The Veil Between Us by Michelle Zeynep

Author:Michelle Zeynep [Zeynep, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hidden Forest Publishing
Published: 2024-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

The sound of tires crunching on the dirt of the road alerts me to my grandmother’s arrival. Henry hears it too and begins to pack away all of the items he’d brought with him back into his backpack. It took practice, he’d explained to me before, to move items between the physical world and through the veil into his own layer of existence, but small items like laptops were easier than other things. “I think it’s because they have so many small parts. It’s like a handful of rice instead of a big rock,” he’d explained.

This doesn’t make much sense to me since they’re all connected and soldered together anyway, but I didn’t ask more about it. Usually, when I press Henry about a specific aspect of the Ghost Rules, he just laughs, shrugs, and says, “I don’t make the rules, I just live here.”

What would this scene look like if Grandma Lydia was in the house? Would she see a floating laptop lift from the table just to disappear mid-air?

Dig-Dong-Ding-DONG.

“That’s weird. Grandma must have forgotten her keys,” I say, pushing back from the table. I should really get Grandma a smart doorbell. Then, she could ring it if she ever got locked outside and I could see her from my phone app.

I don’t even check before yanking the massive wooden door open, so when it’s not my grandma, my heart lurches in surprise. It doesn’t calm down when I realize who it is—Nathan, the relator, and his ghost shadow.

Mallory.

“Can I help you?” I ask, attempting to keep my eyes on Nathan instead of taking the opportunity to stare at Henry’s aunt, face-to-face. She doesn’t know I can see her, and I want to keep it that way. But Mallory’s eyes narrow, and I’m starting to worry that she’s already caught on when Nathan flashes a salesman smile at me.

“Good afternoon, Miss Faber. I am just stopping by to follow up with you about our conversation a few weeks ago, outside my office. Do you remember?”

“Of course.” How could I forget? I force myself to stare at him, pasting on my own cool smile, even as Mallory paces behind him.

“I brought some paperwork. It’s a list of comparative properties and their value, based on property and square footage. I thought you might be interested in the number. It’s quite substantial and I’m sure that I could find a buyer quickly once it goes on the market.”

Nathan extends a folder to me, but I don’t make any move to take it. “I’m not the homeowner,” I remind him. “If you want to talk about the property, you should speak to my grandmother. Besides,” I add, “why don’t you track down whoever owns the place across the street? Maybe they would be willing to sell. It’s what, fifty acres?”

“Ha!” Mallory barks, and my eyes fly to her at the outburst.

Of course, she notices.

“So you can see me,” she says, focusing on me with an intensity that makes the hair on the back of my neck raise.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.