Read Online Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker - Free Book Online

her. When I told Nick that story, he bought me the amber heart, “not as a replacement,” he said, “but as a reminder that other people love you, too.”
    He removes it from its chain and slips it into his pocket. Then he crawls back out the window onto the strong branch of the oak tree.
    I try to rush after him, but Thatcher gets in front of me and I repel back, that strange sensation of undulating waves pushing at me.
    â€œGet out of my way!”
    â€œYou can’t reach him right now,” he says sternly.
    â€œI have to talk to him!” I’m pleading with Thatcher to understand, to help. “He didn’t even realize I was here.”
    â€œYou need to calm down. Relax.”
    â€œDon’t tell me to relax.” Nick’s car rumbles in the driveway, and I scream at Thatcher. “He’s leaving!”
    â€œIf you go after him now, you won’t be able to do anything,” he says, not getting out of my way, his stance one of a warrior protecting his turf. Even in death, he’s stronger than I am. I know it; I can feel the power emanating from him. “Do you remember what I was telling you? To reach them, you have to be in a calm state, and it helps if they are, too. Then they’re more open to sensing us.”
    The car’s engine grows fainter. Thatcher steps aside, knowing he’s won. I rush past him and lean out the window, trying to see where Nick is heading.
    â€œCallie, listen!” This time Thatcher’s voice isn’t distant or calm—it’s sharp and immediate.
    I glare at him. “You’re more of a bully than a Guide.”
    â€œAnd you’re the most emotional ghost I’ve met in years.”
    â€œAre you telling me that other people just accept dying ?”
    â€œThere’s usually an obliviousness for new ghosts, an amnesia about life that makes it easier to haunt. The newly dead are calm by nature.”
    â€œWell I’m not,” I say.
    â€œClearly.”
    â€œAre you saying I’m overly sensitive?”
    â€œYou’re less . . .” He stops, and I can see him weighing his words, something real friends don’t have to do. For some inconceivable reason, I wish we were real friends.
    â€œComatose?” I ask, thinking about Ella Hartley’s dull eyes.
    Thatcher scowls. “Something like that.”
    I drop my head back, sighing as I watch the shadows from the headlights of a passing car dance over the ceiling. Even shadows exist in this world with more solidity than I do. At least they’re visible.
    Thatcher sighs, too. “I’m on your side.”
    â€œIs that why you turned away from me earlier?”
    His face falls, but just for a moment, and then he puts on his mask again. The one that hides his feelings. One of the things I love about Nick is his openness and honesty. He never hides anything from me. That’s why he’s hurting so badly now.
    â€œOkay,” I say. “If you’re really on my side, then take me to my father.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œThere’s an order to haunting,” he says. “First you practice on people who aren’t as close to you—the portals will lead you to them. And you work up to the ones who mean the most.”
    I consider this “order” for a moment. “But Nick is someone I love. He’s as close to me as anyone in my life.”
    Thatcher doesn’t respond; he just looks out the window.
    â€œDid you hear me?” I say. “Nick is important!”
    â€œI don’t decide these things,” says Thatcher. “The universe does.”
    â€œThe universe does,” I mock him. He sounds so crazy. This is all so freaking crazy. And terrifying. I don’t want to be without the people I love, the ones who love me.
    â€œCan’t you just leave me here?” I ask. “I’ll sign something saying that I take full responsibility