All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) Jamie Campbell (best life changing books .TXT) 📖

Nobody visited me except Oliver. And it definitely wasn’t him. The only people that cared enough to track me down were the gang. They might have traced me, Taz ready to finish what he started with me at the factory.

All I knew for sure was that whoever was on the other side of the door were foe and not friend.

They pounded on the door again, louder this time.

I did not want to answer.

Chapter Nineteen

My feet were glued to the floor of the kitchen as the knocking continued. A male voice called out my name, muffled by the heavy wooden door.

I turned to Oliver. “Can you see who it is?”

He nodded and disappeared into thin air. I mentally went through the house, trying to work out if I had a better chance of survival if I found a place to hide or if I tried to make a run for it out the back door.

Both options seemed unlikely to keep me alive for very long. Not when I was injured and Taz seemed to delight in torturing me. He would enjoy the thrill of the chase no matter what I did.

Oliver reappeared and I swore I would never get used to him doing that. “It’s Jet.”

Relief flushed through me but it was only momentary. Taz and Jet were friends. Just because he had pulled me from the burning room didn’t mean he still meant me no harm.

“Everly! Let me in!” he called out again.

“I don’t think he’s here to hurt you,” Oliver said quietly.

I didn’t really have the choice of ignoring the knocking, not when Jet knew where I lived. I made my way through the coldness of the spirits as they didn’t bother moving away to let me through. They were too caught up in the intrigue to notice my movements.

Opening the door, Jet was still covered in black soot. One of his eyes was red, a bruise forming around the socket turning it into a dark blue. A cut to his lip told me he had been in a fight.

“Everly, thank God you’re alright,” he sighed, letting out a breath. He was puffed, whatever brought him to my door made him hurry.

“What happened to you?” I asked. It wasn’t the most pressing issue on my mind but it was the only one that made it off the tip of my tongue.

“I taught Taz a lesson. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”

“He tried to kill me. Almost succeeded.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what they were doing,” Jet admitted. “I told them to get blankets, I had no idea they’d find you at the factory. What were you doing there?”

“I don’t answer to you.”

We had a stare down as I refused to look away. My arms were firmly crossed over my chest, reeking of contempt and distain for him. I didn’t know why Jet was here and I didn’t really care. I just wanted him gone again.

“Can I come in?” he asked, nodding toward the foyer.

As much as I didn’t want to, I stepped away from the door. It was enough of an invitation for him to enter. He took one look around the foyer and turned left to go into the living room. By the time I caught up with him, he was already sitting on the lounge.

“He’s coming inside.”

“Who is he?”

“The boy said his name was Jet.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

“Sounds like a hippie name.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“She’s gone for a couple of weeks and everything has changed.”

“Maybe he’s a new friend?”

Jet’s face was deathly pale, and for just a moment, I panicked that he was dead, too. It took a moment for me to realize he was sitting on the couch, he wouldn’t have been able to do that if he was merely a ghost.

At least the panic helped drown out the spirits.

“Make yourself at home,” I said, sarcasm dripping from my words. I sat in the armchair, making sure to keep a safe distance from him. “You’re dripping blood on my couch.”

His hand automatically went to his lip, he winced when his fingers touched the cut. “Sorry.”

Against all my good judgment, I actually felt a little sorry for him. “You’re a mess.”

He gave me a smile before wincing again. “You should see the other guy.”

I rolled my eyes and stood, my fingers grasping around his wrist. “Come on, I’ll clean you up.” I moved to pull him into the kitchen but stopped, too many spirits could fit in there. Instead, I took him upstairs into the small bathroom. Oliver trailed after us, waiting at the door.

I pushed Jet onto the edge of the bathtub and found a rag in the cabinet. Running it under the water, I wished I had some kind of antiseptic. “This is going to hurt,” I warned before dabbing at the wounds on his cheeks and lip. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“How did you find me?”

He winced again as I finished up cleaning all his cuts. There were no plasters so he was going to have to put up with the open wounds for a while and stay out of anything remotely dirty for a bit. “I followed the trail of blood you left. Plus, a few people told me you passed by them.”

My leg must have been bleeding more than I realized. Although, I was in such a state when I ran away from the factory that I could have gone through a nuclear war and I wouldn’t have noticed.

“Is your leg okay now?” Jet asked, looking at my bandage.

“Hopefully it won’t need to be amputated.”

“Dibs on not doing that.” He gave me a small smile. “I’m sorry for what Taz did. I