Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (25 page)

But I had to stay positive. “What can you tell me about
them? How do you get rid of them?” I rummaged through my
bag for a notebook and pen. Something told me it would be
advantageous to take notes this time.

“When I was living in Texas, a colleague of mine
encountered one and included his findings in the paranormal
research guide he was writing.” Rita pulled a book from the
shelf and searched for the right page. “Here we go.”

She pointed out a paragraph and then slid the book
across the desk to me. “I’m afraid I don’t know any more
about them than what’s written here. They’re incredibly
rare.”

“I’m sure she’ll be the showpiece of my ghost
collection then, won’t she?” I was joking of course but Rita
failed to crack a smile—discomforting to say the least.

Reading through the passage, I grew more troubled
with each word. “Unbridled fury” and “soulless revenge” are
phrases that should never be contained within one sentence.
I came to one conclusion—things didn’t look so good for me.

Unable to finish reading, I handed the book back to
her. “Just break it down for me—what exactly
is
a wraith?”

“A wraith is the ghost of someone who died in a
severe state of terror and
rage—murder victims
mostly.
Something about that extreme emotional turmoil at the time
of death seems to take away their humanity and ability to
direct their anger appropriately.
They
simply
find an
innocent victim and exact their revenge as though that person
were their tormentor. They’re very powerful and they distort
your senses. They’re forever tied to the locations of their
deaths.
Without a doubt, she was murdered in that very
theater.” Rita leaned forward in her chair and whispered
gravely, “If I were you, I would never set foot in that theater
again. Wraiths aren’t something to mess with for even the
best of investigators. You don’t have enough experience to
take her on—even both of us together wouldn’t be enough.”

Not what I needed to hear.
In essence, she
just
handed me my death notice.
Was there nothing I could do to
help Crimson now? If she died because I was too scared to
help her, I would never forgive myself. There had to be a way
to fight Allison’s power and find out who killed her.

“Isn’t there some way of getting through to her, of
finding out who murdered her?” I asked hopefully.

Rita shook her head. “Wraiths have no desire to
communicate.
Their only purpose is to seek revenge on
anyone who crosses their paths. They’re unable to perceive
the living except for those of us with the power to see them.
She knows you can see her—she has you in the crosshairs.”

I made a decision, albeit an unadvisable one. “I have
to go back, Rita. The police are no closer to finding Crimson.
If there’s even the slightest chance I can save her—”

Rita interjected, “There’s more than a slight chance
that
you’ll
be the next one who needs saving! I’ll ask my
friend in Texas for advice but please, in the meantime, stay
away from the Bantam.”

I made her that promise and headed home.
Until I
saw his car in front of the mansion, I’d forgotten that I invited
Zach over to watch movies. He could never find out the kind
of danger I was putting myself in. I had to convince him that
everything was okay, that Allison was nothing more than a
harmless lost soul. Maybe I
should
have tried out for the part
of
Kira—I
was
about
to
pull
off
the
greatest
acting
performance of my life.

I put on a stellar smile and pretended nothing was
wrong.
No
ghost issues,
no Lucas, no nightmares
that
questioned our relationship. As soon as we were upstairs in
my room, Zach wanted details. True to their twin-like nature,
Rachel called at that very moment to get the story as well.
And they got it—just not as in depth as it was given to me and
dramatically less dire.

“Good to hear, Ruby!” Rachel said. “Boone’s visiting
Drake Wednesday night so I’ll fill you in when he gets back.
I’ll let you go now but can you put Zach on for a minute?”

“Sure,” I said and handed him the phone. “She wants
to talk to you.”

Their conversation seemed tense, as though she were
trying to convince him to do something that he didn’t want to
do. She was probably asking him to lie to their parents so she
could spend more time with Boone again. Zach was obviously
uncomfortable so I went to fix my hair and let him fight with
his sister in peace. When I returned, he was in the kitchen
unpacking the snacks he brought.

