Page 77 of Chasing Your Ghost

“I need you to call me as soon as it happens again,” Riley asked. She looked around at Asher’s three friends and knew she needed to tell them the one thing she’d left out of her story. “I expected him to come to the pool house this morning, but he never showed up. He wouldn’t go this long without checking in with me, and I’m worried he might have done something.”

“I’ll let you know, but what exactly do you think he’s done?” Ella asked.

“Yesterday, when I still thought he was dead, he decided he wanted to try and move on. He was planning to pass over last night, and with all the drama, I didn’t get a chance to share my new theory with him,” Riley explained. She chewed on her lip, her fingers nervously playing with the end of her braid. “What if he did it? What if he moved on?”

“But if he’s not dead, surely he wouldn’t be able to move on,” Noah pointed out.

He made a good point, but they had no way of knowing that for sure. “I have no idea,” she replied, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “This is completely unchartered territory for me, so your guess is as good as mine.”

“Guys, I don’t want to rain on your parade here, but why are we so convinced that Asher isn’t dead?” Chris asked.

“Why the hell would you say that?” Noah hissed.

“I mean, yes, Ella can feel him in her dreams, but that might only mean that she can sense his ghost. She got drawn to places he was at when he was a ghost, not to wherever his body is.” Chris let out a heavy breath, his body seeming to slump in defeat. “I want what you guys are saying to be true so badly, but what if all Riley has been seeing is his ghost, and all Ella has been sensing is the same?”

“I understand why you’d think that,” Riley said softly, sympathy overwhelming her. She couldn’t imagine what the three of them, not to mention Asher’s parents, had been going through since Asher had gone missing. “But he isn’t like any other ghost I’ve dealt with. He can feel pain, which should be impossible, and I know firsthand that ghosts aren’t meant to be able to touch me. There’s something very different about him.”

“But if he is alive, why would his spirit be wandering around?” Chris asked with a frown.

Riley could tell he wanted to believe her. He wanted what she was saying to be true, but he was thinking about this as logically and critically as he could, which was actually a good thing. It was also surprising, given that Chris came across as a flirty jokester, not the serious, get-down-to-business type.

“I had the same thought, but what if the reason I could see him wasn’t that he’s dead but that he’s dying?” Her voice cracked on the last word, and it felt like someone had punched her in the gut, leaving her breathless, even though the words had come from her.

Saying it out loud made the possibility all the more real. Even if Asher hadn’t moved on, and even if he was really alive, there was a chance that it could change.

Someone had taken Asher, and if his spirit had already left his body, there was no telling how badly he was already hurt and how long he had left.

“Think about it,” she said. “Asher’s out there somewhere, and I doubt whoever attacked him is taking good care of him.”

“You think he goes back to his body, don’t you,” Ella said in a barely audible murmur. “The dark place with pain. You think it’s his spirit returning to wherever he’s being kept.”

Riley nodded, her vision blurring as tears gathered in her eyes. “Ghosts can’t feel pain,” she repeated in a shaky voice. “But the living can.”

“Except we don’t know if he’s gone back to his body or if he moved on like he planned,” Noah said, voicing what she was worried about.

“You need to call us as soon as you dreamwalk again,” Riley told Ella. “It’s the only way we’ll know for sure.”

“I will.”

“And while we wait?” Noah asked as he kicked the armchair next to him, his temper making a reappearance. “Are we just meant to carry on with our lives like nothing has changed?”

“No.” Riley swallowed the lump in her throat. “Regardless of what Ella finds out next, there’s something I want to do, and I could use your help.”

“What are you thinking?” Chris asked, his easy smile nowhere in sight. He’d been the hardest to convince, but he looked ready to do whatever Riley asked.

“I want to try and figure out who took him,” she explained. “And we can start by going to where his car was found.”

Noah sighed. “Riley, what do you think we’ll find that the police haven’t?”

“I don’t know what we’ll find—if anything—but I like our odds better than theirs.” Riley gestured between herself and Ella. “We have a medium and a dreamwalker on our team.”

Chris huffed out a laugh. “There’s something I never thought I’d hear. Are you sure you guys aren’t messing with me?”

“Believe it, don’t believe it. I don’t care,” Riley told him. “All I want to know is if you’re going to help me find Asher.”

“Oh, I’m in,” he replied without hesitation.

“Me too,” Noah agreed.

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