Free The Ghost Files 3 by Apryl Baker

swaggering over to me. “Hilda.”
    He doesn’t see it coming. Poor boy. My fist lands in his gut and as he doubles over, I bring my knee up and smash it into his nose. Very reminiscent of this morning’s fight with Meg, but hey, it works. He falls to the floor and I glare down at him, not mocking for once. “Don’t. Call. Me. Hilda! Get it?”
    Dan has come in by this time and starts laughing. Even Caleb is chuckling, but Mary is sputtering. “Mattie! You can’t just hit people because…because…well, just because!”
    “Sure I can, Mary,” I tell her, unable to avoid a smirk. “I’m a product of foster care. No one will blame me for it. They’ll put me in therapy where I’ll say I have mommy issues and they’ll say I just needed someone to talk to in order to resolve my anger. All neat and tidy.”
    “Or your dad can make a call,” Dan says wryly.
    “Huh?” I ask. My dad…oh, my dad. Him. “What does he have to do with anything?”
    “That was Meg on the phone. She won’t be pressing charges. In fact, her father is insisting she apologize to you after getting a phone call from Ezekiel Crane. Her dad apparently freaked.”
    Whoa. “No way,” I shake my head. “Her dad’s the mayor. Mr. Crane isn’t even from around here. He can’t have that kind of clout up here in Charlotte.”
    “Your dad’s a scary-freaky dude, Hilda.” Eli is still lying on the floor, holding his gut. “He has money, too. I’m betting that goes a long way no matter where you’re from.”
    Dan catches me around the waist and spins me around before I can kick his brother in the ribs. “You seriously like to get beaten up by girls, don’t you?” Dan asks.
    “Nah,” Eli rolls over and then stands. “I just like irritating this one. I need to watch out for that left hook of hers, though.”
    “And on that note, I better get him out of here before Mattie really does hurt him,” Caleb sighs. “Mary, it was nice to meet you.”
    “You, too.” She grins at him, trying her best to hide the dreamy look in her eyes and failing miserably.
    “Mattie, I’ll call when I get the tattoo worked out, okay?” Caleb winks.
    “Thanks, Caleb.” I give him a hug and my best smile. He ruffles my hair.
    “Let’s go, Elijah .” Caleb hauls him up by an arm and smiles when Eli winces.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mattie,” Eli promises, also giving me a wink as he follows his brother out.
    “I gotta go, too,” Dan says once they’re gone. “Dad called. He’s trying to get Mom out on bail again, and wants me to go before the judge. Maybe I can help.”
    “Of course,” I murmur and give him a hug. It feels good just to hug him with no resentment or anger simmering. I’ve missed him, missed this.
    “See ya tomorrow, Squirt.” He ruffles my hair much the same as Caleb did and leaves. The two of them are so much alike, it’s scary, and neither realizes it. Or maybe they do and won’t admit it. Either way, I see it and will do what I can to make sure they at least learn to tolerate each other.
    After I help Mary clean up from lunch, I beg off to my room with a headache. It’s been an exhausting day and all I really want right now is a hot bath and a nap. My new room comes with a shared bathroom. Mary’s room is on the other side of it. Now that Eli’s gone, my furnace has disappeared and I’m cold. Ever since the bombardment of ghosts that hit me when I arrived in New Orleans —the City of the Dead, as some call it—I’ve been freezing, unable to get warm unless he’s around.
    A sigh of relief escapes when I shut the door. I love Mary to death, but she’s a chatterbox. Normally, it doesn’t bother me but today I don’t have the patience. Between the airport fight, ghost attack, police station, and then meeting my dad, I’m wrecked. I need a few minutes alone to think. Is that really too much to ask?
    “Ah, my darling girl, I didn’t think they’d ever leave,” a man’s soft voice says.
    Silas. My head