The Ghost Host: Episode 1 (The Ghost Host Series) Read online

  “I’ve…never had a boyfriend before, Malachi. Never been kissed. Never been on a date. None of that. Holden and the nerd squad are the only guys I talk to on a regular basis.”

  “The nerd squad?” he says with a laugh.

  “Self-appointed title,” I say. “I’m not making fun of them.”

  “Are you part of the nerd squad?” Malachi asks.

  His mocking tone makes me smile. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time that’s happened today. “No,” I say, “they’re too cool for me.”

  “I seriously doubt that.”

  “You shouldn’t,” I say. “They all watch my show and ask me a billion questions any time they see me at school, but not a single one of them would ever sit with me at lunch or invite me to one of their gamer parties. Not that I’d really want to go…probably. They can get a little weird.”

  Malachi is silent for several seconds before I hear him sigh. “Echo, what are you doing next weekend?”

  A bit surprised by the change of topics, I say, “Graduating from high school.”

  “Yeah,” Malachi says with a laugh, “I meant aside from that. Do you have a bunch of plans for the weekend to celebrate with your friends or something?”

  “The twins have a soccer game Saturday afternoon, but other than that, nothing much.”

  “I’m coming to see you then, okay?”

  “Wait, what?” I ask. “How?”

  Malachi’s voice sounds lighter when he speaks this time. “I can’t remember if I’ve ever mentioned to you that Kyran is a part-time flight attendant, but he is, and he gets buddy passes every now and again for flights. He has a couple saved up and I’m going to use one. To meet you in person and to meet your parents so they aren’t so freaked out about you coming here for the summer.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” I say quietly. My voice is only a whisper, though, because I want him to come. I want him here so badly it hurts.

  “I do,” Malachi says.

  “Why?”

  Sighing, he shifts, likely settling into the couch he said he’ll probably be sleeping on tonight. “Because as crappy as my night ended, I can tell your day was even worse.”

  “You can? How?”

  “Your voice sounds like it did the first time we talked, scared and upset.” He pauses, maybe thinking of his next words. “What happened today, Carrots?”

  I’ve always had Holden and Zara to talk to about my ghost-induced problems. It’s not that they aren’t supportive, because they are, but they’ve been dealing with all of this so long, they’re able to shrug most of it off. Desensitized, I suppose. For some strange reason, I need to hear Malachi’s reaction to today’s events.

  “I woke up to a whole horde of ghosts standing around my bed this morning. Couldn’t figure out why at first. I mean, when things get bad with my parents the ghosts usually start hanging around more, but I didn’t think that was it.” Scrubbing my hand through my hair, I lean back against the wall. “When that crazy ghost from the show with your great grandma showed up, that’s when it started to make sense.”

  “What?” Malachi demands. “That same lunatic came after you again? What happened?”

  A huge chunk of…something, rolls off my shoulders at his words. Maybe he doesn’t completely believe in the ghosts, but his immediate reaction is fear, not skepticism or a shake of his head. “He made me write the same message over and over again, but when I tried to ask him what it meant, he just attacked me,” I say. “I can’t figure out whether he’s trying to injure me or just make me understand, but it’s not working. It just hurts.”

  “Where were you?” Malachi asks quietly.

  “I felt him coming during English, so I ran to the bathroom. Nobody saw what happened, thankfully. That would make my last few days at school a living hell for sure. Other people are always quick on that kind of stuff when it comes to me.” I say it like I normally would, trying to brush it off as nothing by tossing it out there like it doesn’t matter. Malachi sees through me pretty easily.

  “Other people suck.”

  Half laughing, half crying, I cover my face with my hands. “Yeah, they do.”

  “What else happened?” Malachi asks.

  I don’t know how he can tell I need to keep talking, but everything else comes spilling out. “I called the FBI guy that came to my house. I told him I’d answer questions and let them do some tests and maybe work for them later if I prove I’m not crazy.”

