Sisters Of Salt And Iron

My throat tightened. I don’t know why it choked me up to see her, but it did.

“Scroll to the next one,” Roxi instructed. I did.

And burst out laughing.

It was the whole group of us, clustered in for a dance-floor selfie. There, sticking her head in by mine—while standing practically in Roxi—was Wren, making duck lips.

How the hell did she know about duck lips?

Roxi grinned as I handed the phone back to her. “Awesome, huh?”

I nodded. “Can you text that to me?”

“Already on it.”

I was still smiling as I steered the Beetle out of the lot and back onto the road.

New Devon wasn’t a big town—like most places in Connecticut it just sort of melded with the other small towns around it. Kevin lived not far from Haven Crest and the town cemetery, where he used to take care of Wren’s grave. He didn’t do that anymore—I did. I never asked Wren why he stopped, and she never offered to tell me. Kevin’s house was in a neighborhood that had a lot of space between homes, which was great for a party. The brick house with its white trim was supposed to look warm and homey, but it still screamed money! which I found a little intimidating. Not that I’d ever let Kevin know that.

There were already several cars parked in the drive and on the street when we arrived. I pulled in behind Mace’s car.

Kevin answered the door a few seconds after Roxi rang the bell. He was dressed as the main character from Kick-Ass. It suited him. He grinned when he saw us, but he didn’t hold my gaze. “You guys look awesome,” he said, stepping back so we could enter.

A Taylor Swift song was playing when we walked in. I arched a brow. I hadn’t taken Kevin as a fan, but when we walked into the living room and I saw Sarah by the stereo system, shaking her head and butt to the beat, I understood who was in charge of the music. Sarah was dressed like an old-time female gangster. Not far away was Mace, looking very gangster-ish. Bonnie and Clyde had won out after all.

I looked around the room. There were easily twenty or so people there already—an assortment of “sexy” cops, Disney characters, superheroes and guys dressed as horror-movie villains. What—or rather who—was Ben? I didn’t see him. I had offered to pick him up in case he planned to drink, but he’d turned me down.

It made me anxious. Was he tired of me already? My heart told me that was stupid, but my head couldn’t help it. I didn’t trust in good things. And I didn’t trust myself to be able to keep a guy like Ben around. He was good and nice, while I thought of myself as something of a hot mess—emphasis on mess.

Gage—or rather, Baron Samedi—showed up and claimed Roxi, leaving me standing alone by the snack table. The huge bowl of chips looked so tempting now that I was all anxious. I grabbed a can of soda from the cooler instead and made myself walk away rather than dive headfirst into salty, greasy temptation.

“Nice costume,” came a familiar voice as I leaned against the wall—far away from food.

I turned to smiled at Mace. “Thanks,” I said. “You, too.”

He made a face. “When Sarah gets her heart set on something, it’s easier sometimes just to go with it.” He gestured at my head with his own soda. “Weird to see you with different hair.”

Self-consciously, I touched the “blood”-soaked wig. “Weird-bad, or weird-good?”

Mace shrugged. “Weird-different. You always look good.”

I blinked. The compliment was so unexpected I wasn’t sure how to take it. “Oh. Thanks.”

He looked away. I followed his gaze and saw that Sarah and Kevin were standing together by the stereo, and she was laughing at something Kevin had said. Mace didn’t look too happy about it.

“I hate Taylor Swift,” he said, turning his gaze back to mine. I could tell he suspected there was something between his best friend and his girlfriend, but I wasn’t going to ask. Not here.

I watched as his expression brightened. He was looking at a point over my shoulder, a grin spreading across his face. “That’s too cool.”

I turned. Practically everyone had stopped to watch the guy who had just entered the room. He was tall and dressed entirely in black as Neo from The Matrix. The costume was perfect—long black coat, boots with silver buckles, cargo pants with weapons strapped on. His black shirt was snug enough to cling to his defined chest and abs. Even the hair and sunglasses were perfect.

A “sexy witch” and a “sexy Freddy Krueger” straightened up as he walked by, eyeing him with obvious interest. But “Neo” didn’t even give them a glance. In fact his attention was focused on just one person.

Me.

