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With a sinking heart, Zoe reflected on the crumpled ideas she’d rejected. There was her idea to tunnel underneath the maze, and drill her way to the center, like a mole. Then there was her idea to carve a path through the maze with a giant pair of hedge trimmers. Not to mention her idea of trampolining her way over the gate. She glanced outside the window, where Spooks merrily soared through the sky in a trail of blue smoke, before an idea formed. She eagerly wrote down her idea, only to shake her head in despair. Something told her she’d raise Shadow’s suspicion if she tried to skydive her way into the center.
“I don’t suppose you have any bright ideas?” She turned to the glowing light in the fish tank, who buzzed from its tank. “I’ll take that as a no.”
With a sigh of defeat, she scrunched the final idea into a paper ball and tossed it over her shoulder, only to hear a yelp of surprise.
“Ouch! Mind where you’re throwing that thing, fleshie!” Spooks rubbed his head, before he drifted from the floorboards. “That passed straight through my brain! At least, I’m fairly certain I still have a brain, despite what the master might say…”
“Sorry, Spooks. Work isn’t going as smoothly as I’d hoped, and right now, I’m on a bit of a deadline…” Zoe groaned as the Phantom Fiestadores’ music reached a crescendo outside. “And it would be a lot easier to concentrate if I didn’t have this racket outside my window. Do you have to do this every night?”
Zoe peered at the motel porch, where the mariachi band and the motel spirits gathered. The trumpets blared with an off-key zeal, the violins screeched like nails on a chalkboard, and the warbling cries of the singers were out of sync. And yet, despite the cacophony of terrible sounds, Misty danced with sheer abandon, practically swooning over the ghosts with every strum of their badly tuned guitarrón.
“I’m afraid the boys need their practice before the Spectral Soirée. Speaking of which…” Spooks turned to Zoe with an excited grin. “You will be coming, won’t you?”
“I don’t have time for parties, Spooks…”
“Oh, lighten up, fleshie!” Spooks’ head emerged through Zoe’s files, breaking her concentration. “Perhaps some time apart from that fleshie typewriter machine will do you some good. And this time, I won’t take no for an answer. All aboard the Spooks Express!”
“No, really, I…”
With a click of Spooks’ fingers, the windows burst open. Zoe yelped as the poltergeist took her hand, and pulled her through the window into the cool night air.
“Passengers are advised to strap themselves in for a bumpy landing!”
Zoe’s screams pierced through the night sky as she plummeted to the ground. She cried out in surprise as a pair of arms caught her, breaking her fall. As Spooks’ blue smoke faded, she drew a startled breath as a pair of dark eyes gazed into hers.
“Do you have a habit of falling to your death?”
“Only when scatter-brained poltergeists are involved.”
Shadow’s eyes gleamed in the starlight as he held Zoe in his arms. She glanced at the bulge in his biceps from carrying her weight, at the slight strain in his lithe muscles. But despite the sensation in her heart, when it came to the sensation of his touch, she could feel nothing. Not the feeling of his hands as he held her body. Not the sensation of his touch. Just a cold chill that swept across her skin like a winter’s breeze.
Zoe’s feet gratefully touched solid ground as Shadow lowered her to the floor, until she took in the surrounding sights. She watched Misty and Cerberus as they danced under the stars, until an obnoxious tooting pierced through the air as Spooks accompanied the Phantom Fiestadores’ wailing melodies with an out-of-time honking.
“I didn’t expect this would be your kind of scene.” Zoe watched as Misty swayed before the wailing mariachi band, before she returned her gaze to Shadow. “You don’t necessarily strike me as the partying type.”
“He’s not. Usually, the master is far too busy sulking in his room to join us.” Spooks appeared between the pair in a puff of blue smoke, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “But when he heard you might join us tonight, he couldn’t keep himself away.”
Shadow spluttered in surprise, before his eyes narrowed into a deadly scowl. “Spooks, that’s not–”
“Oh, there’s no point denying it.” Spooks chuckled merrily. “Who would have known matchmaking is so much fun?”
Zoe’s eyes widened. “Matchmaking?”
“That’s right! The Great Spooks strikes again! All it took was my mastermind planning, a few gentle words to sow the right seeds, and throwing the fleshie out of the window.” But Spooks’ laughter faded as he saw Shadow’s murderous scowl. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. This was all Misty’s idea. I’m just the messenger! Now quit your sulking and come join us. The main event is about to begin!”
Spooks sped away as fast as he could, leaving Zoe, Shadow, and a rather large elephant in the room sat between them. They glanced at each other awkwardly, both wanting to fill the uncomfortable silence that settled, but unable to find the words to say. As the sound of Spooks’ tooting filled the air, Shadow sighed in relief, and pointed to where the ghosts gathered.
“Spooks might be a meddling poltergeist, but he’s right about one thing.” Shadow glanced at the sky, where currents of wind whipped through the air. “You won’t want to miss this.”
Zoe followed him, grateful for the darkness of the night sky to hide her blushing cheeks. With each step, she glanced at Shadow self-consciously, while Spooks’ words lingered in her mind. Had the pestering poltergeist really been trying his hand at matchmaking? Her heart stirred at the thought, while her mind drifted back to the feeling of being in Shadow’s arms. But as her hand passed through his, with no more sensation than a cold breeze, she sighed and shook her head. They were from two very different worlds. Worlds that had no chance of being together.
“Looks like it’s about to begin! Look up at the sky, fleshie!”
Zoe was pulled from her thoughts as she followed the spirit’s gaze. The night sky came alive before her, with great gusts of desert winds carrying shimmering stardust that sparkled in magical hues. It was as if the heavens themselves had opened, and provided a glimpse of the wonders they contained.
“What is this?”
“It’s the main event, of course! Mortals call it the Northern Lights. But we know it for what it truly is… the Spectral Speedway!” Spooks grinned as he watched the powerful winds race through the sky. “A loop-de-looping, helter-skelter flight across the best sights of the Underworld. There’s nothing like it in the world!”
