Haunted

Ten

Myka sits on the grass with her slender legs stretched out in front of her. I may or may not eye them while she places her sketchbook aside so she can look through her family journal.

Okay, I totally do.

Beyond her, students are outside walking the paths around campus, looking like they're enjoying their Saturday. They seem so stress free. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad bit jealous.

"I guess you're looking for one of the pages that was written in a different language," I tell Myka.

She lifts a brow in my direction. "That's half the book."

"Oh." I look at Sam.

"Latin," he reminds me.

"Right." I nod. "It's the section that's in Latin."

Myka shoots me another look. "In the twenty-four hours that you've known me, what makes you think I can identify Latin from any other language in here?"

Sam rolls his eyes and stands behind Myka, looking over her shoulder. "Just tell her to flip through the pages slowly until I tell her to stop."

I relay that information to Myka and she bows her head, opening the journal to the first entry. Slowly, she goes through page after page, pausing whenever one of the passages isn't written in English. For such a small book, there certainly are a lot of pages.

Caleb eventually opens his mouth in a wide yawn and sits on the grass across from Myka, but I'm too twitchy to join him on the ground. The sun is officially lowering in the sky, and it's making me nervous. We need to figure out this ritual now if we want to keep Caleb breathing past midnight.

Part of my mind fills with guilt as I remember how much time I wasted kissing Myka.

No. Another part of my mind argues that it wasn't a waste of time. It barely took any time at all.

And it was wonderful.

What if the ritual doesn't even work? Are we about to watch this boy die? Are we going to die in the process?

No, I can't think like that. I have to think positively.

This is the ritual we need. We will save him. We won't die.

Optimism doesn't sound natural in my head.

I sigh and begin walking in circles around the others, just as Sam shouts, "Stop! Tell her to stop there!"

"Don't go any further," I say quickly.

Myka freezes on the page she's at, holding it open while Sam's eyes hurriedly scan the handwritten font on the thin piece of paper.

"This is it." He points at the book. "This is the one we need. It's all right here."

"Great. Feel like sharing?"

Caleb and Myka look back and forth between me and the space where Sam is standing, pretending to be patient when I know they're anything but.

The ghost looks over at me like he forgot I was there. "Sorry. Being dead for so long kind of messes with your manners." He clears his throat and turns his attention back to the pages. "Apparently, one of Myka's ancestors had issues with ghosts."

"We already have so much in common," I mutter.

When Sam raises his eyebrows at me I shrug.

I only speak the truth.

He sighs. "The book says she tried all sorts of ceremonies and rituals and sacrifices before finally coming across someone who knew the answer to banishing a spirit. Her problem was that she kept attempting difficult and elaborate spells. What ended up working was the simplest thing of all."