Page 75 of Chasing Your Ghost

“He’s not here,” she said, knowing it would only hurt her chances of convincing them but not having another choice. “I haven’t seen him since last night.”

Chris nodded as though he’d expected exactly that response. “That’s pretty goddamned convenient.”

Ella, who had been entirely silent and straight-faced during Riley’s long explanation, spoke then, saying something that could not have shocked Riley more. “I believe you.”

“You what?” Chris shouted as Riley asked, “You do?”

Ella nodded. “There’s just one problem with your story,” she said, distractedly stroking Archie, who’d jumped onto the couch next to her soon after Riley had started speaking. “Asher isn’t dead.”

Riley didn’t know what was more surprising—that Ella believed her or that the woman seemed to know, truly know, that Asher was alive. She stared at Asher’s best friend, wondering why she would so easily accept Riley’s words as true and how she seemed to know more than she should.

“That’s what I was trying to explain. I started to suspect as much when we realized he could touch me. I don’t think Asher is a ghost. I think he’s something else, something I’ve never seen before,” Riley admitted. “But why are you so certain he’s not dead?”

Ella hesitated, her lips parted as though she were about to speak, but no words left her.

“Spit it out, Montgomery,” Noah said coldly, clearly not liking that the woman had information he didn’t.

“I know because I can sense him when I’m asleep.”

20

Riley suddenly knew how Chris must have felt when she’d said she could see dead people. It was no wonder he’d been so dismissive of her. And it was no wonder Noah had struggled to believe she was a medium even though he’d already half-convinced himself of it.

“I’m sorry,” Riley said with a shake of her head. “You can do what?”

Ella lifted her shoulders in a shrug, studiously avoiding eye contact with any of them. “The closest term I could find for people like me is a dreamwalker.”

“What the fucking fuck?” Noah muttered, echoing Riley’s thoughts exactly.

“Oh, I get it,” Chris said as he stood up. He gestured between them all. “You’re in this together. You’re all messing with me.”

“Do you really think I’d work with Ella of all people?” Noah asked his friend with a disgusted shake of his head. “No joke would be worth that, especially not one at the expense of Asher.”

Riley hadn’t taken her eyes off Ella, so she caught the way the woman flinched.

“Noah, shut up!” Riley rubbed her hands over her face. “Just stop being an ass for a second, so we can find out what the hell is going on.”

“Guys, this isn’t funny anymore,” Chris said slowly like he needed his lack of amusement to sink into their thick skulls.

Riley ignored him, turning back to Ella. “This dreamwalking thing, how does it work?”

“I’m not entirely sure myself,” she replied, her gaze moving down to Archie. “I can’t exactly control it, and it doesn’t happen every night, but it’s kind of like my spirit, or whatever you want to call it, leaves my body when I’m sleeping. Sometimes I just wander around aimlessly without running into anyone, but most of the time, I appear where there are people. I can see and hear everything, but it’s all sort of muted and gray, and nobody can see me, obviously.”

“That sounds…”

“Creepy? Stalkerish?” Noah filled in.

Ella shot him a glare. “It’s not like I want to do it. Trust me, if I could, I’d scrub the things I’ve seen from my memory.”

Noah scoffed. “Spied on people having sex, have you?” he asked.

Ella closed her eyes and drew in a breath like she was searching for patience. “No,” she ground out. “I wish that was the worst I’ve seen.”

“What does that mean?” Riley asked gently.

The woman shrugged, but there was a tension in her shoulders. “Sometimes I see things happen. Bad things.”

Goosebumps rose up on Riley’s arms. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what Ella might have seen over the years. Inspired by the terrible stories she’d heard from ghosts over the years, countless awful scenarios popped into her mind.

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