“Nothing. I—”

“Don’t bullshit me.” She looked at Kellie. “What’s going on?”

Kellie sniffed and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. “She really can talk to spirits—”

“Don’t fall for her crap—”

“She can! She was just talking to Kass right here. Right now.”

Justina put a hand on her hip. “Don’t be daft. No one can do that. She’s making it up.”

I snorted. “After all the magical stuff I’ve seen and done and learnt about since I got here and you’re scoffing at someone talking to ghosts? You’re crazy.”

Her expression was unreadable. “Even if it’s possible, you’re just faking it to have your sick, twisted fun. You’re enjoying torturing us.”

Kassandra wrung her hands as she watched Justina. “You need to make her believe. She needs to make peace with herself.” She rubbed her upper arms as if trying to comfort herself. “She blames herself for my death because it was her idea to — never mind. It was her idea to be outside at night.”

“Okay. Tell me something only Justina would know.”

Justina gave a huff and looked like she was going to punch me.

Kassandra tried to smile. “I was the only one who called her Jussie.”

I looked back at Justina. “She said she was the only one who called you Jussie.”

She crossed her arms. “Kellie knew that. She could have told you before I walked in here.”

Kellie clenched her fists a couple of times. “I didn’t.”

There was a look of concentration on Kassandra’s face. “Okay, well, she likes guys on motorbikes and has a secret crush on Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Um… And she thinks… I’m trying to think of stuff that won’t be too bad if I tell you. Like she won’t get too mad at me for telling you. There’s a lot of private stuff. Oh, she hates cutesy things like Hello Kitty.”

Justina went pale once I repeated all of that. “No. There has to be another way you knew that.”

Kassandra said a few more things.

I hoped I could just get Justina to see that it was real. “No. There isn’t. She is here and she says she’s sorry for not telling anyone she was bitten that night. And that you told her you wanted to get a tattoo of a dragon on your right ankle.”

Justina spun on her heel and bolted from the room.

I called after her, but Kassandra said to let her go. “She needs to deal with it her own way, then she’ll be back.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I helped Kellie talk to Kassie for a while, but then I had to get out of there. The emotions were running high and it was pretty intense. I went for a walk outside — just in the yard — and breathed in the fresh air. I loved the bush. There was something about nature that relaxed me.

I jumped as a screeching noise pierced the silence and a couple of fruit bats flew overhead. I always loved watching them fly across the sky in the darkness. They were kind of cute up close, but I’d read too many vampire stories and watched way too many movies to be comfortable around bats. Plus the fact that they could carry the Hendra Virus.

I suppressed a shudder and headed back inside.

I sat up against the headboard on my bed and used the house’s Wi-Fi to get on social media.

Johnny knocked on my door and asked if he could come in. I sighed. I just wanted some peace and quiet for a while.

Besides, knocking wasn’t going to work. How could I tell him to come in without the other residents hearing me? Yes, I’d just told Justina and Kellie that I could see spirits, but that didn’t mean I wanted the whole house to know.

I heard him say, “Oh,” then he appeared out on the verandah, so I guess he walked through a couple of walls. I waved him in.

“I was trying not to scare you or upset you, but realized that you can’t call me in without everyone hearing you.” He looked a bit embarrassed. “So, how are we gonna work this?”

“Um…” I rubbed my chin. “You could just not knock. Not come back.” The look on his face was priceless. “Just kidding. Knocking on the wooden door obviously isn’t practical. And I couldn’t really tap a code back or anything to say it’s okay to come in…”

“What if I approached the part of the glass doors that is always covered by the curtain and knock on the glass, then if it’s okay to come in, you can move the curtain enough to wave me in. Or something.”

“Yeah. Maybe that could work.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to see you to ask a small favour.”

I wasn’t sure what he could possibly want, but I thought it couldn’t be too bad. “Okay, shoot.”

“Can you put your phone on the bed? I want to try something.”

I frowned and put it down in front of me. “What are you going to do?”

“I want to see if I can use it. I’ve been practicing moving stuff, but I’m not sure if I can do something useful like call or text someone.”

I turned it around so it wouldn’t be upside-down to him as he approached the bed with a look of concentration on his face.

“Can you unlock it?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” I unlocked it and put it back down.

He tapped an icon with a cautious finger and the screen went haywire and my first thought was that he’d just killed my phone, but the display went back to normal. My heart was in my throat.

“Hey!”

“Sorry! That was too much. I need to dial it back a bit.”

“Be careful!”

This time when he tapped the icon, the screen was fine and the app opened with no problems.

“Yesss!” He pumped the air with his fist. “I knew I could do it!”

I had to admit that it was pretty amazing.

“You gave me a heart attack. I thought you’d fried my phone.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that. I need to use a lot of energy to move something, so I overdid it.” He was still grinning wildly. “Can I see if I can type a text message? I just want to see if I can keep control enough to do more than open one app.”

I nodded. I couldn’t see why a ghost would need to use a mobile phone, but he was so excited, I couldn’t say no.

He was so elated when he’d successfully typed up a message that I couldn’t help feeling his happiness. It was contagious.

Then he sank into the chair in the corner. “Wow. That really drains my energy. I’ll have to be more careful.”

That reminded me of me using too much magic. I hoped he didn’t pass out or fade away on me. I wouldn’t know what to do for him.

He apologised again for being in the foyer, then asked about my trip into town with Alina.

I told him about what we got up to and he seemed to regain some of his energy.

But then he suddenly looked ill. “Are you okay? You don’t look well.”