“So what you’re saying here is that Allison’s not
dangerous? Is Rita positive of that?” Zach grilled me like an
FBI agent as he threw some popcorn into the microwave.

Extra butter just like I liked it. Did he forget even one
tiny detail about me?
Yes, yes he forgot one—when backed
into a corner, my instinct was to lie my way out of it. I didn’t
want
to lie to him. I
had
to lie to him. It was the only way to
know for sure if his commitment to me was forged from love
and not from some stupid need to be a hero.

“I have no reason to question anything Rita told me.
She was quite firm in her convictions.” A little too firm if you
ask me.

Zach cracked open a soda and sat down. Immediately,
Coco saw her opportunity and crawled into his lap, purring.
“In that case, I trust her judgment. She has a good track
record.
I mean, she was totally right about Scarlet.
Why
wouldn’t she be right about this, too?”

It was that fact that frightened me the most.
Rita
warned me to be careful with Garnet but she never tried to
convince me not to go to school.
I was facing something
serious and I couldn’t even share it with Zach.
He sat there
oblivious to the truth, scratching behind Coco’s ear and
mimicking her purrs. Every ounce of happiness I had in this
town
had a nightmarish mirror image to counteract it.
Graduation couldn’t come fast enough.

Time to change the subject. “We should be getting our
college acceptance letters soon, I would think.
Keep your
fingers crossed that we both get into Pendleton.” The timer
on the microwave beeped and I pulled the popcorn out like a
ravenous
raccoon.
I finally understood why Shaggy
and
Scooby were always so hungry—ghost hunting was a tough
business!

“Trust me—I’ve had my fingers crossed since I found
out you missed early registration. I know you said it doesn’t
matter to you but I don’t want to see you waste a semester at
some crappy job while I’m in class. Plus, I don’t want to see
how mad your dad gets when you tell him your plan. He’ll
probably blame me, too.”

A year ago, my dad’s reaction would have scared the
pants right off of me. But now, hell, no matter how bad it was
I was sure I’d faced worse. “I’m not worried about him. I’m
just so ready to get out of this town—it’s like I’m living in a
ghost filled Bermuda Triangle or something.”

“I’ll just be happy to have you all to myself. I’d be
willing to bet that Lucas won’t be going to Pendleton—if he’s
even going to college at all.”

Lucas.
Why did Zach have to mention his name?
I
popped the first movie into the Blu-Ray player and settled
down
next to him
like
nothing
was
wrong.
But it was.
Everything
was. I had a mess on my hands. What was I going
to do about it? Every day it felt like I was sinking further into
a pit of quicksand. In the end, who would be there to pull me
out?
Who did I
want
to pull me out?
Today, I just felt
destined to sink.

18. Halloween Revisited

Since I hadn’t heard from Lucas since his Friday night
confession, I sat at our usual lunch table anxiously awaiting
his arrival.
How was he going to act?
How should
I
act?
Should I address
what happened
or pretend
like
nothing
happened? Geez, why did boys have to be so complicated? If
only they came with handbooks.

Sudden and
brilliant
idea. Why didn’t I simply
write
one?
Every girl on the face of the earth would sacrifice a
week’s worth of lunch money to own it, maybe even more.
What Boys Don’t Tell You
by Ruby Matthews. It would make
the bestseller list for like a gazillion weeks in a row. Once all
of their secrets were revealed, relationships would be sooo
much easier!
No more guessing, no more wasting time on
someone who really wasn’t interested. Why didn’t anyone
think of it sooner?

After spending a solid five minutes thinking of the
biggest questions my readers would want answered, it finally
hit me. There was one major flaw in my plan—I would have
to find a boy willing to expose the skeletons hidden in the
closet of the collective male species.
And we all know
that
would never happen. It was a good idea while it lasted and it
kept me from obsessing for a solid five minutes over what
would happen when Lucas sat down.
That in itself was an
answer I would never get.

