Anima's Ghost: The Summer Before (Song Line Echoes, book 2)

Chapter 11: Paranormal Photographer

"Anima, dear, it's time for breakfast!" Grandma Powell's call has Leylina's help in waking me up. She jumps off the bed and prances over by the door, whining just loud enough to wake me up. I rub my eyes, rolling onto my other side, not quite having the energy to drag myself out of bed yet.

I know I have to though, because Grandma Powell's waiting and because she made breakfast and because I'm a guest in her house and because Leylina needs to go outside and because Ghastly might need his bowl refilled. So I drag myself out of bed even though I don't have the energy for it, and I get dressed even though I don't want to bother. Brushing my hair's the only thing I do willingly, because I can't stand the way it feels when it's a tangled mess.

When I finally open the door, Leylina bolts downstairs so quick she's almost a blur. I hear Grandma Powell letting her outside as I start down the stairs.

"Good morning, dear," Grandma Powell smiles when she sees me. "Orange juice?"

I nod, but don't quite seem to have the energy to say anything. I think I see Grandma Powell looking at me funny out of the corner of my eye, but when I look at her she's just sitting down to eat her breakfast, normal as always.

"Are you going to the warehouse today?" she asks.

I nod, waiting until I've had a few bites of my waffle before I tell her, "I think we're all meeting there this afternoon. Gatsby's impatient to start ghost hunting."

Grandma Powell shakes her head and chuckles, "I imagine he is. Those boys are usually off running around through graveyards and ghost towns practically as soon as they drop their stuff off at home for the summer."

I feel bad for taking up so much of Spyro's attention. It's my fault that he hasn't been around so that Gatsby and the others could start their usual summer adventures. "Oh, Ghastly's allowed outside now," I remember. Grandma Powell looks at me curiously as she eats, so I add, "He used to be an outdoor cat, before I moved to the suburbs. Since this is the country," I shrug, "I figure he can be an outdoor cat again here."

"Are you sure, dear? There are big animals here. Bears, bobcats, coyotes..."

I nod, "I'm sure. There was all that in Tennessee too, but he survived there just fine. He must be smart enough to stay out of a bear's territory, because he always comes back at night and he's never come back with so much as a scratch on him."

Grandma Powell smiles, "Cats are clever creatures."

After breakfast, I only stop by the warehouse long enough to pick up the camera. I leave Leylina and Ghastly both at Grandma Powell's this time and ride my bike down to the Graveyard to take pictures. In the middle of the morning, I know I won't get any ghost photos here, but I don't think there'd be too much harm in taking a few photos of statues and intricately carved headstones. After years of not touching a camera, I figure I need the practice.

In two hours of wandering slowly around the graveyard, only one other person shows up – a woman older than Grandma Powell that never seems to notice that I'm there. She brings flowers and takes her time brushing dirt and leaves and petals off the headstone she visits, then arranging the flowers one by one at its base. I take a photo of her without her noticing, and in it she looks so sad.

"Do you ever answer your phone?"

I smile, pressing the shutter button and taking my picture before looking over at Spyro as he walks over to me. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," he says like it's obvious. "So, do you?" he asks again as he takes the photos I've been carrying around out of my hand so he can look through them.