*
For someone with a spectral hit out on him, Kevin took the news fairly stoically. Instead of freaking out, he went immediately to work securing his house against ghosts. Roxi, Gage and I helped. Sarah had apparently left immediately after I walked in on her and Kevin in the kitchen, so she didn’t know about our surprise visitor.
I called Ben. He’d want to help, and I knew he’d be upset if I waited until morning to tell him what happened. His family was as comfortable with the existence of ghosts as mine was, so he wasn’t going to get in trouble by staying out half the night helping to protect a friend from a nasty spirit. I gotta say that made life a lot easier for me.
I reached out for Wren, figuring she would want to join the rest of us in determining why the ghost had come for Kevin and who had sent it, but she didn’t answer. That was weird. I waited a few minutes and tried again. This time I opened myself up to her. My connection to my sister has always been more soul than mind. We could pick up on how the other was feeling more than what she was thinking, although there had been times when I could’ve sworn we were telepathic.
I wish I hadn’t opened myself up when I realized what she was feeling. It’s a little uncomfortable realizing your twin is having warm tingly feelings for someone. Especially some ghost wearing a cravat. I mean, come on. A cravat?
Here’s what bothered me more, though. Wren chose to stay with her douchey Mr. Darcy instead of answering my call. Being a ghost, it was way easier for her to simply “pop” to wherever I was than for me to get to her. Still, if she called me, I’d go, because I’d know it was important. Maybe if she felt that I was in a state of panic or in pain she’d come. Of course she would. I was a cow to think anything different.
But she didn’t come. And I didn’t feel her reaching out for me, to gauge my emotional state.
I shook my head. So my sister was being a selfish teenager. Get over it.
“Do we think this had anything to do with Bent?” Mace asked, his voice coming from the speaker of Kevin’s phone. He couldn’t justify going out again to his folks, so he was at home.
“Woodstock didn’t mention Bent,” I said. Ben shot me an amused glance at my nickname for the ghost. I shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean anything.”
“How was he able to come here if he didn’t know Kevin?” Roxi asked, looking around at those of us gathered around the kitchen table. “Isn’t that, like, against the rules or something?”
“Usually,” I replied. “But this close to Halloween, I don’t know. The dead can travel around All Hallows’ Eve. Maybe this ghost came in contact with us at Haven Crest when we took Bent out. Bent was able to follow Gage to the hospital, so maybe this guy could follow Kevin home.”
“And he waited a month and a half to do it?” Kevin asked. He was still in his Kick-Ass costume. I had to admit he looked halfway cute in it. “Does that make sense?”
“It does if he wasn’t strong enough before,” I replied. Then, I shook my head. “No. This guy didn’t just randomly follow you home. He came here for a purpose. He was sent.” I was certain of it. Maybe I was just paranoid, but the explanation felt right.
“Who would do such a thing?” Gage asked, his big brown eyes even wider than normal. He was such a puppy. “And why?”
I glanced at Kevin. “Piss any ghosts off lately?” I asked. Okay, maybe I smirked when I asked.
He met my gaze. “Only your sister.”
Snap. “Wren wouldn’t send someone after you,” I informed him—and the others. “She’d come for you herself.” They didn’t look comforted. Were they still scared of my sister? “It wasn’t her.”
“Of course it wasn’t,” Ben said, holding my hand. But they were all still looking at each other. Suddenly, it all made sense. They didn’t blame Wren for this.
They blamed me.
I looked at each of them. The only one who seemed comfortable meeting my gaze was Ben.
“I know what you’re thinking,” I said. My voice shook a little, and that pissed me off. “You’re thinking that if you’d never met me you wouldn’t have to worry about some crazy-ass ghost coming after you. But you guys came to me, remember? When you’d already poked around in places you had no business poking.” My voice rose. “Bent would have come for each and every one of you if I hadn’t been here, and he probably would have gotten every one of you with the exception of Ben, who at least knew something about ghosts. So don’t you freaking dare blame me for this. You’d still be wandering around thinking I was crazy if you’d stayed away from Haven Crest. You go looking for ghosts, you’re going to find them, and surprise! Now they’ve found you. So, why don’t we shelve the blame and try to figure this out?”