No Lucas in the cafeteria. No Lucas in the hallways.
No Lucas period. Was he too embarrassed to show his face?
Was he sitting home alone with a broken heart? Arghhh! Was
he thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him?
Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? Even tons of
homework wasn’t enough to get him out of my mind.

With
each passing
day,
I grew more restless
as
I
waited for him
to return.
So restless, in
fact, that by
Wednesday
afternoon
I
was
on
the
verge
of
needing
prescription medication to steady my nerves.
Zach never
asked me what was wrong but I caught him giving me strange
looks on several occasions. When I was about to completely
lose my sanity, I got a call from Rachel.

“I have details about what happened on Halloween.
I’m on my way to your house now.”

Now
there
was something that could take my mind off
of Lucas.
At least for a little while.
By the time I got to the
bottom of the grand staircase, she was already pulling into the
drive. They weren’t exactly the answers I was really looking
for but at this point, any answers would do.

Shelly tried to snag Rachel for five minutes to talk to
her about her redecorating
plans
for the weekend
but I
wouldn’t allow it. I gave Shelly a cold stare that said “back
off—she’s mine” and she walked away mumbling. Before
anything else could distract us, I grabbed Rachel’s arm and
pulled her up the stairs behind me.

“So what did you find out?” I asked once we were both
seated on the futon with sodas and some snacks.

“Lots! Sending Boone in was probably the best way of
getting the details. I have
all
the gossip!” Rachel said while
munching on a pretzel.

“Gossip?”

 

“Yeah, gossip! Drake and Crimson hooked up that
night after the party!”

“Shut up! They didn’t!” Granted, I was a little
preoccupied on Halloween night but I never saw anything
that would suggest that Crimson was even slightly interested
in reuniting with Drake. There were definite sparks between
them that night but not the good kind. If anything, I would
have thought Drake would be the one missing and the trunk
of Crimson’s car would have been the first place I would have
looked for him.

“They did!” Rachel all but shouted at me. “Looks like
you and my brother weren’t the only ones creating some heat
that night!”

“Did you have to remind me? It’s been a long time
since Zach and I steamed up any windows together.”

 

Rachel took a drink of her diet soda and stared at me
like a reporter. “I know. Care to explain why?”

I visualized her cramming a microphone into my face.
We were here to talk about Drake and Crimson. How did
I
end up on the hot seat?

“Zach wanted to cool things between us until I
straightened out my unresolved feelings for Lucas.”

 

“Lucas? What unresolved feelings do you have for
Lucas?” she asked with concern.

O. M. G. I meant to say Lee! How could I have made
such a grave slip of the tongue? “I mean Lee.” I said quickly to
cover my tracks.

“Uh huh, Lee,” she replied with doubt in her voice.

Great. Now she was going to tell Zach what I said and
he was going to flip. Regain control, pretend nothing’s wrong.
“So how did it happen? Drake and Crimson, I mean.”

Rachel wasn’t oblivious to my sly segue but she
answered me anyway. “Well, after her brawl with Ivy, Drake
carried Crimson out of here kicking and screaming and put
her in his car. He drove around town until she calmed down
and then he parked at Silver Lake and they talked.
They
talked about their breakup and Crimson admitted that she
still had feelings for him.
Ironically, Allison was the reason
they broke up in the first place.
Crimson thought the only
reason Drake even asked her out was because she reminded
him of Allison.
Talking led to kissing, kissing led to other
things and eventually they had sex in the back seat of Drake’s
car.”

Fascinating. The back seat of Drake’s sports car didn’t
look big enough for grasshoppers to mate in. Automatically, I
tried to picture gigantic Drake going for a touchdown in that
tiny space. Eww!! I tried to erase the image from my mind’s
eye but the harder I tried, the more it was the only thing I
could think about. “Drake’s backseat?” I asked. Maybe I heard
her wrong.