Ghost academy 1 summer t.., p.21
Ghost Academy 1: Summer Term, page 21
“I can see it slowing down. Did you make it inside?” Lotus asked, panic creeping into her voice.
“Not yet,” he gritted out. “But I will.”
Hold on, Jessica.
He jumped out of the car and was hit by a blast of cold. Nick didn’t want to hazard a look, but he could feel the Stalker closing in on him.
The garage door wasn’t even three feet off the ground, but there was an opening. He had to take it.
He willed his feet to move faster.
There was a growl just over his shoulder.
Nick gritted his teeth and dove sideways through the opening.
A jaw snapped next his ear and then a howl of pain.
His forearms hit the concrete, and he rolled onto his side.
What had been a menacing beast with two snapping heads was now a flattened mess against the semi-transparent orange barrier that sprung into being at the entrance of Nick’s garage.
The monster collapsed in on itself like it was being sent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Nick could only hear an extended sizzle being issued from the barrier as the beast dissolved into nothing.
“We made it, Nicky!” Jessica was gasping for breath a few feet away from him on the garage’s floor.
Somewhere in the course of diving in, and him seeing the Stalker’s ultimate demise, Jessica had severed the anchor.
She was here. In the mortal world. Safe.
“That was some quick think—”
He propped himself up and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. The peppermint flavor he’d tasted back in Limbo swirled into his mouth again, and he deepened the kiss, thankful that she was okay.
Chapter 25
Sleeping Arrangements
“I can see you two are better than okay,” Lotus said wryly. She was a little flushed, and her eyes were bright.
Jessica pulled her lips away from Nick’s. An enormous smile covered her face. “Yeah, Nicky saved me. He was so brave.” She stared into his eyes while answering Lotus.
Nick stood and pulled Jessica off the floor.
It was ridiculously hard for him to tear his eyes away from Jessica’s soft features in order to answer Lotus. “Thanks for following us. Giving me the heads up on the Stalker slowing down gave me the idea to dive for the garage.”
The raven-haired Medium dangled Nick’s keys in front of him. “Good thing I showed up, otherwise your car would have idled into you two while you were pawing at each other.”
Nick exchanged a guilty grin with Jessica and accepted his keys. “Yeah, thanks for that.” He pocketed his keys. “It looks like I owe you a drink or two when we finally get a chance to go out.”
She looked away and nodded. “Sure.” After she’d taken a couple of steps, Lotus called back, “Using a lot of magic is the fastest way to burn through Jessica’s S.E.”
“We’ll get to work on that.” He saw Jessica give him a confident nod.
Lotus pulled open her driver’s side door. “Trust me. Until you’re comfortable using the shock spell, she’s much safer back in Limbo at the academy. Practice until she’s depleted, and she’ll be sent right back.”
Nick and Jessica waved as the Focus left his driveway and headed back to I-5.
“She likes you, I can tell,” Jessica remarked from beside him.
He thought about the kiss he’d shared with Lotus less than ten minutes ago, and his back stiffened.
Jessica wrapped her arm around Nick’s waist. “It’s okay, I’m glad she found you.”
“About what happened between Lotus and I back on campus—”
Jessica leaned her head against Nick’s shoulder. “You’ve got it wrong, Nicky. I wasn’t jealous.” She looked down. “To be honest, it was kind of exhilarating to feel…her kissing you through your lips.”
Nick couldn’t stop himself. “Exhilarating?” A dumbfounded grin touched his lips. “I thought you were pissed.”
She looked up. “Why? Because a guy who’s smart, compassionate, and hot has more than one girl’s attention?”
“Well, yeah.”
She leaned back into his shoulder. “I’ve been at the academy in Limbo for the better part of twenty years with mostly female ghosts and Mediums for company.” Jessica swayed a few times like she was trying to encourage Nick to dance. “I knew from the start that I’d have to share you.”
“You’d what?”
“Male Mediums are rare, and we don’t really interact with male ghosts. I’ve heard it’s a common practice for female ghosts to…share time…with eligible male Mediums or the men in a female Medium’s life.”
