Sleep Stalker (Ghosts Beyond the Grove Book 1) by Joy Elbel Read Free Book Online Page A

were a few mentions of her name in old articles about the Philadelphia Ballet Company.  Searching through the images available, I flushed out a few grainy newspaper photos of her and her fellow dancers.  The resolution was terrible so I couldn’t really see much detail but I saved the photos to my hard drive anyway. 
         When I tried to pull up birth certificate information, there was no exact match for her full name—just a handful of women named Camille Rogers who were born on the same day.  They were scattered all across the country. Since I had no clue where she was originally from, it wasn’t very much help.  Finally, I gave up and closed my laptop.  My search for answers was going to be harder than I thought.
         So of course the second I lost focus on Mom, my mind wandered back to where it always seemed to go.  Zach.  Something was wrong with him.  I needed to vent to someone about what was going on.  If I called Shelly, she would start worrying about me.  If I called Rachel, she would start worrying about Zach and me.  I liked Addie but I didn’t know her well enough yet to talk to her about this.  That left only one other option.  Clay.
         Clay was the one ghost whose presence I actually enjoyed.  He and I were once inseparable—he literally couldn’t move beyond a five foot radius from me.  Our bond broke once I reunited him with his girlfriend in the afterlife.  Now that he had her and their young son, Clayton, he didn’t need to be tied to me for the rest of eternity.  But the connection we had wasn’t completely gone.  When I needed him, I was still able to call him to me like a supernatural sidekick. 
         As I was about to summon Clay for a serious conversation, Zach’s voice floated in from the living room.  I couldn’t make out any actual words but he sounded happy.  Maybe the old Zach was back!  Maybe whatever had been making him so angry and distant lately was gone.  Maybe it was nothing more than jet lag after all.  I crept to the bedroom door and cracked it open slightly.
         Zach was lying on the futon still obviously not awake.  His eyes were closed and he was happily mumbling to himself with a huge grin on his face.  Softly, I opened the door and moved closer so that I could hear what he was saying.
         “Señorita, you look so beautiful in that dress but when do I get to see what you’re hiding underneath it?”
         Instantly, flames of anger tore up the sides of my face.  He kept going on about some dress that I believed didn’t exist.  But now, now I was convinced that the dress did exist.  It just belonged to someone else—whoever this señorita chick was.  Without thinking twice about it, I took the half empty can of diet soda in my hand and emptied it completely—into his crotch.  I didn’t move all the way to Ohio with him only to be cheated on the second we got here.
         Zach woke up angry and confused, having no idea what I’d just done to him.  Before he figured it out, I retreated to the bedroom and locked the door behind me.  
         He ranted and raved for about ten minutes, demanding an explanation.  I stayed silent.  He wasn’t the one who deserved an explanation here— I was.  Soon after he stopped yelling, I heard the faint sound of snores coming from the other room. How could he have fallen back to sleep so fast?  Thinking it was just a trick to get me to open the door, I summoned Clay to spy on him for me.
         Clay appeared quite quickly.  Without even so much as a greeting, I sent him on his reconnaissance mission.  He returned with the news that Zach was indeed very deeply asleep.  I grabbed what was left of the potato chips and sat down to fill Clay in on what was going on.  I once wondered if there was such a thing as a paranormal psychiatrist.  Now I had my answer—I just never expected my counselor to be paranormal himself.

7.  Left