Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 02 - How to Blackmail a Ghost Read Online Free PDF

plus to being with him. Ian could either sense my location or see me even when I was invisible. The knowledge both encouraged and discouraged me. No matter what happened, if I lost Monica and Jake, and I stopped being able to communicate with them, there was always Ian. On the other hand, I could never escape him. Ian had the power to banish me into a terrible place I could not return from, and I couldn’t forget that fact.
    “Aren’t you worried people will think you’re talking to yourself?” I asked him.
    He held himself straight, almost regal. His eyes were hard to read, but I knew many thoughts passed through his mind. Ian was also aware of every sound and every person who came into our vicinity. I knew that from similar nights strolling with him and observing him at home. While he was still an enigma to me, I was slowly learning more about him. Then again, I had the feeling I might never fully understand him no matter how much time passed.
    “I do not care what others think of me.”
    “Have you ever?” I thought of the past, when he was alive. Everyone had doubts and insecurities, didn’t they? Was Ian like he is now back then, was his personality radically different? I started speculating on the possibilities when he stopped walking. I floated just past him before I realized and turned back.
    “Liberty, show yourself,” he ordered.
    I frowned, confused. “But we—”
    “Do it now.”
    I materialized ahead of him on the park trail, and the next instant we were not alone. Heels clicked on the cement pathway, and I spun around to see who it was. I had been so engrossed in thinking of Ian’s past, I hadn’t heard Isabelle’s approach. The chocolate gaze so like Clark’s, focused on me, the depths full of accusation. I bristled, resenting the implication that I was somehow doing something wrong walking with Ian.
    “Isabelle, hello,” I said. My voice came out too high and slightly squeaky, giving the impression of guilt despite my mental assertion to the contrary. “Good to see you. This is my friend, Ian McClain. Have you two met?”
    Now I rambled, and the emphasis on the word friend made me grind my teeth, both in frustration and to stem the flow of words.
    “I hadn’t,” she said. The coolness in Clark’s sister’s tone said she didn’t care to meet either one of us. “Isabelle Givens.”
    Neither Ian nor Isabelle reached for each other’s hand to shake, and Ian hadn’t spoken a word in greeting. He might have offered her a slight nod, but I wasn’t sure. After a few more awkward moments of silence, I considered the absurdity of the situation. Here I was trying to introduce Isabelle, the woman who had recently told her brother he should not bother with a woman like me as if I was beneath him. For Ian’s part, he lived life as a hermit, socializing only with me and Jake, and that only lately. I should have offered a nod and a polite smile and let Isabelle continue on her way.
    As I thought of what to say, Ian shifted beside me, and Isabelle seemed to take it as her excuse to leave. She uttered good night and moved on down the path, disappearing into the darkness. At the back of my mind, I thought Isabelle hadn’t been heading toward the home she shared with Clark but toward the center of town. I knew where Clark’s house lay because I had driven past it many times, and because I had gone there the night I possessed Clark. Thoughts of Isabelle and her brother brought me back to considering Clark’s situation. Ian and I began walking again, and when he gave me the go ahead, I faded from view.
    “Is he still dying, Ian? Could anything have changed?” I realized I hadn’t indicated whom I referred to, but Ian picked up on it anyway. After all, whom else had I cursed to death but Clark?
    “He is.”
    I sighed, my heart plummeting
    “It is inevitable, but you can be encouraged that it is not for at least two years.”
    “He’s thirty, Ian. That’s not encouraging. Can anything be done