visibly faded beneath my fingers. I could have cried. Finally, something good. “No,” I told him. “They’re not.”

  He turned. “Really?”

  I smiled. “Really.”

  He looked so relieved it almost broke my heart. I couldn’t stop staring at him. He was really cute—sexy even. And he was smart, and nice. Really nice. Were nice guys supposed to have ripped abs? His shirt was still pulled up some and I could see them right there in front of me.

  Ben’s gaze dropped. “So, about my confession—”

  I cut him off. “Yeah, about that. Ben, I’m sorry.”

  Oh, he looked like I punched him. “Right. You’re not interested. I should have known.” He started to draw back, but I reached out and grabbed his arm.

  “No, I’m sorry I was such an idiot and never noticed you sooner. I was too busy protecting myself from people who wanted to hurt me to notice the people who wanted to be my friend.”

  Dark eyes locked with mine. Oh, boy. A girl could get used to being looked at like that. “I want to be more than your friend, Lark.”

  And there went my stomach—all fluttery and idiotic. “Okay.”

  His hands cupped my face—his fingers were warm. He looked at me for a second, and then his lips touched mine.

  Yeah, so, wow. He was a really good kisser. Possibly extraordinary. When he pulled away I wanted to pull him back. As it was, I’d totally crumpled the front of his shirt with my hands.

  “Can I call you tomorrow?” he asked.

  “It is tomorrow,” I replied. He had stolen all my intelligence with his pretty lips.

  He chuckled. “Can I call you later?”

  “Yes.”

  He brushed my hair back from my face. “Can I see you later?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I kiss you again later?”

  Oh. My. Freaking. Gawd. “You’d better.”

  Ben smiled. “Good night, Lark.”

  “Good night.” I really didn’t want to get out of the car, but I was exhausted and needed sleep. Plus, Nan might be wondering where I was. I opened the door and stepped out into the cool night. I wasn’t much of a romantic, but I was sure I grinned the whole way to the door. Ben started the car, waved and turned off the dome light before backing out of the drive.

  I unlocked the door, stepped into the house and locked everything up again. Then I quietly crept upstairs to my room. It wasn’t until I caught a flash of my reflection in the mirror—enough to give me a start—that I remembered the white-haired woman at Haven Crest who had spoken to me. There’d been something familiar about her, and Wren hadn’t m
entioned her at all.

  Who the hell was she?

  WREN

  “I can’t believe it.” Kevin’s shoulders slumped. He was at his computer—where he’d been for hours—looking for information on Josiah Bent’s grave.

  “What now?” I asked. He’d already found out that the original graveyard—and the one Bent was buried in—had been moved in the late 1970s, and that some of the inmates’ remains hadn’t been recovered. After another hour he’d managed to find out that Bent hadn’t been one of those lost graves. Unfortunately, it had taken him a while to find Bent’s patient number, only to discover that some of the grave markers had gotten mixed up in the move.

  He sat back in his chair and shoved his hands through his hair. His curls were so thick they stood out like a halo around his head. It was too cute. “The records of the new graveyard layout were destroyed in a fire in 1979.”

  I felt his disappointment. “Are you saying the only way we have to find Bent’s grave is to physically search the cemetery for his marker?”

  Kevin nodded. “And even then we won’t be certain it’s his.”

  “That’s not true,” I told him. “We’ll know it’s his when we find it.”

  His head whipped around. I was still trying to get used to the fact that he could see me sometimes. “How?”

  “Because the closer we get, the harder he’ll try to stop us.”

  His face fell. “That’s not exactly comforting.”

  I wanted to comfort him, I really did, but I wasn’t good at saying things people wanted to hear.

  “There may be something in that book I brought back from the Shadow Lands. Possibly.”

  “That’s the first good news I’ve heard in what feels like forever.”

  “Don’t get too excited. I’ll have to take a look through it.”

  “Still, it’s something.”

  I shrugged. “Hopefully, because there’s no way any of you—or even I—will make it through that graveyard to do a search. Bent and his minions won’t allow us to linger that long. Even if we do discover which one is his we’d be lucky to get in there, dig it up and burn his remains.”