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“She does have a bad habit of holding several conversations in her mind, and some of them don’t require any input from her company,” he told me as we reached the top of the stairs and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
I leaned against the corner where the long hall cut the upper floor in two. “So she’s always that flighty?”
“Only on weekdays,” he replied as he led me down the left half of the hall to the end where he stopped us in front of the last door.
I slipped up to his side and lifted an eyebrow. “So what’s she like on the weekends?”
“Flightier,” he answered as he swung open the entrance.
Ben revealed a comfortable bedroom with a four-post bed and a large dresser. There was also a vanity against the far right wall with a door that I guessed led to a private bath. The windows looked out onto the back of the house. I sidled up to one of the paned windows and looked out onto an overgrown garden. A shed had been swallowed by vines and there was only a hint of a stone path that led from the back door into the jungle.
I leaned my left arm against the window frame and folded my arms over my chest as I turned to Ben. “So what’s the story between you and the bird? He looked really happy trying to topple your chair with you in it.”
Ben paused in his unpacking and frowned. “Fysan and I have been at odds for some years.”
“Did you steal his mouse or did he steal your sandwich?”
A smile slipped onto his lips as he resumed his unpacking. “A little of both over the years, and to tell the truth I’ve long forgotten how the animosity began. For his part, I doubt he’s forgotten any of the mischief I’ve made for him.”
I glanced out the window and furrowed my brow. Ben paused in his unpacking and likewise showed a troubled expression. “What is it?”
I kept my gaze focused on the shadowed world beyond the glass. “What made you venture out?”
Ben lifted an eyebrow as he set his clothes down and ventured over to me. He looked at where I looked in the garden.
Something was moving, and it wasn’t a branch in the wind. It was more like a bent shadow that shambled its way through the wilderness. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as my imagination ran wild, but one idea stuck in my head.
Ghost.
CHAPTERSIX
I lookedup into Ben’s curious face and saw that his eyes now glowed red. “What do you think it is?”
He shook his head. “I can’t tell from this distance, even with my night eyes.” A crooked and very mischievous smile curled onto his lips as he dropped his gaze to me. “What do you say to a little investigation?”
I tightened my arms around my chest. “I say I’d like to know why your aunt warned us not to go out at night.”
Ben leaned his palm against the other side of the frame and studied the shifting shadow. The thing, whatever it was, meandered down the stone path toward the woods. “She merely wishes to save us from any unpleasant experiences in the dark.”
I snorted. “You mean like some unspeakable horror that will haunt our every waking moment for the rest of our lives?”
“Something like that.”
My face drooped and I narrowed my eyes at him. “Ben?”
He continued his perusal of the gardens. “Mhm?”
“I think I’d rather stay inside.”
“Yeah.” His voice was wispy and I still hadn’t received eye contact.
“There’s a spider on your shoulder.”
“Yeah.”
“Want to have sex?”
Ben’s head shot around so fast I thought it was going to fly off. His red eyes showed far more eagerness than even I expected. “Really?”