  “Are you sure about doing all of that, Echo? It sounds awful intimidating, to be perfectly honest.” The concern lacing his words is comforting.

  “I’m plenty freaked out, but I need help, Malachi. I don’t know where else to turn anymore.”

  “I can understand that,” he says. The line is quiet for a while as I rein back in my composure and Malachi thinks. I almost fear he’s fallen asleep before he speaks again. “I’m coming next Friday, if you don’t mind picking me up from the airport, that is.”

  “Of course I don’t mind, but you really don’t have to fly all the way here just to check on me.”

  “It’s not just to check on you,” he says. “It’s to understand you, what you’ve been going through at school and at home. I keep asking you to come here, and I want you here, but I feel like I’m just pushing you to run away from everything without really understanding what that means.”

  Answering him isn’t easy. I nearly bite a hole clean through my lip trying to force myself to answer. Even when I do, my words are shaky. “I want to run away, Malachi, from all of it.”

  “You can’t run from the ghosts.”

  “I know, believe me, but I can run away from who I’ve become here. Who everyone else sees me as. I want that. I need that. I’m desperate to start over where people don’t know me, with you.”

  Sighing, Malachi says, “I know, and that scares me.”

  “Why?” I whisper.

  His answer comes slowly. “Because I don’t understand everything the ghosts have done to you. I have no problem with you wanting to get away from people at school who treat you like crap, or even escaping your parents for a while. The ghost stuff, though, what if I don’t know how to protect you from that? What if I don’t understand what it’s already cost you and I don’t take it seriously enough to keep it from happening again?”

  I thought my heart was going to break when this conversation first began. Now, I feel it stitching itself back together, more whole than it’s been in a long time. “You’re willing to do that even though you don’t really believe in the whole ghost thing?”

  “I want you here with me, but I have to know I can protect you, too.”

  My bottom lip is trembling as I say, “You just erased every awful thing that happened today, Malachi. Thank you.”

  “Does that mean I get to tell everyone you’re my girlfriend,” he says with a grin I can hear, if not see.

  “You’re willing to defend me from ghosts and fly clear across the country for me? I think that definitely makes you boyfriend material.”

  Malachi chuckles. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Hey, Malachi,” I say hesitantly, “when you fly out here, would you mind driving back to Georgia…with me?”

  Malachi doesn’t respond right away. “Are you sure?” he finally says. “You’re really going to move out here?”

  “I already told my parents. They’re pissed, but it’s not their choice,” I say. “Zara is coming. Holden is still trying to convince his dad to let him come for a while. Agent Morton is setting things up and will meet me out there. I’d be a whole lot less scared about this if you were with us on the drive, though. If you don’t mind.”

  “Of course I don’t mind,” Malachi says. He yawns again, then, and I finally force myself to say goodbye and let him get some sleep. We’re both reluctant to hang up, but when I finally lay down in bed, the kind of happiness I haven’t know since I was a toddler wraps itself around me and lulls me to sleep for the first time in ages.
/>   13: The Old Estate

  (Malachi)

  When this semester started, Kyran and I made plans to bail on the city for some surfing and camping as soon as our last finals were turned in. I think both of us would still rather be heading to the coast to have some fun as the surfboards in the back suggest. My hands tighten on the steering wheel as I wait for Kyran to climb in. His body drops into the passenger seat a few seconds later, his expression worried as he looks over at me.

  “Did you tell your parents?”

  Shaking my head, I say, “Mama would just be upset and try to talk me out of it.”

  “How’re we planning to get in then?”

  “Grabbed a spare key from my parents’ house last week when we went over for dinner. Daddy still keeps them on the hooks by the front door.”

  Kyran looks equally impressed and concerned. “What do you think Echo meant about this being a dangerous thing to do?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.” Taking my hands off the steering wheel, I sit back against my seat. “I hate the idea of settin’ foot on the old estate grounds again, but there’s no reason to be afraid of it, right? Just bad memories is all.”

