Amy’s eyes widened. “Are you going to be sick? Should I help you to the bathroom?”

Kylee bit on her lower lip, not immune to the humor of the moment.

“No, no, I’m fine,” he said, a deep red hue creeping up to his ears. “I should go to bed, I guess. Let’s finish this up.”

“Sure,” Amy said, rubbing his back. “Do you need another massage?”

“Another one?” Kylee said. “Do you have a frequent punch card? Can I get one too?”

Price stood up, moving his shoulders up and down. “I’m not feeling well, Amy. You shouldn’t get too close to me.”

“Don’t worry, Amy,” Kylee said. “I won’t be here much longer. There’s always next week.” She moved to the open window and hooked a leg over the windowsill.

“Kylee!” Price said.

That got her attention.

And Amy’s. Both girls turned to stare at him.

“I mean—” Price pressed both hands to his forehead.

Amy blinked, long and slow. “Why did you say her name? You didn’t even know her.”

Price didn’t answer.

She continued. “Does it creep you out? Living here next to her house? Especially since they found her body?”

Price took two deep breaths. “Amy, can I finish this up later? I’m not with it right now.”

“Of course.” She touched his shoulder, gave it a squeeze. “Feel better.” She shouldered her backpack, leaving the photos and map on the floor. “I’ll call you later. Bring it to school tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” He stood and walked out of his room with her.

Kylee waited. Did he want her here when he got back? Was he coming back? Was he mad at her?

Price returned, the rims of his eyes a bit red as if he had a cold. His gaze went to the window, landing on her where she hovered.

“Why did you say that?” he whispered. “Like I need a constant reminder that you won’t always be here? That you don’t want to be here?”

He looked so wretched that Kylee felt a twinge of guilt. She’d spoken recklessly, not worrying about Price’s feelings. “I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He beckoned her to him, enfolding her in his arms and burying his face in her hair. “Don’t go home. Let me have you while I can.” He tugged her to the bed, and Kylee let him pull her down with him.

Price fell asleep, his arms trapping Kylee against him. She kept her eyes open all night long, afraid she would slip into one of her crazy time warps. What if Price couldn’t wake her? What if she missed school completely? She wished she had a couple of books to read and occupy her mind.

Instead she stared at the ring on her finger. It gave off a bluish-white glow, delicious tendrils of warmth flowing from her finger to her body, like the soft heat from a campfire.

Light barely colored the horizon before she squirmed out of Price’s arms. She nudged his shoulder. “Price.”

He squinted one eye open. “Hmm.”

“I’m going home to change my clothes. I’ll see you at the bus stop.”

“Kylee—” he hesitated, then lifted a shoulder in a sleepy shrug. “Okay.”

She climbed out of his window, focusing her hands on the vine along the wall. When she lifted her head again, she was at her house. “That was fast,” she muttered.

Her bedroom window was closed. She’d been away too long. She pushed it up and climbed inside. A nippy wind followed her, and she slid the window shut with a shiver. How quickly the warmth of Price’s embrace faded. She stood in front of her closet and imagined which clothes she wanted to wear, then looked down at herself, still in the ones she’d put on yesterday. Kylee fingered a short-sleeved button-up blouse and closed her eyes, envisioning herself in the shirt. She willed the shirt to appear on her body.

She opened her eyes. The shirt hadn’t budged from the hanger.

Kylee yanked it off, sending the hanger into a free spin, and put it on.

Her fingers paused on the last button. Had she taken the shirt out of her closet? Or was it still hanging there?

“Don’t look,” she warned herself. “Don’t spoil the illusion.” A soft, breathy laugh escaped her lips. “My super powers are pretty weak.”

The room felt colder than before. She resisted the urge to grab a sweater. The cold penetrated beneath her skin, and her teeth began to chatter. She exhaled. “I need to get out of this place,” she murmured.

Hurrying to the window, Kylee put her hands on it and pushed. It didn’t budge. She frowned and tried again. Her fingers went right through the glass, sliding upward while leaving the window in place.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Kylee gasped and jerked her hands back. Her left hand ached like she’d left it in a bucket of ice. She lifted the offending appendage and saw the ring was almost black, only a sliver of electric blue shining out of it.

“What’s going on?” she whispered. She touched the window and gave it one more chance to lift upward. Still nothing.

She bit her lip and blinked back tears. She was stuck here. She wouldn’t be able to go with him. Even worse, she wasn’t sure she’d still be here when he got back.

She stood at the window and watched Price and Lisa scurry out the front door and run across the yard. Price’s head turned toward her house, and she knew he was looking for her.

Kylee shoved at the window in a last-ditch effort to force it open. Her hands went right through it. She let out a squeal as her body followed. She landed face-down on the grass and lay there in a state of shock.

Then her mind caught up. The bus would be here soon. She pushed off the grass and hurried to join Price and Lisa, trying not to worry about what this meant. First at Price’s house last night, and now at her house. She’d never had this problem before.

They were already at the bus stop. Kylee’s feet barely touched the ground as she hurried after them. Price saw her and flashed a big grin. He reached one hand behind him and flexed his fingers at her.

Kylee hesitated a moment. She wasn’t sure she could bear it if her hand went right through his. Uncertain, she extended her fingers to his.

Solid flesh met her skin, accompanied by a searing heat that made her suck in her breath. The ring instantly changed, a vibrant azure light shooting from it. She grasped his hand, relief displacing the chilling fear.

