Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

E DGE

I sat in the passenger seat of Immy's car, still reeling from the discovery that my plank had been destroyed. I'd been bound to that piece of wood for so long that I couldn't even imagine what would happen now that it was broken. Could I even survive without it? I didn't see a bright light… no happy thoughts or welcoming sensations. No one had given me an Introduction to the Afterlife 101 book after I came back as a ghost.

Immy had caused this catastrophe, and I couldn't help but be furious with her. No matter how beautiful she was, it didn't change the fact that she'd shattered my only tie to this world.

My hands clenched into fists as I glared at her. "You've ruined everything."

She glared back at me, her eyes flashing with defiance. "I didn't know! How could I have known?"

"Because you're a witch!" The words slipped out before I could stop them. For a moment, neither of us moved or spoke. Then Immy's expression softened slightly.

"I'm sorry about your... um... plank." She hesitated over the word and seemed to realize how ridiculous it sounded in relation to me, a ghostly pirate. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I shook my head, feeling utterly defeated. "It doesn't matter now. My fate is sealed."

Without another word, she shifted the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. I watched as we left the Rusty Anchor behind, my heart heavy with despair.

As we drove through town, I realized something strange was happening. Instead of fading away like I usually did when I left the immediate vicinity of my plank, forcefully returned to it, I remained solidly anchored to the passenger seat.

"Immy..." My voice trailed off as she glanced at me quizzically.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't leave." A cold knot settled in my stomach as I realized what this meant.

"What do you mean?" She asked incredulously while keeping an eye on the road.

"Whenever you leave a place... uh... I'm forced to follow you."

The look on her face told me she hadn't quite believed me when she'd helped me find my broken plank. But we'd left it behind. Besides, I'd been pulled to her as she'd tried to drive away. Twice.

"Great," she muttered under her breath before turning back to focus on driving

A flash of guilt washed over me as she sighed and continued driving without saying anything more about our current predicament.

It seemed like nothing went right for either of us today. And that made me feel better about myself too, since she was obviously having an awful day too. Her date had been a total douche canoe. She was better off without him.

The realization hit me like a cannonball. What if I was bound to Immy? Like, not just temporarily, but permanently. How was that possible? I hadn't heard of ghosts changing their anchors, but then again, I didn't know shit about being a ghost other than what I overheard all through my afterlife.

"So... what happens if you die?" Her question jolted me out of my thoughts. "Uh, well not die because you've already done that. But die again? What is it called, crossing over?"

"No idea." I crossed my arms. "There wasn't an introductory course."

"Wait... if you're... anchored to me now, then how do I make you go away?" Her voice was tinged with a mix of concern and disbelief. I watched as Immy's face turned from confusion to realization. I could see the gears turning in her mind as she processed our current conversation.

"Something tells me that's not possible anymore." I didn't want to think about it, but I couldn't ignore the truth. If Immy wanted me to go away, I couldn't do more than phase out. Once she moved from that spot, I'd go with her. Our lives were literally entwined now.

"Crap."

"Maybe I want you to go away." I didn't, but she didn't need to know that. She might be annoying and a horrible driver, but there were far worse people I could be bound to. If I still slept, she'd plague my nightmares.

Immy was by far the most beautiful woman I'd spoken to in both my life and my afterlife. Maybe if I'd found her while I was alive, I wouldn't have been on that pirate ship the day I'd died. Stupid pirates and their obsessive need to plunder booty.

"You know, there's something comforting about that." For some reason, hearing her say that made me feel better about our situation. It was like we were both in this together, regardless of how we felt about each other.

She shot me a sideways glance before returning her attention to the road ahead. "Don't get me wrong, this whole ghost pirate hitchhiker thing is... unexpected." She took a deep breath before continuing. "But at least we're both equally screwed."

I chuckled at her blunt assessment of our predicament. "You're right, we are both equally screwed."

As we drove in silence for a while, I noticed something strange happening outside the car. The world around us seemed to shimmer and blur, like it was folding in on itself.

"Um... Immy?" My voice wavered as I spoke up again.

"What now? Is there something else you forgot to mention?" She sounded exasperated, but also curious.

"Yeah... I think you might want to pull over for a moment."

She glanced at me warily before finding a spot on the side of the road to park the car. As she turned off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt, she looked at me expectantly. Before she could harangue me for something else I couldn't control, I spoke up.

"Look out your window," I said quietly.

Her eyes followed my gaze and widened in shock as she took in the impossible sight before us. Instead of seeing the familiar street we had been driving on moments ago, we were now parked next to an old, moss-covered shipwreck resting precariously on the edge of a cliff overlooking choppy waters below.

"Uh... what is this?"

"That's my ship," I replied with a sense of pride despite everything that had happened before and since becoming a ghost.

Immy turned back towards me with an incredulous expression on her face. "Your ship? How is that possible?"

I hesitated for a moment before answering her question, "It's called 'Queen Anne's Revenge' and it used to be my home." My words hung in the air as memories flooded back into my mind.

Immy's mouth opened and closed several times before something intelligible came out. "Queen Anne's Revenge? You know who captained that ship, right?"

I noticed that the world was shifting again, and the shipwreck was disappearing. "We should get out of here."

"Agreed." Her eyes returned to the road with brief glances at me. She buckled her seatbelt.

"Because I'm pretty sure that if we don't leave now, we're going to be stuck in a giant pirate ghost reunion, or equally bad."

She glanced at me and then back at the road. "That sounds... I'm not interested in finding out."

"There's nothing good about that ship. It appearing like this now is a bad omen. Kinda like you appearing in my life."

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else as she turned the key in the ignition. The car roared to life as she shifted it into gear and pulled back onto the road. Her tires squealed as she took off.

"At least you didn't somehow bind the ghostly ship like you did me."

"Trust me, I haven't forgotten." Her knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. "Though I'm not convinced that I'm the one at fault here."

"Sorry about that. It's not like I wanted this to happen." A wave of guilt washed over me. Here I was, ruining this woman's life.

"I know," she said after a long pause. "It's not your fault... entirely." Before I could ask what she meant by that, her expression hardened. "But if there's anything you can do to help free us from each other's presence, this is a good time to mention it."

I watched as her grip on the steering wheel tightened even further as her jaw clenched with determination.

I couldn't help but feel grateful for Immy's resilience despite everything that had happened since we'd first met. She was strong-willed and determined, two qualities that would serve her well in life.

As we drove in silence, my thoughts drifted back to all those years ago when my life had been so different... when Queen Anne's Revenge had been whole and seaworthy.

There was a memory just outside of my grasp. Something important enough that I'd been looking for a witch. But why?

Queen Anne's revenge wasn't done with me yet, and just maybe, I wasn't done with the ghostly ship either.