Ghost Perfume | ✔

Chapter 20: Kill Me (Part 2)

Please god, let me sleep.

"None of that,'' said a cruel voice, and Lukas sprayed her face with water again.

I felt overheated, my body too bloated for my skin. My head ached with exhaustion and my limbs felt stiff and stressed. They screamed for a change.

But Adelaide? Adelaide was so, so tough.

How much longer like this?

The sun had long since risen outside the window; in fact, the light was dimming again.

Adelaide darted a tongue out to lick at a water droplet. My mouth was parched. My teeth tasted disgusting.

"Jackal's coming back,'' Jane's voice cried. "He's back!''

That roused me. Was it real?

Adelaide woke up some more too. She tried to hold her head higher. I thought blearily that she didn't like for Jackal to see her weak or humiliated.

And Jackal flew in, a black book in his hands.

He dropped it on the table beside the desktop.

I blinked. Was it real? It had a material presence as well as a ghostly one, like the silver threads that had bound the ghosts in the clearing to the living.

Don't move, Jackal, I ordered, afraid he'd leave. Then giggles overtook me. Well, you may move as far as breathing, blinking, swallowing, talking ... mmkay?

Lukas turned to look at the book, dropping the spray bottle. Not a moment later, Michael, Alexander and Gabriel strode in. Did they have cameras in here?

Actually, that made sense, I giggled to myself. Yes, they'd seen a book just fly in. That didn't happen every day. It was like a movie.

"Matthew,'' Adelaide breathed. "How could you? What are you doing?''

"Matthew?'' Michael repeated.

"What the hell is that?'' Lukas asked, moving to the book.

As he did, the cover opened to the middle page. Words appeared on the blank canvas. I couldn't read them from my vantage point in Adelaide's eyes.

"What are you telling them?'' Adelaide whispered, as the Alistairs stepped closer to the book.

Tell her you're on her side, Jackal, mmkay, I said.

"I'm on your side, Adelaide,'' he snapped. "Shut up so I can focus.''

Are you telling them that a ghost took me over? Clench your right hand if yes.

He did.

Tell them it's me Rose who's talking to them, but tell them not to read out loud what I'm saying, I said.

I watched their faces as they stared at the pages. Oh, but it was only their poker faces I saw. What scary poker faces they had. What long teeth and big snouts, grandma. What -

"Prove it,'' Michael said.

Write I always carry my death book with me, my best friends are Jane and Ellie, and when a ghost comes for my help, I call it doing my job.

I watched their faces as the words scrawled across the page.

Oh I'm so so tired.

"What are you saying?'' Adelaide asked, unable to stay quiet.

Gabriel gave a small, grave nod.

Tell her you're convincing them that Rose is dead, then tell them that's what you told her. Hurry.