Free Spiritus, a Paranormal Romance (Spiritus Series, Book #1) by Dana Michelle Burnett Page B

of the water on him and feel his steamy breath on my cheek. “Do you really want to know? What if it gives you nightmares?”
     
    “ It won’t.” I assured him the best I could. How could his little ghost story give me nightmares? The nightmare was already showing itself.
     
    “ Okay, but I warned you.” He said with a playful smile. “Supposedly, the ghost is a dead civil war soldier.”
     
    “ If he was a soldier, why isn’t he haunting the battlefield?” I asked.
     
    “ Because he wasn’t killed in battle, he was driven mad by the horrors of war.” Jonah opened his eyes wide and crazy-like. He dropped his voice, sounding like an old-time radio villain. “He lost his last grip on his sanity one night and attacked his beautiful and loving wife.”
     
    “ Did he kill her?” I whispered.
     
    Jonah shook his head, “Nope. She killed him. Shot him with his own gun. His ghost has roamed Capitol Avenue ever since.”
     
    “ What happened to the wife?” I asked, worried that another ghost would be appearing in the very near future.
     
    He seemed pleased with the effect his story was having on me. “Nobody knows for sure what happened to the wife. A few days later she was found dead near Indian Creek. Some say she committed suicide, others say the soldier’s ghost killed her by scaring her to death.”
     
    I couldn’t say anything at first. I could only stare into the fire and wonder if this Capitol Avenue ghost was my ghost.
     
    “ Crazy story, isn’t it?” Jonah said with a laugh.
     
    “ I’ve never heard anything like it.” I said while watching the flames.
     
    Jonah shrugged, “I think every kid in Corydon hears about twelve versions of that story by the time they reach elementary school.”
     
    “ What story are you talking about?” Ashley Richardson asked as she stepped into the light of the fire. She looked beautiful, richly tanned and her hair had that perfectly mussed look that cover models worked hours for.
     
    I couldn’t help but notice that Jonah shifted away from me a little as he answered her.
     
    “ I was telling her about the old Capitol Avenue soldier,” he said with a smirk.
     
    “ Is that why she looks so scared?” Ashley asked with a laugh. “How pathetic.”
     
    I told myself not to cry, but I could feel the hot tears burning somewhere behind my eyes. It was just too much, Ashley hating me for no reason, ghosts haunting the house, what was next?
     
    Who was I kidding? Guys as perfect as Jonah belonged with a girl just as equally perfect. Someone like Ashley.
     
    I let out a huff and stood up as Ashley sat down on the other side of Jonah. I couldn’t sit there with them. I was the unwanted third wheel.
     
    Just stepping away from them didn’t help. I could still hear Ashley flirting shamelessly with Jonah.
     
    “ Your hair has gotten so light,’ she said. “And you know I just have a thing for blond guys.”
     
    As ridiculous as her statement was, I wished I had said something like that to him. Instead, I was collecting silly ghost stories. How could I be so stupid?
     
    I didn’t wait around to witness what would happen next between them. Even someone as out of touch as me could see the obvious outcome. I stormed away from the fire and out into the darkness.
     
    I walked until the grass disappeared and the bare dirt fanned out in wide patches, ending at the edge overlooking the water. I stopped, afraid to look down, and wondered what exactly it was I thought I was doing.
     
    Afraid. That was my problem. I was always afraid. If I wasn’t always so scared and unsure, it would be me talking to Jonah right now. Ashley was right. I was pathetic.
     
    I forced myself to open my eyes and look down. I knew the water was down there, but I couldn’t see it. The darkness rose up to my feet, looking thick enough to walk across.
     
    The wind whipped around me, carrying the faint scents of late summer like drying leaves and dying grass.
     
    I stepped