Unbound (37 page)

“Uh, hey.”

“Is this your boyfriend?” Jill asked. She was very upbeat with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. Of course it was my boyfriend! She’d seen him before and who else would I be embracing like this?

Jill’s smiled dimmed. Then she laughed a sharp, phony laugh. “You’re so funny!” She touched my arm. My eye twitched. I hated when people I was not close to me touched me.

“But, yes, this is my boyfriend, Ethan. Ethan, this is-”

“Jill,” she interrupted, sticking her hand out for him to shake. “I’m Anora’s friend Jill, and this is Natalie.”

Ethan gave her a half smile and shook her hand. She gripped her fingers so tightly around his hand that he had to yank it to put it back by his side.

“So, what are you two up to tonight?” She was looking right at Ethan.

“Uh, I have to take care of my horse,” I said the first thing that came to my mind.

Jill put her hand on her waist and leaned back, trying to emphasize her figure in her tight uniform. “A bunch of us are getting together after practice. It would be totally awesome if you joined.” Her eyes were wide and her smile never faltered. Natalie was trying to look just as pleasant but her gaze was held steadily on the ground.

“Uh, thanks, but I have a lot of homework to do since I was, uh, gone over the weekend.”

“Oh, well that’s really too bad. Ethan?” Her voice got high pitched at the end. He blinked and looked at her incredulously.

“Um, I’m gonna help Annie catch up with her homework.” He put a hand on my hip. “After all, I was the one who distracted her from doing it in the first place.”

“Aw, how sweet.” She looked at Natalie. “Hey, we were thinking that it would be a really good way to learn new moves for the squad if we had some martial arts lessons.” She smiled, assuming Ethan would jump in and offer to give her a private lesson. Natalie looked up and smiled too, but there was something apologetic in her eyes. When Ethan didn’t respond, Jill added, “Anora mentioned you taught martial arts.”

“Uh, yea.” Ethan was taken off guard by her bluntness. “But, uh, I really don’t have time to take in anyone else right now. I’m giving Annie intense private lessons.”

I had to stifle a giggle. Jill’s eyes narrowed for a split second. “Well, that’s too bad. If you get bored tonight, we’ll be at Blush,” she said coyly. “Well, we better get off to practice. It was so nice meeting you.” She touched his arm. “See you tomorrow, Anora!”

“The perfect ending to a perfect day.” I said with a sigh as soon as they were out of ear shot.

“What happened today?” Ethan asked.

“I’ll explain later, let’s just go. I want to get out of this place.”

“Ok.” Ethan agreed and held out his hand to help me into the truck. I saw Natalie and Jill gaping at us as we drove past them. I couldn’t help but feel smug. “What’s Blush?” Ethan asked.

“A lame night club.”

“Ever been?”

“Once.”

“You sure it’s lame?”

“What eighteen and under night club isn’t?”

 
“True. Do you want to go to the barn now?”

“No, I told Laney I’d meet her there around five. You don’t have to go; I think I’ll be fine on my own for a while.”

Ethan didn’t say anything. I took it as his way of saying that he wasn’t sure if I really would be ok on my own. “So what happened today?” he asked again.

“A lot. First, I successfully managed to make everyone think I am a total freak with weird fear issues and I had another creepy dream. And when I say creepy, I mean
creepy
. For all the cryptic dreams I’ve head, this one takes the cake.”

Concern settled on Ethan’s face. “Tell me about it.”

“I was in the woods again, but this time I knew I was dying. I couldn’t move, it felt like the life had been sucked out of me. Then someone slit my wrists. I died. I felt everything. My heart slowed down, I could barely breath, it was so cold. And then…then all the pain was gone. I was warm and happy and safe and moving towards the most beautiful light I’ve ever seen. It was yellow and white and bright but it didn’t hurt my eyes to look at. And then, I was sucked down, and it felt like being punched in the stomach and dipped into ice water at the same time. Then I felt like I was trapped, forever.” I said that all really quickly. Flashes of the dream played in my mind. I felt like I was in a swirling vacuum of total despair again. My stomach flip-flopped.

“Huh.” Ethan pushed his eyebrows together the way he does when he was thinking hard. “Any idea who you were?”

I nodded. “The boy. The blonde one from the pictures.”
 
I closed my eyes, hoping it would help get rid of the spinning sensation. It didn’t. “I didn’t tell you yet, but I found an article online about the boy.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know, really, I just didn’t.” I opened my eyes. “Anyway, I was right. His name is, or was, Ryan. He died twelve years ago. Everyone thought he killed himself, but obviously, I know otherwise.”

Ethan tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “I wish you told me sooner.”

“Sorry. It just didn’t seem that important when we were busy getting attacked.”

“I guess you’re right. Do you have any idea why this boy, Ryan, keeps contacting you?”

“Not at all. I don’t get it; I’ve been seeing spirits and ghosts my entire life, but it’s never like how it is in the movies. No one asks me to help them with their ‘unfinished business’, they don’t come to me to solve their murders, they rarely even talk to me. For the most part, it’s like they are traces left on earth, and I see and hear them. But the interaction is very minimal. This is the first time a ghost has tried to get my attention like this.”

“Huh,” Ethan said again. I was curious, probably more than I should be, about Ryan. Who killed him? Why was he in the woods? Was someone trying to hide his body? And mostly, why is he showing me the last horrible memories he had? Did he want me to find the name of his killer and take it to the police? If I somehow managed to figure all that out, would anyone even believe me?

