A Strange There After (16 page)

“I tried one with bleu cheese once. Nasty,” I
shuddered at the memory.

“What about the street fair we went to,
Quinn? They had deep fried hamburgers.”

“You southerners will deep fry anything,”
Boone teased.

“Aren’t you from Florida?” I asked, eliciting
a shrug from him. To include Jackson, I directed a question to him.
“What was your favorite food?”

He startled, not expecting to be brought into
the conversation. “Fried chicken. Lilah, our cook, she seasoned it
to perfection. I used to dream about it at night during the war.
We’d be eating rice and beans, but I’d tell myself it was her fried
chicken.”

I bumped him with my shoulder. “You really
are a southern boy to the core.”

“What about desserts? What did they have back
then?” Abby busied herself draining the noodles and mixing in the
cheese and milk.

“Not so different than what you have. Pies
and cakes. Pecan pie was my favorite. I learned early how to sweet
talk my way into the kitchen to sneak pieces. As well as biscuits
smothered in honey.”

“I need to take you out for hot wings and
pizza,” Boone said good-naturedly. “Guy food. You’d like it. Maybe
a good microbrew.”

Boone’s casual acceptance of Jackson knocked
me for a loop. As much as I didn’t want to, I compared him to
Jason, wondering if he’d be as easygoing. Sadly, I wasn’t sure. It
was a confidence and ease that only came with years of being
exposed to the paranormal. Not that Jason wouldn’t adapt, but it
just showed how seamlessly Boone fit into my world.

“Beer, yuck.”

“I take it you won’t be one of those freshmen
out doing keg stands, Miss Abby?”

She brandished a cheesy wooden spoon in
Boone’s direction. “Heck, no. I spent my entire high school career
not giving in to peer pressure. I may not have been popular, but I
had conviction. I don’t plan on bending to other people’s whims
now. I’ll be going for the winter semester. It’s going to be
stressful enough without adding toga parties and tailgating.”
Holding up her arm, she said, “I delayed a bit due to an unforeseen
incident in a graveyard and my best friend going all
Night of
the Living Dead
on me.”

Our plan had always been to attend Savannah
College of Art and Design together, me for photography and her for
graphic design. I’d been accepted already, as well as a couple
institutes up north. Until I learned of Marietta’s lie about the
house not passing to me and Mama’s trust fund, I’d been ready to
leave Savannah behind. Instead, I got stuck with the small matter
of kicking Catherine’s butt back into the afterlife. Simple.

“High school sucked.”

Boone’s mumble caught my attention. “Don’t
tell me you, Mr. Confident, had a crappy four years.”

“I see dead people. What do you think?”

I had to give him that. I totally understood.
“I hear ya.”

“I’ve seen some of your modern schools, from
the picture box everyone calls a TV. I’d take a northern prison any
day.” Jackson shuddered.

Abby passed Boone a bowl of pasta, and I
caught a faint whiff. “I can’t wait to eat again.”

“We’ll take you out for a celebratory
dinner,” Abby said.

“Oh, the place down by the river, the
barbecue joint.” I practically licked my lips. “As sad as it is to
say, the thing I miss the most is sweet iced tea with a wedge of
lemon.”

“I’d miss my energy drinks.” Boone’s tone was
wistful.

“I haven’t seen you drink a single one since
I met you.”

He grinned at me. “Maybe you’re excitement
enough.”

“You’re lucky, Quinn,” Jackson began. “To
have friends like this who care for you. They, more than anything,
are what will keep you tethered to your life. Without them, you’d
truly be lost.”

His serious statement hung in the air,
knocking all of us silent.

Boone was the first to recover. “Well, buddy,
consider yourself part of the group. Probably gets boring with only
Quinn to talk to all the time.”

To my utter astonishment, Jackson tipped his
head back and laughed, long and hard. It must have been contagious
because soon we were all nearly hysterical, punch drunk on the
crazy events of the night.

Our good moods lasted a couple more hours.
Both Abby and Boone showed signs of exhaustion, but neither left.
After they’d eaten, we moved into the living room, the unspoken
question keeping us all on alert.

When would Jason and Catherine return?

