Page 20 of Kindred Spirits

Ben: What the actual fuck, dude?

You seriously just fucking left me.

What was in that weed?

I could’ve died!

I cringed.

Axel

Sorry, bro. New blend. Should’ve warned you.

You’re ok though?

Three dots danced on the screen while he typed his response, deleted it, then started again.

“Ack-sul,” Ghost said and pushed his pizza box across the floor toward me. He’d left one anchovy-covered slice in it. “Eat fishy.”

“No, thanks, man. I’m good,” I said.

“You know that’s how all this got started, right?” Honor said, taking another bite of his pizza.

I lowered the phone. “How what got started?”

“You and him.” He gestured vaguely to Ghost. “You fed him.”

“So?” I scoffed.

“So now he thinks you’re mates.” Honor shrugged. “It’s some sort of courtship ritual.”

I frowned and glanced over at Ghost. I hadn’t technically fed him. Just kept pizza rolls in stock because I knew he liked them. I supposed I could’ve stopped buying them at any time, but I liked having him around, even when I thought he was a literal ghost. It made me feel less…isolated. It had never occurred to me that someone might take that to mean more.

The pizza box bumped against my foot. “Eat fishy?” Ghost asked, his bulb flashing red.

Would it mean something if I accepted food from him now? I already had that morning while we were out by the lake. He’d given me a fish, and I’d accepted it without a second thought.

I sighed and bent over to pick up the box, tossing the piece of anchovy pizza in with the three pieces of mine. “I’ll eat it later, okay, Ghost?”

That seemed to satisfy him. He looked over his shoulder at Honor, big tongue flicking over his teeth, almost as if he were proud of himself. Then he stretched and crawled on all fours toward the door before halting and looking back at me. “There’s nothing like an after-dinner swim!” he recited in that old-timey voice he seemed so fond of.

I raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to wait forty-five minutes or something? Or else you’ll get a cramp.”

Ghost snorted and shook his head.

“Probably not in his case,” Honor said, passing the box of pizza to Ziggy to finish up. “Irqed spend more than half their lives in the water. He’s probably used to eatingwhileswimming.”

“Eatingwhileswimming,” Ghost parroted, making Honor shiver.

I waved Ghost off. “You go on then. I’m pretty fuckin’ tired.”

My phone dinged in my lap and I lifted it to read the text from Ben.

Ben

Just don’t fuck off on me next time.

Axel

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