Free Charmed Spirits by Carrie Ann Ryan

eating at
her.
    “What
am I going to tell her, Ty?”
    He
shook his head, his jaw set. “I don’t know, but you better make it good. She
deserves more than what she’s getting from this town.”
    Jordan
nodded, her teeth biting into her lip.
    “You
do too, Jor. But right now? You’re not going to get it. Own up to yourself and
maybe others will see what Matt does.”
    He
left without another word, and Jordan sank down into one of the little chairs.
She’d almost killed someone she cared about because she couldn’t control her
magic. She’d been afraid, afraid that she’d be asked to do something she didn’t
want to do with a power she didn’t understand. The only people who’d never
asked anything of her had been the Coopers…and Abby. Yet she’d over-reacted
because she was a screw-up.
    She
closed her eyes, her body too tired to think. She needed to fix this with Abby.
Then maybe fix herself, because when she moved away, she didn’t want to kill a
stranger. And if by some stroke of luck she stayed, she didn’t want to kill
someone she loved.

 
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    “Damn
it. Why isn’t there a book called What to Do if You’re Turned into a Ghost ?”
Matt slammed the thick volume shut as dust rose up from the old book. He rubbed
his eyes with the heels of his hands and cursed again.
    Reading
old texts he’d borrowed from the library wasn’t getting him anywhere. For the
past eleven years, he’d been researching what he could do to fix his problem.
He snorted. Yeah, problem. What a small word to explain he was a freaking ghost
five days a month. No matter what he read, though, nothing seemed to be close
to what he dealt with.
    There
were legit texts that said the souls of the deceased had unfinished business
left on this plane and therefore couldn’t move on. That sounded a bit like
every movie he’d ever seen…but it had been worth a try so he’d tried to finish
every unfinished piece of business he might have. Even though he wouldn’t have
been quite ready to move on at his age regardless, he’d still finished his
degree, bought his business, and tried his best to accomplish most of his
goals. He’d even made sure he kept on his brothers’ good sides.
    The
fact that he hadn’t married, had kids, or resolved things with Jordan seemed to
be the only major goals left untouched. But even then… would he move on? He
wasn’t even sure he could have kids, and he wasn’t sure he should bring some
poor, unsuspecting woman into his nightmare. So, he was pretty sure that, even
though the texts had offered him a possible solution, it wasn’t the right path
for him.
    Other
books said that he’d chosen this. He snorted. Right, like he’d have chosen to
be connected to a building that no one wanted and which the entire town desired
to tear down. He certainly wouldn’t have chosen to go through agonizing pain
every month when he shifted or faded or whatever the hell he wanted to call it.
No, he hadn’t chosen this. The texts that said he’d chosen this so he could
watch over this plane or because he was too scared to move on weren’t right
about his case.
    He
wouldn’t have chosen this for anything.
    As
he flipped through the pages, he started to doubt his sanity. Were there others
in the world that he hadn’t known about? Other ghosts? What about other…things?
He’d always known Jordan was a witch and had never questioned it. It was a part
of her, and therefore, something he’d understood at the time, but he’d never
really thought past that. Stupid really. In retrospect, he should have thought about
past magic and what else went bump in the night.
    But,
nightmares weren’t real. At least that was what he’d always thought. Now that
he was a ghost though…what if he’d been wrong? What else might be out there?
    Everything
he’d read pointed to their existence. But what did a ghost like him do?
    No
matter what he read, these books wanted him to move on. To realize he