Ghost Betweens (8 page)

She gave a little laugh. "It might not work anyway, but I agree. Mr. Baxter seems to believe in us, so I say we should, too." She paused for a second. "I haven't known Mr. Baxter for very long, but for some reason I trust him. He's not telling us much yet, but that's for our own good." She shrugged. "I don't know if I'm being naive, but that's how I feel."

"I know. I feel the same way. I never really had much to do with him before all of this started last week. He was just my teacher, but now I trust him with my life, and I don't know why."

"Yeah. It's weird."

He reached over and took her hand. To his delight, she didn't pull away, and in fact squeezed back. They shared a smile, and then let go and left the car.

"So we just have to say we're invisible, and we'll be invisible to the ghosts."

"Yeah," she said. "No doubts allowed. If you have any, get rid of them here."

He took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go."

"Should we turn invisible?"

"Not yet. Let's see if we can do it with the ghosts coming at us. Trust yourself, but be ready to run." He glanced over and saw her nod. He also saw her camera in her hand. "Whisper, your camera. Remember, Mr. Baxter said to not take pictures, just walk around invisible."

She hesitated, but then nodded and put it away in her purse, which she slung over her shoulder. "Okay, I'm ready."

They rounded the corner towards the fields. Right away they saw a ton of ghosts--from balls and streaks of energy to partial and full apparitions. There were more than ever. They strode forward, and caught the attention of the nearest spirits. The energy of the place turned from lightly creepy to full-blown scary.

"Do it," Josh said. "Believe in yourself."

He muttered over and over that he was invisible, and he assumed Whisper did the same. The hateful energy dropped, and the ghosts stopped in their tracks, confused for a moment, and then continued in their aimless wandering. Josh looked at Whisper and motioned for them to head into the fields.

As they stepped into the first dusty field, he realized this would be the big test. He repeated that he was invisible, over and over. Nothing looked their way. He made sure to step as close as he dared to a few of the specters, and they didn't glance at him. He looked back at Whisper and saw her face etched in concentration. He guessed his looked the same.

"Let's try talking," he said. "Keep up the mantra of invisibility in your mind, but carry on a conversation with me. I want to see if we can multi-task like this."

"Good idea. It may come in handy later."

"I thought we'd walk around the barn and head straight back to the car. That should be about five minutes if we keep a good pace."

"Fine, but don't get too close to it." She paused. "This is actually kind of cool. Are you looking at some of the spirits?"

"Trying my best not to." Though the creepy feelings had died down considerably, it was still buzzing inside of him.

"They look human. Just, I don't know, faded. Transparent."

As they marched deeper into the property, he checked out the nearest one. It was an old farmer. Its face had a leathery look of spending far too much time in the sun. Though he couldn't tell what color its eyes or hair were, he could see the textures that showed they were real. The ghost's chest even heaved, its nostrils flared, as if it were breathing.

"You're right. That's pretty neat."

As they neared the barn, the door opened and the headless ghost wandered out. Josh braced himself, ready to run, but kept the mantra up. He wouldn't let the invisibility drop if he could help it.

The ghost looked like it was searching for them. If it had a head, it would have been on a swivel. Josh grabbed Whisper's hand, and they continued on their wide berth around the barn.

Whisper pointed up at one of the barn's upper windows. "The farmer. I don't think he can see us."

"But he senses us. They both do."

"Stay invisible and we'll be fine." She sounded brave, but he heard a waver in her voice.

They continued around the barn and headed towards the farm's driveway. Once they were halfway back, Josh felt the iron band that had latched itself around his chest loosen, though he made sure to keep the invisibility up. They made it to the edge of the fields with no problems, and then again around the corner to the driveway. Even though they were back on safe ground, he had trouble stopping himself from saying the words. "If those ghosts find a way to make it off the farm grounds tonight, I'll be safe. I can't stop telling myself I'm invisible."

"You and me both," she said with a laugh.

They pulled out of the driveway with no problems. That was almost too easy.

Neither said much on the way back to Whisper's house. The thought of walking invisible amongst the evil ghosts was almost too much to comprehend. For all he knew, most people could do it if they put their minds to it. Or maybe it had to do with what the ghost farmer called them: Ghost Betweens. Mr. Baxter had some explaining to do.

