She crossed her arms. “Nothing.”

“Well, hurry up and get over your ‘nothing’ problem.”

Justina opened her mouth, closed it again, and turned back as her toast popped up.

She quickly buttered her toast and threw on some bacon and eggs and a truckload of tomato sauce, grabbed the plate and her juice, and headed out of the kitchen. As she reached the bottom step, Tracy reminded her of the rule not to take food and drink to her room.

Justina kept walking. “Bite me.”

A few seconds later, a door slammed.

Tracy didn’t chase her up, but muttered something about putting it in her report.

Kellie closed her eyes for a few seconds, then looked at me. “Sorry. She’s not normally like this. Well, not this bad, anyway. She’s had a rough time of it lately — well, I guess we all have — so she’s just acting out.” She put her fork down and started twirling one of her rings around on her finger. “I hope you’ll still come to town.”

I looked into her pleading eyes and nodded. “Yes.” What could I say? I wasn’t going to let Justina ruin things for me.

Kellie’s smile returned at full brightness. “Great! That’s great.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

A large clock tower caught my attention as we reached the middle of town. I hadn’t seen it the day before. It sat in the middle of a huge round-about, surrounded by well-maintained flower beds and trees. It was a pretty spot and it made me smile.

Tracy parked the car in one of the diagonal parking spaces in the main street and we stepped out into the spring sunshine. I took a deep breath in when I smelled the wonderful aroma of freshly-baked bread.

As we walked around, Kellie gave a running commentary of each of the shops and where the best places to buy food and clothing were, and pointed out a bookshop and a cute little business that sold all sorts of crystals and incense and dreamcatchers called Mystical Encounters.

“Ruby has the best dreamcatchers I’ve ever seen and the range of crystals will make your head spin,” she told me as she fingered a pink pendant on a chain around her neck. “I actually need to buy a couple of scented candles for my room.”

Without another word, she headed straight for the door and pushed it open. The door chime rang out a pleasant tune as we followed her in.

The first thing I noticed was the dreamcatchers and the crystal chandeliers hanging from the walls and ceiling. They were absolutely amazing. There was such an array of colours and shapes. I must have looked like a dork just standing there in the middle of the shop with my mouth hanging open.

I turned in a circle to take them all in and a short woman with feathers and beads in her long purple hair stepped forward with a smile. “Hello, girls. It’s so nice to see you.” She turned to me. “And I see you have a guest with you.”

Kellie beamed at her. “Hi, Ruby. This is Maddie. She’s our newest resident.”

Ruby’s eyes lit up. “It’s so nice to meet you, Maddie. I hope you like it here in our little town.”

I nodded. “Nice to meet you, too. So far the town is beautiful. And I love your dreamcatchers.”

“Thank you. They are all handmade here in town.”

Wow. That was so cool. There was always something impressive about a handmade work-of-art. It must have taken hours to make each one.

I was given the grand tour of the store and felt a little overwhelmed at the wide variety of things on display. I really loved the large dragon figurine with the crystal ball in its mouth. It was about a foot tall and looked so realistic.

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I wished that I could take it home, but who was I kidding? I didn’t even have any money.

Ruby moved up next to me. “Beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Her name is Dragonia. I named her myself.”

“Dragonia. Nice name for a dragon.”

“Yes. I thought so.”

Kellie stood on the other side of me. “It’s so real-looking.” She hitched her bag up onto her shoulder. “Ruby, can you suggest a candle I can use that has a spring vibe to it?”

“Of course.”

I continued looking around while Kellie bought her candles.

Ruby made sure I agreed to come in if I ever needed anything or if I wanted to buy Dragonia. I promised her that I would as we walked out the door.

I’d seen the price tag. Dragonia would never be mine.

We went into a few places and Tracy bought an alarm clock for my room. I wasn’t sure what to say. I hated not having my own money, but I hated not knowing the time. Of course, what I really needed was a new mobile phone, but I couldn’t ask her to buy something so expensive. I’d have to make do with the clock. I smiled and thanked her.

By lunch time, we were all hungry, so we headed into the local hamburger place that had Herbie’s Burgers plastered across the top of the awning in huge letters. The smell of hamburgers, chips, and kebabs immediately had my mouth watering.

Tracy smiled. “Best burgers in town.”

I hadn’t had what I called a “real Aussie” hamburger in forever, so I went for one with bacon and egg. The others ordered their meals and I felt bad that Tracy had to pay for mine and for my drink.

We sat down at a table to wait for our food and I picked a position that let me see out into the street.

I could see the clock tower further up the road and was struck again by the fact that they had something like that in the town, like something out of a fairytale or a movie.

The hamburger was delicious and I savoured the taste. There was nothing like a good Aussie burger — one that actually had beetroot on it. It was heavenly.

Kaydan laughed when I told them how much I loved the food. “Kellie works here during the week, so you know where to come to get a good feed.”

I tried to imagine Kellie flipping burgers and laughed too.

My smile faded when I spotted a lone figure approaching the clock tower. Even from here, I could feel the different energy of a spirit. I wondered what their story might be. Tracy had said that the clock was a war memorial for the ANZAC soldiers, so maybe they were once a soldier or knew one of the soldiers who’d been killed.

It still amazed me that I could suddenly see and hear these spirits. They’d been there all along and everyone else was oblivious to them. It made me sad because it meant that these people had no way of communicating with the living. Couldn’t tell their loved-ones that they were okay. At peace.

I pulled my thoughts away from there and tried to follow the conversation around me. They talked about other parts of the town and I finished my hamburger and drink quietly.

We finished up and as we walked down the street, we stopped to look in the front window of the bakery. If I wasn’t full from lunch, I’d be drooling over the custard tarts. I would have to remember where this shop was for next time.

I couldn’t help noticing that people were staring at me. I knew it was because I was a new face in town, but it was still unnerving.

A tingling sensation almost made me groan out loud. Not another spirit. I looked up and down the street, hoping it was only Johnny, but an older guy shuffled along the footpath. Just before I looked away, he saw me looking at him.

Great.

I didn’t want to have to deal with this everywhere I went. I tried to pay attention to what Tracy was saying about the Pavlovas, but he walked over and got right up in my personal space.

“I know you can see me. I saw it in your eyes.”

I kept my eyes forward. The chocolate mud cakes were suddenly very interesting, but he was so hard to ignore. He was so close that if he was still alive, I would have been smelling his bad breath.

“It’s not right that you can see us,” he said. “It’s not natural. There has to be some kind of witchcraft here or it’s the work of the devil.”

I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh. It sounded like a line out of a movie about the Witch Trials. Surely people didn’t still believe that stuff? There was no such thing as magic.

Tracy was talking about how Anna-Marie could make a better caramel slice than what they sold in the bakery and I smiled. I couldn’t wait to test that theory.

“You can’t ignore me,” he said. “There’s an evil lurking in this town. There has been for many years. And you’re part of it.”

I resisted the urge to look at him. What was he talking about?

I took a deep breath and concentrated on listening to Tracy.

“Look at me. I know you can see me. Don’t ignore me. That place you live in is part of it, they worship the devil.”

I tucked my lips inward so he couldn’t see the grin that was creeping onto my face. I couldn’t help it. He really believed what he was saying.

He leaned closer. “I’m watching you. I’ll tell the others. We won’t let you destroy this town.”