“The seance,” he explains. “It willmost likely wearoff in a few hours. After that, you willreturnto your spirit form.”
He must see the look of fearonmyface, becausehe adds, “But youwon’tdisappear. This house truly is your tether now.Kennedy, youdon’thave to worry about getting lost anymore.”
I feel the softness of his tone andrelax.
“What do I do if I want to be like this again,” I ask,looking down atmy bodythat I can finally feel.
He hesitates, averting his gaze. Several excruciating seconds of silence pass before he finally says, “I guess… I can teach you.”
My stomach flips. “You will?”
Theodore nods, seeming to reach some decision. “Yes. There are ways to move through this plane as a ghost that the livingarenotcapable of."He looks up to meet my eyes. “I will show you.”
Elation floods me, and I instinctively reach out to hug him, but my arms pass right through his chest.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize. “I was a hugger when I was alive.”
An awkward smile teases the corner of his mouth.
I shrug and chuckle softly at myself. “So, where do we begin?”
Chapter Nine
THEO
Somehow in the past two hours,I’vesigned up to be a landlord and a teacher. Given I tend to keep to myself, the first predicament is oneI’msureI’llgetused to, but the second will be much harder.
Idon’tplay well with others. Throw on top of that the decades of slang and cultural changesI’vemissed out on,I’mmost certainly hopeless when it comes to communicating with those from the modern world. The only practice I get is with Aidan, and Joannawasn’twrong:he’snearly asancient as I am.
How in the nine circles of hell am I going to teach this ghost how to live an efficient afterlife?
So far, Kennedydoesn’tappear to take things too seriously, despite her circumstances—the occasionalchaffproving as much.It’spossible thatI can work with this. If I had a simpering idiot or a distraught doll in front of me, I thinkI’dbow out before beginning. But Kennedy seems determined to get to the point, and anything beyond thatisn’treaching her radar.
Like right now,she’speering at me, wide-eyed in anticipation, waiting for the answers to all her problems to spill spontaneouslyfrommy mouth.
I take a long, deep inhale, considering where to start.
There’san art tolivingthe same day on repeat, like aslideshow on a broken projector, cursed to loop endlessly for all eternity.
I had my opportunityto passthrough the pearly gates, just like everyone else before me, but I chose to stay.Not because of any unfinished business, and definitely not because of some insane determination to hang on to what I had (unlike a certainmayorin town).Truthfully, it was my guilt that kept me here. Icouldn’tface the idea that my sins would go unpunished, so I accepted my fate.
For Kennedy, acceptance of her circumstances will be the first step in embracing her new reality. Aidan told me once that addicts go through several steps beforethey’rerecovered, and acknowledging the problem is the first step. For me, accepting and acknowledging my reality was a crucial step to not going insane.
“First, I want you to lose any notion of ‘fixing’ anything,” I tell her. “You are dead.If by some miracle, you find a bright light at the end of a random tunnel and feel the need to follow, by all means, happy travels.But the reality of your circumstances is that most of usaren’tso lucky. We appear and linger where we do because of some higher reason that I’ve yet to fullyunderstand, and Idon’tplanon wastingmy time doing so.I suggest youdon’teither.”
I turn from her and begin pacing along the stiff floorboards of the library. She takes the opportunity to climb the last three steps and enter the roomfully.
“It might feel like a jail sentence, but you can learn to make the most of it. Obviously, from what you’ve observed, we are able to interact withthe living. They can see us, and upon our permission, touch us.”
“Yes, but how exactly?” She interrupts.
I absentmindedly stroke my chin. “Concentration, mostly. And you mustwantto do it.”
She fumbles, shifting her cream-colored sweaterthat’sfallen over her shoulder. “But I tried that. No matter how much I willed myself to touch my sister,” she gulps dejectedly but continues, “I justcouldn’t. But here, in the cafe, it just happened.”
“Willing yourselfto do something andwanting toare two different things. It’s deeper. You have to trust your spirit—it controls everything now.”
“Like trusting your gut?”
