Page 42
The ghost’s hands were anything but gentle. Not a fucking tickle in sight.
“Help,” I squeezed through my mangled throat, kicking my legs once again and achieving nothing.
“I am helping, Ryan,” Owain said, not looking away from the ghost for a second.
“You…”
“Shhh. Don’t mind him. He isn’t used to this and you startled him. But I’m sure he’s all good now so you can let go of him and he won’t try and harm you. Again.”
“Fuck if…”
“I give you my word he will be on his best behaviour,” Owain said, sending me a glare, and the ghost snarled into my face before the pressure on my throat loosened a little bit. “Good, that’s very good. See? We can all be friends.”
The word friends clearly did something, because she stopped the low growl she kept releasing and froze in place, head tilting at an unnatural angle toward Owain.
She opened and closed her mouth several times as if trying to say something. But all that did was reveal those rows of bloodied, sharp teeth. Directly in my face.
“Is that it?” Owain asked. “Would you like to be friends?”
She flickered in and out of sight once again. Quicker than a blink.
“You can never have too many friends, I always say,” Owain said. “I have so many amazing ones and would never say no to more.”
She growled.
Not softly like before.
This was angry. This was pure rage.
She snapped her neck back and her mouth unhinged at the corners, growing about three times larger than the rest of her face. The scream she released made me literally want to piss my pants.
She clicked her jaw shut and dislocated her shoulder to turn fully toward Owain while still holding me in place. There was no sound, but my brain filled it in for me—bones cracking, rearranging themselves to do something a normal human body shouldn’t be able to do.
“No need to be angry,” Owain said. “We were having a very cheerful chat.”
But she wasn’t listening. She swiped the hand that wasn’t holding me toward Owain. Menacingly. Trying to get him, to hurt him, and I couldn’t let that happen.
Her hand flickered again, just for a moment, but this time I was fast. I kicked out and slipped her grasp between one breath and the next. I dove for Owain and my belt, putting him behind me and shielding him as she advanced and attempted to get to him. I threw everything and the kitchen sink at her. Salt, crucifix, lighting herbs, muttering badly pronounced Latin, blasting frequencies. I didn’t have a firm idea of what I was doing, but I had nothing to lose. She came closer, unbothered by anything I sent her way.
She crossed the floor in maddening, staccato flickers, disappearing and turning up closer each time.
Until she disappeared fully and silence fell over us like a curse. I could hear my own blood rushing through my veins it was so quiet.
And there was nothing of her to be found. Anywhere.
Until she reappeared right in front of my face, mouth unhinged again and screaming so loud I thought my ears would start bleeding.
I grabbed the last thing I had on me, which was the half-eaten, half-melted chocolate bar in my pocket and threw it her way. She snatched it out of the air, looking at it curiously for a few moments. Eventually she brought it up to her mouth to try. As soon as she bit down she shattered into a million tiny pieces and disappeared, leaving Owain and me standing in the dark, his hand clutching the back of my shirt.
The lights flickered back on and I placed my hands on my knees and drew in gasping breaths. Jesus.
“She was hungry!” Owain declared. “I knew it!”
“Good to know in hindsight that she didn’t just want human flesh. Maybe we could have found a better way to deliver it rather than inviting it to breakfast though,” I said, straightening up to meet Owain’s pursed lips and creased brow.
I closed my eyes against the incoming scolding.
What I wasn’t expecting was the lips pressing against mine, tasting like the remnants of old vanilla lip balm and slotting over my bottom lip perfectly.