If it had been anyone else, I would probably say something sarcastic about the amount of detail in the costume, but this was Ben. My Ben. And he looked freaking incredible.

“He wore that to New York Comic Con last year,” I heard Mace say. “He’s got new sunglasses, though. Killer costume.”

That was one way to describe it. I would also describe it as “hot” if I were capable of speech.

“Hey,” Ben said when he reached me. “You look amazing.”

“So do you,” I replied.

As if to prove my point, Gage walked by and slapped him on the back, saying, “Awesome costume, man.”

Ben smiled. “I kinda feel like I should give you my coat. There’s not much to that dress.”

It was a thin material, but it wasn’t like I was naked underneath. It was October in New England, after all. That said, spaghetti straps don’t provide that much warmth.

“Keep it,” I said. “Enough girls are staring at you already.”

His grin grew. “Jealous?”

I rolled my eyes. “No.” And then, with a smile, “Maybe.” It was true. I liked knowing other girls thought he was gorgeous, but I didn’t like feeling that someday he might find someone he liked better than me. Certainly there were girls out there who were less work and weren’t always getting into fights with dead people.

He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders—he was so warm!—pulling me in for a kiss.

“Get a room,” Mace drawled—as he always did—before walking away. I flipped him off, but he didn’t see the gesture. Ben gave me a hug before letting me go, but he took my hand in his.

“So, Carrie, huh?” he asked, giving me the once-over again. “Points for going with the original.”

“Thanks. It was an easy costume—Wren found the dress.”

“Is she here?”

“Not yet. I’m not sure she’s going to show. It’s getting harder for her to keep herself hidden. She showed up in a lot of Roxi’s photos from the dance. She might not want to risk other people seeing her.” It was weird, but after years of wishing people would believe my sister was real, I was suddenly very worried about what might happen if they did.

More people began to arrive, and we gravitated toward what I considered my main group of friends. I was eating chips—my willpower having evaporated—when Wren arrived. Chewing was the only thing that kept my mouth from falling open at the sight of her.

She looked amazing. She was dressed in a gorgeous gold ball gown—the kind they wore in the Victorian era—and her hair was all piled up on top of her head with pins that glittered in the light. She looked like a princess.

She turned her head and said something. That’s when I realized that the guy standing next to her, dressed in a tux with tails, was also a ghost.

And they were holding hands.

My breath caught. How had she managed to bring him with her? I didn’t even know she could do that. Ghosts could travel, but it required some sort of connection with a person or object. Josiah Bent had been able to follow us to the hospital after hurting Gage because he’d gotten a “taste” of us. Normally the dead were bound to the place they haunted. Wren didn’t have a haunt and wandered about as she pleased at times. She wasn’t a normal ghost, and this only made that all the more clear to me.

But I had more important questions than how she’d managed to bring another ghost with her, such as who the hell was he, and why didn’t I know anything about him?

And why did that hurt so much?

WREN

My sister was not happy to see me. I suppose I ought to have told her that I was bringing a date, but asking Noah to come with me had been an impulsive thing, and I hadn’t really given Lark much thought while I was with him. It wasn’t as though she told me everything she did.

Lark didn’t like surprises, and Noah was the second of two I’d just sprung on her. The first being that I could tether to another ghost. It wasn’t a big deal. Not like Noah could come here without me afterward. It wasn’t that easy either, though the fact that it was almost Halloween helped. It also helped that I was me. I could do things that other ghosts couldn’t, and what was the point of it if I didn’t take advantage on occasion? All I had to do was share a little of my energy with the other spirit.

I knew from the look on Lark’s face that she was going to have a lot to say to me later, and I admit that I felt a little guilty, but I was allowed to have my own life, wasn’t I? Maybe life wasn’t the best word. I was allowed to have something of my own. Did she think being invisible and mute to the people she called “our” friends was fun for me?

Lark jerked her head—which was covered by a reddish-blond wig that looked like she’d sustained a major head wound—toward a doorway that led to a quiet corridor. If she intended to give me a hard time, she was in for a surprise. I was ready to fight it out with her, and I couldn’t blame the sudden aggression entirely on Halloween. I rarely told Lark how to behave, but she was always ordering me about like a dog.

