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Chapter 45

Ryker

When Farley vanishedinto the trees, I turned to her. "Why did he call you Lery?"

"Many call me Lery. It's my nickname."

"And how do you know that delightful creature?"

"I met Farley thirteen years ago, when I was ten. He tried pulling the same crap with me as he did with you; I used a stick to beat him. We've been friends ever since."

"You've been coming this deep into the woods since you were ten?"

She winced a little. "That's to stay between us; my mother doesn't know. My father did, but she would not have approved."

"So, you've always had a death wish."

She bristled before turning away and starting back into the woods. "I don't have a death wish."

"You played in these woods as a kid and intervened on behalf of Mouse."

"That would mean I have an amputation wish, and I don't have that either. I just don't think children should have their hands cut off. I think most would agree with me."

"Yes, they would."

"I started exploring these woods because I was curious about the things in them, and I've gotten to know many of the creatures and spirits well over the years."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Then it's a good thing I'm smarter than a cat."

Maybe that was true, but she was too impulsive, daring, and impudent for her own good. It would get her in a lot of trouble or killed if she didn't rein it in, but she was very much like Xanthus… noone was going to break or control her.

A ghostly figure floated past, but unlike the poltergeist, this one didn't interact with us. The tendrils of the woman's ankle-length dress floated behind her as she passed with her head bowed.

Another figure, this one of a young man who was barely a teenager when he died, passed through a tree. Ellery sidestepped in time to avoid having him go through her.

"The ghosts can't throw things at you like the poltergeists," she said. "They make you feel as cold as ice when they go through you, though."

She shivered and absently rubbed her arms as if she hadn't managed to avoid it going through her.

"I know," I murmured.

"Have you ever seen the ghosts and poltergeists before? I know sometimes they travel closer to the roads, and the poltergeists like to throw things at the carriages and passersby, but not everyone has seen them."

"I've encountered them before, but not often."

"You do know if you die here, you stay here. There's something about this land that traps anything that doesn't naturally belong in the Revenant Woods after it dies. That's why you never see any of the animals or creatures who live in the woods as spirits."

"How do you know that?"

"From years of being here and watching."

I studied her as she moved before me. Her pants weren't completely formfitting, but they fit her well enough that they emphasized her taut ass. My fingers flexed as I imagined grasping it and pulling her on top of me, slipping inside her…

No! This is a business arrangement.

But if it wasn't, I would thoroughly enjoy fucking her.

"And what are the poltergeists?" I inquired. "Why are they different than the ghosts?"

"From what I can tell, they're the spirits of those who were angry when they died in the woods."

"I would assume most spirits are angry or terrified when they die here. I'd be furious if something killed me."

"So would I, and when I was younger, I believed the ghosts were the ones who were scared when they died. As I got older and watched and learned more, I came to the conclusion that it's more individualized. The poltergeists were angry immortals before they died; that anger followed them into the afterlife and turned them into poltergeists."

"Farley didn't seem too angry."

"Not today, but he can be. They all can be, but they also like to have fun."

"And they clearly love to scare the shit out of their unsuspecting targets."

She chuckled as she climbed over the log and turned to face me. As she did so, a ghostly skull flew past her head and crashed into a nearby tree before erupting out the other side.

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