“Nor do I ever aspire to be one,” Della said, and looked back at Kylie. “So how the hell is this happening?”

Kylie moved in and sat on the edge of the bed. “I … I remember Holiday said that some ghosts contain so much energy that they can appear to normal people.”

“Yeah, but I’m not normal. I’ve been called a lot of things, but never normal.”

“You’re normal enough for us to like you.” Miranda bounced down on the bed. Then her gaze shifted to Kylie. “It is gone, right?”

Kylie nodded and her gaze shifted back to Della. “Do you know who it is now?”

“No,” Della said, and hugged her legs.

“It didn’t appear to you?” Kylie asked.

“No,” Della repeated.

“It didn’t talk to you?”

“No,” Della said again.

“Then how did you know it was here?”

“Because … because it was cold and … and I thought I felt something brush up against my shoulder. Oh … and I’m almost positive it opened my door.”

“Opened your door?” Kylie’s brows puckered.

“Yeah,” Della said.

Kylie shook her head. “That’s unlikely. Ghosts usually only have enough power to move tiny objects, like a cell phone.”

“Well, explain how I closed my door and then it came open?”

Kylie glanced eerily at the door, but disbelief flashed in her blue eyes. “Maybe you just thought you shut it.”

“So now I’m crazy?”

Kylie shook her head. “I didn’t say that.”

“I didn’t just imagine it.” Della pushed her hands against her eyes. “This is so wrong. So very, very wrong. Frankly, I don’t get why you can’t tell a ghost to leave. What makes them so special?”

Miranda giggled. “I guess they feel as if being dead should give them some rights. Maybe it’s in their death contract. You know, you die, you don’t have to follow rules anymore. Do whatever the frack you want.”

“I’m not joking,” Della said. “I don’t like this.”

“Sorry,” Miranda said. “That hit on your head made you even grumpier.”

Della growled at the witch. “If you had a ghost hanging around you, I’d like to see you be Miss Cheery!”

“No fighting,” Kylie said, and right then her phone rang. She checked it. “It’s Holiday.” She took the call. “Hey.”

Della continued to frown at Miranda and focused on trying to hear Holiday’s voice, but she couldn’t. Her damn hearing was off again.

“Yeah,” Kylie said, and looked at Della. “No, but she’s in bed. Okay.” Kylie hung up.

Della stared. “Was she checking on me?”

“Yeah. She said you needed to stay in bed and she’d bring you supper.”

“She told me you went back to the falls again,” Miranda said. “And you were supposed to be sleeping. Why would you go to the falls to start with? That place is over-the-top eerie. You might have run into a death angel.”

When Della didn’t answer, Miranda’s eyes went wide. “Did you see a death angel?”

“I … not really,” Della huffed. “I saw some shadows, that’s all. And it happened like the second I was hit on the head, so I probably just … imagined it.” And that was what Della kept telling herself.

“What kind of shadows?” Miranda asked. “Did they look like monsters or … what?”

Della saw Kylie’s eyes light up with interest. Kylie being another ghost whisperer, she shared Holiday’s connection with the death angels.

“No,” Della said. “Just shadows.” When the witch didn’t look happy with Della’s answer, she added, “Hell, ask Kylie about them. She’s like their best buddy.”

With all eyes now on Kylie, she spoke up, “They aren’t monsters. Imagine a spiritual being.”

Miranda shook her head. “They still scare the crap out of me.” Her gaze went back to Della. “I still don’t get why you’d go there.”

Della growled. “I wanted to find out who hit me the second time. The first … I … I don’t know why I went the first time, I was running and I sort of just ended up there.”

“Then you turn your butt around and run the other away,” Miranda said.

“I was going to, but I was hit before I could.” Then Della remembered. “Did Burnett ask you to see if the death angels saw who hit me?”

Kylie nodded. “I put the question out there, but haven’t gotten an answer. Maybe they weren’t there.”

“It felt like they were there,” Della said. “I … I felt like I was trespassing. Like someone there was making me feel that way.” She shivered ever so slightly. “I still halfway think they’re the ones who hit me.”

“And yet you went back the second time?” Miranda snagged one of Della’s pillows to rest on. “And here I thought you were smart.”

Della scowled at the annoying witch. “I told you, I was hoping to find a trace of the piece of shit who hit me.”

“Did you get anything?” Kylie asked.

Della nodded. “Chase.”

Kylie’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

Miranda’s popped up from her reclined position. “Chase is the one who knocked you out?” Her eyes got wide. “And I thought he liked you. Oh, hell, Burnett’s going to kick his ass out of here for messing with his favorite vamp.”

Della shook her head. “First, I’m not Burnett’s favorite vamp.”

“Yeah, you are,” Miranda said.

Della looked at Kylie, who nodded her head as if agreeing with the witch. If she was his favorite anything, why would he want to stop her from going into the FRU? Della pushed that thought away to ponder later. “Second, I said I found Chase’s scent there, but then I found him. He told me Burnett sent him there to see if he could find a trace after I was hit.”

Kylie pulled one knee up to her chest. “Did you ask Burnett?”

“No, but I don’t think he would lie about something that I could so easily check on.”

Miranda crossed her legs. “Maybe he figured you’d think that and not ask.”

“Maybe,” Della said, and tried to think how she could pose the question to Burnett.

Kylie leaned back against the headboard. “Is that the obituary?” She nodded to the folded paper now resting beside her on the bed.

“Yeah,” Della answered.

“Whose obituary?” Miranda asked.

“My uncle’s.” Della pushed the covers off, noting that the cold had left. “Derek found it in some old newspaper files.”

