Women of the Otherworld 09.5 - Angelic Read Online Free PDF Page B

that.

Nine
     
    The next thing I heard was a voice whispering, “Shhh, shhh, it’s okay,” as a hand stroked my head. I opened my eyes. I was in one of those empty rooms, curled up on the floor, my head cradled on a lap.
     
    I twisted to see Kristof.
     
    “Hello, gorgeous,” he said.
     
    I stared at him. Then I blinked and pulled away. “It’s not really you.”
     
    “No?”
     
    “Prove it.”
     
    He paused, considering, then said, “And how would I do that?”
     
    I sat up. “What do you mean?”
     
    “Well, the usual way would be for me to tell you something only I know, which would work if you suspected I’m an imposter. But if, as it seems, you’ve been hallucinating, then I could be a product of your imagination, meaning I’ll say whatever you want me to say, which doesn’t prove anything at all. On the other hand—”
     
    I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him.
     
    “Proof enough?” he said.
     
    “It is.” I pulled back. “How did you get here? Wherever here is…” I looked around.
     
    “Tangiers, it seems.”
     
    “No. I was in Tangiers, and then… You said I was hallucinating. I’m still in Tangiers, aren’t I?”
     
    “Apparently. You’re trapped in some sort of mental construct. A typical djinn trick.”
     
    “Which I’d know if I’d done my research. But how’d you find me?”
     
    “You called, I came. As for how I got here, as you know, I’m a master of teleportation.”
     
    I laughed and settled in, hugging my knees to my chest. “Like the time you tried taking me to the beach and ended up in the Sahara?”
     
    “It had sand. I only appear to have trouble teleporting because I need to conserve my powers to properly fulfill my role as the hero’s wise and nurturing girlfriend.”
     
    I sputtered a laugh.
     
    He continued. “Every hero needs a sidekick. I’m the wise and nurturing girlfriend, who sits on the sidelines, counseling him to make better choices, and picking him up when he invariably ignores her advice and falls.”
     
    “Ah, but if you were a real hero’s girlfriend, you’d be the one needing rescue.”
     
    “True.” He sighed and stretched his legs. “It’s the one part of the role I’m finding difficult to fulfill. But I’m working on it.”
     
    “Are you working on the girl part, too?”
     
    He arched his brows. “Do you want me to?”
     
    “Never.”
     
    We sat in silence for a moment. My hands started shaking again, and I shoved them into my pockets.
     
    “I screwed up, Kris. Big surprise, huh? You tried to slow me down and I ignored you, and only made things worse. But you won’t even say, ‘I told you so.’”
     
    “You beat yourself up enough, Eve. You don’t need anyone else doing it for you.” He pulled me onto his lap. “We can fix this. Just tell me what happened.”
     
    “I—” I glanced around and shivered. “I will. Just— I want to get out of here and clear my head first.”
     
    “A distraction? Now that is definitely one of my sidekick specialties.”
     
    He murmured a teleport spell. The house evaporated and I dropped a foot onto a soft mattress. I looked around to see Kris’s houseboat.
     
    “Nice aim,” I said.
     
    “Did I mention those expert teleportation skills?”
     
    “I believe you did. And those expert distraction skills?”
     
    “Coming right up,” he said, his mouth lowering to mine.

Ten
     
    A half hour later, I was telling Kris everything. I was still in bed, covers entwined around me, talking as I watched him fix me a snack. Ghosts don’t need food any more than they need sleep or sex, but an afterlife without passionate nights, lazy mornings and breakfasts in bed isn’t the kind of eternity I want.
     
    Ghosts do the things they enjoyed in life, necessary or not, and for Kris, one of those things was cooking. His ex-wife took off when their boys were little more than toddlers, and he’d been determined that they’d never suffer the lack of anything