Spirits of Spring (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 4)

Spirits
of
Spring
Book Four
Of
The Haunting Ruby Series
By Joy Elbel
Spirits of Spring, Book Four of The Haunting Ruby Series

 

© 2014 by Joy Elbel

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED. This book
contains material protected
under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any
unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part
of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any
means, electronic or
mechanical, including
photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system
without express written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places,
events and
incidents are
either the
products of the author’s
imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to
actual
persons, living
or dead, or actual
events is purely
coincidental.

Embrace the darkness before it
embraces you.
Acknowledgements

When I wrote the acknowledgements
for Shades
of
Summer, little did I know just how much things would change
over the next few years. Time and distance have separated me
from some and made me see others in a different light. Some
who were with me in the beginning are now nothing more than
a flicker of light in my past. But for every friendship lost, new
ones
have been gained
and
ones
from
the distant past
rekindled. While those original acknowledgements still stand, I
feel that new ones are also in order.

Josh Barrett—thank you for helping me to regain my
enthusiasm for writing. I hope that someday the tables will be
turned and
it will be
me reading
your written
words.
Remember the plan…our books are our first step toward world
domination!

Ashley Schwentner—thank you
for helping
me
stay
sane while writing the final book in this series. As you know,
sanity is not something I am well acquainted with!

Sara Christian—thank you for spreading the word on
my books. I may soon need to hire a bodyguard to go on Sheetz
runs with me!

Luke Haskins—my evil nemesis, The Professor. Thank
you for supplying what had to be the best quote I have ever
heard in my entire life. “It sounds like the Holocaust.” Keep
those crazy, witty lines coming!

Jay and Nancy Elbel—my parents. Creators of “The
Crow Hole” and more importantly, me!

And of course, thanks to all of my readers and your
sometimes not so patient patience while I slowly wrapped up
this series. In my mind, there was only one possible way for me
to end Ruby’s story. Once you get there, I hope you all agree.

En”Joy”!
Prologue

Endings come in many forms. They can be happy, sad,
or bittersweet. There’s one thing they all have in common,
though—a sense of finality. Once something is over, you can
never truly get it back. Sure, you can
try
to recapture moments
in your life and
try
to find something that makes you feel the
way you once did, but it’s never quite the same. Sometimes
when things end, you walk away with a sense of relief or
accomplishment—other
times,
with
a
feeling
of
loss
or
disappointment.
It has been said that all good things must
come to an end but the same is also true of all bad things. You
see, nothing good
or
bad lasts forever.

Just like the seasons, things
change, people change,
feelings change—it’s an inevitable part of life. What was once
extremely important to you suddenly isn’t and people you were
once close to become people that you used to know. You leave
the familiar sometimes by choice, other times as a result of
circumstance. Sometimes you know right from the start that
change is on the horizon.
Graduation is something everyone
looks forward to right from the very start. But that excitement
can turn to fear in a heartbeat when you realize that real life is
much more challenging than any math or science test could
ever be. Life isn’t something you can study or prepare for—
some things just kind of happen and all you can do is deal with
the aftermath.

While endings and change bring about finality and mark
closure in one chapter of your life, they also do the exact
opposite. In order for anything new to begin, something else
must end. Life is a circle of never ending transformation from
the moment you’re born until the day you die—sometimes it
doesn’t even end there. All you can really do is muddle your
way through and adjust the best way you know how when you
get pummeled by the unexpected.
Staple an aluminum foil
lining to every black cloud knowing that just as the sun can’t
always shine, no storm brings infinite amounts of rain.

There is only one certainty in life—in the end, the end is
only the beginning.
1. Curtain Call

The curtain had barely hit the stage floor before I said
to Lucas, “I have to talk to Zach—now!” I broke free of his
embrace and began to run for the steps but I didn’t make it very
far.

“Not now, Ru!” Lucas said as he caught my hand and
pulled me back, “They’re just about to do the curtain call.
Whatever you have to say to Zach can wait at least five more
minutes.”

Could it really? After three long months of indecision
on my part, the fact that I finally knew who I wanted—who I
needed
—in my life felt like urgent news. And I’m talking life or
death kind of urgency. Zach never actually knew the depth of
my heart’s conflict, though, so I suppose he wouldn’t even
notice a few more ticks on the clock. That’s okay—I felt each
one of them enough for both of us.

I made it back to center stage and
took my
spot
between
Lucas
and
Brian just as
the
curtain
swung
open.
Thundering applause rang through the theater but the noise
did nothing
to drown out the thoughts in
my
head.
Five
minutes was going to feel like fifty years. One by one, Giuseppe
called out each cast member’s name and they stepped forward
to take a bow. As I waited for my name to be called, my eyes
anxiously scanned the crowd for a glimpse of Zach but saw no
trace of him. My view of the first row of seats was obscured by
the glow of the stage lights so suddenly, stepping forward for
acknowledgement seemed like a good idea. Once I was closer
to the edge of the stage, I would be able to see the front row
perfectly. I would be able to see
Zach
perfectly.

