Chapter 4 – He Is A Ghost Boy

I turn the note over, looking for more but…there’s nothing.

“You’re for me?” I whisper, a little awed, looking up at the wolf.

He huffs, rolling his eyes, but makes no protest.

Cheer and hope fill me and I bite my lip, grinning at my wolf. “Please don’t bite me,” I whisper, leaning forward towards him.

He huffs again, turning his face away like he thinks it’s a stupid request. I hesitate but then stretch my fingers out, trying to stroke his fur. And while I feel the barest tingle on my skin, my fingertips again pass through him as if through air. My own wolf peers at this strange ghost before us, frustrated when she can’t get a whiff of his scent because, of course, it doesn’t exist.

I take a deep breath, grinning at my weird present, getting to my feet and suddenly feeling much better. It can’t mean nothing, right, that the Goddess heard my prayer and listened?

Perhaps things are looking up.

Quite suddenly I want a bath - to be clean and fresh. Once that’s done I’ll figure out what this wolf can do and come up with a plan.

I turn towards the corner of the room where a huge tub sits – nearly the size of a pool and built into the open wall of the terrace. I sigh happily, infused with hope, stepping towards the tub and flipping on the taps to fill it. Then I reach for the laces at the back of my dress.

A nervous whine sounds behind me and my inner wolf turns towards it, curious. But I concentrate on unlacing my gown, which slips down over my shoulders.

“Um!” The word rings out behind me, incredibly anxious.

My eyes flare wide as I spin towards the sound, my jaw dropping open when I see not the ghost wolf standing in the bathroom behind me where I left him.

But, in his place – likewise shining blue and transparent – a boy.

A boy!

I gasp, clutching my dress to my chest, appalled.

“Please,” he says, holding out a hand and grimacing. “You…you might not want to do that.”

“Who the hell are you!?” I shout, horrified, stumbling back.

“I’m – I’m the wolf!” the boy sputters, gesturing at his tall, lanky form which is indeed made up of the same shining blue and white light as the wolf.

“You’re a guy!?” I gasp, appalled.

“I…yeah?” he responds, giving an awkward shrug. “I’m…sorry?”

I glance down at my loosened dress and my temper slips its lead. “You asshole!” I snap, striding forward and swatting a hand at him, enraged. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re really a boy before I started to get undressed!? God, you creep –“

He gasps as my hand passes through his incorporeal body, his eyes flaring wide.

“Hey!” he snaps, glaring at me. “I did tell you! And you aren’t even undressed, you just started –“

“You could have told me earlier!” I shout, smacking again even though it doesn’t do anything. “You could have announced it when you first showed up! Ew, I petted you! You –“

“Hey!” he snarls, taking a step towards me and glaring down into my face, his own temper flaring. “I’m new to all of this too! If I’d known I could shift into my human form, obviously I would have done it sooner!”

Something about this makes me pause. “You – you didn’t know?”

“No,” he snaps, standing straight and sketching an ironic bow my way. “Newly dead, your highness – first five minutes as a ghost. So, please forgive me if I also don’t know what the hell is going on!”

“You’re…dead? You’re a ghost?” I ask, my voice a whisper, my eyes moving up and down his body.

He’s tall – almost as tall as my dad and my brothers, but much slimmer than them. And not a boy, I realize, though his features are boyish. No, he’s older than me, somewhere in his twenties. Still, he’s handsome, with dark hair that falls into his face and a long, straight nose. As I look at him, tilting my head to the side, I can’t help but think that it’s rather a shame that he’s dead.

And then my heart sinks as I realize that he had the same fate as Blythe - that they’re both just two young men dead way before their time. Grief sinks in me and I sigh, looking up into the boy’s face, all the anger and vigor going out of me at once.

“Well, who the hell are you?” I grumble, working hard to rekindle my anger so I don’t cry anymore.