Sisters Of Salt And Iron

“Sure. The sooner we figure this out, the smaller the chance that Woodstock comes for the rest of us.” Gage rose to his feet. “I’ll go do it now if we’re done here.”

I looked around. No one protested. “Yeah, let’s go home,” I said. “Everyone, salt your windows and doors, and keep iron nearby.” Not that I thought the rest of them were in danger, unless our hippie ass-hat was going to visit each of them one by one. My gut told me Kevin had been his one and only target.

They all agreed that they would take precautions, and our little group broke up. Mace said goodbye and disconnected, promising to let Sarah know what was going on. Funny that no one had thought to call her. But then, Sarah didn’t feel like part of the group. It was pretty obvious to me that if she wasn’t Mace’s girlfriend, she wouldn’t have anything to do with any of us. He could do so much better.

I made sure Kevin was okay with being left alone before Ben and I walked out to our cars.

“Do you blame me for this?” I heard myself ask.

Ben shook his head. “You were right. We went looking for ghosts, and we found them. Had nothing to do with you. Now stop talking and kiss me.”

I smiled as his lips touched mine. Leaning against Nan’s car, we kissed until my head felt light and the world melted away. If Wren reached out to me at that moment, I don’t know if I’d answer her either.

“I’ll be over at noon,” Ben told me, when he finally let me go. “We’ll look through the records together, okay?”

I nodded, still a little dizzy. “Okay. Good night.”

He grinned and kissed me again. “’Night. You make sure you protect yourself, as well. This guy’s gotten a taste of you, too.”

I didn’t want to think about just how much of a “taste” Woodstock had wanted. “I will.”

“I’ll ask my grandmother if she has any advice,” he added. “An attack by a vengeful spirit is right up her alley.”

“She’s going to want you to break up with me. No one wants their grandson involved in this kind of crap.”

He kissed my forehead. “She’d rather have me knowledgeable than ignorant. Besides, she likes you.”

I arched a brow but didn’t argue. I would just have to take his word for it.

Gage had taken Roxi home, so I was on my own for the short drive back to my grandmother’s, where my mother had dropped me two months earlier. Dropped me and walked away. I tried not to think about it. Being abandoned by your own mother because you “broke her heart” sucked.

Wren didn’t pop into the car. She didn’t meet me at the door when I walked into the house. And after I tiptoed upstairs, I found my room empty. She was still with Noah, I guessed.

I felt strangely alone. I suppose it would be a normal feeling for most people, but not for me. I had no connection to my sister at all, and I hadn’t felt that since all the drugs at Bell Hill when I’d actually believed that I was crazy after all, and that Wren was just a product of my sick mind.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth and changed into a tank top and pajama pants. Then I slipped between the sheets and tried not to think about Woodstock. I was getting better at not letting ghosts get to me. Ghosts, I could handle.

I fell asleep in minutes, replaying Ben’s kisses in my head.

I dreamed.

There was nothing but darkness, and I was in the center of it. All around me I could hear voices crying out. Something brushed by me, but I couldn’t tell what it was. I struggled through the dark until I caught sight of a glimmer of light. I tried to chase it, but it was like swimming through a sea of rubber bands. I had to reach that light. I had to break through to the other side, to the place where it began.

The Ruiner is after you, a voice whispered. He won’t be satisfied until you and your sister are destroyed.