Damn, she thought, her heart pounding as she felt…something. She’d closed the door to her office/bedroom suite. But when she got out of bed, she saw a faint light glowing beneath it. Her heart lurched up into her throat, but Leslie pulled out her earplugs and opened thedoor.
The chill filling the kitchen felt sharp and abrupt as she stepped out of her suite, and the soft sounds of music drew her toward the greenish-yellow light down the hall to thefoyer.
Heart thudding, hands cold and damp, cell phone in hand (she had no idea why), Leslie padded silently and slowly toward the illumination. This time, when she came around the corner, thethingwas not at the top of the steps, hovering on the balcony. Instead, it shimmered halfway up thestaircase.
It stood there, silent and still. Through the terror she couldn’t quite control, Leslie discerned a shape. Tall, slender, willowy…it was a woman, in a long, slender gown—a nightgown?—that brushed her at mid-calf.
“What do you want?” Leslie asked, ruthlessly keeping her voice fromshaking.
The image shimmered, shifted, and one hand lifted and pointed down the stairs…toward her. The face had eyes that glowed with anger, and the woman’s ghostly mouth opened in a large, dark rictus as she suddenly swirled into a ball of light and glitter androareddown the stairs toward Leslie. The sound of a scream—high and shrill, and yet dark and deep—filled her ears, echoing in the high-ceilinged foyer, reverberating throughout the house as the ball of light and spirit came towardher.
Leslie gasped and stumbled backward, bumping her head against the wall behind her as an unimaginable cold embraced her, filling her with ice and paralyzing her as if she’d been encased in aniceberg.
She couldn’t move, and all at once felt a rage and a fear rushing through her, squeezing and filling andheavy—
And then it was gone. Silent. The air was still. The world was no longer frigid. The room wasdark.
And she couldmove.
Leslie staggered to her feet, panting, sweating, eyes wide, her phone forgotten on thefloor.
“But you damn well didn’tanswerme!” she shouted. “I can’t help you if you won’t—tell—me—what youneed!” Her voice was unsteady as violent tremors suddenly overtook her. Her knees gave way and she sank back to the floor.Holy crap. Hohhhlycrap.
Her phone was there, and she picked it up, ready todial…
Who?
No. She wasn’t going to call anyone. She didn’t need anyone to help her. It was only a ghost. It had done nothing but terrorize the hell out of her, but she’d met executive board members who didthat.
Leslie grinned weakly in the darkness. Once more, she pulled herself to her feet. This time, she walked out into the foyer and stood in the center of the room, looking around. Her hands were still shaking. It was still dark, for she hadn’t turned on the lights. The debris from the break-in had been cleared away, so she wouldn’t step or trip onanything.
“Why the hell didn’t you come out like that when they were breaking in tonight?” she demanded. “Maybe they wouldn’t have made such amess!”
Silence.
Stillness.
Not even a shift in theair.
Leslie heaved a great sigh. “I guess you’re only a once-a-night trick, aren’t you, whoever you are?” she said, still to the room at large. “And thanks to you, I don’t think I’m going to be going back to sleep anytimesoon.”
She turned, making her way to the kitchen, still holding her phone. As she came into the room, warmly lit by one soft light under the counter, her attention flitted automatically over the windows and stopped short at the sight of a black shadowrightthere.
Leslie gathered up to shriek, then immediately deflated. “It’s just the cat,” she told herself outloud.
Thecat?
The one that had run away every time she came outside? It was sitting on the flower box right outside the window, looking in at her as if it had every right to be there. She couldn’t tell the color of its eyes, but they glinted as it looked arrogantly ather.
Leslie stared back at it for a moment, the trembling of her hands finally beginning to subside. “Well…all right, then. Fine. I could use somecompany.”
And that was how she’d ended up with a cat in the house that night. Surprisingly enough, once she opened the door and set down an open can of tuna mixed with cat food, the feline deigned to enter the kitchen and sample the gourmetoffering.
Leslie sat at the kitchen table and watched it eat, her bare toes cold and her body still wanting to shiver violently beneath the boxers and t-shirt she wore. She snagged a hoodie and pulled it on and made herself another cup oftea.
“I guess it’s time for me to do some research,” she said to the cat—who indicated its disinterest by remaining bluntly tail-side toward her and finishing itsmeal.
The poor thing’s tail was half hacked off, with the top third hanging on by a thread. But the creature didn’t let that imperfection, nor the matting of its long hair, affect itsarrogance.
