Shadow Bound (Wraith) (15 page)

Camille gave Ava the once over from head to toe before looking back at me. 

“You and I talked about this once before, with that painting by your aunt.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. I held her eye, terrified to look away.

“Wraiths. That was what we talked about. You and your aunt shared an interest in ghosts then.”

“Yes.”

“And now you need to know more?”

I swallowed and nodded. Ava stood quietly by my side. “Yes, I do.”

“Can you give me a little more information?” she asked.

“We’re wondering, I guess, if there is any way to get rid of a ghost.” Wow. That sounded crazy.

“Tell me something,” she studied me closely, “these spirits, are they friendly type?”

“Some are,” I explained, “but we need to know about the ones that aren’t.”

“I think I have a couple of books that fall in that category,” she said. “Follow me.”

She brushed past us. Her long, dark skirt billowed behind her, and Ava and I shared a look of surprise when she didn’t stop at the occult section like we expected. Instead, she turned into the office or back storage room. She crouched on the floor at a file cabinet with the bottom drawer pulled open. I looked at Ava and she shrugged.

“Here it is,” Camille declared, pulling something out of the drawer with both hands. When she stood up she held a thick, tattered book.

“What is this?” I asked. She offered me the book. I took it from her and turned it over in my hands. The cover was made of fabric, the edges frayed. I barely made out the words, ‘Shadow Bound,’ across the cover.

“This book carries the information you may need if I’m guessing correctly. Are you trying to remove a spirit?”

There was no way to answer that easily, but once again Ava stepped forward. “We’re just doing research, for now. It’s not a big deal, but yes, the general idea is removing a spirit – a hostile one,” she added.

Camille frowned and asked, “Do you know what you’re getting into?”

“Vaguely,” I admitted.

“Take the book then, and be careful. Messing with two different worlds is complicated and dangerous.”

“Trust us,” Ava said. “She knows.” I stepped on her foot with my heel. She shot me a nasty look. “Ouch.”

“Thank you,” I said, pulling the book close to my chest. “How much do we owe you?”

“Nothing.” She waved her hand at the two of us. “This isn’t the kind of book you sell. I’ve been waiting for the right person to pass it on to for a long time.”

“Thank you,” I say again.

Camille wrapped the book in a paper bag before we left the shop. As we walked to Ava’s car, she said, “That was weird. Do you think she knows?”

“I don’t know. Definitely weird though. The last time we talked, she was at my house. She figured out the painting Jeannie sent me. I suppose she may have some kind of sight. She’s not the first I’ve met since all of this started,” I said, thinking of Ms. Frances.

“Jane,” Ava said when we’re halfway down the sidewalk to her car. “Don’t freak.”

“About what?”

“Over there, by that building. Don’t. Freak.”

Sure enough Connor stood under the big magnolia in front of the Rec Center with a couple of his friends. “What? We’re going to share the same space. I’m okay with it,” I lied.

“Sure you are,” she said. “What’s he doing here?”

“Emma has art classes at the rec building.”

“Why are his fellow delinquents with him?”

“Who knows? Maybe they want a record also? Associating with a convicted felon?” I made the jab but it hurt to say or think mean things about Connor. Not all of this was in his control. I knew that, but I also knew he wasn’t making every effort to gain control back either.

“We have to walk past them. Do you want to turn around? Go somewhere else?” Ava asked.

I lifted my chin. “No. I’m ready.”

“Okay,” she said and picked up her pace to match my increasingly fast one. “I’m going to tell you a joke. And you laugh like it’s the funniest thing ever.”

“I’ll try,” I said, but even speaking made my heart lodge in my throat. Why was this so hard? Why was seeing him so difficult?

To make matters worse, I felt crappier the closer we got to the boys. Connor looked like a hot mess. Massive bags under his eyes, a week’s worth of beard growing on his chin. And he looked thin. Too thin for a healthy, 18-year-old boy. If he looked this bad, I wondered about my appearance.

Just as we passed, I caught the faint scent of smoke. I tilted my head in his direction and saw him press a cigarette to his lips. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled, barely containing a snarl. “Gross.”

“I know,” Ava said. “It’s like he’s gunning for World’s Biggest Cliché. Maybe they’ll make an afterschool special about him and his loserdom.”

Connor kept his angry, hard eyes on us but the other boys smiled and waved. Huh. What was this? Did they not know?

“Hey, Jane,” Michael said. “Ava. What’s up?”

Ava shot them all a dirty look. “Nothing. Just some shopping.”

Brennan glanced at Connor and back at me, forehead furrowed. “You guys going to that party next week? The one downtown.”

What party? “Not sure yet,” Ava said. Of course she knew about it.

We kept walking, making no effort to stop. I could see the car ahead and that was my goal – getting in the car and getting out of there. Away from him.

We weren’t even out of earshot when Brennan asked, “What the hell dude?”

“Forget it,” Connor said. “It’s no big.”

“No big? A week ago you two were inseparable, I couldn’t even get you to go to the skate park with me because you had to mack with that girl?” There was a scuffle of sorts and Ava and I both looked up just as we reached her car. Connor had a hand against Brennan’s chest and both boys were puffed up, ready to fight.

“Shut up, man. Leave it,” Connor said. I noticed his hands shaking and his lower lip trembling in anger.

“Holy crap,” Ava said, taking in the scene.

Agitated, I lifted the car handle a couple of times. “Can we just go?”

“Sure,” she said and unlocked the doors. We both got in the car and the tears I held back trickled down my face. I didn’t want to cry yet. Not where he could see me.

“Drive,” I begged. “Please.”

Ava cranked the car and gave me a sympathetic glance. “Oh, honey.”

