“What’s it like to have lived?” I asked as we danced.
His smile seemed almost sad as he whirled me around the chimneys of one of the older buildings. “Terrible and wonderful. Anxious and joyous. Things hurt and stink and rot. And then, you’ll find the most perfect flower, or watch the sunrise, and every pain will have been worth it.”
I felt hollow inside. “I wish I could experience it.”
He looked me in the eye. “My dear girl, you don’t have to be alive to live. There are plenty of living people in this world who sleepwalk through it and never hate or love any part of it. You are more alive than almost anyone I’ve ever known.”
Noah and I danced and talked some more. We flirted and we laughed. And then, the sun peeked its head up over the horizon.
We were sitting beneath an old tree that still had most of its leaves—which were almost as dark a red as my hair. Noah lifted his head.
“You should go,” he said. “Your sister will wonder where you’ve been.” Of course he knew about Lark if he knew who I was.
He was right. She’d worry if I wasn’t there when she woke up, even though she wouldn’t be up for a while yet. It was Saturday, after all.
“Is the daylight difficult for you?” I asked. It was a known fact that most ghosts were weakened by the sun. I wasn’t one of them, though I did feel more “alive” at night.
He glanced away—as though it was something to be ashamed of. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
I placed my hand over the one resting on his thigh and gently squeezed. “Don’t be.”
Suddenly, his face was right there in front of mine, and his fingers touched my cheek as though I was made of the most delicate glass. “If I could I would spend all the hours of this day and the next, and all the others that follow, in your company.”
My throat tightened. Lark would have thought of something witty to say at such a time. Me? Not so much. “Me, too.”
His face brightened. He rose to his feet, helping me stand at the same time. He held both my hands in his. “Will I see you again tonight?”
I nodded. “Yes. If you want.”
“I can think of nothing that would give me more pleasure.”
He talked like something out of a romance novel—like Mr. Darcy. I loved it. I grinned. “Well, I would hate to deny you.”
A slow smile curved his perfect lips. “I was right—you do have a natural talent for flirting.” His smile faded. “I must go. Until tonight.”
I started to say something, but he cut me off by pressing his mouth to mine in a quick, firm kiss. Then, he was gone, leaving me standing there, stunned.
I pressed my fingers to my mouth and smiled. I felt light—ridiculously happy. Who knew that boys held such power in their lips?
I spun around, laughing out loud as I whisked myself away from Haven Crest. As I drifted away I saw two leaves fall from the tree. They drifted down to the ground where Noah and I had sat. They each fell alone but ended up together on the grass, stems entwined. Somehow, they’d found each other.
I danced all the way home.
LARK
I woke up late, a little sore from the fight with Daria, but otherwise fine. I would have been up earlier, but I’d stayed out late with Ben. Memories of how we’d passed the time made me warm all over. God, that boy knew how to kiss. Where to touch...
What the hell was that sound?
Slowly, I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked out into the dimness of my room. There was Wren dancing and singing under her breath in front of my mirror. She kept changing her outfits and hairstyles like a movie montage. All she had to do was think it, and she could look it. I hated that about her. It took me forty minutes to get ready. It took her four seconds.
I’d never seen her like this. She was grinning like an idiot, and I’m pretty sure she was singing a Taylor Swift song. She was also wearing a dress exactly like the one Belle wore to dance with Beast in the Disney movie.
“That yellow clashes with your hair,” I grumbled, beating down the blankets.
She yelped, and so did I. What the hell? I’d never startled her before.
“Are you okay?” I asked, frowning at her. She looked...sheepish. I guess I would be, too, if I’d been caught in that dress.
“I’m fine,” she chirped. “Just bored waiting for you to wake up. It’s about time.”
My gaze narrowed. There was definitely something up with her. “Where did you end up last night? I was surprised you weren’t here when I got home.”
She shrugged and looked away. “I went to the Shadow Lands for a while. Nothing exciting.”
My ass. But, hey, if she didn’t want to talk about it, she didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t like it when she nagged me, so I wasn’t going to nag her.
Except... “You’d tell me if you were in trouble, right? Like if something awful happened?”
She frowned, dark red brows lowering over eyes that were exactly like mine. “Of course. Just because I wasn’t with you doesn’t mean something terrible happened.”
But something had. I was willing to bet it was Kevin. He’d left the dance early, too. At the time I’d assumed a high school dance wasn’t all that interesting for a guy in college, but now I suspected he’d run off to hang out with my sister. If he broke her heart, I was going to break his head.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Wren demanded, the ball gown melting away into leggings and a long, slouchy sweater.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to punch me in the face.”
“Sorry. It’s not you I’d like to punch.” I threw back the covers. “Gotta pee.”
She came into the bathroom with me, phasing through the wall. Ghosts didn’t have the same personal boundaries as the living. Wren never had a full bladder, the cow, so she didn’t get that emptying it was often a private thing.
“Did you have a good time last night?” she asked, sticking her fingers through the shower curtain as she turned her back to me. At least she gave me a little privacy.
“I did—obviously after we got rid of Daria.”
Wren frowned. She looked disappointed. “I was so sure that it was her love for Mr. Fisher that kept her here, not revenge.”
“When love goes bad, it goes bad. Happens all the time.” I flushed and washed my hands. “Not like they had a chance at happiness with her being a ghost.”
“You know, for a girl with a boyfriend, you’re terribly cynical about love.”
“No, I’m not.” I pulled on my pink fuzzy robe. “I just believe it works better if both people are on the same side of the veil.” I gave her a pointed look, hoping my meaning hit home.
She thought about it. “Well, that certainly makes intercourse easier.”
I stared at her. Gaped, actually. “What?”
Wren looked at me like I was slow. “Intercourse. You know, interaction between two people.”
“I think you mean discourse. Intercourse means sex.”
“Oh.” A look of understanding took over her face. “It really would make that easier, then, wouldn’t it?” Then, she burst out laughing and so did I.
Our grandmother