Ghost Silk (Ghost Perfume, Book 2) | ✔

19 - Stand by me - Part 1

Rose

We cruised into my old street.

Fog shrouded the neighborhood. It hadn't rained all evening, but a low cool fog was suspended on the air.

I sensed revenants, not at my old house, but in the playground park down the street from it.

Jackal, already scouting the house, shouted back that no one was inside and the front door wasn't fully closed.

"Maybe Tommy ran outside when they came," he suggested doubtfully, ducking his head through the car window. The barest outline of his face fluttered in the dark glass.

I texted the Alistairs, At the playground.

The driver parked. I unbuckled my seat belt.

"Mr. Alistair already paid me. I'll see you safely inside, miss," the driver said.

Blue light from the dashboard lit up his sideways look. Worried, curious.

He waited till I waved to him from my old front door.

The massive vehicle purred away in the darkness, the beam of its headlights disappearing.

There was a dull red, scarred Jeep Wrangler sitting high on the opposite side of the street, like an old monster among the dark and compact Hondas and Toyotas.

"That's the Thornes' car," Jackal said.

I glanced back at the door, slightly ajar, and the quiet foyer behind it. I thought that Tommy must have run outside, not even taking time to lock the door behind him.

Fear for my brother washed over me, worse than before. Tommy didn't negotiate. Tommy escalated, even when he didn't seem to want to, even when his antagonist wanted to deescalate.

"I'd rather my family didn't know I came to warn you," Jackal said abruptly. "They might get suspicious already because I refused to come with them, but if I join them now ..."

I waved him on. "I'll pretend like I haven't seen you since last week. The park is a block and a half that way, I still sense them there. See if you can stall them, or stop them, if they're ..."

He shot ahead.

I walked quickly down the foggy street.

The park revealed itself in hulking lines – the long shivering tongue of the slide, the sideways ladder of the monkey bars.

I heard them before I saw them with material eyes; a small crowd of the living and dead, milling between the monkey bars and the swings.

None of the Alistairs were here yet. My phone showed no new message.

I knelt behind a tree to spy.

Bolt of horror to my heart.

That was Tommy's head – he lay on the ground, twitching. Someone crouched over him, lean, with strong-looking shoulders.

Where were they? They were nowhere near.

A group of the dead argued above them – I recognized Astor and Ilium's familiar threads, and Gideon, of course, and Bobcat and another soul. Jackal had joined them.

Like friends of the bully at recess, four other figures stood close but not too near. They wore soft dark clothing and it was hard to make out their faces, especially in the murky air. But one figure was smaller than the others, child-like.