Part 16 (1/2)

The next morning I woke with Heath's naked warmth curled around me. For a few heartbeats I felt content and happy. His body fit so nicely around mine. There was a synchronicity about us-even our breathing was in time together.

I opened my eyes, and a bit of the magic evaporated. He and I had made our way to the only unoccupied room-Gopher's.

Our producer's suitcase was still sitting on a nearby bench, opened and overflowing with his clothes. I sighed and closed my eyes again, pus.h.i.+ng away the rush of reality.

”Hey,” Heath said softly.

”Hey.”

I felt gentle lips on my shoulder. ”You okay?”

A smile crept at the corners of my mouth. He was so good at reading me. ”Yeah. Just worried about Gopher.”

Heath's arms wrapped tightly around me. ”We'll find him.”

I sighed again. ”Finding him means going back to Dunlow.”

”Yep.”

”I hate that stupid rock.”

That won me a small chuckle. And then, ”Did you notice the clock is working?”

I opened my eyes and peered at the nightstand. The digital clock was flas.h.i.+ng 12:00. ”The electricity's back on!”

Heath sat up and looked around, squinting in the morning light. ”About time,” he muttered with a yawn.

There was a sudden eruption of noise out in the hallway, and Heath and I both jumped out of bed, naked and staring at the door. I knew that shrieking anywhere. ”Gilley!”

I ran toward the door and Heath caught my arm. He shoved his flannel s.h.i.+rt at me and reached for his jeans. I threw the s.h.i.+rt over my head and dashed to the door. Pulling it open, I saw Gilley crying and waving his arms around, raising a ruckus, while John, Kim, and Meg all stood by trying to console him.

”They never came back!” he wailed. ”The phantom's got them! It's got them! It's got them!”

I heard Heath clear his throat from over my shoulder and four heads swiveled abruptly in our direction.

Followed by four jaws dropping open.

Followed by four pairs of eyes opening wide.

Gilley was the first to recover himself. ”Are you two serious serious?”

I winced. He can really reach those higher octaves when he's upset. ”We're fine,” I said calmly.

Gilley put both hands on his hips and snapped, ”Oh, we can all see see that, M. J.!” that, M. J.!”

I smiled sheepishly and pushed Heath back inside the room, closing the door quickly behind me.

”We probably should have left them a note or something,” Heath whispered.

I sighed yet again. ”Yeah, well, hindsight's twenty-twenty.”

Heath and I took our time going down to breakfast. I wasn't interested in facing the reproachful glare I knew Gilley would be issuing my way the moment he saw me. I hoped that if I took my time, he'd eat, grow tired of waiting for us, and move on to his computer now that the power was back on.

I hoped wrong.

Heath and I arrived in the dining room to find it still full. All conversation died away the moment we appeared. ”Uh, boy,” I mumbled.

Heath cleared his throat and laid a gentle hand on my back. ”Morning,” he said to our group.

”It is for some of us,” Gilley snapped.

I felt my shoulders sag, but Heath ignored the sarcasm and took a seat near the end, patting the chair next to him. I took my seat and immediately got busy loading some eggs onto my plate.

I was acutely aware of the palpable silence all around me.

Heath also busied himself, pouring some tea into my cup, before adding some into his.

I thanked him but avoided all eye contact and dived into the eggs. They were stone cold, as was the tea, but I wasn't about to complain or even hint that the meal was anything less than scrump-dilly-icious.

”We're waiting ...,” Meg said.

My fork stopped halfway to my mouth, and I set it down. Heath and I exchanged a look, and I was irked to see the corners of his mouth lifting. He thought this was funny.

Still, I was going to stick to my guns. ”For what?” I asked innocently.

Meg started laughing. Kim and John joined in, as did Heath, but Gilley had folded his arms and was scowling at us. ”Details,” Heath said. ”They want details.”

”Uh ...,” I said. Were they serious? ”How about if I tell you that what happens between Heath and me is private?”

This made the group laugh even harder, and even Gilley's scowl turned less frowny. ”We don't care about your extracurricular activities,” Kim said delicately. ”We're waiting to hear what happened at Dunlow.”

”Ahhhhh ...,” I said, relieved down to my toes.

Heath and I then filled them in on everything that had happened, including the detail about the ghosts of Kincaid and Bouvet falling to the rocks.

Gilley now appeared troubled. ”Have you ever heard of a ghost reliving their actual moment of death?”

He had a point. Most spooks go right up to that moment where things start to go really bad, but almost never step into their actual death scene. ”I've heard about it only rarely,” I said. ”I've never actually witnessed it.”

”What could cause a ghost to want to go through that?” Meg asked. ”I mean, forcing themselves to relive that horrible fall. Why?”

I pushed my plate away. My appet.i.te was gone. ”There's only one reason,” I said. ”And that is that they're so desperate in those moments to get away from the thing chasing them that they see death as an actual escape route.”

”So why don't they cross?” Gilley wondered. ”I mean, at some point they've got to realize that they're really dead.”

I felt goose b.u.mps rise on my arms. ”It's the phantom,” I said. ”I think it might have some sort of captive power over their spirits.”