Free My Way to Hell by dakota cassidy

tell Delaney I’d help you. You took advantage of me because I have no voice, and that’s low, pal. I don’t want to help you.” Because if I help you, I’ll have to smell your cologne, hear that sexy rasp of your voice when you’re yelling at me all het up about something. Keep my hands off you while I’m reminded I can never have you. Why it was so hard to deal with now, when she’d been doing it for ten years, left her puzzled. Maybe the answer lay in how disconnected she now was from the only two humans she’d known so personally.
    “That’s unfortunate” was his bland, disinterested answer.
    Fists clenched, she narrowed her eyes in anger and hissed, “Look, you ghost whisperer by proxy, here’s what’s unfortunate—” Just as her windup began, Marcella experienced that odd tugging sensation she’d felt earlier, rippling along her body in short jolts. Her legs grew weak and her vision blurry. Reaching behind her for an anchor, she stumbled backward with a gasp.
    “Oh, lay off the drama, Marcella,” Kellen rumbled, but his warning was watery and filled with static. “You’re not going to get out of this with one of your infamous hissy fits.”
    Marcella wanted to strike back. In fact, if he didn’t knock it off, she’d definitely put striking back at the top of her list of things to do the next time they tangled. However, as of this moment, she had no power to do anything but go with the strange tug and pull of whatever was sucking her out of Delaney’s bathroom and dumping her into what looked like a small child’s room.
    That was, if the toy soldiers and tanks littering the floor were any indication.
    Just when she saw a boy sprawled on the bed, its dark blue bedspread showing various stages of the moon, he looked up as though he sensed she was in the room. Green eyes, wide and innocent, scanned the far wall until he located her.
    Marcella winced, waiting for him to freak. She had just appeared out of thin air. When silence greeted her ears, she popped one eye open to find the young boy staring at her. His grin was toothy, his expression not even a little surprised.
    There was no fear when he looked directly at her.
    There was no tremble in his voice when he said, “I saw you today. I’m Carlos. Who’re you?”
    Uh, totally not the tooth fairy.

four
    Delaney smiled happily at Clyde from across their kitchen table, threading her fingers through his while they listened to Kellen bellow. Anyone who didn’t have the gift would think it was just him lovin’ up the sound of his own voice. “Aw, listen. Hissing and spitting has occurred. It’s only been a couple of minutes since I forced them to forge a bond made in Hell, and already they’re playing well in a team setting,” she doted. “Bet Marcella’s pissed. All that crap Kellen fed me about how happy she’d be to help him is just that. Crap.”
    Her husband grunted. “Honey?”
    “Clyde?”
    “You did a bad, bad thing.”
    She lifted her eyes just enough to chance a quick glimpse at his handsome face. “Well, some might call it bad. I call it innovative and acting fast on my feet.”
    “Honey, you can’t force Marcella to stay where she doesn’t want to be.”
    “Do you really believe she wants to be on some plane where the undecideds roam? Do you remember that plane?”
    Clyde’s right eye twitched from behind his glasses. “I do, and it had its ugly moments. But you’re taking matters into your own hands for both Kellen and Marcella. And if you’re being honest with yourself, it isn’t because you want Marcella to be able to shop again.”
    “Okaaay, okay. I admit it’s selfish, but if she helps Kellen, it’ll buy—”
    “You time to figure out how to get her back here. Maybe she really does just want some peace.”
    “Really, is there any other kind of inner peace like a shopping spree and a spa day for someone like Marcella?”
    “Delaney . . .” Clyde’s voice, the practical though indulgent one, sent out a