Ghosts of Coronado Bay by J. G. Faherty Read Free Book Online

you have. So stop acting like a jerk.
    The whole idea of his being part of the spirit world still had her a bit freaked, but she felt like she might be able to handle it.
    Maya placed a hand on his arm, aware now of why he felt so cold. Once she thought about it, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured it out on her own.
    Way to go, Captain Oblivious.
    “Blake, it’s okay. I didn’t mean it was bad luck to meet you. It’s just that...you’re so nice, it sucks that you’re not alive. I wanted to introduce you to my friends. But they won’t able to see you.”
    He looked up, the puppy-dog expression lessened but not gone. “But somehow you can see me.”
    “Yeah. I’ve been able to see ghosts since I was a little girl. I can hear them and feel them, too.”
    “That’s not all you can do,” Blake said. “Even when I’m standing near you, my form becomes solid. The closer we are, the more real I become. When I met you in the museum, it was the first time in over a hundred years I was able to touch, to feel.”
    “Yeah, I guess that’s part of my ability, or whatever you want to call it.”
    “So you have communicated with other spirits?”
    Maya gave a wry smile. “Until now, only one. My grandmother. She died when I was little and started visiting me not long after that. It scared me at first, but I got used to it real quick.”
    Another thought came to her. “Grandma Elsa told me ghosts usually manifest close to where they died. But I’ve never seen you around, not until that day at the museum. Where did you come from?”
    “I died on the Black Lady when she went down in Coronado Bay. We were on our way to Boston.”
    “But that was over a hundred years ago. You mean...you were down in the ocean all that time, until they salvaged the ship?” Maya shuddered. She had a touch of claustrophobia, and the thought of being trapped in darkness for an eternity...
    “Yes. But time passes differently when you...when you’re dead. It’s only been since they brought the ship up and took the pieces to the museum that I’ve begun to notice the days and nights again.”
    “That’s so awful. I can’t even stand being stuck in an elevator for very long. I’d have probably gone crazy decades ago.”
    A strange look passed across Blake’s face, something darker than his usual brooding stare. “Some did, I’m afraid.”
    She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but just then her stomach gave a loud growl.
    “You’re very hungry.”
    “Yeah. C’mon, I still want that pizza. Let’s go. We can talk and eat at the same time.”
    As they headed down the sidewalk, Blake suddenly pointed ahead.
    “What’s going on over there?”
    Diagonally across Main Street from the Pharmacy, where Rollo’s Pizza shared a parking lot with a bank, the Grocery Mart, a video store, and Coronado Bay’s only Chinese take-out, a group of teenagers stood in front of the Grocery Mart, holding signs and passing out pamphlets to shoppers.
    “Those are kids from my school,” Maya said, recognizing both the signs and most of the faces. “They’re part of Virgin-a-Teens.”
    “What’s that?” he asked, as they crossed over to the parking lot.
    “It’s a nationwide group of teenagers who are, well, they promote...” Maya paused, feeling an uncomfortable heat rising up her neck and into her cheeks. How was she supposed to bring up sex with a boy she hardly knew, but who triggered the same urges in her the Virgin-a-Teens advocated against.
    “Is something wrong?”
    “No.” Get your act together, girl! You’re not asking him to jump your bones. That image didn’t help, and Maya rushed through the rest of her explanation as fast as she could.
    “They try to convince teenagers to wait until marriage before having sex.”
    “Oh. Isn’t that what a good girl should do anyhow? Why do they need to be told?”
    Maya stopped walking. “A good girl? Wow, you really are from a different century, aren’t you?”
    He tilted his