Ghost Town Read Free

reason Jenn had set it up, what good would it do to have it happen so close to closing time? Even if Tonya hadn’t locked up early, there probably wouldn’t be any customers there. Who else but her would see the flying books?
    Jenn couldn’t be responsible for this. But who . . . ? Then it came to her. There was a film crew in town, working on some kind of documentary about Exeter. They’d probably set this up, most likely as a “dramatic re-creation” of some supposedly true paranormal event. They’d probably put hidden cameras in the store so they could capture her unrehearsed reaction to their idiotic special-effects show. It was a shitty thing to do, but . . . Then she realized. There were no strings or wires holding the books aloft. Some kind of hologram, maybe? The books looked solid enough, but with the right technology, you could make anything seem real these days. Of course, why someone would spend a ton of money installing holographic projectors in a rinky-dink bookstore—and where they’d conceal the damned things—was beyond her. But that wasn’t important right then. What was important was proving that it wasn’t real.
    Slowly, she extended a shaking hand forward into the whirling mass of books.
    For a moment, nothing happened, and Tonya congratulated herself on exposing the flying books as fakes. But then a hardback edition of Montague Summer’s The Vampire: His Kith and Kin, slammed into the back of her hand, and she cried out in surprise as much as pain. She cradled her throbbing hand to her chest, and without thinking, she took a step back from the mass of books streaking in front of her. Unfortunately, this put her directly in the path of those books flying behind her, and bright light flashed behind her eyes as a pair of volumes smacked into the sides of her head.
    She fell to the wooden floor, but despite the fierce pounding inher head, she managed to pull herself onto her hands and knees. She wanted to stand, wanted to run for the back door, and she tried. But her head hurt too much, she was too dizzy, and instead, she slumped onto her side. Books continued swirling around her, drawing closer with each pass they made. She covered her head with her hands, curled into a ball, and squeezed her eyes shut.
    She heard a woman’s voice then. Not Jenn. Someone she didn’t recognize. It spoke a single word.
    â€œStop.”
    Books began pelting her then—paperbacks and hardbacks—each one slamming into her over and over, striking and then darting away, only to dip back down and strike again. They continued smashing into her long after she was dead.

TWO
    â€œNo appetite this morning?”
    Amber Lozier gave Trevor Ward a questioning frown, and he nodded toward her plate. Trevor and Drew Pearson had both finished their breakfasts, but she had barely touched her scrambled eggs and wheat toast, although she was working on her third cup of coffee.
    Drew answered for her. “Bad dreams.” He reached under the table and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
    â€œReally?” Trevor sounded intrigued. “Regular bad dreams or, you know . . .” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “ Dreams? ”
    The three of them were sitting in the dining room of Eternal Sleep Bed and Breakfast. Like those of so many businesses in Exeter, its name was designed to appeal to tourists drawn by the town’s reputation as a paranormal hot spot. Amber was thankful that its interior didn’t match its name. The house looked perfectly normal inside, which suited her just fine. Not that she would have been bothered by spooky décor, but given the sort of dreams she often had, the last thing she needed was any more fuel for the darker side of her imagination.
    â€œNot everything is a paranormal experience,” she said. “Sometimes a dream is just a dream.” She paused. “Still, it was