My eyes snapped to his. “What?”

“Do you want to catch up tomorrow for lunch? I can show you the best place in town for a great meal.”

No!

I scrambled for an excuse. “Oh, I can’t. I have plans. Sorry.”

That was lame.

His smiled disappeared. “Oh, okay. No worries. Some other time then.”

He probably wasn’t used to girls turning him down. Well, there was a first time for everything.

I nodded and tried to smile, but I wasn’t sure if I achieved it. I sighed. “No offence. It’s just — I don’t know you.”

He put on a fake smile. “That’s why I was asking. So we can get to know each other.”

Think of something! “Uh, I don’t think I’m ready for a lunch date…”

The fake smile stayed in place. “That’s okay.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I better get going. Think about it.”

I mumbled something resembling a yes.

He couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I felt guilty for turning him down, but I wasn’t about to say yes because he asked nicely or whatever. And it was just odd that the minute he met me, he was asking if he could show me around or show me the Falls — and now he wanted to go to lunch with me.

It was too much too soon.

I wasn’t here in this rinky-dink town to find a boyfriend. Controlling my magic had to be my top priority right now. It was the only way I was going to be able to go home and I didn’t need anything else distracting me.

I didn’t want to deal with all the crap that came with letting my guard down. The last time I did that, I ended up being at the wrong end of a cruel schoolyard prank.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. I would not let anything like that happen again.

“I couldn’t find her.”

I jumped, then put a hand on my heart as Jackson approached the counter. “Oh, my God! You scared the living daylights out of me.”

“Sorry. What were you doing sitting here with your eyes closed anyway?”

“Can’t I just have a minute to myself to relax?”

“Sure you can.” He looked at me for a moment, like he thought maybe I wasn’t feeling well. “Anyway, I couldn’t find Jade. I looked all over town, but maybe she lives close or has a car.”

His shoulders slumped.

“Don’t worry. You can talk to her next time she comes in. She seems to be in here like every day.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

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As I left the shop that afternoon, Jackson walked with me, but he was antsy. “I can’t stop thinking about Jade. I really need to know more about my family.”

“What are you doing here then?” I whispered. “Go have another look around to see if you can find her.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Go. I’m just gonna be jumping on the bus. Nothing exciting.” He hesitated. “Just go. Good luck.”

“Okay. See ya.”

And with that, he strode off down the street.

A smile crossed my lips. I hoped he could find her. It must really suck to still not remember much of anything, especially after all this time.

I headed toward the bus stop, taking in the quaint little shop fronts, the wide footpaths and the extra-wide main street. The streets were not as wide in the cities. Angel Falls had enough room on both sides of the street for 45-degree angle-parking.

There weren’t too many people about. A man dressed like a tradie with a high-vis shirt and a hard hat headed toward a small truck, a heavy toolkit in his hand. A woman who looked way too young to be dressed like something out of a movie set in the forties did a double-take when she saw me, then suddenly crossed to the other side of the road.

I frowned as I watched her stride away with her nose in the air. It reminded me of the woman who wouldn’t give me a job once she saw where I was living.

What’s her problem?

I looked around, thinking that maybe there was someone behind me that caused her reaction, but I was alone.

I huffed. Whatever.

A lone kookaburra laughed in the distance as I started walking again and I imagined that he was laughing at her ridiculous behaviour.

Looking toward the clock tower made me shudder as I remembered the bloodied ghost from the car accident. I turned away and picked up the pace.

As I passed the town hall, a ghost came running toward me from the other side of the road, screaming at the top of his lungs as if he was being chased by the devil himself. He ran past me, back across the road, then turned into the driveway for the hall’s car park. My mind was scrambling, trying to work out what could be wrong.

I couldn’t call out to him, but I could follow him. I waited impatiently for an old, grey Holden ute to pass before I could cross the road, worried that if I took too long, I’d lose him. I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t get involved — I should just go catch the bus — but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to see if he was okay.

I found him in the car park behind the hall, wandering around by himself. At least he’d stopped the screaming. The sun was setting and the shadows were deepening, reminding me that I had a bus to catch.

He turned suddenly, noticing that I was looking directly at him. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“Are you alright?”

He waved a hand around wildly. “Of course I’m alright! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You were running through the street screaming like you were being chased or something.”

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’?”

“I can run through town screaming and yelling if I want to. No one can hear me. No one can see me. You shouldn’t be able to, either.”

I crossed my arms. “Well, I can.”

He crossed his arms as well. “What do you want?”

I sighed. “I thought you needed help.”

“What could you possibly do to help?”

“I… I don’t know. I’ve helped spirits before.”

He let his hands fall back by his sides. “Riiight. Now, go away and leave me alone.”

And with that, he disappeared.

Great.

I sighed heavily and started heading back to the street, hoping I hadn’t been seen talking to myself and hoping I hadn’t missed my bus.

I pulled my phone out and looked at the time.

Damn!

I had missed my bus. Now I’d have to wait for the next one.

I jumped at the sound of footsteps crunching on dry leaves coming from behind the car park, but before I could turn around, there was a bright flash and I felt like I’d been hit with a bolt of electricity, then everything went black.