Amy and Michael joined them, laughing and jostling Price as they ambled up the bus steps. Lisa sat by her own friends, and Amy climbed into Michael’s lap. He wrapped his arms around her, and their mouths met in a lustful kiss.

Kylee felt her jaw gaping and closed her mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me they were dating?” She might have avoided the whole “jealous of Amy” feeling if she’d known.

Price dragged her to the back of the bus and pulled her down on him so she sat like Amy. Kylee squealed and started to shift over, but he held her there. He leaned his head against her back. “You didn’t ask.” He sounded pleased with himself, as if he’d kept an important secret.

“You could’ve mentioned it. It’s not like I’d tell anyone.”

“I want you to trust me. Even if she wasn’t dating Michael, it wouldn’t matter.”

“Oh.” Kind of made sense. “It didn’t stop her from flirting with you.”

“I don’t think she’s flirting. It’s just who she is.”

Kylee withheld her own opinion on the matter. “Wow.” She watched them kissing with interest. “I had no idea.” She felt silly now for her insecurity.

Price’s hands moved to her waist, and he turned her around so she faced him. “We could try it.”

She feigned ignorance. “Try what?” Embarrassment warmed her neck at the very idea of kissing Price like that, right here on the bus. A smaller part of her tingled with excitement.

He pressed his lips to her ear, his whisper a caress of its own. “Kissing on the bus.”

Kylee laughed and slid out of his lap, securing the spot next to him. “That wouldn’t look weird or anything. You making out with the air.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He shrugged. “Kind of a fun idea.”

The bus stopped again, and she watched two girls saunter on. She recognized them, even though she hadn’t been to school in over a year. They wore their hair long and straight, and their jeans skin-tight. They sat down in an empty row two seats over and in front of her and Price.

Kylee ran a hand over her own ponytail, the wavy hair that was neither straight nor curly. Her jeans had been handed down from her mother, so faded they were more white than blue. She pulled at the extra fabric around her thigh.

And their make-up. . . . One turned around to talk to someone in the seat behind her, displaying the dark eyeliner that overshadowed her eyes, the brown gloss, the glittery color sweeping above her lashes. Kylee’s fingers touched the dry ridges of her lips. She felt so plain all of the sudden.

How quickly would Price get over her? Soon they would finish their investigation. They’d prove Bill guilty, Kylee would “move on” to the world of the dead, and Price would move on too. On to a new, beautiful girl, someone alive, someone with whom he could have a future.

She nudged him. “What do you think of those girls?”

He followed her gaze and focused on the backs of the heads of the two shiny-haired goddesses. “Them?”

“Yeah.”

His cheeks reddened. “Um.”

She decided to make it easy on him. “They’re pretty, huh?”

He stared at them a little longer than necessary. “Sure.” He turned to face her. “So are you.”

A head popped over the top of the seat in front of them, a boy with short brown hair and round glasses. “Who you talking to, Price?”

“Myself.” Price grinned. “You should try it sometime.”

“Yeah. Okay.” The kid ducked down again, and Kylee laughed.

“What have you done? Now he’s going to think it’s cool to talk to himself.”

“It is cool. I like it.” He smiled at her.

“So what classes are we going to?”

“We have block scheduling. Today is public speaking, world history, oceanography, and computer programming.” He made a face. “It’s so boring. I could program in my sleep. But they don’t have anything more advanced, so Dad makes me stay in it.”

“And tomorrow? What are the classes you have tomorrow?”

“What, you coming along again tomorrow?”

“Maybe . . .”

“Health, geometry, French, and art appreciation.”

The subject matter sounded so much more appealing and engaging than what she studied at home. “I’ve been reading the same dumb history book for a year. I would much rather learn what you are.”

“Why did you drop out of school, then?”

She gaped at him. “Is that what you thought? I didn’t drop out of school. I am—was—homeschooled.”

“Oh, okay. But why?”

How many other people thought she was a dropout? “It had something to do with Bill. But I don’t really know.”

“What about your friend? Jessica?”

“Yeah. Jessica White. What about her?”

“Let’s make sure we talk to her today.”

Kylee had never been to the high school. She hopped out of her seat as soon as the bus pulled in, making it into the aisle ahead of Price. She stepped off and came to a stop beside the bus. She couldn’t believe the number of kids milling about, the brightly colored clothing. The manicured school lawn and the white brick exterior added to the rainbow vision.

Price made his way through the line of students and joined her outside. His arm slipped through his backpack strap. “Come on.”

“It’s so huge.” Kylee had expected a school. But Kellam High School looked like a college or university. The same dense forest that could be found all over the Virginia Beach area encroached on the edges of campus, but was held back by lengthy parking lots and grassy fields. Kylee couldn’t see the whole school from the bus lot, but she could see it was a circular building with off-shooting wings.

“It’s brand new. I guess it was built a few years ago.”

They walked up the sidewalk with the rest of the students. Price kept looking at her, and she asked, “What?”

“Everyone’s walking right through you.”

“What?” She came to an abrupt stop. She reached a hand out and tried to grab a strap dangling from Price’s backpack. Nothing happened. “This happened this morning, too.” She tried not to sound panicky. She glanced at her ring. Sure enough, the blue light was fading, being replaced by darkness. And cold. The cold was creeping over her again.

image [https://cdn-gcs.inkitt.com/story_images/big_2c92ed81ff7b9e5b26bbae9d527ef2de.jpeg]