Set Alight

Chapter 15

I wake up again in my comfortable room. Everything is quiet, and I snuggle deeper into my pillow, feeling rested.

BANG!

I jerk up, wrenching towards the sound, already halfway into my transformation and inching off the bed, blankets tangled around me.

"Ashton!" I shout, in relief and annoyance. "You scared me!"

He glances at my state of panic with a raised eyebrow. "I can tell."

"What are you doing in here?" I demand, moving back to the pillows and letting my transformation fizzle out so I stay human.

"Stocking your library," he reports, picking up the book he'd dropped and placing it in a large gap to the mostly filled bookshelf.

"Please, please tell me they aren't all Twilight."

"Hey, I thought you were liking Twilight!" he defends, picking another book off a stack and putting it in.

"When am I going to read all of these?" I ask, walking up to the shelf and begin to read some of the titles. Some are obviously romances, some mysteries. Most are fiction, but there are several old looking books on the end with dark green and purple spines. "What are these?"

"Danny wanted you to have some traditional ghost texts. History, files on dangerous ghosts, diaries, stuff like that. Anyway, you could just read them next time you're over here."

I laugh, picking one of the books up. "I'm not coming back for a while. My dad would never let me."

I knew instantly that was the wrong thing to say. His face falls and his shoulders slump. "You're dad just really hates me, doesn't he?"

"He doesn't even know who you are," I answer, still trying to be lighthearted. "Why would he hate you?"

"He just keeps stealing you away, teaching you I'm wrong and suppressing your ghost side."

"What does that have to do with hating you?"

"It has to do with hating the Phantoms," he accuses, folding his arms and sulking.

"Why are you being so down? That's not the Ashton I know," I pout, folding my arms and mimicking his stance. Unable to, being so energized, I leap to my feet on the edge of the bed. "How long was I out?"

"For two and a half days." I glare at him, ready for him to say only a couple hours. He doesn't. "I'm not kidding. Apparently you spent all your power." He shrugs. "I missed it."

"Bitter?" I ask with a grin.

"Little bit," he mutters. "Anyway, Danny wants to see you."

"Where is he? How long have you been in here?"

"I don't know, because I've been in here for almost six hours." I stare in absolute disbelief as he smiles proudly, as if this piece of information was an important task he'd accomplished and he expected praise. We both remain in a loud silence as we wait for the other to speak.

"..."

"..."

"What have you been doing?! Jeez, you're so creepy!" He laughs as I go into my closet and pull the screen closed.

"Well, the books, mostly..."

"Mostly?" I ask as I pull out a change of clothes.

"You talk in your sleep," he mentions almost inaudibly. I freeze, halfway into putting a new shirt on.

"... No..." Much more rushed now, I shove my legs into pants, hop twice to pull them up and shove the divider aside. "I don't. There's no way."

"Yep!" He smiles, flashing his white teeth. "Coherently, too."