  The half-nod, half-grimace Kyran offers up in response doesn’t give me much confidence.

  “What?” My voice sounds strained, even to me. I really wish we were going surfing instead.

  Kyran shrugs. “It’s nothin’, man. It’s just an old, empty house, right?”

  Except for what he said about the night Grandma Maddie died. “You think there will be something there we can’t handle?” I can’t keep the skepticism from my voice and Kyran hears it.

  Bristling, he looks straight out the windshield. “I told you what I felt that night. Take it for what you will.”

  “Kyran, look…”

  He cuts me off before I can finish. “I get that you didn’t grow up like I did. There are plenty weird things about my family I poke fun at, but this ain’t one of them. I didn’t start watching Echo’s show just because it’s interesting. She’s trying to help the ghosts and their families. I respect that. Maybe you should too if you expect to keep seein’ her.”

  Floored that he just laid into me like that, I don’t know how to respond. We’ve both laughed at some of the crazy things his family has said or done. Staying over at his house was always an adventure. I suspected some of what they were about he agreed with, but he never discussed it seriously. I’m not sure what bothers me more, the fact that there’s a whole side to my friend I had no idea about or the idea that my struggle to believe in the ghosts could make me lose Echo.

  Trapped inside my swirling thoughts, I put the Jeep in gear and pull out of my parking space. The cab stays unbearably quiet. We both watch the town slip away and melt into the highway without speaking a word. After an hour, I begin to fear the rest of the trip will go the same way.

  “I’m sorry,” Kyran says, his voice still a bit clipped. “I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

  I’m not sure whether he means his comment about his family or about Echo. I don’t ask. “Hey, it’s fine. I didn’t mean to belittle what you believe in. This whole thing is just freaking me out.”

  Kyran shakes his head slowly. “Me too.”

  That’s about the end of it. Kyran and I fight as much as blood brothers, but we’ve always gotten over our arguments pretty easily. We’ve both said what we needed to, but it makes me uncomfortable to feel the tension still remaining. I wish I knew what the source was. Is it just nerves about facing the place of our worst memories? I know that’s some of it, but not all. Part of it has to do with Echo and the ghosts, but I’m not sure which part.

  After a while, we fall back into regular conversation, talking about the semester ending and how we thought we did on our finals. We stop for lunch a while later and the topic turns to my impending trip to California.

  “I’d go if I could,” Kyran says. He honestly seems bummed about not being able to make the trip.

  “You’ve gotta work. Echo understands,” I say.

  He only shrugs. “You and Holden still gettin’ along?” he asks, changing topics slightly.

  “Far as I can tell.” I take a bite of my burger and hope that won’t change when I actually meet him.

  “He’s a good guy. He’ll like you once he gets to know you better.” He says it casually, but his words stump me.

  “How do you know that? You’ve never met the guy.” I almost add that watching The Ghost Host doesn’t count as knowing someone, but I keep that tidbit to myself for fear of ticking him off again.

  Kyran shoves a few fries in his mouth. I swear he’s purposely putting off his answer. My instincts prove right when he says, “I’ve never met him in person, but I know him well enough.” My raised eyebrow spurs him to continue. He rolls his eyes and marches on. “I emailed the show after I started watching. Nothing special, just said I enjoyed the show and thought it was great Echo was tryin’ to help the ghosts and all.”

  “And?”

  “He emailed me back.”

  My brow scrunches together. “And?”

  “And we’ve been emailing back and forth ever since.” Kyran shrugs, looking uncomfortable. “He knows a lot about ghosts and all that from being friends with Echo and trying to keep her safe. Echo’s not really…it’s tough just dealing with the ghosts. Researching stuff and trying to figure things out, I guess she just kinda left that to Holden. He takes it pretty serious. It’s interesting to talk to him about it. Most of the stuff my family talks about is really out there. Holden’s all about the science behind ghosts and such.”

