The Spirits of Christmas Read Free Page A

opened.”
    “Da one in da kitchen?” Toby asked, sounding hopeful.
    “That’s right.”
    With a jubilant, “Yay, Edward,” he pushed himself away from
her and ran off.
    “How old is he?” Akira asked, hoping she sounded polite, not
panicked. “He seems very verbal.”
    “Are you insane?” Nora’s whisper was much quieter and much,
much angrier. “Bad enough that he imagines mean people living with us, but you
go and tell him that the mean people hit you? Do you want him to have
nightmares?”
    Akira opened her mouth. Then she closed it. Then she tried
again. “That’s not what happened.”
    “Was he lying?” Nora sounded calmer, sadder, as if a ‘yes’
would be nothing more than she expected.
    Akira paused. Hell. She hated this. She glanced at Rose, who
nodded encouragingly, and with a sigh, said, “No. Not really.”
    Nora set her mug down with a sharp thud. “What is that
supposed to mean?”
    “Your house is haunted.” Akira knew as soon as she said it
that it was too blunt, that Nora wouldn’t react well, and she was right.
    Nora half-laughed and then her face hardened. “I don’t know
how you found us, but I’m not stupid enough to fall for this. Get out.” She
stood up.
    Akira didn’t move. “Hannah, the ghost who lives here,
doesn’t want tenants,” she said, keeping her voice even with an effort. She
hated this, hated it with a passion, and she was so going to yell at Rose when
they got home. But she’d done these negotiations before. Once a ghost sucked
her in to trying to help it, it was easier to just keep going. 
    “About time you told her so,” Hannah snapped. Akira had
successfully ignored the old woman’s complaints while she’d talked to Nora, but
she’d been aware of them. Hannah was determined that Nora and Toby should
leave.
    “Not helpful,” Rose muttered, looking worried.
    “Hannah?” Nora looked startled and then her lips firmed and
she said, enunciating every letter, “Hannah can go to hell. And you can join
her there. Get out of my house.”
    Akira blew out a long breath. For a moment, she sat and thought
while Nora glared at her. And then she stood. Hannah hadn’t known Nora in life
so no private information could convince her of the truth of Akira’s words.
Without that, what did Akira have? Just Toby. And using the boy to persuade his
mother that ghosts were real seemed unfair.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” Hannah sounded angry and
Akira glanced in her direction. Edges pink, but nothing to worry about. The
ghost was nowhere close to losing control.
    “I don’t know how to convince you,” Akira said, turning away
from Hannah and back to Nora. “But it’s a small town. If you decide you need
me, ask anyone.”
    “I won’t need you.” Nora gestured toward the front door,
scorn in every line of her body.
    Akira tried to smile. “You never know.”
    Once on the sidewalk, she sighed.
    “That didn’t go well.” Rose was right behind her.
    “The making friends part started off okay.” Akira kicked at
a crack in the pavement, feeling gloomy. She’d never found it easy to make
friends, but her ten minutes of casual conversation with Nora had been nice. The
other woman had shown a natural warmth and wry humor that Akira enjoyed. 
    “You need to tell her to get out,” Hannah hissed. She’d
followed them out, too, and was standing next to Akira’s car. “I don’t want
them here.”
    Akira’s eyes narrowed. She looked at the distance between
the car and the porch, trying to measure how far apart they were. She’d assumed
that Hannah was tied to her house in the way that ghosts who died untimely
deaths tended to be. Was she wrong?
    “Why not?” she asked. “They seem as if they’d be good
company. The boy can even see you.”
    “This house belongs to my son,” Hannah snapped. “No one
else.” She crossed her arms over her chest, half hostile, half defensive at
revealing so much.
    Akira refrained from rolling her eyes. “Your