Haunted Read Free Page A

moping about old Russian blue-eyes, then maybe you’d be fun again. Did you ever think about that? He’s just what you need. Fun. Sexy. And seriously normal.
    Most days, I think she’s right. Like right now, when Ben glances back at me—just me—even though he’s supposed to be scanning the pool to make sure everyone’s safe. He smiles his sweet Ben smile, and I smile back and feel all warm and tingly and think about what a fine kisser he is. And then I feel guilty—the kind of guilty a girl feels when she knows that a guy likes her way more than she likes him. Not that I don’t like Ben. I do. But the liking is diminished by the knowledge that I’m using him because he makes me feel normal. And the more the dreams continue and strange aqua women in lilac stalk me in the neighborhood pool, the more attracted to Ben I feel…which is followed by more guilt.
    Ben gestures with his shoulder toward the kiddy pool area. One of the other guards has called in sick today, so the kiddy pool with its frog slide is currently closed. Most of the little kids prefer the spacious shallow end of the main pool anyway. I glance at the clock on the storage shed wall by the Coke machine. It’s almost Ben’s break time.
    “Gonna meet Ben by the frog slide.” I slide the bottle of Diet Coke back in the cooler and hoist myself off the lounge chair. The pavement feels warm under my feet. But my arms are prickled with goose bumps even though it’s in the low eighties and fairly humid. It’s mid-June, and even Chicago heats up—at least occasionally—by this point in the summer.
    Tess lifts her Oakleys briefly. “Now that’s the spirit. You and lover boy go wade in the baby pool for a while. See if that perks you up. Maybe you can let him give you a little mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or something.”
    Sometimes, ignoring Tess is the only solution. So I do just that as I cross the hot pavement to the kiddy pool and wait for Ben on a bench in the shade. The huge frog slide—kids climb up the back side of the frog and zip out of its mouth—blocks my view of the rest of the Aqua Creek complex. I scan the empty baby pool—no woman in lilac. Maybe she didn’t notice me leave my lounge chair. Maybe she just prefers deeper waters. Relieved, I close my eyes.
    “Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” Ben ruffles my hair affectionately, then flops down on the bench next to me. His skin smells of suntan lotion, sweat, and chlorine—like a personal embodiment of summer. He’s wearing his navy lifeguard board shorts, flip-flops, and basically nothing else. It’s a good look on him. He leans in and kisses me lightly on the mouth. Ben’s not big on public displays of affection—at least while he’s working.
    “Hey.”
    He kisses me again, this time on the tip of my nose, then drapes one arm over my shoulders and pulls me close. I rest my head in the crook of his arm, feel packed, toned muscle against my cheek. His thumb rubs over my collarbone.
    I wonder, not for the first time, what Ben would say if I told him how less-than-normal I really was. Would he still want to take me for pita and greasy French fries at the Wrap Hut or snuggle up next to me behind the frog slide if I told him that I know how to put a warding spell around someone’s house? Or that Ethan and I used a magic lacquer box to enter Baba Yaga’s forest? Or that a persistent mermaid in a lilac dress keeps swimming in my general proximity?
    How about if I told him that I was there when Ethan’s friend, Professor Olensky, was murdered last fall because he tried to help us rescue Anastasia? Or that it was my own crazy ancestor, Viktor, that killed him? Would he still want to go bowling later?
    Ben purses his lips, which I’ve learned is his serious look. “You trying to lose weight or something? Because you don’t need to, you know,” he says and pokes a finger gently into my side. “Do you know I can feel all your ribs?”
    I overlook the rib comment—mostly because it’s