“Come meet my sister,” I said to Noah, tugging on his hand. He was the most handsome of any of the boys there, I thought a little smugly. It was just too bad that I couldn’t show him off to anyone but Lark.

“This is extraordinary,” Noah remarked, his head slowly turning from side to side as he took everything in. “There aren’t any chaperones. In my day this amount of young men would never be allowed to socialize with these young ladies without supervision. It would be ruinous for the females, their very virtue called into question.”

I loved the way he spoke, the words he used and how they rolled off his tongue. I held his arm as we followed after my sister. “Are you telling me that you never managed to sneak off with a girl at a party?” I teased. “Never stole a secret kiss?”

He smiled coyly. “Maybe once. Or twice.” The smile faded. “But still, had we been caught, there would have been serious consequences.”

“Would you be grounded?” Our parents had subjected Lark to such a punishment once for insisting I was real despite all their attempts to make her say otherwise. We were ten at the time.

“Grounded?” he repeated. “I’m not familiar with the term. No, we would have been forced to marry. I would have been duty-bound as a gentleman to save her reputation.”

Married! I tried to think of Lark having to marry Ben because they’d been caught making out in his car. My sister would probably rather have her reputation ruined than be forced to do anything—even if it was something she might enjoy.

“Did that happen a lot?” I asked, swerving to avoid walking through a girl wearing a ridiculously skimpy costume. She shivered as I passed. I resisted the urge to run a finger down her spine just to watch her do it again.

“Occasionally.” He nodded at the girl. “I remember when women wore more clothing than that to go swimming. The world has changed so much since my death.”

There was a sadness to his voice that made me want to hug him. I squeezed his arm instead, drawing another one of his smiles. “Do not worry yourself about me, Miss Wren. It happens to all of us eventually—whether we be living or spirit.”

We crossed the threshold into the corridor where my sister paced. She was halfway down the length of the hall when she stopped, back stiffening. I didn’t know how she sensed us, but she did. She always did. She pivoted sharply on her high heels and stomped toward me.

“She looks ill-tempered,” Noah remarked.

Lark shot him a glare. “And you look like a butler.”

I don’t know which surprised him more—the insult or the fact that she had heard what he’d said. Noah had said he’d heard of me before, so I assumed he knew about Lark as well, but he obviously didn’t know as much as I’d thought.

“She can see me?” he asked, incredulous.

“Even when it’s not Halloween, Mr. Darcy,” Lark retorted.

I frowned at her. “Don’t be rude.”

She looked as though she could cheerfully punch me. What was wrong with her? She needed to get over it, and quickly.

“Noah’s my friend,” I informed my sister. “I asked him at the last moment to come with me so I can talk and dance with someone who isn’t you. Someone who can see me. Someone I can touch.”

Lark’s expression could only be described as annoyed contrition. She wasn’t happy about the situation, and I knew part of that was because she distrusted any ghost that wasn’t me. I couldn’t blame her—she had an awfully violent history with many of my kind—but Noah wasn’t like that.

“You should have told me,” she said. “What if someone sees the two of you? It’s too close to Halloween for surprises.”

“What if someone does see us?” I asked. “You’ve spent most of your life trying to prove that I’m real.”

She looked surprised at the question. “Because I don’t know what people would do to us if they figured it out.”

People could be such...douche bags. “They can’t do anything. Not to me.” The words felt hard in my mouth, but they slid out anyway. “And I don’t care if someone sees me. I’m not afraid of a bunch of teenagers.”

My sister stared at me. I didn’t like the suspicion in her gaze. I hadn’t meant to upset her, but I was through behaving as though I was something to be ashamed of. Tugging Noah with me, I turned around. “Let’s go dance.”

“Hey, Lark,” Roxi cried from further up the corridor. “Smile!”

A flash went off, and for a second all the world was sharp and bright. The eyes of the dead don’t need to physically respond to light or dark, so the light didn’t blind Noah or myself like it had Lark.

Roxi stared in my direction, her eyes wide.

“Something wrong, Rox?” Lark asked.