Nick studied Jessica’s face, trying to determine if she was being serious.
She pulled her arm back and ran a hand along her ponytail. “You have to understand, Nicky, a lot of the girls in our school died before they ever had a chance to…be with a man. There’s no way they would pass up the opportunity to experience that kind of intimacy because of a silly, useless feeling like jealousy.”
He tried to imagine what it would be like to pass away without ever knowing what it was like to be intimate with someone. It actually made sense that Jessica and the other female ghosts would be open to unorthodox relationships.
Nick held Jessica’s hands. “Thank you for being open with me. Right now, it’s you—and only you—that I’m worried about.” He gave her hands a squeeze. “And Lotus is right, you’re probably safest back in Limbo at the academy. Should we anchor again and start working on getting you back?”
Jessica pouted prettily. “What, you don’t like seeing me?”
“Of course I like seeing you.”
She investigated the nearly empty garage. “Don’t worry about it. I’m safe inside your haven, Nicky. Besides,” she looked back at him and gave him an energetic smile, “my S.E. drains while I’m corporeal. I’ll eventually run out in this form and be sent back to Limbo, so don’t worry too much.”
Nick’s stomach issued a long series of rumbles and gurgles.
The blonde smiled and added a playful pat to Nick’s flat midsection. “Sounds like someone needs to eat dinner.”
Nick shook his head. “I won’t lie, it feels like I haven’t eaten in days.”
“Then let’s start the tour of your house in the kitchen. That is, if you don’t mind showing me around.” She batted her eyelashes at him.
After Nick’s stomach gave another grumbling protest, Jessica agreed to postpone her tour until after the meal.
The fridge was fairly empty, but Nick had everything he needed for one of his favorite comfort foods. He pulled out butter, colby jack cheese, whole-grain mustard, bacon, and white bread.
“I’m making grilled cheese sandwiches. How many do you want?” Nick asked, pulling out a baking sheet and turning on the oven.
Jessica was sitting at Nick’s four-seater kitchen table. “Ghosts don’t normally eat, but grilled cheese sounds amazing.” She leaned forward, her blue eyes lit with desire. “Is that bacon?”
“Uh, huh. Do you want some on yours?”
“Yes! OMG. It’s been forever since I’ve had bacon!” Her eyebrows lowered. “Why do you need mustard, though?”
He turned on the oven and grabbed a roll of aluminum foil. “The mustard adds an acidic tang that cuts through the fat of the cheese and bacon. If you don’t like mustard, I can skip it. But trust me, it’s really good.”
She shrugged. “Why not?”
Nick continued cooking and Jessica told him some details from her childhood. She was an only child, and her parents had successful careers as lawyers.
As Nick was pulling the bacon out of the oven, a sad smile touched Jessica’s face. “It was just the three of us, but my parents were hardly home at the same time when I was a kid.”
“That must have been rough.” Her vivacious personality made a little more sense now. Likely, she’d been a lonely child. She’d probably learned early on how to make friends and be the kind of person everyone wanted to be around. Now, she was an expert at it.
“You adjust, I guess.” She craned her neck, trying to get a look at the living room. “Holy crapola! Your TV is massive! And so thin? How is it so thin?”
Nick couldn’t help but grin. “Go check it out. The remote’s on the coffee table.”
She jumped up, and a minute later, he heard the TV turn on.
He finished assembling their sandwiches. When he picked up the plates, there was a sharp knock on the side door. This was immediately followed by the visitor attempting to turn the knob.
“Nick! Are you serious? You locked the side door on me, man?”
He set the plates down on the table and went to the door.
“Dude. Since when did you start locking the side door?” Ben was holding a six pack of beers and taking up most of the doorway.
Nick’s stomach did an unsettling flop. The nekros had deteriorated since he’d last seen his friend. The top of the clock face had crumbled away, and the peaks of some of the Roman numerals were beginning to disappear.
Without giving it a second thought, Nick nodded for Ben to come in.
