Page 31 of Waste
At the end of the day, he was to blame. He’d been the one who’d stepped out of anonymity and saved her life. But Drew hadn’t expected her to be so stubborn in her research. Shelley was proving a surprise he hadn’t anticipated. She really didn’t seem to consider Ghoul a threat to her, and Drew had a hard time understanding that. Honestly, Shelley should have been running for the hills; instead, she was chasing him like a bloodhound.
The image in the mirror flickered as he gazed at it, and he spotted Mary standing there. Despite her horrific visage, Mary appeared deeply amused. Drew shook his head and glanced at Charlie and Shelley, who were bickering over a chessboard. Mary grinned, and Drew let out a low growl, and Mary disappeared.
“Are you okay?” Charlie asked, looking across at him.
“Perfect. I need to review the reports for tomorrow to see if we’re hitting the slopes. I just remembered,” Drew replied.
Shelley looked at him curiously and then at the mirror he’d been staring at.
“You look like you saw something frightening,” Shelley teased. “Are you having scary movie flashbacks?”
Drew forced a laugh, hoping it sounded genuine. She was too damn astute, and he’d not realised that. Shelley hid a lot under her calm demeanour. She was canny and clever.
“Want to watch horror movies tonight? Fancy Bloody Mary?” Shelley asked, and Drew barely controlled his reaction. What was Shelley thinking? He wished he had magic right now to read her mind.
“Bloody Mary is fine, think you can handle her?” Drew teased, making himself relax. “Do you require a pillow to hide behind?”
“I’m no wimp! It’s Charlie who hides,” Shelley said scornfully.
Drew glanced at Charlie, who nodded. “They scare the crap out of me. Shelley loves them and makes me watch them all. I still have nightmares of Freddie and those claws of his.”
“Freddie is amazing. I love Freddie,” Drew replied.
“Me too!” Shelley beamed, and Charlie groaned.
“No! I’m stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with two horror movie aficionados! What could go wrong? Did I sign up for Fright Night without knowing it?”
Shelley and I grinned at Charlie. “Don’t go out at night!” Shelley teased, and Charlie sent her a dour look. Mission accomplished. Shelley was distracted.
Chapter Eight.
Shelley
Did Drew think she was silly? His distraction attempt had been pretty obvious, and Shelley wondered why. It didn’t matter, anyway. Through the night, she’d spoken to the bathroom mirror twice and then the bedroom reflection three times. She’d not received a response but was hopeful the ghoul had got her message.
A world clearly existed that she didn’t understand, and Shelley was determined to get answers. If ghouls were real—and Bloody Mary—were vampires, werewolves, and witches? Hell, did mermaids and the Loch Ness Monster? Shelley was excited to find out.
That night, she slept with one ear open but didn’t detect anything that would have alerted her to a surprise visitor.
Shelley was sitting at the table near a slightly ajar window when she spotted Mirry. The foolish woman was prancing about in the snow, and Shelley rolled her eyes. It was an obvious attempt to capture Drew and Charlie’s attention as they were outside readying their ski equipment for the day.
“Oh, my!” Mirry cried, tripped over nothing and fell on her ass.
Shelley sent Drew and Charlie a dry look as they exchanged glances and both sighed.
“Toss for it?” Drew muttered, and Shelley couldn’t help but smile.
Charlie groaned. “Damn, I’ll take one for the team, bro.”
“It’s worth a pint.” Drew smirked as Charlie stomped towards Mirry, looking none too happy.
Shelley pushed the window open a little further, and Drew grinned.
“That was mean,” Shelly teased, but she was smiling.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll buy Charlie a beer at the bar tonight. Honestly, I can’t be dealing with idiots like Mirry,” Drew said, and his grin widened as he watched Charlie.
Shelley began giggling as her brother tried to detach himself from the Mirry cling-on. Mirry was gazing up at Charlie with big eyes as he hauled her to her feet.
