Page 17

The humans can’t see the souls, obviously.

“U-G-L-Y, you ain’t got no alibi, you ugly, yeah, you’re all ugly!” I cheer, appearing just in front of Gage, who runs through me, cursing me the entire time.

Switching to referee attire, I go to where Ezekiel is fighting hard against three particularly crafty souls that keep evading him. He takes a run and leaps to one side of the building, then flips to the building beside him, before pushing off the second building when his feet hit, and finally lands on the first building’s roof, managing to snag a soul in the process.

I zap myself up there, finding the dizziness fading with each time I do this. “Foul on the play!” I shout, startling him so much he trips before crashing through me.

“Damn it! What the hell is your problem?” he shouts to my back, before I zap myself back down to where Jude is.

I change my attire into a very skimpy bikini. Big sunglasses frame my face as I lie down and pretend I’m sunning under the moonlight, putting myself directly in the path of Jude.

He almost trips himself up, trying to avoid stepping on me, before finally remembering he can’t actually step on me.

His foot swipes through my vagina as he races on, and I don’t think that was an accident.

I give a little wave to Kai when I catch him staring for a minute. When a soul crashes into him during its attempt to escape Jude, I smirk.

Then I outright laugh a little when Jude also crashes into him while chasing the soul.

“What the fucking hell are you doing?” Gage snaps, standing over me.

“Careful, pretty boy. It looks like you’re talking to yourself,” I say as he looks up, seeing the homeless gawking at him and the others like they’re all insane.

Grown men with weapons they’re swinging at air and yelling at a girl no one else can see? Now who looks crazy?

A little triumphant grin toys with my lips.

Last year, he bought a very pretty girl a black, sheer slip of lingerie, and he had her wear it with some really sexy high heels.

That’s what my next outfit is, and he stares down at me with intense, hard eyes. There’s almost a palpable energy between us when he reaches down and adjusts himself.

My lips curl in a knowing grin. He can get aroused easily with the others so close.

Why haven’t I done this sooner? They’ve been cruel. So I should be as well.

“This just got interesting,” I say to myself as Gage stalks off.

Score one for the phantom girl with no memory.

Chapter 13

“Are you trying to get us killed?” Gage snaps, throwing his swords to the ground as he stalks toward me.

I’m already dropping to the couch of our house, wearing nothing but some more sexy lingerie. I’m calling it their hit-list. All the things they requested girls wear is all I’m wearing from now on.

“Even when I’m saving your lives you apparently think I’m trying to get you killed, so I had an epiphany,” I state, shrugging.

“Your epiphany involved stupid outfits and distracting tactics when we’re chasing souls that could have escaped us tonight because of you?” Jude snaps, getting right in my face.

“No,” I say as I stand and pass through him, ignoring the tingles as I strut through the room with the lacy ensemble showing off all the goods.

As I pass through Gage, I notice Kai’s eyes hungrily raking over me, his breathing coming a little quicker. This was one of his favorite outfits on a girl, because when it was his turn, he bought this one several times for several different women.

“Over the years, I told you I perfected my fantasy,” I remind them.

“We’ve decided we’re never going to—”

I interrupt Kai, since it’s my turn to talk. “There are two types of people,” I say to him, and he narrows his eyes on me. “Those who listen, and those who merely wait for their turn to talk.”

My eyes move around the room.

“None of you are listeners. None of you care that I can’t change the channels on the TV, nor do you ever ask me if you can do something for me.”

“You never ask for anything,” Kai points out with a roll of his eyes.

“Exactly! I ask for nothing! And you inconsiderate assholes never bother to take that into consideration. I don’t even have a light on in my bedroom. I’ve been dying to watch that movie, and you ruined it,” I rant on, darting an annoyed gaze at Jude.

His lips merely twitch because he’s an unapologetic dick.