“I picked up some fresh IPAs from Dank Punch. I’ve got some news I wanted to tell you in person.” Ben looked at the table. “Bacon grilled cheese, nice! It’s like you knew I was coming over.”
“Yeah, about that…”
Suddenly, Jessica called from the hallway. “Nicky! Netflix is on your TV? What even?” The excited blonde rushed into the kitchen. “I mean, I remember the DVD—Oh, hello.” Her eyes darted to the nekros above Ben’s head, and her smile temporarily faltered. She quickly recovered and extended her hand. “I’m Jessica.”
Ben’s eyebrows traveled halfway up his forehead. He took Jessica’s hand and seemed temporarily blinded by her smile. “Ben. Sorry for interrupting your dinner.” He gave Nick a playful elbow. “Someone didn’t tell me he already had company.”
Nick was at a loss for words. Part of him wanted to invite Ben to stay. Part of him wanted to be alone with Jessica.
Both of these people that he cared for were on timers.
The towering volleyball coach gave Nick and Jessica a couple of meaningful glances and set the six pack on the table. “I’ll catch up with you later, Nick.” He opened up the side door.
“Hang on, let me see you out.” Nick gave the plates to Jessica. “I’ll be right back.”
The spunky blonde nodded. “Sure, I’ll just set us up in the living room.”
Ben was already down the three steps by the time Nick opened the door.
“Dude, are you insane? Get back in there. That girl is beautiful, and you’re wasting time walking me to my car?”
Nick ignored Ben and caught up with the taller man. “It’s fine. I’ll go back in a second. What did you want to tell me?”
Ben stopped outside of his red F150. He waggled his finger and a devious grin touched his face. “Nope, my lips are sealed. I want you to get back in there and focus on that way-too-hot-for-you lady. Sorry, buddy. You’re just gonna have to wait.”
“Alright. Want to get some lunch later this week?”
“Sure. Let’s get something tomorrow. I’ll drive. Now, get back in there before she starts questioning why she’s eating grilled cheese by herself.”
Ben climbed into his truck, and Nick saw a tiny particle fall off of the Roman numeral three on the clock’s face.
He flexed his jaw and waved as Ben drove off.
Back in the living room, Nick found Jessica leaning forward on the couch with the remote in her hand and her jaw slack. She was scrolling through Netflix's TV show options on his seventy five-inch Samsung QLED.
“This is unbelievable. I can watch all of these shows, and there’s no rental fee?”
“Yeah, streaming services are kind of the new cable.” He stared at his half-forgotten sandwich.
Jessica put down the remote and grabbed his hand. “He’s the one you want to save, right?”
He nodded.
It hurt—seeing Ben’s nekros deteriorate and knowing there was nothing he could do. Well, nothing he could do yet.
It wasn’t like a system or a network issue. He couldn’t just troubleshoot this problem in the way he preferred. Trying solution after solution until he got it right, and everything worked the way it should.
Jessica squeezed his hand. “Let’s chow down and get back to practicing the shock spell, okay? The sooner you can complete the required number of spells, the sooner you’ll be able to start helping ghosts and save Ben.”
Nick created an impromptu target range before they anchored. Using a couple of cornhole boards, a pair of sawhorses, and some scrap, he propped up a few pieces of old plywood he’d found in the other unit’s garage. Nick did his best to recreate the target placement he’d seen in Professor Hughes’s class.
They finally called it a night at 11:45 P.M. After nearly four hours of constant practice, the shock spells Nick was launching in his backyard were inching closer to small masses of controlled S.E. and not the massive ineffective bursts that quickly deteriorated across a distance. The blindingly white balls of energy were still dissipating before they reached the targets, but at least they weren’t the size of beach balls anymore.
You might not believe it, but you’re getting closer. Your S.E. control is getting better. Once you master that—tone down your power a bit—you’ll be making concentrated shock spells in no time.
Thanks, it’s getting easier for me to hold back, but I think the marred fence boards and intact targets speak for themselves. It’s like I’m trying to stuff lightning into a snow cone.
