Page 9 of Spark
When she finished, there was silence. But, to Sophie’s relief, it wasn’t the disbelieving,“is she crazy?”kind of silence.
“You said that the apparition was a monster. What did it look like, exactly?” Caitlyn asked.
“It was wearing lingerie,” Sophie blurted, and immediately felt stupid. “All ripped up and covered in blood.” She closed her eyes, trying to remember. “Its body looked mostly human, a woman. But it was covered with fur. And its head looked, well, all I could think about when I saw it was one of the werewolves from an old movie.”
“It was ashifterghost?” Chris asked. He sounded incredulous.
Sophie shook her head. “It didn’t look like any kind of shifter I’ve ever seen before. It looked—” Suddenly it occurred to her. “It looked like it had gotten stuck halfway through a shapeshift.”
Both Daniel and Chris winced at that. As an Ordinary human, Sophie could only imagine how bad it would be, getting stuck in a partial shift.
“Hm,” Caitlyn said, typing something more. “Interesting theory. I’ve never heard of a shifter ghost…or a shifter who got stuck.”
“Getting stuck happens sometimes.” Daniel sounded grim. “You can't go forward or back. In that case, the best thing to do is to shoot the poor SOB and put him out of his misery.”
Shocked, Sophie stared at him. She remembered that he was a decorated Marine, and wondered if he’d ever had to do something like that.
“So, would you be willing to look into this?” Daniel asked. “Before something else happens?” He spread his hands. “I’m convinced that half of my kitchen staff will up and leave if something else happens.” He sighed, adding: “I’ve seen a lot of strange things, Caitlyn, but I don’t have the foggiest about what to do here.”
“I want to help you, Daniel, really I do,” Caitlyn replied, frowning. “But I’m flying out to Los Angeles tomorrow for that appearance onAfter Dark with Alina Soliterman. SinceA Cry After Midnightdid so well, my publisher is pushing hard on the publicity for this new book,” she finished apologetically.
Afterwards, Sophie wasn’t sure what compelled her to speak.
“I’ll do it,” she blurted before she could second-guess herself. “I need a summer job, anyway, since I won’t hear back on my med school applications for a while, maybe not until September.”
There was a long moment of silence. At least no one was scoffing at her suggestion.
“That might work,” Caitlyn said, with a thoughtful expression. “Since you were actually there when the attack happened, and the only one who actually saw the ghost…or whatever it is.” She glanced at Daniel. “What do you think?”
“I think it sounds dangerous,” he said. “This thing took out Javier in an instant, and he’s a jaguar shifter. Sophie’s an Ordinary.”
Sophie hadn’t known that Javier was a shifter. But considering how many shifters lived in and around Bearpaw Ridge, it wasn't really a surprise.
“I’ll help her. And protect her,” Chris said immediately. He slung his arm around her. "Since this happened at Uncle Dan's restaurant, and all."
Sophie was wearing one of the sleeveless pleated tank vest sundresses she'd bought in Todos Santos, in a rainforest print with large, dark-green leaves and colorful parrots and toucans. Chris’s skin was very warm, almost feverishly hot, against her bare shoulders.
Act normal, Sophie ordered herself as she remembered how good it had been to hug him last night. Her imagination began to wander down a path that started with having Chris give her another one of those hugs while he was shirtless…and she was, too.
It's just Chris. Don't read too much into it. I'm just his friend, and that's all I'll ever be.
“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Sophie protested, mostly because the idea was so dangerously appealing.
While she’d been away, Chris had turned into the kind of confident, sexy guy that would normally send her into a paralyzing fit of shyness…except she'd known him since she was ten years old.
“Yes, you do,” Chris said firmly.
His sinewy hand squeezed her upper arm, sending a pleasant jolt down her spine.
Oh God, I’m developing a crush on him, Sophie thought.
“Besides, it would be fun to hang out with you and go ghost-hunting when I’m not working,” he continued.
Yes, it would be nice…really nice… to have a legit reason to spend some time with him,the voice in her head urged her.
“Okay,” she said, even though she knew that she was just going to be torturing herself by crushing on someone who had never treated her as anything except a friend.
“Good, so that’s settled,” Caitlyn pronounced. “Sophie, you’re hired as my research assistant. Don’t forget to keep track of your mileage and the hours you spend working on this story. I’m thinking that this will make a good front-page feature for the website and maybe get the hotel a few extra bookings.”
