Cursed by the Fountain of Youth

Chapter 32

Fae staggered back, feeling like she'd had the wind knocked out of her again. "No... you can't be."

"Dead?" Morgan said. "Oh, believe me, I am."

Hot tears filled Fae's eyes and streamed down her cheeks. "But I came here to save you."

"I know."

"This is all my fault," Fae sobbed.

"No," Morgan said. "It's absolutely not your fault. Lafayette's the one to blame, he and those two other freaks who did nothing to stop him."

"How did you..." Fae began, but couldn't seem to finish her question. Did she really want to know how Morgan died? Could she handle the answer?

"I died quickly," Morgan said. "But that's all I'm going to say about it."

Fae nodded. It had to have been bad enough dying. She didn't want to force Morgan to relive her experience.

"Okay so," Morgan began. "Jenny and I have been working together on a few things."

"Jenny?" Fae asked, still blinking through tears.

A beautiful, young blonde materialized in front of her. "Hi," she said as she smiled sweetly and fluttered her fingers in a wave.

"You're a ghost too?" Fae asked, even though the answer was obvious.

"Yeah."

"As I was saying," Morgan continued. "Jenny and I have been practicing channeling our energy and—"

"It's a lot harder than it seems," Jenny interrupted.

Morgan shot her a glare. "Yes, it is, but with this limestone well, we've found we can do a lot more. In fact, we can even move things. I think together, we might be able to loosen the screws holding down that grate."

"I don't know..." Jenny began.

"Shh!" Morgan said. "Just shut up, okay? It's not like we have a lot of options."

Fae wiped away more tears. "I'm still having a hard time dealing with the fact that you're dead, Morgan. And Jenny, did Lafayette, um...?"

"Kill me too?"

Fae nodded.

"Yeah." She glanced at Morgan with sadness in her eyes. "We're both trying to not think about it."

"How can you ignore something like that?" Fae asked, looking from one to the other.

"Being dead is not much different than being alive," Morgan said. "Only people can't see or hear you. I was pretty shocked when you saw me so easily."

"Apparently, I can see a lot of unusual things," Fae said, and bit her lip.

"Like what?" Morgan asked.

"I'm not really supposed to talk about it," Fae said.

"Who am I going to tell?" Morgan said. "I'm dead."

"You have a good point." Fae blew out a breath.

"Well?" Morgan coaxed.

"Well...," Fae said hesitantly. "I've seen elves, succubi, shapeshifters, and who knows what else."

Morgan stood stunned, for a moment not uttering a word. "Um, Fae? Are you sure you didn't hit your head on the way down this well?"

Fae huffed a laugh. "I'm sure. I'm not what you'd consider normal."

Morgan gave a weak smile. "I'm starting to realize that."

"Shut up," Fae said as she playfully pushed Morgan—only to have her hand slip though her like she wasn't even there. Oh, right. Morgan was a ghost. "Sorry," she muttered.