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Cassian’s mouth was still on the counter. “That’s creepy. You’re being haunted. Dramatic pause here. By a ghost. That’s not normal.”
I cleared my throat. “Uh. It’s actually not that untrue. It’s more common than you think.”
Cassian shoved more chips in his mouth, muttering around them, “I’m going to need to either start smoking or meditating by the end of this.” He braced himself, his hands resting on the counter. “How many ghosts are here with us right now?”
“None.”
“Come again?” Cassian smirked.
“The only ghost I’ve mostly seen here is Noah. He’s not here right now. And no, don’t ask me where he goes. I have no idea.”
Cassian’s eyebrows furrowed together. He was giving me the side-eye. “How many ghosts have you—oh holy shit, there was a ghost in the hallway yesterday, wasn’t there? When I made that crack about if you saw them too.” He saw the expression on my face and his mouth dropped all over again. He slapped the counter. “There was, wasn’t there? A girl ghost, I bet. Am I right? I have to be right.”
“There was a girl ghost there, yes.” My lips pressed together.
“Fuck,” Cassian breathed out. “There was more than one ghost. How many ghosts are in our school?”
“I met three yesterday, but there’s others. I just haven’t interacted with them. Until yesterday, I’ve been able to pretend I didn’t know they were around.”
“More than three?” His voice went a little shrill. “There’s one in the library. Right?”
I nodded. “There’s two in the library. A guy and an older woman.”
“Old?” He sneered. “How old? Are we talking geriatric age? She doesn’t, like, leave her ghost dentures around, does she?”
“No.” I found myself smiling, more relaxed and enjoying this moment. I could talk about a huge part of my life with people who were from my other part of my life. They were merging together and for once, I didn’t feel like I was drowning from everything. My head was above water. I was treading just fine. “I misspoke. She looks in her forties. She demanded I fix the Dewey Decimal System. The current librarian is causing Dewey destruction.”
Cassian snorted. “Okay. That’s funny. Who’s the dude ghost?”
“Shelton. He looks our age, but he said he was killed when he was a kid. Don’t ask me the specifics of that. I don’t know. I’ve not asked.”
“That’s a little morbid.”
“They’re pretty free talking about how they died. Or at least Sabine and Shelton were. Melbor. One told me it was bad manners to discus how she died.”
Cassian laughed again. “Who the fuck is Sabine and Melbor?”
Cassian peppered me with questions about all the ghosts I’d met in town. He got the biggest kick out of Melbor and wanted me to point him out if he was ever on top of the wall when we drove past. As he asked me the questions, Lee was quiet, but he took care of the pizzas. Getting them out. Cutting them. Grabbing paper plates, refilling our drinks, and making sure we went back to the basement to eat and were comfortable.
Once we were done, and when I was cozy, and falling asleep, curled between both of the boys, I heard Lee say over my head as he was stroking his hand through my hair, “She doesn’t have a car. You and me need to give her rides from now on.”
Cassian cursed.
“Shh. Don’t wake her.”
Cassian loudly whispered, “What the fuck do you mean she doesn’t have a car? How’d she get here last night? And duh. Of course we’ll give her rides. It’s our privilege.”
“She said she walked and it makes sense now hearing that she cut through the factories and landfill if the ghosts helped her. It’s like four miles to go around.”
A dry laugh left Cassian. “Dude. This is not normal. You know that, right? We’re doing threeways with a legit supernatural chick. This is awesome. She’s awesome.”
“Yeah.” Lee said it so quietly, his finger stroking behind my ear. Tenderly. “She is.”
There was a beat of silence.
“If she wasn’t down to also having me, I’d be so mad at you.”
Lee’s finger paused. “You really like her, huh?”
