Ashes to Ashes (Experiment in Terror #8) by Karina Halle Read Free Book Online Page B

said as we all dug into the food. The chicken was grilled
perfectly—no surprise there. Uncle Al took the barbeque to a new
art. Summer was almost here, but I knew he’d been using the grill
all winter long.
    “ So, Tony,” I
said to him, pointing my fork at him with a smile.
    He looked to me, Dex, and
Rebecca. “Tell me again why you’re here. I mean, in Oregon. On the
coast. It’s another episode, right?”
    I felt defensive for one second
before I remembered that both Matt and Tony watched the show and
totally believed in what we were seeing—and doing.
    My shoulders relaxed. “Yeah,
it’s a haunted school.”
    “ No way,” said
Matt. “Not the one in Gary that used to house the sick
kids.”
    “ The very
one,” Rebecca said. It was the first thing she’d really said to
them other than, “Hi, I’m Rebecca,” and the twins eyes flew to her
and her cherry-print dress.
    “ And you’re
the new partner,” Tony said, trying not to drool. “You know, I used
to watch you on Wine Babes all the time.”
    I groaned internally. I felt
like I was about to have fucking déjà vu.
    “ Were you ever
in Maxim like Jennifer was?” Tony asked.
    Yup. Déjà vu. My upper lip
involuntarily curled. Dex put his hand on my knee. Uncle Al looked
at me with a dry expression.
    Rebecca let out a laugh. “Me,
in Maxim? Oh mercy, I’m not a bloody whore, you know. My tits and
arse aren’t for the world to see.”
    And Rebecca saved the day.
    “ That’s a
shame,” Tony supplied.
    “ Anthony!”
Uncle Al warned. “Eat your damn food and shut up.”
    “ Back to the
ghosts,” Matt said, always the smarter one. He eyed me closely.
“Have you been there before? It’s really fucking
creepy.”
    “ Language,
Matthew,” Uncle Al said.
    Matt took a long gulp of his
beer, staring at his dad over it before saying, “Whatever,
Dad.”
    “ No, I
haven’t,” I said. I haven’t been to Oregon for months, I wanted to
say. “But apparently all the hauntings started
recently.”
    “ Don’t you
think that’s odd?” he asked, leaning forward like it was a
conspiracy theory.
    “ Why?”
    He took a lazy bite of chicken.
“I don’t know. We always knew about that place…our friends live in
Gary and they’d go there at night, way before it was a school. They
said they’d see soccer balls going down the dark hallways by
themselves and shit. They’d hear, like, the wheels of a gurney
being pushed. Children crying. It’s just funny that the school has
been operating for a while and only now they think there are
ghosts.”
    I thought back to the teacher,
Brenna McSomething, who reported the hauntings. I had to wonder if
she was anything like Dex and I, if her very presence caused things
to happen. And if her being there caused the hauntings to
increase…what would it be like for Dex and I?
    “ Perry?” Dex
asked gently, his hand pressing down on my leg.
    I looked up at him and his
deep, dark eyes, and realized that everyone else was staring at me.
“Sorry,” I said. “Must have zoned out.”
    “ Matthew,
please stop with this ghost talk,” Uncle Al chided him. “It’s not
appropriate for dinner.”
    Matt mumbled an insincere sorry
and Marda quickly took over the conversation by asking us if we
were hooked on any TV shows. Rebecca, her, and Tony got in an
argument over Breaking Bad for a bit until it was time for
dessert.
    Dex leaned into me, his breath
hot on my neck. “I really hope they’re serving pie,” he
murmured.
    I flushed from my head to my
toes and bit my lip. I shot him a sly glance, glad my hair was
shielding my red cheeks from everyone else. “You remember that, do
you?”
    His gaze intensified, mouth
parting open. “You have no idea. Of course, you were the one who
was baking it.”
    “ You know you
can have pie any time you want,” I teased him.
    “ Are we
talking pussy or pie right now?”
    I giggled, hoping no one could
hear him. “Take your pick.”
    Alas, it wasn’t pie but plain
old ice