Free I'd Rather Not Be Dead by Andrea Brokaw

Everyone was all hidden away in their Places of
Power.” My finger jabs at Fray. “Everyone except for me. Because I
don't have one!”
    He tries to put his arm around
me but takes a step back at my expression. “Everyone has a Place of
Power. You just don't know where yours is.”
    “It doesn't matter!” My hands
clench into fists at my sides. “What matters is that you left me
alone sprinting for all I was worth to have Cooper Finnegan save
me! Cooper Finnegan!”
    Fray's expression says he's
suddenly caught on he's dealing with a lunatic.
    “Do you have any idea how it
feels to have to rely on him, of all people?”
    “Can't say I do.” Fray shakes
his head and waves me down the street toward his tavern. “So Cooper
Finnegan... You mean the Shadow Walker? The one they call
Finn?”
    The one they call Finn? I roll
my eyes at the wording. “Yeah. The Pine Ridge poster boy.
Valedictorian. Captain of the football team. On every dance court
we have. Center of every social event. Plastered all over the
frigging yearbook.”
    My fellow deceased gives the
pavement a faint smile as we walk. “Not a friend of yours?”
    I glare. “Not even
remotely.”
    “And how did he save you from
The Spirit?” Fray isn't looking anywhere near me, but I get the
impression my answer has his undivided attention.
    “When we touch, it goes
away.”
    “Goes away?” Fray moves his eyes
to stare at me. “Completely?”
    “Yeah.” Why is he looking at me
like I have just grown a set of horns?
    My erstwhile guide to the
afterlife takes his time starting his next sentence. “Usually, when
we're in our Places of Power, it hovers nearby until it gets bored.
It doesn't simply vanish because we're somewhere protected.”
    “Try sprinting to a medium next
time,” I suggest dryly.
    “It don't think it's because
he's a Walker. I've never heard of one who was able to do that.” He
stops in front of the club, but paces back and forth in the parking
lot instead of going in. “In fact, I knew someone who was taken
while talking to one.”
    “Talking wouldn't help,” I say
instantly. “I had to touch him. Just being near him wasn't
enough.”
    Fray stops moving and looks at
me. “What did it feel like?”
    “Feel like?” I shrug at his
impatient nod. “Warm? Like he had a fever?”
    “Not what did he feel like.”
Fray gives an annoyed growl. “Was there a sensation when you
touched? A change in atmosphere maybe?”
    “The air seemed to get thinner,”
I say slowly, concentrating on my memories. “A pressure released.
It was suddenly easier to breathe. And, of course, the fog
vanished.”
    “Any stillness?”
    I consider. “I guess you could
describe it that way. A sudden calm.”
    “Well, isn't that
interesting?”
    “Isn't what interesting?” I
snap. I hate it when people talk over me.
    Fray's look is gentle. “You do
have a Place of Power, luv.”
    “Yippee.” I fold my arms, tilt
my head to the side, and wait. “And it's where?”
    “Cooper Finnegan.”
    I snort. “Yeah, right. His head
might be big enough to take up the whole town, but he isn't a
place.”
    “Doesn't have to be.” Fray seems
very confident of what he's saying. After centuries of death, I
suppose he should be. “A Place of Power is simply what you're
haunting. I'm haunting this bar because the square where I died
used to be here. That jackass in the hardware store haunts it. The
sweet little girl up in the alleyway... Well, it's her alley. Just
like the library belongs to that librarian who was poisoned
there.”
    “What? No one ever poisoned a
librarian.” I shake my head. No, not getting distracted. “Are you
implying I'm haunting Cooper Finnegan?”
    “No one was ever caught
poisoning a librarian.” Fray flashes me a smile. “Not the same
thing as no one poisoning her. And, yes, I think that's exactly
what you're doing.”
    “Why would I haunt Cooper
Finnegan? I can't stand the guy.”
    “We could wonder how much he
fails to stand you