When they pulled up in front of her house, he couldn't help but noticed how nervous she seemed. Was she afraid the ghosts might have followed them or something? Before he could ask her what was the matter, she blurted out, "Want to come in?"

He stared at her for a second, not quite sure she had actually asked him that.

"Sorry," she said, blushing. "You probably need to get home. It was stupid of me."

"No, no, I'd love to come in. My mom won't be home until after eight, so it's fine."

Relief flooded her face. "Good. We can send an email to Mr. Baxter together. Maybe he'll even give us some sort of clue about what's going on."

"Yeah, so far he explains American History way better than this ghost thing."

They walked up to her house with Josh's heart beating a mile a minute. He hoped her parents were nice. He hoped they liked him. And most importantly, he hoped they didn't mind Whisper inviting him in.

The inside of the house both looked and smelled neat and clean. It didn't seem lived in yet. He supposed that was to be expected after only a week or two. No boxes littered the floors of the living room, but he could tell it was a work in progress. Nothing hung on the walls, and he guessed there'd be a few more pieces of furniture in the mostly empty room before too long.

Whisper seemed to sense his train of thoughts. "Mom and Dad were going to get everything fixed up this weekend, but other things got in the way. Moving is hard work." She smiled. "I liked it better when I was younger. I wasn't expected to put in as much labor."

"Yeah," he said with a laugh. "Parents certainly know how to find stuff to take up our time."

"You said it. Mom, Dad, I'm home! I brought company!"

A woman walked out from what Josh guessed was the kitchen. Right away there was no doubt she was Whisper's mom. They looked almost exactly alike, with just a few years difference. In fact, he might have guessed older sister if he didn't already know Whisper was an only child.

"Hi, sweetie. Who's your friend?"

"This is Josh from the digital camera club."

"So this is Josh. Whisper has told us about you. It's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand, and he shook it.

"Hi, Mrs. Douglas. Nice to meet you." Whisper had talked about him? That was good news, right?

"Are you staying for dinner? I was thinking about testing out one of the local pizza delivery places."

He looked at Whisper to see if she'd think it was okay. When a smile greeted him, he nodded. "Sure, thank you. I'd love to stay."

"Great. Any recommendations?"

"Yeah, we always go to Roni Peppers. It's really good."

"What a cute name. Yes, we definitely have to try that one."

A new voice sounded from behind Josh. Whisper's dad. Had to be. "What's this? We've been here a week and my baby girl's already bringing home boys?"

Whisper turned scarlet. "Daddy, don't embarrass me."

Mr. Douglas smiled at Josh and gave him a wink. "Hi there. Sean Douglas. Did I hear you're the infamous Josh?"

"Daddy!"

"Uh, yeah, that would be me." They shook hands.

"I'm teasing on the infamous part. It's just that Whisper has spoken very highly of you."

"Daddy!"

"What? I can't give the boy a compliment?"

Wow, had she really said good things about him, or was Mr. Douglas teasing again? "Thank you, sir," was all he could think to say.

"You got it, son." He turned to Mrs. Douglas. "Now what was this I heard about pizza? I'm famished."

"As soon as I know the number, I'll order a few up. You want to look it up, dear? What's it called again, Josh? A cute name, I remember that."

"Roni Peppers."

"Roni Peppers? Yeah, I think I noticed that. In the shopping center on Strafford Street, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Douglas pulled out a phone and started tapping away on it. Whisper leaned over to Josh and said, "He got an Internet-ready phone right before we left. It's his new passion. And of course Wi-Fi and our desktop were the first things set up."

Mrs. Douglas joined in. "Yeah, God forbid we have beds or anything. Nothing's more important than Wi-Fi or that phone."

"You won't be complaining when I have that phone number."

Mrs. Douglas and Whisper rolled their eyes at the same time.

Josh had to cover his mouth to stifle a laugh. He couldn't remember if his parents had ever been so playful. Probably, as Mom always spoke fondly of Dad.

