“You aren’t as funny as you think you are!” Kasper yelled at Rima, stalking her across the room. “Once I overheard you memorizing puns in the bathroom!”
Leah had followed them downstairs more sedately, with Claudia balanced on one hip. She interjected, “He’s right. You said that even your mum never used to laugh at your jokes, Rima.”
“All of my jokes,” Rima corrected. “I said all of my jokes. And I told you that in confidence, Leah! If you keep this up, I’m gonna stop being best friends with you.”
“When?” Leah asked, longingly.
Rima gasped, insulted, her hand flying to the Best Friends Forever locket around her neck. It was in the shape of half a heart. She’d traded another ghost for the two necklaces years ago on the black market and given the other half of the heart to Leah. Felix had never seen Leah wear it, but he’d also never seen her get rid of it. He suspected that it was hidden inside one of the pockets in her shift dress.
On more than one occasion, Felix had entertained private imaginings about giving Kasper a locket, too – or better yet, being given one by Kasper himself. The daydream was buried very deeply in his brain though, where it was going to stay until the moment he disintegrated. There were some things the world didn’t need to know.
Kasper was still stalking Rima across the entrance hall. She twisted into a bat and flew up to a ceiling light. She bared sharp, vampiric teeth at Kasper, hissing.
“You set the image of paranormal creatures back by thirty years when you do that,” Felix observed. “Stop being such a stereotype. You’re a ghost, not a vampire.”
Rima turned back into a human, dangling from the light. “Don’t be such a buzzkill, Felix! You don’t have to be a vampire to turn into a bat, just like you don’t need to be a werewolf to howl at the moon!”
Kasper yanked his shirt over his head and started flicking it at the light fixture. “Get down here Hamid, this is cheating!”
Two girls were coming down the stairs, but they stopped when they saw the play-fight going on. A flush crept up Felix’s neck. He knew the other ghosts thought he and his friends were slightly ridiculous. The girls usually spent all their time looking out of the windows at passing humans, so they could spread the news of the latest fashion trends around Mulcture Hall. They’d never mess around like Rima and Kasper were doing.
“What are you fighting about, anyway?” Felix asked, seizing the chance to talk while nobody was yelling. Having a conversation with them was like herding cats – they tended to scatter.
“Well, Harriet and I came up with this theory earlier that I’m the funny one of the group,” Rima explained to him, making a little grateful curtsey in Harriet’s direction. “I was telling Leah about it, and Kasper said he reckons he’s the charming one, which is bull! The only thing he could charm is a damp dishcloth.”
“Well, we all know it’s not Leah,” Kasper said. He was rubbing at the back of his head, fluffing up his hair in such a cute way that Felix felt furious about it.
“How dare you?” Leah said, serenely. “I have charisma. If I really tried, I’d have you all blushing, stuttering and buying me flowers within the hour.”
“Oh, sure!” Kasper spluttered. “You decide, Felix. Who’s the hottest, me or her? You’re the clever one, after all.”
Felix felt like he’d been punched in the chest. Kasper thought he was the clever one? “I, er … well—”
“Sure, she’s cute in an anaemic, gothic sort of way. But how can anyone beat me?” Kasper fluttered his eyelashes.
“If anyone is the charming one, it’s Harriet,” Felix said.
Kasper nodded in an “I’ll allow it” gesture. “I suppose Harriet is a more worthy opponent for the title.”
Harriet, who looked a bit overwhelmed by them all, raised her eyebrows. “I’m clearly the famous one who leaves halfway through Season Three. It’s only a matter of time before Hollywood discovers me. I’m ‘pre-famous’.”
Felix laughed. Harriet was funny, when she let herself relax enough to joke around.
Harriet looked both surprised and gratified. She smiled down at her lap.
“There’s more dust in this building than common sense,” Leah muttered as she sat down next to Felix, yawning. “Can you take Claudia for a while?”
Felix swung the baby over his hip in one well-practised movement. He’d been babysitting Claudia – and, before that, his older sister’s daughter – for years. The baby dropped her head onto his shoulder, letting out a small noise of contentment. She always smelt the same. Warm and milky, with a hint of honey. He kissed the end of her button nose. She giggled.
“Hey, Leah?” Harriet asked. “What’s your power?” Her voice was casual, but Felix could see the intensity in her eyes. Her obsession with powers was back again. Did she ever think about anything else?
Felix pretended not to be listening, leaning forward like he was scrutinizing Kasper, who still hadn’t put his shirt back on.
“I can see through time. Sometimes,” Leah told her. Felix was surprised. It had taken nearly a decade for Leah to tell them that much. In fact, Felix was sure that she’d told Rima she didn’t have a power. Rima had believed that for the first few years of their friendship.
Harriet’s eyes widened. “Wait, really? You can see the future?”
“And the past.”
“That’s amazing! Do you think you could find out what my power is? Knowing what to aim for might help me to manifest it more quickly!” Harriet was speaking faster and faster in excitement. When they’d all been messing around, she’d just stared down at her lap – even when she was joining in with the jokes. But now she was genuinely joyful. She was a mystery.
“Can you look into the future for me?” she asked Leah.
Felix scowled at the ground. What right did she have to ask Leah for a favour? They’d only spoken once.
Leah sighed. “I don’t look into the future. Not any more. It takes too much energy. I can’t sustain it these days. I used to be able to change things in the future sometimes whenever I used my power. Now I can’t even look.”
This was news to Felix. He’d thought she’d only had visions, not the ability to manipulate things through time.
“Wait, so you can actually change the future?” Harriet asked, eyes wide. “Could you get my gran to – I don’t know – come here with the police or something?”
“It doesn’t really work like that, even if I did have the energy. I could never control it that carefully. And these days I can barely see five minutes from now. Sorry, kid.”
There was a tension-filled silence. Eventually, Harriet nodded. “No problem.” It was clear from her voice that this was indeed a problem.
Felix’s heart-rate accelerated. These new social dynamics weren’t doing great things for his anxiety.
In answer, Leah turned away from them all, and lay down. Clearly this conversation was over.
“I don’t think Leah likes me,” Harriet whispered to him. Felix wished he could pretend to be asleep too.
He shook his head, letting Claudia tug at his hair. He didn’t want to get involved in another tense conversation with Harriet. Once was enough for one day.