“Don’t. He’s being a jerk and an ass and let’s just go.” I kept my eyes forward as we passed the still-squabbling boys.

“He looks like crap, you know,” she tried. When I didn’t respond, she turned up the AC full blast and the cool air dried the sticky tears off my face.

“The worst part,” I said when we neared my house, “is it’s like I don’t know him at all.”

“Don’t say that, Jane,” she said, parking the car by the front of my house. “If it means anything, I think he still cares about you.”

I grabbed the book and my bag and opened the car door. “It doesn’t mean enough,” I told her and shut the door.

&

“What’s that?”

I looked up from the page long enough to see my aunt at the door. Jeannie stood with one hand against the wall in a bright orange summer dress that fell so long the hem grazed the floor. The exuberant color didn’t hide the weariness on her face.

“Just a book I found.” I showed her the title and noticed her eyebrow lift in interest.

“Shadow Bound?”

“Ever heard of that before?”

She crossed the room and sat in my desk chair, her sandals slapping softly with each step. “I have. From my mother, of course. Shadow or shade is another word for a type of ghost. Mythology says people see the ’shades’ out of the corner of their eye. Vague, shadowy shapes.”

“There’s nothing vague or shadowy about the ghosts I see.”

“No. Which is what makes you extraordinary. You communicate with the ghosts on a whole different level, like my mom. It’s like me and the auras. Many people get a ’feeling‘ from others, but I actually can see the spirit. So, Shadow Bound? What does it say?”

“According to this, the shadows of people – an essence, I suppose – are connected back to this world even though they are dead.” I flipped through the pages. “That would be what normal people see or feel when they think they’ve seen a ghost. Connor? He falls somewhere in between. He can see and communicate with the ghosts, but there is a line neither of them can cross. Me? I get the whole creepy moment, not just the visual but the fact they can interact with me and touch me. I’m bound to the spirit world.”

“Extraordinary,” my aunt said.

“Extraordinarily scary. It seems like actually being shadow bound is super rare, more than just seeing ghosts,” I sighed. I picked up the book and read aloud, “It says here that when a person is bound to the shadows, protections need to be set up because only the shadows that are fighting passing over can touch you.”

“Why protection?” she asked.

“Because they want to form permanent attachments or something. I don’t really understand it. But I guess like Evan? He stuck around for a while. I think it could have been indefinite.”

Jeannie leaned over my shoulder. “What type of protections.”

I handed her the book. “That’s where it all gets a little mystical and stuff. Charms, spells. Different herbs. It sounds like witchcraft.”

“Is that so bad?” Jeannie asked.

I nodded and laughed. “Yeah, I know we’ve got this family thing going on but I’m not ready to go down the path to witchcraft yet. I just want to know how to keep me and Connor safe. I don’t mind helping these spirits – or shadows find their way back, but the rest? No thanks.”

She stood and handed me the book. “I agree that I prefer the peaceful method. So far you’ve done a really great job helping these people. But you’ve said yourself, Charlotte is dangerous.”

“I don’t even know where you would find half of this stuff,” I said, taking the book back and closing it with a slam. The book was making me feel panicky. It dove into a deeper level of this ghost business than I was willing to subscribe to at the moment. Surely, Charlotte could be convinced to move on like the rest.

Jeannie walked to the door. “I’ll look into it, but you’re right. So much of the information in that book feels like dark energy. I don’t like it either. My mother would probably disagree, but she spent many years on the edge of the darkness. She may know better than both of us.” She glanced at her watch. “I need to go over there now. She’s been having some problems.”

This was news to me, but I hadn’t been the most observant lately. “What’s going on?”

“My mother is tired and has lived a long life. There is no shame in letting go.”

I picked the book up off the bed and opened it again. Feeling horrible about my aunt and more confused than ever. “Let me know if you need anything,” I said.

She smiled. “I will. And Jane, knowing all your options is a good idea. Read the book. You never know what you may learn.”

“Y
ou have a
piece of tree in your hair,” I said, reaching over and plucking the twig out of Ava’s thick black hair. The tiny branch snagged and I yanked harder than I intended to get it out.

“Ouch!”

“Sorrrrry,” I said with exaggeration. “It’s your own fault for parking your car next to a giant tree-bush thing.”

At the next stoplight, Ava checked her hair in the rearview mirror and flattened out the part I pulled loose.

“It wasn’t so dangerous in the daylight. And stop frowning,” she said. “You’ve spent the last couple of weeks moping around. We’re 17, it’s summer, my parents are both out of town and we’re going to a party.”

“In a warehouse. Downtown. When we end up murdered in some back alley, I’m still blaming this entire thing on you.”

“You can’t blame me. I’ll be dead.”

“Ugh, you’ll probably haunt me forever, too.” I snorted and she giggled. It was nice to have someone in on the joke. “Plus, don’t pretend this is all about fun.”

“Stalking and fun together. It’s better to approach Sarah Mae this way and not just show up at her house, don’t you think?

“I think this is crazy any way you look at it.”

“Keep an eye out for Fifth Street.” She hunched down to see the signs through the window.

“We just passed Fourteenth and the numbers are going down.”

The city lights were bright as we slowly drove down the streets looking for our destination. Ava found out Sarah Mae planned on going to the party from her Twitter account. We both felt like following her on Facebook would look suspicious, but trolling her public account on Twitter was pretty easy. When we realized it was the same party Michael mentioned the other day, and that Christian knew one of the bands playing, we decided to go. Our plan involved going to the party, searching for Sarah Mae and then acting like we were just here to hang out with Ava’s boyfriend. Perfect excuse. I felt uncomfortable going into a party where I didn’t really know anyone, but Ava was right, I needed to get out of this funk.