Carnal

Chapter Three - Aren't We All

Ella's P.O.V.

I'm an idiot.

I couldn't believe that I had made arrangements to go across Germany with men I didn't know to hunt ghosts.

Zak made it abundantly clear how he felt about this by staring at me blankly after I had finished explaining myself.

'You're supposed to be the smart one between the two of us,' he signed. 'Where is your common sense?'

I just shrugged.

I didn't have a defense for myself. What I had done was stupid, but I didn't want to back out of it.

As much as the situation made no sense to me, there was a nagging tug in the pit of my stomach that urged me to commit to going with the strangers and find my grandfather.

'What are you going to do about school?' Zak asked me. 'The "my grandfather's dead" excuse will only work for so long until you start to get behind on your work.'

I sighed. He had a point.

'Thanksgiving break is about to start,' I signed. 'That will at least buy me a week.'

Zak just shook his head.

'You don't know these men,' he reminded me for the umpteenth time. 'This isn't safe.'

Before I could respond I heard the front door open downstairs.

'Not a word to Mom and Dad.'

Zak raised an eyebrow.

'How do you plan on telling them that you're leaving?' He asked.

'I'm working on it,' I signed.

I opened the bedroom door and walked downstairs.

As I walked down the stairs, my mom passed me on the staircase, still teary-eyed. I walked over to my dad, who sat down at the dinner table and was looking through a packet of information.

"What is that?" I asked him.

He drew in a breath and laid the pamphlets down on the table before taking off his glasses.

"Just a few things the police thought we should be aware of if we wanted to press charges against the mortuary."

Just before I could say anything about the fact that I was leaving the next day, my father interrupted me.

"I think it would be best if you and Zak went home tomorrow."

My eyes widened.

Well, that was easy.

I fumbled over my words as I struggled to figure out what to say next.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

He ran a hand through his gray, thinning hair.

"This sounds like it's going to be a long, drawn out process. You and Zak can't do anything to help, so I think it would be best if you let Mom and I deal with this. I'm sure you can spend Thanksgiving with your college friends, right?"

"Um, yeah, I have a few people I could call," I said, nodding slowly.

All the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in my mind as I formulated a plan.

"I'll go book our plane tickets now," I said, backing away.

I turned and went up the stairs to Zak's room.

I opened his bedroom door to see him sitting down on his bed with his laptop in front of him.

'You're not going to believe this,' I signed. 'Dad wants us to go home.'