Claude chuckled. “I suggest rolling down the window and holding on tight.”
CHAPTER5
“I’ve eaten this five times.” I stared at my Angus burger in disbelief. No matter how many times I’d smashed my fingers into that righteous bun and devoured the tasteless meal, it always reappeared on my plate.
Wyatt stretched and then combed his fingers through his disheveled hair. Somewhere on his elf costume, a bell jingled. Maybe it had to do with him having a youthful appearance, but Wyatt could pull off that elf costume better than anyone. “The dead can’t eat.”
Gem pushed her milkshake away. “What’s the point if we can’t even taste it? It’s pure torture! Do the dead have ageusia?”
Wyatt snorted. “A goozy what?”
“Maybe that should be your word of the day. Ageusia is the loss of taste.”
“Well, buttercup, the dead don’t eat.”
I looked up at Christian, who was sitting at a table in the front of the diner. He’d volunteered to keep an eye on the door to make sure no Vampires strolled in while we were talking. They were his primary concern since they had sharp hearing and loved to blackmail for money. We were sitting at my regular booth, Wyatt to my right, Gem and Blue across from me. Viktor and Lenore were sitting alone at a table near us.
Gem’s attention wandered outside as she rested her chin in her palm. “Why does that man keep staring at the light pole?”
Wyatt leaned forward to look. “You can see him?”
“He’s been walking in a circle for an hour.”
“Now that’s a twist I didn’t see coming.”
She frowned. “Why do you say that?”
Wyatt tore the paper off the end of a straw and sent it sailing with one puff. “Because he’s dead.”
Her eyes widened. “How can you tell?”
“Sometimes I can’t. But that guy isdefinitelya specter. They have a lot of habits you get familiar with. Some of the older ones have forgotten who they are, and they wander. They stare at light sources. Electricity confuses them—that’s why most of them don’t like hanging out at computer stores.”
Blue folded her arms across the table. “That explains everything.”
“Why do you think I used to spend so much time in the arcades? The more electronics, the better the deterrent. Do you realize how many ghosties are hanging out at restaurants, watching you eat?” Wyatt took another candy from his pocket and nibbled it. “That’s how I got into computers.” After swallowing, he sighed. “I thought I might get a little vacation from the dead after drinking the cider. Everyone else got their gifts suppressed. Doesn’t seem fair.”
I pushed my fries around. “So I guess we’re one of them now.”
“Not exactly. But… who knows.” Wyatt stared at the hourglass on his hand. “He didn’t explain what happens in ten days. Is that just how much time we have to make up our minds, or will our bodies explode? I’m not ready to explode. I haven’t seen Hershey’s Chocolate World.”
I looked at him, and he was serious. “What are you talking about?”
Blue leaned back. “Where do you think Wyatt Blessing goes on his minivacations every year?” She smiled at him. “And don’t pretend we haven’t noticed; they send brochures in the mail. He goes to food factories. Doesn’t even take his partner with him.”
“Some of them give you free food, and you get to see how everything’s made.” Wyatt brushed his furry white sleeve cuff. “I only keep it a secret because you people have no respect. Shepherd’s always got some dickish remark to make about everything, so he’s not invited. I don’t need a killjoy on my vacation.”
I poked my burger. “Maybe youshouldtake him. Hunter might like to see that stuff. He needs to get out of the house more.”
Wyatt played with the straw in his glass. “I went to the Blue Bell ice cream factory last year. You should see all the pipes.”
“Dead people don’t seem so bad,” Gem remarked, still staring at the man circling the lamppost like a moth. “You always make it sound like a horror movie.”
He scoffed at her. “You haven’t seen the ones without faces. Shotgun wounds are the worst. Some die naked and don’t bother imagining themselves in clothes. Usually they’re doomed to wear what they died in, but I’ve seen a few who cling to a certain garment in their memories. Trust me, I’ve been trying for the past hour to imagine my hat, but nothing works.”
She traced the letterGon the window after fogging it with her breath. “I think you’ve been exaggerating this whole time. He hasn’t bothered us at all.”
“First of all, he’s not close enough. Secondly, they don’t see us as the living. In their eyes, we’re one of them. So they don’t care.”
