Ghost Perfume | ✔

Chapter 5: Let Me In (Part 2)

"Rose, talk to me,'' Lukas said, peering into my eyes. "Can you talk?''

I nodded.

"Dammit!''

"Yes,'' I whispered. My eyes darted around, looking for Jackal.

"You hemorrhaged blood in your sleep,'' he said.

I couldn't see Jackal, but that didn't mean he was gone. As far as I knew, a ghost was only gone when I'd sent them through the portal, and I didn't think I'd done that.

They saw my wandering gaze. They both stiffened.

Alexander rose from the wall.

They drew closer to me, and they'd never more resembled the soldiers I'd sometimes seen them act like. "What's there?'' Alexander said sharply.

Oh no.

"Were you attacked?'' Lukas.

He looked deadly serious.

"I ...'' I didn't know what to say.

"I want a painkiller,'' I whimpered, like the drowned puppy I was.

They silently wrapped another towel around my hair and led me out of the bathroom, flanking me close.

"Wait, Tommy!'' I hissed.

"He's not home,'' Alexander said, not bothering to lower his voice.

Halfway down the stairs, my legs half-gave out, and they seized my elbows to hold me up.

"How often does this happen?'' Lukas asked, lowering me to the couch.

"He disappears a lot.''

"I mean you almost dying in your sleep, you alien from the third dimension.''

"That was the first time,'' I said. My gaze flit around, but Jackal was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps I'd injured him, though I had no more notion of how to injure a ghost than I'd had of the possibility of being injured by one.

Alexander came back from the kitchen with a glass of water, a pill, and a granola bar.

"You don't have any fruit in this house,'' he told me.

"I'll let my housekeeper know,'' I mumbled.

They watched me drink and swallow.

"How did you get here so quickly?'' I asked them. "How did you even hear me?''

"We were taking a walk outside. I broke your door,'' Alexander grunted. "Can you please explain what happened?''

"Um. I think I just had an extreme reaction to ... how tired I got,'' I said feebly. My brain caught up with what he'd said and I stumbled to the foyer. They followed after me.

I stared.

"You did break the door,'' I said in astonishment.

"This is what happens when you don't give Alexander a key,'' Lukas said, nudging me with a tiny grin.

I giggled.

"It was very rude of you. After I'd given you mine, no less,'' Alexander deadpanned.

"This broken door is your fault,'' Lukas said.

"I'm sorry,'' I said sincerely.

We watched the snow drift lightly into the house, innocent white flurries twirling in the black air, kissing the carnage, the splintered wood, the signs that they came to save me.

They'd broken the door for me.

Lukas groaned. "Does it never stop snowing in this godforsaken place?''