Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 15 (Tuesday)

Kwayo watched in eerie fascination from beside one of the bean plants. Eautl flowed down the furrows, leaving a trail of wet dirt. She re-solidified in front of him, hair a brilliant blue. She brushed something off her shirt, then blinked up at him. "What?"

Kwayo dropped his handful of beans into the bucket. "How do you not shrink every time you do that?"

Her body changed into water, sparklingly transparent. She spread her arms wide, gaze questioning.

"Yeah," he said. "You leave behind mud. How are you still the same size?"

She changed back to little girl form. "I don't know," she shrugged. "Water sticks together, until I make it not," she skipped away, leaving the muddy row of beans.

She puddled into another row, and Kwayo frowned after her.

"She's only nine," Kwayo jumped at a voice from his side.

Someone snorted below him, dust whirling into the air.

"Asha!" he blinked down at her. "How long have you been there?"

She glared, uncanny violet eyes boring into him. "Most of me has only been here for a few seconds. The rest of me," she held up a hand and it dusted away, floating in some imaginary wind, "is always nearby."

Kwayo gulped. Asha popped up out of nowhere, Ghost had appeared at least twice in the past three days when Kwayo had thought no one was around... "What is with everybody around here always popping out of nowhere?"

Asha leveled him with those eyes again. "It's how we've kept hidden for so long."

Kwayo tried leveling her with his eyes, but she just raised an eyebrow. "Then how did I find you?" he asked.

Asha didn't blink for a long time. "That's what I'm trying to figure out," she shut her eyes and dissolved into sand, drifting away.

Kwayo checked over his shoulder and bent over the bean plant, his back groaning in protest. He would've done it as a ferret or something, except people probably would've noticed the bite marks. He stuck his tongue out. Were there any really short monkeys who could fit under the leaves?

"Hey! Slowpoke!" Kwayo jolted, but it was only Razón shouting from near the pantry building. Or the food storage building. Or whatever it was called. "You done yet?"

Kwayo glanced between his basically empty bucket and the edge of the row where he'd started. "Um, not really," he muttered.

"Lunch is going to start soon!" Razón turned away, and Kwayo just watched him go. He probably wouldn't show up at lunch. Just like he hadn't shown up at breakfast. Or any of the meals yesterday.

He sighed at the bean plants. Maybe he was actually pretty smart. He could use bean picking as an excuse to not go this time.

He crouched, yanking angrily at one particular green bean. Then he dropped it in his bucket. It thunked to the bottom. He grabbed another one.

He could do this all day. The ghost town wasn't ever too hot or too cold, and if he actually got hungry he could eat some beans. Not like anyone would notice anyway. They'd just be eating eggs again. Or cheese. Or fruit salad covered in sour cream. Or steak. But Kwayo had killed enough bats in his life to last his non-vegan tastes forever, thank you very much.

"Don't want to show up to mealtime again?"

Kwayo whirled around, a green bean gripped in his hand like a knife. "Go away Ghost," he growled. "I am sick of people popping up behind me."

Ghost--tall, gray-clothed and sun worn--held up his hands, a smirk tugging his lips. His arms went blurry and disappeared. Kwayo narrowed his eyes.

"Sorry," Ghost said. "It's hard to control sometimes," he squinted, and his armed un-blurred into view. "I just wanted to say I know what it feels like."