Whispering Hearts by Cassandra Chandler

coward?
    She had hidden herself away from ghosts for as long as she could. Then she had run. And she hadn’t even managed that on her own. Garrett had come to her rescue again.
    At least she had finally stood up to her mother.
    Lillian. Saying terrible things about Rachel was one thing, but Garrett… Apparently Rachel reserved causing him grief for herself.
    The only thing that made staying with him bearable was that she loved him too. She turned around, eyes stinging as her tears mingled with the hot water.
    The numbness that had enveloped her over the last few days fell away, leaving her heart flayed and bleeding. Not from shock or horror over what had happened to her, but from the loss of what could have been between her and Garrett. If she had been born normal.
    But Rachel wasn’t normal. She never would be. And Garrett deserved better. It was bad enough he was saddled with her as a friend.
    She shouldn’t keep him waiting. She finished cleaning herself quickly, then turned off the water.
    After wiping the excess moisture from her skin, she looked for a towel. Several were stacked on a shelf built into the wall just beyond the sink. Which presented a problem—she hadn’t thought to cover the mirror when she entered. She had ducked her head and raced for the shower.
    The mirror was fogged with steam. And Garrett’s house was far enough from the city that she hoped there were no haunted places nearby. Unless she was haunted now, and that was a very distinct possibility.
    Michael’s other victims had not been happy with Rachel when she killed him. They were very clear on that point, even before they were certain she could hear them. They were afraid of what would happen when Michael’s spirit was no longer trapped in his body.
    She didn’t want Michael to be able to hurt anyone, living or dead. But she hadn’t known what else to do. She’d had to stop him, to save Elsa and Dante. In that moment, she had made her choice.
    As soon as she had been discharged, she’d started working on helping the spirits of Michael’s victims. Luckily, her parents had gathered all the information they could on the incident —including what had been done with Michael’s body.
    No family had come forward to claim it, so it had been cremated. Rachel felt a sigh of relief flow through her every time she thought about that.
    With no earthly remains to link him to the physical plane, his spirit would be forced to move on to whatever came next. She had that on excellent authority, and her research corroborated what she’d been told.
    Michael couldn’t be the reason the ghosts at her mother’s house were angry. Not directly, anyway. She didn’t understand why they were so upset that she had escaped and they hadn’t, why they hadn’t moved on when Michael died. What was keeping them here?
    They could want Rachel’s help, like many spirits did. Tying up loose ends that had been left unraveled when they died.
    She wasn’t a stranger to ghosts trying to scare or bully her into helping them. That was the norm rather than the exception. It was a big part of why she did her best to ignore them all. Even the ghosts who were comparatively nice were just too numerous. It was overwhelming.
    She shuddered as she remembered her mother’s harsh lessons about toying with the spirit realm.
    â€œYou want to play with ghosts? Fine. Here are some new playmates.”
    Yeah, her mother was going to Hell. Except Rachel didn’t believe in Hell. Or Heaven. She knew there was something after , but didn’t think she could conceive of what it was like.
    People made their own Heavens and Hells right here on Earth. Both the living and the dead. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t right that Michael’s victims were still suffering. She had to do something to help them.
    She would check her books. She would find a way. But first she had to give herself a safe sanctuary,