Page 28 of Chasing Your Ghost

“Good luck,” Noah said in a sing-song voice. “From what Olivia’s told us, Miss Markova will spend most of the lesson yelling at you.”

Riley’s eyebrows lifted. “Should I be scared?”

Chris nodded gravely. “Be very afraid, Riley. Very, very afraid.”

“Thanks for freaking me out before my first lesson with her.” Miss Markova would be using their first private lesson to get a sense of what level she was at and which group class to put her in, and she could have done without the extra pressure.

“You’ll be fine,” Noah reassured her.

Riley looked over her shoulder at the townhouse-turned-studio. It looked innocent enough, charming even, but she knew ballet teachers had a well-earned reputation for being incredibly strict to the point of being almost tyrannical.

She was about to approach the front door of the building—a building which couldn’t have been more different than the studio she’d used to dance in back in New York—when a young woman nearly crashed into her.

Dressed in yoga pants and a baggy shirt, she was rummaging around in her pink gym bag and muttering under her breath, but when she stopped inches away from Riley and looked up at their group, she went entirely still, her gaze stuck on Noah.

The circles under the girl’s eyes put Riley’s stepbrother’s to shame. Whoever she was, she looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Ella,” Chris greeted her.

Riley was surprised at the lack of warmth in his voice, but it had nothing on Noah’s cold tone.

“Montgomery,” he practically seethed.

The dark-haired girl—Ella—swallowed, dropping her gaze to the sidewalk as though in defeat. “Hi,” she said quietly.

Riley shifted on her feet. “I’m Riley,” she said, needing to shatter the tension that had fallen over the group. “Noah’s stepsister,” she added when Ella frowned without responding.

Ella’s eyes flared with shock as she looked between the two of them. “Oh,” she murmured, her shock giving way to confusion. “I had no idea… I mean, I didn’t know you were visiting.”

“She’s not visiting. She moved here,” Noah told her bitingly. “And now you know.”

Ella flinched before nodding slowly, looking close to tears. “Okay, well, it was nice to meet you,” she said, sending Riley a wavering smile.

“Yeah, you too. Do you do ballet as well?” Riley pointed at the townhouse with its sign declaring it a ballet studio.

The woman wasn’t dressed for a ballet class, but she could have had her tights and leotard in her bag.

Before Ella could reply, Noah laughed darkly. “Not a chance. Ella’s a cheerleader, not a ballet dancer.” His tone made it clear it was an insult and not a simple fact.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Riley had never been a fan of the cheerleaders at her old high school, but Ella had deigned to speak to her and hadn’t muttered any insults under her breath, so she couldn’t be so bad.

“I was just visiting my gran before I go to my yoga class,” Ella explained to Riley, her eyes glittering with moisture. “I need to go, but maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Sure.” Riley frowned as she watched Ella duck her head and rush past them, her waist-length hair streaming behind her. “What the hell is your problem?” she asked Noah and Chris once the woman was out of earshot.

Noah’s jaw ticked as he ground his teeth. “Just leave it,” he said. “It’s nothing.”

Riley glared at him. “Clearly, it’s not nothing. What the hell did she ever do to you to get that kind of a reaction?”

“Riley, just let it go,” Chris urged.

“No. I want to know why you two were acting like such jerks.”

“Ella is Asher’s best friend, okay,” Noah snapped, his hands tightening into fists.

Riley blinked at him, her anger dissipating as his words sunk in. Asher hadn’t made a reappearance since he’d vanished so suddenly on Sunday, and Riley was starting to wonder if he had simply passed on, however strange his disappearance had been. Still, thoughts of Asher and what could have happened to him had been plaguing her, and she couldn’t help but feel that he still needed her help.

“Okay,” she said gently. “But why would that make you hate her so much?”

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