He believed her.
And damn it, Grace wished he’d kissed her. She wanted to feel his lips against hers again, wanted to touch him. Wanted to see if the magic of the morning had been a fluke, a one-time thing, or whether they really fit together as perfectly as it seemed.
But the moment was long gone.
Noah was scowling, not looking at her, his brows drawn down.
Why had he decided to trust her? She’d been so prepared for a long, arduous attempt at persuasion that her success left her feeling off-balance.
Or maybe that was just Noah.
A snowy egret spread its wings and took flight, its ungainly legs tucking back against its body. Grace watched it, following its path up into the air, and realized the sun was brushing the tops of the trees. Her kayak had reflective tape, but no lights, so they needed to start back before it got much darker. She gestured toward Noah’s paddle. “We should get moving. It’ll be getting dark soon.”
He nodded, still frowning and clearly listening to the ghosts, but leaned forward, passing her the cell phone he’d been holding. She picked up the dry bag from the floor of the kayak and put the phone away, then grabbed her own paddle. She held it out to him. “Can you hang on to this while I turn around?”
He answered with a seemingly unrelated question: “Akira died?”
Grace drew the paddle back. Why was he asking that? “Technically, I guess so. Yeah. But my sister resuscitated her. It wasn’t, you know, fatal. It was a very temporary death.”
“Ghosts are dangerous for her, though. She’s been hurt by them in the past?” It was half a question, half a statement.
Grace stared at him. How could that not have occurred to her? She was used to thinking of ghosts as people. As friendly text messages and helpful energy; as relatives and congenial visitors; as Dillon, as Rose. But Akira hated her ability for a reason.
“Shit,” she said. “You’re her worst nightmare.”
Noah grimaced.
“Sorry,” she said quickly. “Not you, but—” She gestured with the paddle, rocking the kayak. “Them. Ghosts. Lots of ghosts.” She pressed her free hand to her temple, wanting to bang it against her head.
How stupid of her not to have considered the risk to Akira. And to the baby, too. At the best of times, Akira was reluctant to get involved with ghosts. At six months pregnant, she’d be horrified at the possibility of running into a dozen ghosts, maybe more. The energy could be deadly to her.
“I should have thought of that. That’s not good.”
“Your nephew is beating himself up enough for both of you.” Noah reached for her paddle. “Let’s go while he rants.”
She passed it to him and he braced both paddles across the kayak and waited while she turned around. He handed her paddle back to her and she dipped it into the water. The current was with them, so in no time they were flying across the water, but Grace barely paid attention to the rhythm of their strokes while she worried.
Would the ghosts harm Akira? Ghosts in the vortex, the ones who were unable to perceive the physical world but fighting to survive, were dangerous. They could use Akira’s body to pull themselves back onto the material plane. Could and did. She’d been fending off their attacks since childhood.
If she’d been in the bistro when the vortex started to open, what would have happened? Neither Max nor Nat seemed to think that Noah’s presence was dangerous, but ghosts interfered with their ability to see the future. Or rather, ghosts could change the future they saw, surprising them with the unexpected.
But Rose had been in the bistro.
She’d saved Akira once before. And she’d saved Dillon when he’d gotten lost in the vortex. As long as Rose was around, Akira should be fine. At least Grace hoped so.
“Rose was there, wasn’t she?” she asked, her stroke splashing deep into the water. “In the bistro, with the vortex. Could she have kept Akira safe?”
Noah paused, listening. Then he started to nod and began paddling again. “Rose says yes. She says she knows how to stop a vortex from opening now, but that it’s not fun and she’d really rather not.” He paused again, then made an amused noise. “Sorry.”
“For?” Grace asked.
“She’d also like me to stop leaving her behind, because she’s got better things to do than search for us all over town,” Noah answered.
Grace smiled, too, feeling reassured. The breeze was getting cooler, the sun drifting lower in the sky. In the quiet, she could hear the chirping and calling of birds, getting noisier as they finished feeding and started settling for the night. She wondered what Noah was hearing.
“That is not your unfinished business,” Noah said.
“What is it?” she asked.
“The kid — Misam,” Noah corrected himself, “wants to go to Disneyworld.”
Grace laughed. “That sounds fun.”
“Apparently, he saw a commercial. He wants to go on the safari ride at Animal Kingdom.” He paused, and then added, “And Rose wants to go to the Magic Kingdom.”
“How about Universal Studios?” Grace suggested. “Dillon’s never been to any of the Harry Potter stuff, has he?”
“Don’t you get in on this.” His tone held underlying laughter.
“Oh, come on. Harry Potter? Diagon Alley? Magic wands? Doesn’t it sound cool?” It had been years since Grace had gone to one of the Orlando-area theme parks. She could go any time, of course — they were only a couple of hours away, close enough for a long day trip or a fun-packed weekend. But without her mom and Dillon… well, she just hadn’t been interested. “I hear there’s a huge dragon that breathes fire.”
“Crowds, lines, screaming kids.” Despite his words, Noah’s voice was amused.
“Fireworks, parades, roller coasters. Don’t tell me you don’t like theme parks.”
“Been a long time since I’ve been to one. I’m sure it’d be fun. But…” The splash as Noah dipped his paddle into the water was louder, as if he was putting more energy behind his stroke.
“But what?”
“What’s the chance we run into more ghosts there? Any place with a lot of people wandering around is going to have had its share of unexpected deaths.”
It sounded like he was directing his words to the ghosts, so Grace didn’t respond, but she pulled harder, digging her paddle deep into the water as if shifting dirt.
She couldn’t argue with Noah’s attitude. She didn’t want Dillon taking any unnecessary chances. But if Noah was going to restrict his movements based on the risk to the ghosts, how soon would he become as trapped as they were? The fear of believing he was hallucinating might be as nothing compared to the frustration of knowing he was haunted.
They’d almost reached their embarkation point, so Grace lifted her paddle out of the water, letting it rest across her lap while Noah steered them in. The kayak bumped the shore and Grace scrambled forward, climbing out with a single splash into the shallow water. She grabbed the fore end of the kayak with her free hand and tugged, leading it toward the muddy beach.
She didn’t want Dillon to leave. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye.
But the ghosts couldn’t keep haunting Noah. It was no way for him to live.
Something would have to be done.