Page 11 of The Accidental Ghost

“Yes. Sometimes, another ghost or even a reaper will lead you to your final destination. Maybe, for whatever reason, they brought you here.”

She wanted to lean her head against Nina’s wide doors and cry. “And what? Forgot about me altogether?” That wouldn’t surprise her. She was almost always lost in the mix of one thing or another. She wasn’t a very good squeaky wheel, leaving her lost in the shuffle more often than not.

He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s focus on whether you can go outside. Have you tried?”

Tugging at her shirt, she gave him a sheepish look. “No. I guess I was too afraid.”

Which was the tone of her entire life. A little bit afraid of everything. A lover, not a fighter. Cautious, risk averse. The biggest risk she’d ever taken was opening the book store. But what had that gotten her?

Dead. That’s what. Dead and left to haunt a vampire’s castle.

But even if she could leave the castle, where would she go? Home? How did she get there? Did she float? Hitch a ride in someone’s car? Take the train?

“Then you might not be the kind of ghost who’s attached to something here in Nina and Greg’s castle. That’ll help.”

“So I’m not a stage-five clinger, then?” she half-joked.

He chuckled, deep and throaty. Apparently as a ghost, she could still swoon, and Shamus was head swoon-maker in charge of all her swoon needs.

“It only means we don’t know what brought you here to begin with. You don’t know Nina or Greg or any of the ladies, so I’m going to go with something brought you here. But we don’t have to have the answer to that just yet. For now, we need to know why you’re still here.”

“If you think about it, I do sort of have unfinished business. My cat Blanche, for instance. I need to get to her. I’m so worried about what will happen to her.” Tears filled her eyes. They didn’t fall, they didn’t even get her eyelashes wet, but they sat behind her eyelids like hot lead. “Maybe that’s why I’m stuck?”

“Maybe,” he replied vaguely, leading her to believe that wasn’t at all why she was stuck. “How about we see if you can leave the castle while we wait for Nina to come back with my fairy dust.”

“But didn’t you say you were from Manhattan?”

“I did. I am,” he confirmed with another amicable smile.

“It’s going to be a while then. Manhattan’s a long way from Long Island. Maybe we can wait a little?” She was stalling. Ralph hadn’t realized it during the week she’d spent here, but admitting she was afraid now felt like the right fit.

Her entire life had been upended like a drawer with the contents dumped on the floor. The castle had been a good place to land. Despite the fact that she didn’t know these people, despite the fact that these people should have scared the life out of her, she felt safe here.

They hadn’t known she was there, but she could watch their interactions as a family, and that had been a secure harbor while she’d drifted. An anchor.

“Nina can fly, Ralph.” Shamus said, jolting her out of her thoughts. “She’ll be back in five minutes tops.”

How had she missed that detail? “Fly? That’s a joke, right?”

“It’s not a joke. She really can fly. Some vampires can.”

Ralph couldn’t help but ask, “Does she turn into a bat when she does it?” She flapped her arms under the sheet.

He laughed again, shaking his silver head. “No, but instead of Nina’s powers, how about we focus on seeing whether you can leave the castle so we can determine if anything, maybe an item or something, is keeping you here.”

She stiffened, looking around the enormous space, with its arched doorways leading off to other rooms and the checkered flooring. “I’m afraid,” she whispered with honesty. “What if what’s out there is going to hurt me? Why can’t I just stay here? I won’t bother anyone. I can even stay in the basement for now.”

As if being afraid was new to her. She’d taken the safe path for all her life. She kept her heart close to her chest, her thoughts and opinions even closer.

“What if I held your hand?”

What if he did?

Ralph’s heart skipped a beat. How was that possible? Her heart had been blown to bits in her chest.

Maybe it was a phantom heartbeat, like when you lose a limb. Whatever the explanation, the thought of putting her hand in his excited her. Thank goodness for the sheet over her head. It hid her embarrassment.

“How can you hold my hand?”

---