The answer came around three in the morning.
Jackson was patiently feeding Bonne’s unending curiosity by
regaling him with stories about the war. Abby dozed on the couch,
the earbuds that had become an extension of her slipping out and
dangling on the floor. I roamed the room listlessly, trying not to
let despair take me down a dark road.

When Jason and Catherine entered, the tension
between them was cloying. Abby shot up, fully awake, and silence
descended on the room. I also noticed Jackson had vanished,
obviously not in the mood for any more of Catherine’s barbs. I
raked my gaze over them, hungrily searching for any signs my
prayers had been answered. Jason looked mad, very mad, while
Catherine pouted behind him, a sullen expression on her face.

Boone pushed to his feet. “Let me guess? You
believe us?”

Jason nodded curtly. “Yes.”

“Hallelujah,” Abby muttered. “Did her head
spin completely around?”

“I took her to the spot I saw Quinn for the
first time.”

He didn’t call her Quinn, must be a good
sign. Impatience danced inside me as I waited.

“You tricked me,” Catherine bit out.

“That was the point,” Jason replied, equally
hostile.

“Explain.”

Abby’s request caused Jason to amble wearily
into the living room and perch on the edge of the couch, staring at
the floor.

“I met Quinn on State Street. She was staring
at these cool, twisted trees and not watching where she was going.
We literally smacked into each other. And she proceeded to insult
me and leave me speechless.”

“Sounds like her,” Boone mumbled.

“So, tonight, I found some random street and
asked
her
if she recognized it. She failed.”

The dejected set of his shoulders said it
all, and a tiny speck of relief bloomed inside me. When he left
earlier, he had enough doubt to test her. It gave me hope.

“I’m going upstairs to change,” Catherine
huffed, then flounced off, still in her dress from the party.
Granted, it was wrinkled as heck, and her hair had gone limp, but
she still made it look good. No one reacted to her leaving, too
focused on Jason. I sort of expected him to fly off the handle, get
mad, but it was as if all the fight went out of him.

“She wouldn’t talk to me, so I need you two
to tell me what is going on.”

Abby scooted closer to him, replacing the
buds in her ears. His sentence came out choked and full of emotion.
I hated seeing him in pain, but I also wanted to do a little
victory dance. An image of them kissing flashed in my mind, and the
walls shot back up around my heart.

“We’ve been trying to figure out what the
situation was first,” Abby said. “Quinn came to see me four nights
ago. I caught an EVP of her asking for help and saying not to trust
Catherine, that she stole her body. Then, thanks to her, I met
Boone, who knows a lot more about this stuff than me. I wanted
answers, so I came here. I waited until Catherine left, then Boone
and I snuck into the backyard.”

Boone took over. “There are some weird things
going on in this house.” He shuddered uncharacteristically,
probably remembering the tree. “Anyway, Quinn’s plan was to get her
body back at the party, but it obviously didn’t work. She figured
if her experiment was successful then she wouldn’t bother telling
you some insane story until it was over.

“Her plan worked, just not very long,” Jason
grumbled then, he latched onto part of her statement. “Quinn, she’s
okay?”

“She’s pretty ticked off, but refuses to give
up,” Abby said. I moved over toward them, counting on Abby to catch
the disturbance in the air, as she did earlier. She must have
because she smiled. “She’s here with us.”

A grey pallor crept across Jason’s face, and
I saw his neck working as he swallowed hard. Holding my nonexistent
breath, I waited.

“It’s not possible,” he whispered.

“It is,” Boone reiterated. “Stop and consider
it for a minute. She’s with us. Imagine what your indecision is
doing to her.”

Catherine chose that moment to return in
plaid pajama bottoms and a black tank top. I gaped at her
appearance. Certainly didn’t expect her to come back willingly. She
sat in the desk chair, idly spinning it in circles. “Get on with
it. I’m sure you all want to burn me at the stake, huddle together
and come up with a plan to save precious little Quinn. You’ll spend
the rest of your days trying. So have fun.”

