Page 14 of Soul Bound

I hear Pru suck in a breath. Pru had found me, hands covered in the woman’s blood, right after the woman had died, she knew exactly what Winslow was talking about.

“How could you possibly know that?” I narrow my eyes at her, no one else had been in the room with me when the woman died. She had been so pale, and her eyes were so full of fear. They still are whenever I see her still.

“Well…” she drawls, anxiously biting that bottom lip again. “I cankinda-sortasee dead people.”

The room falls silent and no one moves, we all just stare at her. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, that’s usually where I lose people and I find myself thrown in the loony bin.” She jumps to her feet and starts pacing. “But you people shift into freaking wolves, the fact I see dead people shouldn’t be that strange to you.” She pauses in her pacing and looks at us. “Yet, from the look on your face, it would seem I’m wrong.”

“You see dead people?” Pru repeats.

“I’ve been seeing ghosts since I was eleven years old and trust me when I say I thought I was crazy too, but then I saw the ghost of my grandfather and I knew it was true.” She purses her lips. “And then there was the other thing that happened, but that’s not important right now. But yes, I see dead people.”

I want to know about the other thing that happened, but I know I need to ask her more about this Thalia woman. “You can see the woman that died? You can see Thalia?”

“She showed up a couple of nights ago and asked me to help her find her baby. She gave me your name and said that you would help me. Apparently, you promised her while she was dying you would help find the baby.” Winslow eyes me. “I wish she would have given me the heads-up about the whole werewolf thing though.”

“Wolf shifter.”

She shrugs. “Don’t care.”

Remi clears her throat. “When you were talking to yourself in the yard, you were talking to a…ghost?”

“Thalia was trying to convince me to stay, but my gut was telling me that this was all a really bad idea.” She runs a hand through her hair, messing up the bangs on her forehead. “And it turns out I was right. I’m sorry that I intruded on you guys. I promise your whole” —she waves a hand at us— “wolfysituation stays a secret.Trust me.I’m an expert a keeping secrets, like I deserve an award for my ability to keep secrets, a gold star sticker at least.”

“Win—” She cuts me off with a wave of her small hand.

With a determined nod, she moves toward the front door. “Yep, all around this was a really bad idea. Honestly, what was I thinking? That I could just show up on some random ass dude’s porch and be like‘hey, I’m Winslow, I see ghosts and one of them wants us to find her missing baby. You drive and I’ll buy the snacks?’I’m good. I’ll figure this all out on my own…” She dashes for the front door, but when she pulls the door open a foot or so, it slams shut with such force, the décor on the walls shakes. “Crap!Thalia!” She jumps back in surprise, whirling around to scowl at something orsomeonenone of us can see.

“Holy shit!” Remi jumps from her spot, eyes wide, searching the room. “What was that? Was that a…” She lowers her voice, almost whispering, “Ghost?”

I stalk forward, going to stop Winslow from trying to leave again, but I only make it halfway when I feel the air in the room drop several degrees in temperature. The change in temperature is so abrupt and bone-chilling, my steps falter. Winslow’s two-toned eyes slide to me, there is no fear there. If anything, there is a touch of annoyance, like this is an inconvenience more than anything.

Pruitt and my siblings are whispering to each other in a panicked tone, as they huddle closer together by the fireplace, their eyes darting all over the place like they’ll be able to see something.

“What’s happening?” I don’t move any closer to where she stands, staying frozen in place.

“She’s mad that I’m leaving.” She turns back to where the spirit had been standing previously, but when her head jerks around, like she’s trying to find her again, it’s clear that Thalia is no longer in the same spot. “I promised I’d get you to help us and she’s upset that I’m reneging on my word.”

“Where is she?” I don’t know why I’m speaking so quietly, but I am. There’s a serious chill going down my spine and my wolf is baring his teeth at the invisible threat. “Can she hurt us? Hurt you?”

“It takes a lot of energy and emotion for spirits to move or touch things in the‘real world.’” She makes air quotes with her fingers.

When the lights start to flicker and the lightbulbs in the chandelier above us explode, she ducks her head. When the light fixture starts to swing back and forth violently, I react. I know what’s coming before it happens. I lunge forward and pull Winslow back with me, tucking her safely against my chest. We both watch as the metal and glass light crashes to the floor. Shards of glass skid across the hardwood floor.

Winslow is tense in my arms as she stares down at the mess. “But that doesn’t mean she can’t. She’sreallymad. She’s…” Her words trail off as she looks at the mirror that is now covered in frost. We both stand and stare as the words are written in the frozen glass.

Please. Stay. Help.

“Is she writing that?” I ask.

“Yeah. This is how she first appeared to me, except last time I saw her reflection in the mirror.” I see Winslow’s eyes looking at me through the mirror. She looks tiny tucked against my chest, I tower over her small frame.

“Can ghosts do that? Appear as reflections in surfaces?” I start to think back to all the times I’d see the woman’s face peering back at me in mirrors or glass, and I start to wonder… “I think I may have seen her before.”

She jerks. “What?”

“I thought it was just my subconscious or something, but I’ve been seeing her face everywhere. It’s been fucking with my head pretty bad actually…”

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