The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh Read Free Book Online

here a few days before she died. She was staring at it.”
    Jack stared at it himself. On top of it was a statue of a winged angel. From tiny holes beneath her feet, ghosts were streaming out. Hundreds of them burst into the air and unfurled themselves, shaking out kinks and wrinkles like sheets in the wind. Although many of them were dressed in flimsy nightgowns and light shirts, they didn’t seem to feel the cold. Instantly, some flew away, skirting the tops of trees, hurrying toward the city skyline. Others zoomed up and down in what Jack guessed was their own version of aerobics.
    “The dead come out here every night at dusk,” Euri explained. “And not just here but at other fountains around the city too. But, like I said, it’s a pretty popular place for the living too. Your mom was probably just looking at the statue, the Angel of the Waters.”
    “She seemed upset,” said Jack.
    “Well, that’s good. It means she probably hasn’t moved on yet. It usually takes ghosts a while to move on if they have a lot of issues from their life they need to work out.” Euri paused and looked out across the frozen park toward the city. Jack was certain that she was thinking about her own issues, but it didn’t seem like the right time to ask.
    “Did your mom seem unhappy a lot?” she asked.
    Jack thought for a moment. “Except for that one time, I don’t really remember. My father won’t talk about her.”
    “You don’t have any older brothers or sisters who remember?”
    “No,” said Jack. “I’m an only child.”
    Euri grinned. “Really? Me too.”
    “That must be hard on your parents.”
    Euri stared at him blankly. Jack rushed to explain, “I mean, your being dead.”
    As soon as he had finished speaking, Jack wished he could take the words back. Euri’s mouth twitched. “I thought we were talking about your parents,” she said.
    Jack nodded, relieved to change the subject. “Right. My dad won’t talk about my mom.”
    Euri balanced her chin in her hand and assumed a studious look. “Maybe they didn’t get along?”
    Jack felt annoyed. “No, that’s not it. He just misses her.”
    “Did he say that?” asked Euri.
    “No, but—”
    “The important thing now,” she interrupted, “is that we need a clue, something that will help us find her if she’s still here. Do you have anything that was hers—a half-written letter, a journal?”
    Jack started to shake his head but then stopped and reached behind him to pull Egbert Viele’s map out of his backpack. “I think I saw a ghost in my father’s office yesterday. He jumped out the window before I could talk to him, but he left this behind.”
    “So I’m not the first spirit you’ve seen?” Euri asked as she took the map. She sounded a little disappointed.
    “I didn’t know he was a ghost,” Jack said; but as soon as Euri opened up the map, her face brightened.
    “Hey look! It’s a map of the underworld rivers. Here’s the one you crossed.” With her finger, she traced the circle of rivers around Grand Central Terminal. “But what does this have to do with your mother?”
    Jack pointed to the handwritten scrawl. “Anastasia.
    That’s her name. It’s written in my father’s handwriting.”
    “That’s strange. Why has your father written her name on an underworld map? And why did this ghost leave it for you?”
    “I’m not sure he left it for me,” Jack corrected. “I think he took it from my father’s desk drawer to look at, himself. I think I just frightened him, and he dropped it. I wanted to know who he was.”
    “Well, who could blame him? It’s pretty scary when a living person can see you and demands to know who you are.”
    “You didn’t seem afraid,” Jack said.
    “Yes, but I’m different,” Euri explained. “I’m comfortable with the living.”
    Jack was tempted to remind her that he was the only living person who had ever seen her, but he felt they were getting away from the subject of his mother.