Frost Burned

him when she saw them. She’d once explained to him that most ghosts were only sad memories. The ones that were closer to alive were often better off if they didn’t know she could perceive them. He had a feeling that there was a story there, but he hadn’t pressed.
    “Mmm,” Mercy said. “Right in front of me. I think she’s the same one that looks out of Zee’s dining room window sometimes.”
    Adam couldn’t see anything except for Mercy’s back because of the stupid spiral staircase, but he’d probably not be able to see a ghost even if they were in an open room. “Can you get her to move?” he asked.
    “She’s a repeater, I think,” Mercy replied hesitantly.
    A repeater, he’d learned from her, was a ghost that she could see but who did not react to the real world at all, just did a certain action over and over again, usually in the same place and sometimes at the same time every day. More an impression than a remnant of a real person.
    “What is she doing?”
    “Crying.” Mercy’s voice sharpened a little, making her sound more like herself. “That’s what she does in the window, too. I wonder if she was that much of a wet blanket in real life?”
    Peripherally, Adam had been aware of Tad and Asil talking somewhere above them. But he’d been paying attention to Mercy, and so he didn’t react quickly enough when Tad called out, “Mercy, what’s the holdup? Get up here.”
    She scrambled up the stairs, heedless of the ghost. It was too late to do anything, so Adam hurried behind her. He saw nothing unusual and didn’t feel so much as a shiver. He emerged right on her heels to find Mercy tight-lipped and shaky.
    “Mercy, are you okay?” he asked, and she looked at him and solemnly shook her head.
    “I was wrong. It wasn’t a repeater.” She rubbed her hands and glanced behind him. “But she can’t get in here.”
    “Who is she?” asked Asil.
    “What does it mean that she wasn’t a repeater?” Adam didn’t like the way Mercy looked—too pale, and there was sweat on her forehead.
    “It means that she tried to hitch a ride.” Mercy hugged herself and bounced on the balls of her feet.
    “
Who
is
she
?” Asil asked again.
    “Give us a minute,” snarled Adam, though he stopped himself from looking at Asil and escalating matters further.
    The other wolf’s chest rumbled warningly.
    “Sorry,” Adam said with an effort that cost him. “Mercy. Is there anything I can do?”
    She shook her head. “No. I’m okay. I’ve just never had that happen before. She just clung to me, and I couldn’t tell her to go away.” She shivered. “But Zee has this place barricaded with magic, and she couldn’t follow me here.”
    She’d been in danger, and Adam had been right there and helpless. He had been leaving her alone because she didn’t like “cuddling in public” much, and in this state, she had no choice. But when her teeth started chattering, he hugged her to him. She was icy cold and leaned into him. She was all muscle and bone—and she’d be offended if she knew he thought of her as fragile. Without the formidable will that drove her, she was . . . small.
    Her teeth quit chattering almost right away. She looked over Adam’s shoulder, and said, “She’s a ghost, Asil. I’ve seen her a few times hanging out around this house.”
    “Our house is haunted?” Tad sounded taken aback.
    “She doesn’t bother you,” Mercy said defensively. She stepped away, and Adam let her go. “I’d have told you about it if she were bothering you.”
    Crisis apparently averted, Adam looked around. The room was narrow and long, wide enough, if barely, for three people to stand shoulder to shoulder. The floor was carpeted with layers of Persian rugs that were worth a not-so-small fortune.
    Unmatched bookcases lined the wall on one of the long ways of the room, ranging from hand-carved museum pieces to boards separated by cinder blocks. The top two shelves of each held a selection of unpainted metal toys. The rest of the shelves were filled with various sharp-bladed weapons. The books, and there were a lot of them, were piled on the floor on the other side of the room. The wall directly across from the doorway they’d entered was entirely covered by an enormous mirror.
    “Could you shut the door, Mercy?” Tad asked, walking up to the mirror. “I don’t activate the mirror without the door closed.”
    Adam got to the door before Mercy could and closed the ghost out. He