“Hey!” I twisted towards Ethan. “I have an idea! I can try to channel him! That way I can ask him what he wants!”

“No!” Ethan said sternly, as if I suggested we stick paper clips into outlets. “You have no idea how dangerous that is, Annie. Especially for someone like you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Come on, you know how dangerous spirit boards are: they open up a doorway and you don’t know what the hell you might let out. Channeling is worse ‘cuz
you
are the doorway. You don’t know what could get in.”

“Oh.” I probably wouldn’t tell him about the time I channeled the spirit of Laney’s grandfather in sixth grade. “Well, I need a plan B then.”

Ethan reached over and put his hand on my thigh. “We’ll figure it out later; let’s just focus on the demons right now, which reminds me, my dad got some more books that will hopefully be useful.”

***

“Way to say ‘bye’ to me yesterday,” Leslie teased. I was unsaddling Mystery after a quick ride.

“Oh, shoot. Sorry, I guess I forgot.” I smiled nervously.

“It’s ok, I won’t get mad this time, since you were distracted.” She raised her eyebrows.

“Shut up, nothing happened.”

“Uh-huh. You just went for a walk in the woods to see the trees,” she giggled.

I threw a handful of bedding at her and laughed too.

“You were totally getting it on yesterday!” she continued teasing.

“Maybe.” I unbuckled the saddle and slid it off.

“What?” Leslie said in disbelief.

“You know,” I said, taking off the bridle, “I’m not the innocent, little good girl you think I am.”

Leslie took in an overly dramatic deep breath. “And when did this happen?”

“Over the weekend,” I said, unable to keep the dazed look out of my eyes.

“I’ll admit, even I am a little jealous. Ethan is one fine looking man.”

I smiled widely in agreeance. We chatted the rest of the time I put my tack away and brushed Mystery. I was putting his blanket back on when Laney joined us in Mystery’s stall.

“Did you know that our little Annie is a woman now?” Leslie asked in a fake motherly tone.

“I did!” Laney smiled.

Leslie shivered. “It’s so cold! Let’s go into the office where it’s warm.”

We talked, laughed and joked for over an hour. I forgot how much I missed my barn time. Though Leslie was seven years older than me, I considered her one of my best friends and I found it was always easy to talk to her.

“Shoot,” I said, looking at the time. “I better go, I told Ethan I’d be over like half an hour ago.” My phone was in the car too, and I was sure he called to check on me.

“And I better exercise Henry,” Leslie groaned. “And Razzle, and Shadow.” We walked out of the office into the cold barn aisle. Leslie shivered again. “Why didn’t I bring a better jacket?” she asked herself.

“Here,” I said, tugging my arm through the sleeve of my coat. “Take mine. I’m leaving anyway.”

“You sure?”

“Yea, I’ll steal a jacket from Ethan later.”

“Awesome!” Leslie gladly put on my coat. “Have a goodnight! See you guys tomorrow!”

“Bye!” Laney and I said in unison.

“So you’re going to Ethan’s now?” Laney asked as we walked across the dark parking lot to our cars. I was on high alert, checking the shadows for movement. A strong gust of wind blew, and I put my hands on my head to keep my hair from flying around like crazy.

“Yea. He said his dad dug up a ton of demons books and we get to go through them. Ethan said he thinks it could take all night.”

“Sounds fun,” Laney said, but with only a bit of sarcasm. “Need any help?”

“Really, you’d want to help?”

“I’ve got nothing else to do. Josh picked up an extra shift, I have no homework and I don’t have to watch Bells.”

“If you really want to. I mean, I don’t want you feeling like you’re getting dragged into this craziness.”

“Annie,” Laney opened her car door, “come on, you’re my best friend. What wouldn’t I do for you?”

I got that sappy look in my eyes. “I love you Laney.”

“I know!” She smiled. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Ok, follow me, he doesn’t live far.” I was still smiling and feeling the warmth in my heart from my amazing best friend when I called Ethan to let him know Laney was coming to help.

“Oh, this is one of those cool, old houses!” Laney said as we walked up the stone steps to the front door. “It’s not haunted is it?”

“Not at all,” I assured her.

“Good, ‘cuz I wasn’t sure, since Ethan’s life is about hunting that sort of thing.”

I knocked on the door. “Actually, this is probably the safest place I can think of. Ethan told me a lot of protection charms were put around the house.”

“Really?” She sounded impressed. I nodded just as Ethan answered.

“You know you don’t have to knock. You can just come in,” he told me.

I shrugged. I felt like I was close enough to Ethan to just come in, but not his family. Apart from Ethan and Julia, I didn’t always feel the welcome vibe from everyone.

“Hey Ethan,” Laney said with a small wave.

“Hey. You ready for a night of demon-filled-fun?” he joked.

“As long as the demons stay in the books, I’m fine,” Laney said with a serious smile. “They will stay in the books, right?”

“Probably,” Ethan said with a half smile. Laney laughed nervously, hoping Ethan was joking.
 
She gasped suddenly as Ethan turned. Dressed in jeans and a simple black Tee shirt, the gash in Ethan’s arm was very visible.

 
“How? Yesterday-that-w-what?” Laney stammered.

Ethan looked down at his arm and smiled. “I can thank Annie for that.”

I hadn’t inspected the cut since my crystal experiment last night. I pushed his sleeve up to his shoulder and gently ran a finger over the line. It was not completely healed, but instead of the ugly, puffy, infected gash that tore through his skin, there was a very old looking scab. The bruises were gone and there were no signs of being stitched up. It looked like the injury happened weeks ago.