“And therefore, my epiphany has been that none of you deserve me. You can look. You can fantasize. Like I’ve had to. Try to bring home a woman, and I’ll make farting noises while wearing a dolphin costume and acting like I’m humping each of you. See how long you can hold an erection then,” I carry on, feeling a little proud of that threat as they all eye me like the psychotic girl in the room. “But even if I get whole and you beg, I’d never give in. In fact, I’m going to see if I can’t figure out how to attach myself to one of the other quads the next time we’re around some.”

Ezekiel turns and stalks out, not saying anything.

As I take a seat, Jude leans over me, caging me in as I stare up at him, unafraid.

“You’re trying to fuck with us again right now, aren’t you? See if you can make us jealous?”

I snort derisively, then outright laugh. “Make you jealous?” I ask around my laughter.

He backs up, a confused expression on his face.

“Why in the hell would I attempt to make you jealous? You don’t even like me! You play head games. Three of you finally tell me good night, only to act like I’m the devil’s advocate the next day just because I had a fluke where I finally got to feel someone, and surprise surprise, there was almost sex involved. That was apparently me trying to break you up, even though I’ve been quite shameless in voicing what I want the second I get whole, and I’ve been voicing it from the very beginning.”

They all look a little confused for a second.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are a few books open in the library where you guys were trying to research me. I’m going to go see if any of those books hold the secrets to getting myself hitched to four guys who appreciate how awesome I really am. Ghost girl out.”

I should have left off the ghost girl out part. My speech was epic until then.

Hands shaking and heart thumping in my chest, I stalk up the stairs, ready to commit to this new plan of action. I’ve been toying with the idea since the gauntlet, but until now, I didn’t have the lady ghost balls to go through with it.

As soon as I pass through the door in the library, I see a book shutting. Jude is smirking, his fingers closing another book.

Kai closes a few as well, since they apparently siphoned in here.

Gage props his feet up on a few open books, before shutting a few more beside him, challenging eyes on me the entire time.

“Real mature,” I grumble. “If you want me gone so bad, then why would you shut all the books?”

Gage toys with an ink pen, smirking and not looking at me.

“All the better to annoy you with, my dear,” Jude drawls.

“We’re not letting you go until we understand what it is you really are,” Kai goes on with a shrug.

“Fine,” I bite out with a fake smile on my face as I cross my arms over my chest.

My outfit changes to the sexiest one yet. It’s a little Egyptian Princess in style, gold and alluring. Ornate gold sleeves wrap up my arms, and the laces of the sexy shoes go all the way up to my thighs.

The bodysuit-ish outfit has a neckline that dips all the way to my stomach. The bottom has a touch of long, light, gold chains that hang to the knees, but is spaced apart so you can still see all the way up.

I’m not sure why it’s the one that I choose, but it pops into my mind, so I go with it.

Gage falls out of the chair.

Guess I have a winning outfit for him.

Kai sucks in a sharp breath, and Jude is suddenly in front of me, trying to snatch me. All of their eyes light up gold, and I take a wary step back as they start coming toward me like mindless drones.

“Okay. Not funny anymore. What’s wrong with—”

I squeal when Kai lunges, but when he passes through me, I roll my eyes at myself for being an idiot. I whirl around just as Gage tries to tackle me.

Shit.

For whatever reason, they really like this outfit, or they seriously hate it.

Because they look feral. Ruthless. Savage even.

I’m suddenly in that dolphin costume I threatened them with for a whole new reason, my head poking out the dolphin’s belly, and they all blink like they’re waking from a trance.

“What the hell is wrong with you idiots? It was just an outfit. And so help me, if you blame me for that, I will—”

They all disappear from the room at once, and I curse, losing the dolphin costume and donning some normal, very respectable clothing.

I almost don’t go look for them, because I know they’re going to be doubly suspicious of me. But unfortunately, I’m worried about them, because that clearly wasn’t natural.

I really need to detach myself before my attachment gets me killed.

My hurried steps slow when I hear them talking in the kitchen.

“You saw that,” Jude is saying.

“I saw that she freaked out and turned into a dolphin to snap us out of that shit. She definitely didn’t want us in that trance. Whatever in the hell it was,” Kai grumbles.