"It's important to be connected to the world. Isn't that right, Josh?"

He wasn't sure, but he guessed he should side with her dad and hope it didn't cost him any points with Whisper or her mom. "Yes, sir. Can't live without the Internet."

"Exactly. Hang on to this one, Whisper. He knows the ways of the world."

Whisper burned red again. "Daddy, stop it!"

"You know he's only going to keep it up, honey," Mrs. Douglas said. "Why don't you two head to your room and get started on your homework or whatever you had planned. And make sure you keep the door open."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the living room towards a hallway. "We will," she called over her shoulder.

The hallway turned to the right, and they were greeted by two doors on the left, one on the right, and a door that led to a big bedroom, obviously her parents' room, at the end. Her room was the one on the right. He held his breath as they turned in. Besides Kendra's, and she didn't really count, he hadn't ever been in a girl's room. Well, at least not since early elementary school when it was still okay to play with girls without the social stigma of boyfriend-girlfriend and all that.

Her room turned out to be pretty bare, just a bed, a chest of drawers, and a computer on a desk. Nothing hung on the walls. "We're going to paint it sometime in the next couple of weeks," she said. "That's why it's so boring now." He couldn't help but wonder what it'd look like once she was done with it. Hopefully he'd still be invited in here so he could see.

"I'm so sorry about my parents," she said. "My dad can be obnoxious."

"No worries. Does he do that to all the boys you bring home?"

"I'm sure he would, but I can't say for sure. You're the first."

Wow, she was so pretty he figured she'd had a ton of boyfriends where she used to live.

She smiled and blushed. Or maybe she still hadn't paled from all the blushing she did in the living room. "Anyway, I guess you can tell they're going to assume you're my boyfriend. Sorry."

Josh started to speak, had his voice catch in his throat, and tried again. "Since they're going to think it anyway, maybe we can, I don't know, go out sometime. See if we can be boyfriend and girlfriend."

She rolled her eyes, but smiled brighter. "It's about time you asked. I was beginning to wonder."

It was his turn to blush. "I didn't want to ruin anything between us. You're new here, and we were getting along and all. I didn't know if you had many other friends yet or what. I just . . . I just didn't want to mess anything up."

She watched him, and he could tell she was trying hard to not crack up. "You finished?" she asked, in a careful voice edged with laughter.

"Yeah."

She glanced at the door, and then melted into him for a big hug. He stopped breathing. "I like you. A lot. As a friend and as, well, a boy."

She let go, flashing him another smile, and turned to the computer. "We should probably email Mr. Baxter. I'm sure he's waiting for us."

Josh nodded. "When I emailed him on Friday, he responded in less than a minute. I wonder why he doesn't come with us to the farm if he's so excited about it."

"I wonder the same thing. Maybe he'll tell us tomorrow." She glanced again at the door, and he got the idea they might be making out right now if it were closed. The butterflies already flapping around in his stomach swarmed.

The computer gave a ding announcing it was ready. They turned towards it, and she fired up her email. "I guess a simple message, huh?"

"Yeah, tell him that it went off without a hitch. We walked around for five minutes and the ghosts couldn't see us. Not much more to say than that." He reached down and squeezed her hand. "At least that a teacher needs to know about."

She leaned in closer to him, glanced over at the door, and then turned back to the computer. Wow, she almost kissed him despite the open door. The butterflies threatened to fly up his throat. Would he have the guts to lean over and plant a kiss on her next time they were alone?

"There, sent," she said. "Should we send one to Kendra and Zach, too? See what happened to them?"

"Yeah, good idea. You send one to Kendra, and I'll log onto my email and hit one to Zach."

Before she even started, Mr. Baxter's reply came. "Excellent. That's exactly what I thought would happen. I'll explain tomorrow after school. I promise."

"That's that," Josh said. "Guess there's nothing to do about the ghosts but wait."

She nodded and typed before turning the computer over to him. Both their emails were basically identical. They steered clear of asking why they got in the fight and simply asked what the consequences would be. In-house suspensions, for sure. Who knew what else? Josh had never been in a fight, so he didn't know the protocol. Whisper had the same experiences at her old schools.