Noah’s head tilted as he shot me a bashful look. “Fair enough, but you’re the first one I hoped would flirt back.”
Oh, he was good. Lark wouldn’t trust him. In fact, I could hear her making retching noises in my head. But my sister wasn’t there. I was alone with a cute boy who wanted to spend some time with me, and there wasn’t any drama around it. We were both dead, so what was the worst thing that could happen?
I smiled. “I don’t really know how to flirt.”
He made a clucking sound with his tongue. “For shame. I would be happy to instruct if you are in want of a teacher.”
We were so close I could feel his spectral energy mingling with mine. It was like a warm breath on bare skin. We weren’t tangible to the living, or in their world—unless we manifested—but to each other we were solid. Real.
My gaze drifted to his mouth—he had perfect lips—before rising to meet his. God, those eyes! “Do you really think you could teach me?” I asked with a smile.
He arched a brow. “I think you have a natural talent for it.”
I laughed. “Maybe you’re just so good that I’m learning already.”
A bright smile parted his lips. “That may be true.” He offered his hand. “Would you care to dance with me?”
I said the words that I’d heard said countless times in romantic movies—“There isn’t any music.”
As though on cue, the sound of a cello and violin playing together in perfect harmony drifted around us, soft as a breeze.
“How did you do that?” I asked, looking about. I actually expected to see a couple of ghosts nearby, playing for us.
“When you’ve been around as long as I have been, you learn how to tap into lingering spectral energy.”
I nodded. “You found a looper.”
A looper was a common kind of ghost—the kind that are stuck, either knowingly or unaware, in a particular moment or action. Some are doomed to jump off that bridge night after night, or walk the same stretch of road, scream the same blood-chilling scream. They’re like ghost-zombies, mindless and driven only by compulsion. Sad, really.
“There are quite a few of them here,” he said. “I’ve just brought them a little closer. I’m not hurting them.”
The concern in his tone made me like him more. “I hadn’t thought you were.”
Noah looked relieved. “You’ll dance with me, then?”
I nodded. “I’m not very good. I’ve never really learned.”
“Ah.” He grinned. “Something else for me to teach you.” He held out his hand. I took it and put my other hand on his shoulder as his arm went around my waist.
“Just look into my eyes and follow me,” he instructed.
I did. The next thing I knew we were whirling and twirling around—easier to do when your feet didn’t have to touch the ground. Following really wasn’t all that difficult once I realized there was a pattern to the steps. It was fun.
There were ghosts in the windows of nearby buildings watching us. Some even came outside, but they didn’t approach us. A few found partners or danced by themselves, but they didn’t try to interrupt. Noah spun me over the top of the security patrol car as it drove by, and I laughed as we flew up into the air.
Lark reached out to me an hour or so later. It wasn’t a summons, just a gentle prod to make sure I was all right. We really did have the whole twin-ESP thing going on, but I didn’t know if it was because we were twins or because I was dead. The why wasn’t really important, it was convenient to be able to feel one another when we weren’t together. My sister had a habit of getting into trouble—though she’d probably say the same about me.
I let her know I was fine, and she seemed to respect that because she didn’t summon me—a command that I didn’t seem to be able to ignore, and Lark only used it when it was urgent. She was probably with Ben anyway.
“What’s it like to have lived?” I asked as we danced.
His smile seemed almost sad as he whirled me around the chimneys of one of the older buildings. “Terrible and wonderful. Anxious and joyous. Things hurt and stink and rot. And then, you’ll find the most perfect flower, or watch the sunrise, and every pain will have been worth it.”
I felt hollow inside. “I wish I could experience it.”
He looked me in the eye. “My dear girl, you don’t have to be alive to live. There are plenty of living people in this world who sleepwalk through it and never hate or love any part of it. You are more alive than almost anyone I’ve ever known.”
Noah and I danced and talked some more. We flirted and we laughed. And then, the sun peeked its head up over the horizon.
We were sitting beneath an old tree that still had most of its leaves—which were almost as dark a red as my hair. Noah lifted his head.
“You should go,” he said. “Your sister will wonder where you’ve been.” Of course he knew about Lark if he knew who I was.