Page 5 of Edge of Wonder

Louder and louder, the clocks marked the time, until, without warning, they stopped. I shivered as frost formed on the windows, creating an icy path from one window to the next.

“Show yourself, Julian.”

A whisper floated through the room.

“Down, down, down. We all fall down.”

I angled my head toward the sound, trying to pinpoint its location. It was muffled, seeming to come from all directions as if the walls were speaking and not a spirit.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Where is anybody?” The lilting voice was too feminine to be the grumpy old clockmaker from the painting.

“Who are you?”

“Who is anybody?”

“Enough games,” I snapped.

A whoosh of air skated past my arm, followed by the sound of laughter. Then—there! A glowing form appeared near the workbench. I approached slowly, pausing within arm’s reach.

The ghost wore an ill-fitted dress with lace sleeves ending at her elbows and a hemline that skimmed the middle of her thighs. White over-the-knee stockings encased her slim calves, yet she wore no shoes. It appeared as if she’d tried on a younger girl’s clothes and then had literally been caught dead in them.

Strange clothes or not, she looked beautiful with flowing blonde hair, a delicate nose, and an alluring mouth. As I continued to stare, she reached up to adjust a hair ribbon near her temple. Suspicion tinged her features, and her lips parted slightly as I stepped closer.

“Can you see me?” Her luminous hand waved in front of my face as she blinked eyes that were deeply fringed with sooty lashes.

“Yes.” My voice sounded rough, and I had to clear my throat. Through the years, I’d witnessed hundreds of ghosts and had yet to be fazed. But something about her was as mesmerizing as a siren perched on a jagged rock. Irresistible and lethal at the same time.

“How curious.” Her eyebrows drew together, and her bottom lip bent under the crush of her teeth.

Curious was an understatement. Andrew Granger had been wrong. The ghost haunting his newly inherited property wasn’t his uncle, but a young woman.

“No one has ever seen me before.” The ghost circled me. She stopped after a full rotation and carefully touched her index finger against my shoulder. Her finger disappeared through my body and came out the other side. When I didn’t run away screaming, she mumbled, “Even curiouser.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

She regarded me with a frown, then clucked her tongue with regret. “You can hear me, too? How tragic.”

“I don’t follow.”

She fluttered her fingers, encompassing my tall frame. “Why, look at you! It’s clear to me what’s happened.” Leaning in, she whispered, “You’re seeing things.”

My eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

She spoke slowly as if directing her words to a small child. “You, sir, are experiencing visual hallucinations.”

“You’re mistaken,” I said dryly. “I’m a ghost hunter.”

“Ghost hunter?” Her voice trembled. “Wait. Am Idead?” The woman’s eyes shot wide, and she cried out, splaying her fingers over her face. Shoulders shaking, a sob wracked her slender frame. Almost a full minute passed before she stopped and peeked between her thumb and forefinger.

“Really? Nothing? Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to use that on someone? And now that I can, you’re giving me no reaction.” She slung her arms across her chest in disgust. “It’s highly unsatisfying.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

The woman huffed. “What a waste of a perfectly good joke.” Her lips flattened. “I suppose if you’re here, it means the new owner has had enough of his ghostly tenant. He hired you to get rid of me, didn’t he?”

I slowly clapped my hands, enjoying the way her pout deepened. “Well done. You’ve figured it out. Now, there are two ways we can do this—” She waved her fingers in front of my face, cutting me off.

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