“Give it up, for God’s sake,” I said, tired
of her crap. “I told you, the fact I’m hanging around proves your
plan didn’t work, not completely. I’ve proven it twice by regaining
control of my body. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Why should I just give in? Because you asked
so nicely?” She raised one of her brows, something I’d never been
able to do and said, “I have a hundred and fifty years of knowledge
on you, tricks you can’t begin to imagine. Not that I’ll need them.
The way you’re going, you’ll tick off the spirits and solve all my
problems.”

“Who are you talking to?” Jason’s voice
boomed out.

“Your girlfriend.”

The desire to slap the smirk off Catherine’s
face glowed hot inside me, but I shoved it aside as I remembered
what happened earlier when I let it loose. Jason grew stiff as the
truth truly took root. Shock was replaced by horror, and in an
instant, he advanced on my doppelganger. He gripped her by the
upper arms, lifting her out of the chair. She hissed in
annoyance.

“Quinn has been here the entire time?”
Catherine’s silence was his only answer. “I didn’t want to believe
any of this until I actually heard it from your mouth.”

“Poor girl’s become quite good at moping,”
she joked, obviously bored with pretending.

“How did you think you could get away with
this?” He shook her frantically.

“Up until this moment, I have.”

Jason shoved her away, eyes darting
frantically around the room. He slumped against the wall for
support. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but for some
reason, I couldn’t erase the image of his lips on hers.

“I’m such an idiot.”

Abby approached him. “You’re not the only
person she fooled, Jason. I thought Quinn was adjusting to life
after Marietta. Until she never came to visit me in the hospital,
like you did. It was a big fat red flag.”

“Don’t be such a baby,” Catherine
quipped.

“This is better than reality TV,” Boone said,
drawing a chuckle from me.

Jason ignored him. “But I made out with
her
.”

The word contained such loathing, my body
shuddered in response. He pointed at Catherine, unable to look in
her direction. She took that as her cue to saunter over and run a
fingertip down his arm.

“Don’t forget to add how much you enjoyed
it.”

He slapped her arm off, moving quick and
pushing her into the wall. Abby gave a squeal of alarm and almost
stepped into me.

“Finally,” Catherine purred. “I’ve been
waiting for you to show a little passion.”

The lights flickered three times, and he
released her as if she’d grown hot, backing away, his chest rising
and falling heavily. He eyed the fixtures with caution.

“What was that?”

“Don’t make the mistake of forgetting who I
am,” Catherine muttered in a low voice.

“How can you still have this much power?”
Boone asked.

She studied him with disdain. “Are you under
the impression that if you ask me enough I’ll give in and tell
you?”

“I figured you’d have regained some of your
compassion throughout the years.”

“Oh, Abby, so naïve.”

I listened to their banter with half an ear.
Jason held my attention, as well as the bewilderment hardening his
features. He stared at the hardwood floor, as if the pattern held
all the answers. I moved closer to him, my fingertips itching with
the need to touch him. I drew on the air around me, letting it warm
my body. Then...I lifted my hand, letting it graze his.

Startled, he swung his head in my direction,
torn between searching the empty air and studying his palm. His
mouth worked, trying to form words, and glee danced through me.

“Abby?” he croaked. “Take them to the
kitchen. I need a moment alone with Quinn.”

Abby nodded and dragged Catherine in the
direction of the kitchen. Boone took his time leaving, stopping to
talk to me first.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded.

He hesitated, as if he wanted to say more,
then decided against it and left.

The silliest sensation of awkwardness fell
over me once Jason and I were finally alone. I soaked him in,
taking in his sculpted cheekbones and the dark, messy hair. The
faintest trace of a beard dusted his jaw. He looked so tired.

“Quinn...” Anguish thickened his words. He
licked his lips and tried again. “Quinn, I swear, I had no idea it
was her. God, you must hate me. I knew you’d been through so much
and that was why you were acting different. I mean, why she acted
different. You have to understand and forgive me.” He reached out
to grasp the arm of the couch, bending over and growling softly.
“She will make this right, I promise. I won’t stop until you’re
where you belong.”

Emotion clogged my throat. It was probably a
good thing he couldn’t hear me because, while part of me
understood, I wasn’t exactly ready to let it go. He kissed her, and
yes, it might have been my lips, my body he touched, but the
betrayal still stung. The mixture of anger and grief bubbled inside
me, warming me and filling me with energy.