Grave Possession (Wraith 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

parents’ age, African-American, in blue coveralls. He helped me off the floor and I pulled my shirt down to cover my open pants. “I’ll just go downstairs,” I told him.
    “I’ll be done soon,” he announced, but I had already started down the stairs, red-faced and embarrassed.
    Ten minutes later, I entered my room. Ava sat exactly where I’d left her, legs crossed on her bed and a sketch pad in her lap. Pink headphones were clamped over her ears and pencil shavings filled a clear, plastic cup on the table next to the bed. I wished she wasn’t here. Really, all I wanted was to talk to Evan. Feel Evan.
    “Hey,” she said, taking of the headphones and shaking out her hair. “Make it in time?”
    “Yeah, crisis averted.” I flopped on my bed and covered my face with my hands. “I talked to Connor.”
    Her eyes grew wide. “No! What happened?”
    “It was beyond awkward.”
    She crossed her legs. “Obviously.”
    “He knows about Louis.”
    “Ouch.”
    “Yeah, he didn’t seem too thrilled.”
    “Is he dating anyone?”
    “I don’t know. To be honest, I was too scared to even ask if he’d dated anyone else – or is dating anyone. Conflicted feelings and all that.”
    Ava made a sympathetic face. “How do you think he’s doing – you know?” She pointed to her brain.
    “God, I don’t even know. He said he was off drugs completely. Recreationally and prescription.”
    “Seriously?”
    “I know, right?” I pressed my ear to my pillow. “I’m just going to let it go for now. I’m sure we’ll see each other around. As long as the ghosts keep quiet we don’t have much reason to hang out with each other.”
    “Plus, you have Louis. You can use that as an excuse at least.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I’m starving,” she said, hopping off the bed. “Want to go eat?”
    “Yeah, I need to wash my face. Will you check the bathroom? I had an embarrassing moment in there earlier with the maintenance guy.”
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “Typical clumsy. He was nice about it but I’d rather not go over it again.”
    “Poor Jane,” Ava said, giving me a hug. “Sounds like maybe we should hit the fro-yo place after dinner.”
    “Yes, please.”
    Ava left the room and, a couple of seconds later, peeked back in. “The coast is clear.”
    “Awesome. Give me a second and I’ll be ready.”
    The water on the bathroom floor had been mopped up and the leak repaired. I went to the sink and took out my soap. I heard a muffled noise behind one of the bathroom stall doors. Oh man, the crier was in here again. I discretely attempted to look under the door to see her shoes because someone had a depression problem. I should probably tell Lila.
    I dropped my brush so I could sneak a look. I didn’t recognize the shoes, but they were standard black Converse low-tops. I also spotted a tiny tattoo on her ankle. A flower maybe? Clover?
    The girl coughed and I jumped, rushing back over to the sink, turning on the faucet to cover her sobbing. Probably homesick, I suspected. I’d fought it myself but Ava and Evan made things easier. Odds were that this girl didn’t have her best friends at school with her.
    She never left the stall, so I gathered my things and left the bathroom. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who has that tattoo. When I did, hopefully I could help her.
     
    *
     
    “I miss you,” Louis said.
    “I miss you, too.” I sat on a bench in front of our residence hall, phone to my ear. “How are your classes?”
    “Huge. Most of them have, like, 200 kids in them.”
    “Wow. I think the most mine have is about 30.”
    “Because you go to a fancy art school. The gifted shouldn’t mingle with the rest of the masses,” he teased.
    The University of Georgia, Louis’ school, had more than 30,000 students. I went up with him for a visit and the campus sent me into a series of panic attacks. All the people and buses and, well, there were too many dead people. I can’t escape the dead people,