  How many more secret sides of my best friend are going to pop up? “So, you guys are friends? Why didn’t you mention that before?”

  Kyran grabs his burger again, but before taking another bite, he says, “Never asked.”

  “And you couldn’t offer up that kind of information?” I’m actually kinda pissed he didn’t tell me. Holden was ready to tear me apart in the beginning.

  “I figured you’d just think it was stupid I’d emailed the show in the first place. Besides, you needed to convince Holden that you weren’t a creep on your own. He’d always worry if I tried to get him to back off,” Kyran says seriously.

  I’m so confused and annoyed by this whole conversation I don’t even know what to say. Sitting here in silence as I try to work it all out seems likely until another thought smacks into me. “Have you been talking to Echo this whole time, too?”

  Kyran scoffs. “Really? Of course not. Holden doesn’t let anyone talk to her. I’m still kinda shocked you actually got in touch with her.” That last bit comes out as a grumble and I’m caught off guard to realize some of the bite in his voice sounds a lot like jealousy.

  “Yeah, weird,” I say. Part of me feels bad that I swooped in on my best friend’s internet hero and actually got to make personal contact before he did. Another part of me wonders if the jealousy I just heard in his voice comes purely from hero worship, or something else. More than happy not to discuss that subject, I gather up my wrappers and suggest we head out. Kyran follows dutifully.

  It’s another few hours before we make it to the outskirts of the little town of Albert that Grandma Maddie called home most of her life. She wasn’t born here, but she’d been around this town longer than most of the native residents. Everyone called her Grandma Maddie, and everyone loved her almost as much as I did.

  Every summer Mama and Daddy would drive my sisters, Kyran, and I down to the estate to get us set up for our annual two week visit. It was the highlight of the summer for us, and Grandma Maddie’s favorite event of the entire year.

  Pulling up next to the long drive that leads to the house I haven’t set foot in for eight years, my shoulders droop. We made so many good memories here. Grandma Maddie is the one who taught me my first songs on the piano. She’s the one who taught Kyran to cook, which is a good thing since I’m a disaster in the kitchen. She was also just about the only person capable of curbing my sist
ers’ squabbling and constant drama.

  Knowing her made all of us better people. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. Maybe that thought would inspire some kind of vengeance, but I just feel sad as I think about the way her life ended. Such a kind and caring person shouldn’t have been taken out by violence, especially senseless violence. Fingering the necklace she gave me, I struggle not to be overtaken by how much I miss her.

  When I look over at Kyran, the same emotions I’m struggling with are plastered across his face. Reaching over, I grip his shoulder tightly. I’m not surprised when I see him brush at his eyes. Neither of us says anything. There’s no need. Putting the Jeep back into drive, we head for the house we loved as children but fear as adults.

  Gravel crunches under the tires as we roll to a stop in front of the plantation style house. It isn’t as grand as some of the houses you’ll see on the Pebble Hill and Callaway Plantations, but it will still make you stop and stare. Kyran and I both step out to gaze at the house, unable to take the first steps that will take us toward what we came here for.

  About that same time, two large vans roll in and park in front of the house. Kyran and I both spin around in surprise, not sure what to make of the pest control logos on the side. Some guy steps out of the nearest truck and glares at us menacingly.

  “This is private property,” he says curtly.

  “Yeah,” I say, “my family’s private property. Who’re you?”

  “Your family’s property, huh?” His scowl says he clearly doesn’t believe a lick of what I’m saying.

  “My name’s Malachi Fields. This property belongs to my daddy, Arthur Fields. It was my Grandma Maddie’s house.”

  The names make the guy falter. Someone from the other truck comes to stand beside him, deferring to the first guy to take the lead. The boss man turns back to face us with his eyes narrowed. “Mr. Fields hired us to tent the house this weekend. Termites. No one’s allowed inside until we’ve finished.”

  “I just need to grab something from the house. Something my great grandma left for me,” I argue.