The Ghost Files 2 (The Ghost Files - Book 2) by Apryl Baker Page B

What in the world did I say while delirious? It must have been pretty bad if they’re refusing to let Dan near me. Not that I planned on sitting next to him, anyway. I’m still beyond furious with him.
    “Mattie, how many times now have you seen that thing?” Mr. Malone asks me.
    “Three,” I say and tell him about the previous two, going into as much detail as I remember, Dan throwing things in I hadn’t been aware of, considering I almost died.
    “Wait, wait, wait.” Eli raises a hand to interrupt me. “You’ve only seen this thing when he’s around?” He jerked his hand in Dan’s direction.
    I frown. “It attacked me on the porch and Dan wasn’t here.”
    “Yeah, he was,” Caleb tells me. “He had just pulled into the drive. I remember standing up to see who was here when I heard Eli shouting about demons.”
    Dan crosses his arms over his chest and glares at us all. I can sympathize, he’s had a rough time of it lately dealing with the supernatural. This has to be so hard for him to even sit and talk about. He refused to believe in anything supernatural until he met me. Sometimes, I still wonder if he doesn’t try to logically explain my weirdness.
    “Do you know what kind of demon it is?” I ask Mr. Malone to distract everyone. As mad as I am at Dan, I know what it feels like to be stared at and speculated about. It’s not pleasant.
    “It sounds like a protection demon.”
    Did he really just say protection demon? “Uh, Mr. Malone, isn’t that kind of the exact opposite of the whole evil demonic creature thing?”
    He laughs. “I know it’s hard to wrap your head around, Mattie. There are many different types of demons, all encircling the seven circles of hell. What you’re describing is a third circle demon. It is called up by a summoner to protect someone from something or someone. The person it tries to kill is the thing or person it’s protecting someone else against.”
    “So someone thinks Dan needs protecting from me ?” I ask, both startled and outraged.
    “You got a hell of right hook, Hilda,” Eli pipes in.
    I’m up and twisting, but Caleb catches my fist before it connects with his brother’s face. “Leave off, Elijah. Do you want to get another beat down by a girl?”
    “I didn’t get a beat down to begin with!” he denies hotly.
    “So you don’t have a busted lip and black eye?” Dan scoffs.
    Eli glares at him. “Nobody asked you.”
    “Can we get back to the discussion at hand?” Mr. Malone asks wearily, his face pained. Same look I get from Nancy sometimes.
    “Dan, is there anyone you know who doesn’t want Mattie in your life?” Doc asks.
    Dan frowns and then his face goes cold and bored, his cop look, I call it. Ohhh, Officer Dan does know something and he’s not gonna share. Don’t think so.
    “‘Fess up, Officer Dan,” I tell him. “What don’t you want to say?”
    “I don’t know anyone who wants to hurt Mattie,” he tells us, the same bored tone in his voice he wears on his face.
    “That’s not what he asked.” Eli leans back in his seat, getting comfortable. “He asked if there’s anyone who doesn’t want her around you? Like maybe your new girlfriend?”
    Points to Dan for not breaking the cop face. If you didn’t know him, you wouldn’t have noticed the slight tightening around his eyes to signal he’s mad. Instead of giving Eli the reaction he’s hoping for, Dan mimics the relaxed pose Eli adopted and shakes his head. “Meg and Mattie are friends. She’d never do anything to hurt her.”
    “You didn’t really just say that?” I ask. Not hurt me?
    “Mattie, she didn’t intentionally…”
    “Don’t,” I say softly. “If I never hear her name again, it will be too soon.”
    Dan gives me the same look Mr. Malone had given us all earlier and I am so not in the mood for it. “Look, Officer Dan , if you can’t deal with it, then you can leave right now. I’d be safer without you around, anyway.”
    He flinches, but