Free Gatekeeper by Debra Glass Page A

been unconscious since they’d found her but despite some minor dehydration and mild hypothermia, she was going to be fine. Jillian shifted to pull the blanket the nurse had given her up to her neck and Amy’s hand tightened around hers.
    Jillian bolted upright in the chair. “Amy?”
    Amy’s eyes fluttered open. “Jill?” Her voice was muffled by an oxygen mask. Feebly, she pushed it away.
    “Yeah, Aim. I’m here.” Joy surged in her heart.
    “Boo?”
    “Boo’s okay. I called your neighbor to come get her after we brought you to the hospital. I tried to sneak her here in my purse but they wouldn’t let her in. Said it was against regulations.”
    Amy gave a weak chuckle but then her expression darkened.
    Jillian knew she was recalling the horror of the grave. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”
    Amy’s hand gripped hers even harder. Jillian added, “Don’t think about it now. Try to rest.”
    A solitary tear seeped out of the corner of Amy’s eyes and cut a trail to the white pillowslip. “I knew you’d find me.”
    “It was a piece of cake.” That was the understatement of the century and Jillian’s sarcasm was evident in her voice.
    “How…” Amy’s blue eyes frosted with realization and shimmered in the fluorescent light. “It was him, wasn’t it? The soldier.”
    Jillian nodded. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude surged inside her. She never could have faced the soul collectors or the graveyard ghosts without Benton. She never would have found her sister alive without his help. Her lips pulled into a smile and she became acutely aware of the button pressed against her thigh.
    Now it was time to tell him goodbye. To let him go. She had promised to help him find the Light once Amy was safe. Only Amy could do that.
    A sense of sadness seeped into her heart and squeezed tight. She would never see him again. Never look into those deep gray eyes or feel the unyielding energy of his presence again.
    Still, she’d made a promise. She withdrew the button from her pocket and put it in Amy’s hand. “I think he wants you to have this.” Something hard tugged at her heart as she relinquished the button. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and allowed her psychology education to rush to the forefront as the analytical voice of reason. This ridiculous attraction to him was due to traumatic circumstances. Nothing more. For Pete’s sake, the man was dead. He was a ghost.
    So why did she regret giving up the button so much?
    Jillian sighed. “Will you thank him for me when you see him?”
    Amy stared. “I can’t imagine you communing with a spirit.”
    “We did not commune .” Jillian smoothed back her hair with her palm. “He helped me to…to open up psychically so that I could find you.”
    Amy gave her a knowing smile. “Could you see him?”
    Jillian gave her a reluctant nod.
    “He’s handsome isn’t he?”
    This conversation was getting uncomfortable. Jillian made a face. She didn’t want to talk about the ghost anymore. She wanted to make good on her promise to let Amy send him into the Light.
    “Come on, Jill. Admit it. He’s handsome.”
    “I suppose he was handsome—a hundred and fifty years ago.” But that was a lie. She’d found him devastatingly attractive.
    Amy shook her head. “You’re just too practical. Spirits are fun.”
    “Amy, this experience has been anything but fun. I’m glad it’s over. I don’t see how you can stand them… touching you.” She got the willies. “Send him to the Light. That’s what he wants.”
    Amy’s lips parted. “What? He touched you?”
    Oh no. Now she’d stepped in it. Jillian inhaled sharply.
    “Tell me, Jill.”
    Jillian shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    Amy laughed. It was a sound that made Jillian smile in spite of herself. “I think you two did more than commune ,” Amy said as she nodded her head.
    Jillian crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s enough. I braved my worst