Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 01 - How to be a Ghost Read Free Page A

has tools and books, and just about every other thing you might need in that store. I remember now. I asked Monica to watch Jake while I ran over to George’s. He stays open a little later than most.”
    “Good.” Ian turned to go.
    “Wait.” I reached for his arm and then remembered just before I made impact that I couldn’t hold onto anything at the present time. Passing through Ian’s arm, though, turned out not to be the issue I faced with the man. Ian seemed to repel me with a force that sent me stumbling backward. An icy chill raced over my being down to the core. I might not feel anything normal like the carpet or the air, but I most certainly felt Ian, and not in a good way. “W-What was that?”
    He hesitated and then said simply, “You cannot touch me in that state. Not presently.”
    “I know, but why didn’t I pass through you like everything else? Is it because you’re a person and not an inanimate object?” I was treating him like an authority on the subject, but he did seem to know a lot. He had registered no real surprise when he saw me, or fear for that matter, and it made me more than curious about him.
    “Hurry to the store,” he said in answer.
    I straightened, annoyed but swallowed the emotion as I wanted to keep his assistance. “Will you go with me?”
    Ian glanced over his shoulder toward the window above the door. I had loved that spot from the first time I stepped into my home because it let in such a strong concentration of sunlight. When Mason and I were still together, I dreamed of changing the front door to the kind with a window to let in more light and having someone cut in a picturesque window for the kitchen. That never happened, and my budget didn’t allow for it now.
    “No, I will not.”
    “Ian, you’ve been very helpful so far, and it would mean a lot if you would go along. If nothing else, at least you’re alive. Please .”
    He gave an odd quirk of his lips at my little speech but kept to his decision not to go. “It is late. I doubt you can make yourself invisible to humans, so go quickly. The town rises early, does it not?”
    A fissure of panic rose in my belly. He was right. Half the population of Summit’s Edge rose at the latest five a.m. I headed toward the door and stopped, unsettled because I couldn’t open the door. I would need to pass through it, which I wasn’t used to. I had visions of banging into the panels and falling on my rump in front of Ian.
    He moved past me and laid a hand on the doorknob. I almost sighed in relief, but he paused, pinning that intimidating gaze on my face. “Listen closely.”
    I nodded.
    “It is crucial that you do not let anyone see you.”
    “Because they’ll be scared out of their mind. Of course.”
    “More than that.”
    “Like?”
    “Banishment.”
    My eyebrows rose. “Banishment?”
    “If you are seen by the wrong person, you could be banished.” He appeared to consider a different way to explain. “Do you know the term exorcist?”
    I felt sick. “Yes.”
    “Similar to that.”
    “But an exorcism is just casting a spirit out of a body, right? I mean, technically, I’m not in a body, so…” I gave a short, shaky laugh, but I saw no humor in the subject.
    “It is where the spirit goes afterward that is important.”
    “I could be sent to a specific place?”
    “Somewhere you do not wish to go, nor can you return from.”
    All of a sudden, I was terrified of leaving the house. Ian opened the door, and I just stood there, staring out into the darkness. I imagined I could feel the evil ready to engulf me and sweep me away to this prison for spirits he had mentioned.
    “Liberty.”
    I opened my mouth to correct him on my name but decided it made no difference. I had to do it. He refused to give me any more help, and I needed to get back into my body. How could I hide from humans? Then a calm came over me. There were no exorcists as he called them in Summit’s Edge. We had two ministers of two