You’ll get there, trust me. By the way, my S.E.’s pretty low. If we sever, I’ll probably run out naturally before you wake up for work tomorrow.
Oh. Okay.
Nick knew Jessica would eventually have to go back to Limbo, but he couldn’t help but feel a pang at the thought of her leaving. He liked being with her. Very much.
They stepped back into the house, and Jessica severed the anchor. The blonde was breathing like she’d just finished a moderate workout. “Is it too late for my tour?”
“Sure, let’s get you familiar with the rest of the house. Fair warning, the rooms upstairs might still smell a little bit like paint.”
Jessica asked questions about each room as they moved from the first up to the second floor. Things became slightly awkward once they’d swung by each bedroom and Jessica made the observation that only one of the rooms actually had a bed inside of it.
Thinking on his feet, Nick tried to be accommodating. “I can sleep on the couch downstairs, and you can sleep in my room tonight.”
Jessica rested her head on his shoulder. “Don’t stress it, Nicky. Ghosts don’t need to sleep. I mean, we don’t need to eat either, but it’s still fun.” She tilted her head up and gazed into his eyes. “But there’s nothing saying we couldn’t cuddle.
Nick pulled Jessica in for a tender kiss. “I’m game if you are, but no pressure.”
The blonde grinned up at him. “I know that, Nicky. You’re a trustworthy guy.” She stood up on her toes and gave him another peck. “Um, do you mind if I take a shower?”
“Be my guest. I’ll get you set up with some towels, but I don’t have a hairdryer.”
“I can survive, but, um, do you think I could wear some of your clothes afterwards? Laying down in a tennis uniform isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.” She wrinkled her nose. “My outfit is super cute, but it got old after ten or so years.”
Nick had a few moments to wonder why a ghost would want to take a shower and wear more comfortable clothes. Then he immediately wanted to ask her how she died. How had she ended up in a tennis uniform?
Now that’s a mood-killer, he thought with a groan.
His mind whirled for a moment before he caught Jessica looking at him expectantly. “Sure, I'll grab you some stuff. It might be big on you, but the shorts are super comfy.”
He rounded up a pair of blue gym shorts and an orange t-shirt he’d picked up after a brewery tour a couple of years ago and placed them on the stack of towels he set aside for Jessica in the bathroom.
“No peeking,” she teased as she closed the door.
Nick grinned and went back to his room. He wanted to set her up with some viewing options on his laptop. Assuming he’d eventually fall asleep, he didn’t want her to be bored.
He’d just queued up some of his favorites when the shower stopped. Nick set the laptop on his dresser and put together his own version of pajamas.
A couple of minutes later, he had to choke back a couple of laughs. Jessica looked like she was trying to win a baggy clothes competition in his old t-shirt and shorts. The swell of her breasts were still very well defined, but the blonde had her hand glued on the waist of the shorts to keep them from falling to her ankles.
By the time Nick had finished his own shower, Jessica was in his bed laying on her side with the covers pulled up to her chin, watching something.
Given the lighting and the ominous music in the background, Nick could tell it was a horror movie. On screen, two women in a jail cell were beating a third woman as she laid helplessly on the ground. Suddenly, the woman on the ground started tearing at the back of her head, and a face poked out of the back of her skull.
“Do you want me to turn off the lights?”
Jessica’s whole body jerked. She turned to look over her shoulder. “Gosh, Nicky, you scared the death out of me.” She recovered and gave him a flirtatious smile and patted the bed behind her. “Aren’t you going to keep me safe from all the mean prison ladies?”
He turned off the light and climbed into bed. Once he settled in, Jessica turned down the volume on her movie but still found a reason to wiggle her perfect butt against him.
“Can you still sleep with this on, or should I shut it off?”
Nick curled an arm under her shoulder and draped the other over her waist. “With the sound that low, I should be fine.” He kissed her neck and received another squirm from Jessica’s backside. “That, however, might get distracting. I’ll behave and not taunt you if you can do the same.”
