Free Touchdown by Yael Levy Page B

I would have never betrayed Avner.”
    “Right,” Chumie said, then placed the cakes on plates to bring to the mourners. “Go to hell.”
    “I always thought your were a witch!” Goldie spat at Chumie.
    “At least I know who I am,” Chumie said through her clenched teeth as she smiled at Avner. “You still have got a lot to learn. So go to hell. That’s where you belong.”
    Goldie grabbed a cake and threw it at Chumie, but nothing happened. Chumie winked at Goldie and returned to Avner.
    In a fit of anger, Goldie ran to her bedroom and tried to slam the door, but the door wouldn’t budge.
    Feeling utterly frustrated, she sat down at her makeup table and sobbed.
    “Hey, it’s not that bad,” said a male voice.
    Goldie picked up her head to see the man in the white suit. “You. What do you want from me? Why are you always following me?”
    “I’ve been trying to help you.”
    “Help? You got me into this mess!”
    He shrugged. “I was trying to save you, but you wouldn’t listen. You sure are one obstinate dame.”
    “Obstinate?” Goldie yelled at the man. “You play with my mind and you get me killed and now you insult me? Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?”
    “I don’t hate you, I—”
    “Wait a minute. You can see me, too. But you saw me before the accident. Are you a boy witch? What is that, a warlord?”
    The man laughed. “You mean a warlock? No. Far from it.” He extended his hand. “Let me introduce myself. Charles Rosen. But my friends call me Charlie. How do you do?”
    Goldie’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me?”
    “No, madam, I am not. My friends do call me Charlie.”
    “What—you want to be friends with me? After what you did to me?”
    “No.” The man smirked. “I’m actually dead, too, if that helps any. And I am sorry it turned out the way it did. Really.”
    “Sorry? If this isn’t a dream, then I’m truly dead. What am I supposed to do with that?”
    The man moved closer to Goldie. “You can spend eternity with me.”
    Goldie stared at him. He was very handsome and gentleman-like in an old-fashioned way . . . but eternity? Who was this man, and what did he want from her? And why was he always in her dreams?
    “You kept telling me not to marry Avner. What kind of person, or ghost, or guardian angel—whatever you are—stops a wedding and gets me killed?”
    “Your time was up anyway, Goldie. It was just supposed to happen somewhat differently and I had to make sure you didn’t marry Avner.”
    “Why? I mean if my time was up and I was going to die soon anyway, what difference would it make to you if I married Avner or not?”
    Charlie sighed. “Because you were singlehandedly going against the universe.”
    “And what’s wrong with that?” Goldie pursed her lips. “How else do you get anything done? Who exactly sent you? Did my mother put you up to this?”
    Charlie shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that,” he said, and exhaled. “How about we start over? C’mon, let’s go outside.”
    “I don’t want to go anywhere with you, Mr. Rosen.”
    Charlie stood close to Goldie. “Listen, sweetheart. I’m trying to help you. My job is to make sure you pass the tribunal and join the Light. So you can either blow me off, fail the tribunal, and spend eternity walking the earth—or worse. Or, for the first time in your shallow, pitiful existence, you could listen to someone other than yourself and let me help you.” He grabbed her hand. “All right?”
    “Do I have a choice?” Goldie sighed. Instantly, she found herself back in the misty light-filled room where she’d met her mother and that boy from Atlanta.
    “You’ll have to teach me how to do that transporting thing,” she said to Charlie.
    “We’ll see,” he said. “So let’s go now. I have to prep you for the tribunal—”
    Goldie suddenly shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Charlie.”
    “What? You must.”
    “No, I don’t. You