Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 53428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Hundreds and hundreds of translucent people stood in front of me—men, women, and children. A green glowing hue outlined their bodies. They were surreal shadows of humanity.
Their images flickered in and out like a mirage of wavering spectral figures. It was hard to make out good details of them, but through the flickering I noticed them wearing tattered and charred clothes from a long-ago fashion.
I could not move or speak. All I could do was remain rooted in the doorway while the acrid scent of burning wood and hair swarmed into my nostrils. My lungs burned with each breath while terror gripped my heart.
And then one of them stepped forward, seeming to cross some invisible barrier between the living and dead. The air crackled around them.
This ghost was a petite Ebony figure. The brim of her feathered cowboy hat cast a deep shadow over her piercing gaze. She was clothed in a tattered white buttoned shirt and faded brown pants. Two guns cinched tightly to her thighs. Her neck was wrapped in a colorful bandana, billowing in the wind like a warning flag.
Who is this?
And then, she spoke in that hushed whisper, “You came. . .Santino.”
I shivered.
“Come closer.”
“W-why?”
“You must get the last key.”
I swallowed.
“Santino.” She held her flickering hand out to me. “Come.”
“The key to what?”
“Our vengeance.”
“And. . .what would I unlock the key with?”
Cackling and screeching rippled along the hundreds of ghosts behind her.
Are they laughing at me?
A few flickered faster as they doubled over and let out this maddening chuckle.
But the woman in the cowboy hat didn’t laugh. She kept her hand out. “You will not open it.”
“Then. . .who will?”
“Give the key to Lei.”
I widened my eyes. “Lei?”
The ghost flickered as she nodded her head. “He will know what to do with it. . .one day.”
Was it odd that Lei being involved with this gave me strength? That eerie realization gave me confidence that this was not a game, but some serious mission for the ghosts. One that they could not do without humans.
And being that I planned on living on this property among them for the rest of my life, I thought it would not be a bad idea to be on their good side.
“Okay.” I took one step outside. “You will not kill me?”
“If I wanted to kill you,” the ghost tipped her hat. “Then you would have already been dead.”
I trembled as I walked forward. “Where is the key?”
She turned around. “I will take you to it.”
This is such a fucking bad idea.
I completely stepped outside. Grass and dirt stuck to my bare feet.
If they don’t truly kill me, Kashmere will. What was I thinking?
Like an idiot I followed her.
All the hundreds of ghosts separated, making a clear path for us to walk down.
Is she their. . .leader?
She spoke, “Do not forget. . .give it to Lei.”
“I won’t forget.”
I walked away from the house, in the midst of glowing green ghosts who didn’t taunt me. They simply watched me walk by them with an odd curiosity.
I shivered. “Who are you?”
The ghost turned and smiled at me. “I am no one.”
I continued to follow her to Dream Lake. When we got there, she went right and walked near the water for several feet.
I glanced over my shoulder.
The hundreds and hundreds of ghosts remained by the house and kept all their gazes on me.
I got closer to her. “W-will they hurt me?”
“Not if you continue to do right by Kashmere.”
I blinked. “You know her? Are you related? Are you a Killer Crow or Jones or—”
“Here.” She stopped and pointed by a tree that was several feet from the outline of the lake. Two crows sat on a low bench and watched me. She nodded. “Dig over there.”
“Dig?”
“The key will be there.”
And so I hurried over to the tree and dug through the cool, wet soil with my hands. I ripped wildly at the earth, clawing through the dirt, grass, and roots. A brutal sense of urgency rose within me.
The key. I must find the key.
Soon my fingers hit something flat. I felt a surge of relief. But it wasn’t metal. It was this thick wood.
Confused, I pulled out a flat wooden dagger. “This isn’t a key.”
Suddenly, the ghost sounded right behind me. “Give it to Lei.”
Still gripping the wooden dagger in my hand, I rose and slowly turned around.
She was inches in front of me. “Do. Not. Forget.”
The horrifying proximity of her presence was too much to bear.
I stumbled back, my foot suddenly caught in the jagged hole I had carved in the ground moments before. I felt a sharp crack as my head collided with the unforgiving trunk of the tree.
Before I could catch my breath, I was tumbling further backwards, playing a dizzying game of catch with gravity until I found myself lying flat on my back.