When Brian’s name was called, the hands on the clock
began to move backwards. I seriously swear they did.
So as
soon as the first syllable of my name was announced, I bolted
forward. As the audience began to rise out of their seats one by
one for a standing ovation, I was too busy searching for him to
even care. My parents, Zach’s parents, and all of the other adult
faces I expected to see were there. But who I saw wasn’t the
important thing—it was who I
didn’t
see.
There were two
empty seats where Zach and Rachel should have been.
Two
glaringly empty seats. I took an awkward, disheartened bow
before retreating back into the lineup.

It was obvious that the audience loved me but their love
wasn’t what I truly wanted—it was Zach’s. Zach’s love was the
only thing that mattered to me. Did I wait too long to decide?
Did I keep him at arm’s length for just a little too long? Was
kissing Lucas at the end of the play enough impetus for him to
make that decision
for
me? What he didn’t understand, what I
needed to explain to him was that that kiss was necessary for
me to clear all thoughts of Lee and Lucas from my brain—and
heart—forever. All I needed was five minutes alone with Zach.
Five minutes.

This time, the very second the curtain dropped I ran for
the exit with Lucas hot on my heels.
Where could they be?
Where would Rachel take Zach to console his broken heart?
While she knew that our kiss was in the script, she also knew
that we went above and beyond what she and Lucas did during
rehearsal. She always did her best to get Zach and me together
and keep us together but I was afraid this time I’d pushed her
over the edge. Wherever they were, she was probably telling
him that he was better off without me, that he would find
someone better than me someday.
I had to find them fast
before he was convinced that she was right. I just had to. Now
that I knew for sure that Zach was the only one for me, going on
without him would be impossible to do. Without Zach, I was
incomplete. He was like a piece of my soul lost long ago, a piece
I never even knew was missing.
How could I have been so
stupid?
How could I have allowed my unhappy past to cast
such a dark shadow on my future?

Lucas caught up with me at the bottom of the steps
leading offstage. “Ru, why are you in such a hurry?”

“That kiss—it shouldn’t have happened. You took me
by surprise!” I blurted out as I fumbled around for my promise
ring in the pocket of my costume. Once I found it, I clenched it
tightly in my fist. I didn’t want to put it back on my finger
myself—I wanted Zach to put back where it belonged. And I
vowed that it would stay in that very spot until the day he
replaced it with something different. “You took me by
surprise,” I repeated with a whisper.

“Surprise or not, you didn’t push me away.
You
returned that kiss and you know you did.”

He was right and I couldn’t deny it. But what he didn’t
realize was how that kiss felt from my perspective. There were
definite feelings involved but not the kind he was hoping for. It
felt wrong, so very wrong. It was how I could imagine it would
feel to kiss your own brother. Icky. Infinitely icky. The only
thing that felt good about it was the fact that it freed me from
my doubts. In a weird kind of way, I enjoyed the fact that it felt
so horrible because it only made Zach feel that much more
right. Was I the first girl ever to enjoy a bad kiss
because
it was
bad? Probably so and it was just further proof that abnormal
was totally normal for me. Abnormal or not, though, Zach loved
for me for who I was. I was weird, complicated, and dangerous
but none of that mattered to him just like none of his faults
mattered to me.
If he gave me a chance to explain, I knew he
would understand. He simply had to.

Lucas misread my silence for something that it wasn’t
and reached out for my hand. While he at least deserved an
explanation and an apology for anything I’d unintentionally
done to lead him on, Zach came first.
Once I smoothed things
over with him, only then would I take the time to explain it to
Lucas. I dodged his advances and exclaimed, “I need to find
Zach and Rachel—now!”

As I made my way through the crowd, I frantically
asked anyone who knew them if they had any idea where Zach
and Rachel went.
With every empty response, I grew more
agitated. The Mason house was the only place I could think of
to start looking for them so I ran through the snow and ice to
my car praying that it wasn’t too late to fix what I’d broken—
again. This was the last time I would ever hurt Zach—I swore
to it on my own life.

“Dammit!” I shouted out loud as I reached the Neon and
realized that I was still in my costume and that my keys were
backstage with the rest of my stuff. Why did things like this
always happen at the worst times? Every time I was in a hurry
or fully motivated to do something, I would get a metaphorical
flat tire. If this were any normal day, my keys would be in my
hand and I would be half way down the street before the crowd
even hit the sidewalk. Now, I would be lucky if I got out of here
in less than twenty minutes.
By the time I got back outside
with my keys, I would have to fight traffic to even get out of the
parking lot. FML for real!!

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Lucas asked as he
dangled his keychain in front of me. “Relax and I’ll give you a
ride.
Keep freaking out and
I leave you here to fend for
yourself—it’s your choice.”

While I certainly knew that Lucas was the last person I
should ask to take me to find Zach, he was my fastest option.
Therefore, in
my
brain at least, it was my
only
option.
As I
crawled into the passenger seat of his car, for some reason I
made a mental note of the time. 8:40 PM.

“Do you know where Zach lives?” I asked, already
assuming that he didn’t. “Just start driving like you’re heading
to my house and I’ll tell you when you need to make a turn.”