Miranda put on a pout. “Why is it that Kylie always knows stuff before I do?”

Della cut her gaze at Miranda and made a face. “Because you’re always away with Perry getting your earlobes sucked.”

Miranda snatched a pillow and threw it at Della.

Frustrated, Della caught it with two hands and accidentally pulled it apart. Duck feathers exploded in the air like snow and then rained down from the ceiling.

Miranda started giggling. Kylie joined in. Eventually, Della couldn’t help herself. The giggles were contagious.

They laughed for a good five minutes, tossing handfuls of feathers at each other until they had them in each other’s hair, stuck to each other’s faces. Miranda even pulled a couple out of her bra. When the giggles stopped, Kylie found the folded-up obituary under a thick pile of feathers.

The chameleon looked at Della with empathy. “Do you want me to read it to you?”

Della almost said no, not wanting them to think she was too chicken to read it on her own. Part of her even felt guilty. Wasn’t wanting her uncle to be alive so badly saying her family at Shadow Falls wasn’t enough? But if anyone could understand and make this easier, it was Kylie and Miranda.

“Yeah. But I think I might need a Diet Coke.”

They went to get up, but they all froze when the bedroom door slammed. The air in the room became instantly frigid. The feathers, mostly on the bed, rose up and started swirling.

Cold air caught in Della’s lungs. She looked at Kylie. “You still think I’m crazy?”

“Shit,” Kylie said. “This can’t be good.”

Chapter Eleven

The feathers flew around the room for another few seconds. Huddling on the bed, their fear hanging in the cold air, they didn’t say anything until the last feather dropped and the room warmed up.

“Is it gone?” Miranda pulled her knees up to her chest, her eyes wide with panic.

Kylie nodded. They all cautiously stood up and moved into the kitchen, got drinks, and settled around the table. No one talked, as if afraid it would bring the dang ghost back.

“Is he still here?” Della finally asked Kylie.

“No.” Kylie turned the Coke can in her hand, then looked at Della. “Him? Do you think it’s a him?”

“I don’t know. You said you thought it might be my uncle.”

“I was just guessing.” Kylie bit down on her lip. “I think we should call Holiday.”

“No,” Della said.

“Why not?” Miranda and Kylie asked at the same time.

“Because she’d want to know who we thought it was and then we’d end up telling about my uncle, and then if this isn’t him then she’d tell Burnett and then if he’s not registered…”

“You don’t know she’d tell Burnett,” Kylie said.

Della made a face. “They’re married. They tell each other everything. I bet you tell Lucas everything.”

Kylie sighed and nodded. “I see your point. But—”

“Aren’t you the one who says no buts?” Della asked.

“Yes. But…” She closed her mouth for a second and then continued, “However, Holiday might know better how to handle this.”

“No,” Della insisted. “Look, Holiday told me that she felt I had a quest and she understood that I didn’t want to talk about it. She told me to work on it, but not to take any stupid risks. And that’s what I want to do. Remember when you were dealing with that creep that was after you? Well, you handled it yourself. Both of you have dealt with your own problems instead of running for help.” She saw some understanding in her friends’ eyes.

Miranda slumped in her chair. “She’s right. We all kind of want to take care of our own issues sometimes.”

“Okay,” Kylie said. “But let’s just make sure we do as Holiday said, and watch out for stupid risks.”

“We?” Della said? “You two don’t—”

“Please,” Miranda snapped. “To quote someone I know, ‘Bullcrappers!’ We’re a team. We work together.”

“She’s right,” Kylie said. “That’s what we do. Help each other.”

A tightness filled Della’s chest again. “Okay, here’s to no stupid risks.” Della raised her Diet Coke. As they all clicked cans, Della added, “And to good friends.” She didn’t want to sound too sentimental, but for the life of her, she didn’t know what she would do without her best buddies.

“Now, how do we go about finding out if your uncle is alive?” Miranda asked. “We need a plan.”

Yup, without them she would be lost. Completely lost.

“I think we start by reading the obituary,” Kylie said, still holding the piece of paper.

Della nodded. “Derek also asked me to see if I could find out where he went to school when he died. I’m sure it’s the same place my dad went. I guess I could ask my mom. If she’ll talk to me.”

“Why wouldn’t she talk to you?” Miranda asked.

“She was pretty mad at me when she dropped me off. I’m not sure she said one word to me the whole trip.” The memory of it still sent pain rolling around Della’s chest.

“Yeah, but she’s your mom,” Miranda said. “She can’t stay mad at you forever.”

Della shrugged. She wished she could believe that. Then again, she recalled Holiday saying her mom called about once a week. That meant she cared, even though she didn’t always show it.

“Do you want me to read it now?” Kylie asked, holding up the folded paper.

“Do you think it’s safe?” Della asked, squeezing her soda can. The coolness of the drink felt odd in her hands, reminding her that she still might have a fever. “It almost seemed like the obituary is what got the ghost stirred up before.”

Kylie glanced around the room as if searching for ghosts. “It’s not here now.” Kylie’s words hadn’t completely left her lips when a lone feather came twirling down from the ceiling and landed slowly, eerily, in the center of the table.

“Are you sure?” Miranda asked.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the feather to get up and dance again. When it didn’t, Kylie spoke up in a low voice, as if afraid they weren’t alone. “Jenny’s called me twice to check on you. I think she really likes you for some reason.”

“Why do you act like that surprises you?” Della asked.

Miranda snorted.

Della shot Miranda a go-to-hell look and then went back to watching the feather to make sure it didn’t start moving.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Kylie said. “I just meant she seems to admire you.”