The dark-haired girl shook her head. “No. I thought I saw something, that’s all.” She shook her head, and her normally cheerful expression returned.

In the next room the music for “Thriller” began to play. I pulled Noah out into the small group dancing in the middle of the living room, leaving Lark behind. She could be as upset as she wanted. I was going to have fun, and if my sister didn’t like it she could...well, she could just not like it all she wanted.

I spotted Kevin talking to Ben and Gage. Was it wrong of me to wish he could see me with Noah? I wanted him to know I wasn’t crying over him. That I didn’t miss him, because I didn’t.

“This music is strange,” Noah remarked. He gestured to the small group around us. “Is this what qualifies as dancing these days?”

I laughed. He looked horrified. “Just move to the music,” I instructed, raising my arms over my head and moving the rest of me to the beat. “Do what feels right.”

He was awkward, and a little stiff, but the best part of being a ghost meant that very few people could see you make a fool of yourself.

But this was Halloween week, and I’d forgotten what that meant. I bumped into a girl—and felt it. She didn’t go through me. And when she turned around, she looked surprised not to see someone there. I moved away. Maybe dancing wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“I’m sorry about my sister,” I said to Noah as we drifted away from the dancing.

He shrugged. “She’s very protective of you. I cannot fault her for that.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need protection. I’m supposed to be the scary one.”

“Scary?” He frowned. “Is that what she thinks of you?” The look he shot my sister was one of indignation. Thankfully, Lark was paying attention to something Ben was saying and not my date.

My date. I never thought I’d call someone my date. Never thought I’d ever meet a boy who was a ghost like me.

“No,” I said, putting my hand on his arm. “Lark doesn’t think I’m scary at all.” That was a lie. There were times when I knew my sister found me terrifying, but she loved me anyway. I never understood why I was so frightening until I saw Lark in my world. Sometimes people didn’t have to be hideous or monstrous to be frightening. In fact, simply looking “not right” could be disturbing enough.

Noah relaxed. “Good.” He turned to me with a soft smile. “I cannot imagine anyone thinking you anything but perfect.”

“Oh.” That was the only word I could remember at that moment. He was so handsome, and so tall, and so saying everything I wanted to hear. Lark would tell me he was too good to be true. That I shouldn’t trust him.

Sometimes, my sister didn’t know what she was talking about.

“Are you having fun?” Noah asked. “Do you want to stay? Or can I steal you away?”

I glanced around the room. I was having fun—sort of. As much fun as a dead girl could have in a room full of people who couldn’t see her. But then my gaze fell on Kevin.

He was staring straight at me. Or rather, he was staring at Noah. With the veil between worlds thinning, his abilities as a medium were magnified. My wish that he could see me there with another boy had just come true.

He looked like someone had punched him in the throat. I had hoped for regret, not pain. The satisfaction I had thought I’d feel wilted under an emotion I couldn’t quite identify.

I turned away, facing Noah, who thankfully hadn’t realized we had an audience. It wasn’t too difficult to smile at him. “Let’s go,” I said. “This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.”

Noah took my hand, and then we were gone, back to the grounds of Haven Crest where we talked and danced to our own music for hours. And I concentrated all of my attention on the boy I could have, rather than the one who could never be mine.

LARK

Wren had taken off with Casper the Friendly Douche a few hours earlier, and I hadn’t seen her since. It wasn’t like her to just disappear on me, which meant she was all twitterpated over Mr. Darcy. Noah. Whatever.

I was not jealous. I was, however, worried. What if this guy was a jerk? Wren didn’t know anything about relationships outside of TV and movies, and Noah had spent at least part of his existence among the living. Any guy that polished and pretty had to be a player as far as I was concerned.

I really wanted to be wrong, but something about him bothered me.

I was not—repeat—not jealous.

A few of us stuck around after the party to help clean up. It wasn’t a terribly late night. Mace and Ben volunteered to drive those who’d had too much Halloween “spirits” home.

Carrying a recyclable bag full of soda cans, I walked into the kitchen. Sarah and Kevin stood in front of the sink. He leaned back, slightly, as though trying to put as much distance between them as he could when she had him practically pinned between herself and the counter.

