A Ghost of a Chance

Like It's 1698

It's been a few days since the great powwow and so far there had been no success on J.P.'s part in finding Mattie. Carmilla's been taking turns in being visible to Laura and hiding out away from her.

I wonder how that works. Maybe I should ask her.

Laura lets out a yawn. "Carm, I'm bored tonight. Can we talk? About something ghosty?" She gives it a few moments of silence before letting out a huff and putting on Netflix and typing into the search bar:

Casper.

She lets out a chuckle and selects the first option and tilts down her laptop as it plays on her television screen.

"I know you're out here coz the cookies are sitting next to me and they've been disappearing one by one," Laura says tauntingly, producing another package. "And I've got more cookies right here. And until you come out and talk to me, there's like two seasons of Casper so I'm just gonna go through all that and then whatever else was on the list and I have Ghostbusters on DVD, so..."

There's a groan next to her and Laura cracks a smile as Carmilla becomes visible. "Ya killin' me, Hollis."

Laura giggles. "Yeah, but you're already dead."

"Yeah, yeah, cutie," Carmilla replies, smirking.

Laura stretches and settles in on the couch, watching as Carmilla leisurely turns the page of a book.

"Whatcha readin'?"

"A real enthralling sequel to The Very Hungry Caterpillar," Carmilla says without looking up.

Laura rolls her eyes and wriggles closer, squinting at the cover. "Kipling."

Carmilla hums in response.

"How are you reading?" Laura asks, face scrunched up.

Carmilla glances up with an amused look. "Remember how I can teleport cookies into the ghost realm so I can touch them? I've been doing that with books for centuries."

"Oh." Laura looks around her. "So over on your plane, you've got..."

"Lots of books," Carmilla confirms. "You just can't see them unless I'm touching them."

Laura nods, satisfied with the explanation. She thinks for a few seconds before firing off her next question.

"What did you do for fun when you were a teenager?"

Carmilla chuckles but doesn't reply.

"What? You can't remember what kids did for kicks back in 1698?" Laura giggles.

"Ah, it wasn't much different. We drank a lot and danced like fools. It's been a while since I thought back to those times. Past my death," Carmilla shrugs. "Waltzing was fun."

The sentence hovers in the air before Carmilla puts her book down and twists so she's facing Laura.

"My turn."

"Huh?"

"You're always asking me questions. It's my turn to ask you."

"Oh." Laura smiles and gestures for Carmilla to go ahead.

"Your father," Carmilla begins, noticing Laura's eyes widening. "Why did you lie to him about having an internship right now?"

Laura fidgets a bit before averting her eyes and chewing her lip nervously. Carmilla sits by patiently, but several seconds pass and she's thinking her question will go unanswered when Laura speaks quietly.