“He’s my friend,” Kevin said, his voice low, his hands gripping the edge of the sink behind him.

“What am I?” Sarah demanded.

Okay, I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out what was going on. “The friend’s girlfriend?” I volunteered. Was this any of my business? Nope. But Mace had saved my life, and had become a good friend. I felt strangely protective of him, and in the hierarchy of friends, both Kevin and Sarah were near the bottom of my list.

Sarah jumped back, putting several feet of distance between them. She looked pissed. Kevin looked guilty—and maybe a little relieved? Sarah must have seen that relief as well, because she made a noise of disgust and pivoted dramatically on her heel. She shot me a glare as she stomped past me and out of the kitchen. I raised a brow and said nothing.

I took the bag of cans over to the blue bin and set it inside before turning to look at Kevin. He was flushed. “Thanks.”

I tilted my head. “For what? Keeping you from becoming even more of a jerk?”

He laughed. I hadn’t expected that. He laughed so hard, his eyes watered. Or maybe those were tears. I couldn’t tell. He was a hot mess.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod as he wiped at his eyes. “For that.”

I never understood what Wren saw in him, but at that moment I felt bad for the guy. He looked really effed up.

“Do you really like her?” I asked, moving closer to him.

Kevin shrugged. “Not enough to lose Mace over her. He’s been my best friend since elementary school.” He swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. “Did Wren tell you about us?”

Both my brows shot up. “Wren knows?”

“Shit.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “She didn’t tell you that she saw us kissing?”

“Uh, no. Otherwise I would have taken you aside and kicked your ass long before this.” Wren was keeping all kinds of secrets, it seemed. Didn’t she trust me? Or did she just not want to hear what I might say? If she’d told me about Kevin and Sarah I would have shot my mouth off, and I would be the first to admit just how much of a bitch I could be.

Or worse, my sister had felt too awful to even talk about it—which really made me want to take a swing at him. No wonder she’d grabbed onto Mr. Darcy.

Folding his arms over his chest, Kevin looked me in the eye. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I just wanted to connect with someone.” He laughed again. “God, I sound so pathetic, don’t I?”

I frowned. “No, not really.” And then, as the thought occurred to me, “You love my sister, don’t you?”

A look of horror washed over his face. “Is she still here?” He even glanced over his shoulder as though he expected to find her standing there.

“No, she’s gone.”

His shoulders slumped. “Good. Stupid, right? Not like we can ever be together.”

I shrugged. “Not until you’re dead.”

This time when he laughed, it seemed more out of a sense of amusement. “Something to look forward to.”

I smiled. “Sure.”

Kevin’s brows drew together. “Who was that guy she had with her? Do you know him?”

“You saw him?” It had taken Kevin a long time to be able to see Wren, and even then it had taken a lot of focus for both of them. It made sense, I guess, that with Halloween’s approach his abilities would sharpen.

“Yeah. He looked familiar. Who is he?”

“Noah,” I replied. “That’s all I know. I called him Mr. Darcy.”

He grinned. “You would. His clothes were more Victorian, though.”

“You’re splitting hairs, Sixth Sense.” He hated when I called him that. And when had he become a historical fashion expert? “If you don’t want to discuss your feelings for Wren with me, that’s cool.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, I don’t see the point. You’ve figured me out, and talking about it just hurts. She hasn’t told you about this new guy?”

“No. I just met him tonight. I don’t think she’s known him long. She’s just thrilled to find a cute dead guy, I think.”

“I know him from somewhere, though.” His frown deepened. “You think he’s cute?”

Somehow, I managed not to laugh. I smiled, though. “I think she does, though my sister seems to have a thing for dark hair and blue eyes.” I didn’t mention that I actually thought Noah and Kevin looked a bit alike, because pining over a dead girl was no way to spend your life.

Kevin nodded. “Yeah. Anyway, thanks.”

“If you remember where you know Noah from, let me know, okay? Wren hasn’t been exactly chatty about him.”

“Sure.”

“Hey—” I felt the sudden need to change the subject “—you want some help taking this garbage out?” I knew from previous visits to the house that his parents put the recyclables and garbage in bins in a little shed out back to wait for pickup.