Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 135

                ‘Well I’d be regretful too.’ Elle huffs and crosses her arms. ‘And have you noticed they haven’t left the house for a week now.’

                I nod. ‘Yates has gone a full circle. I don’t even think he looks at his notes anymore.’

                ‘Honeymooning,’ Elle nods. ‘I know it well. I can’t tell you how many friends I lost to the honeymoon stage.’ She does the sign of the cross.

                I purse my lips. I’m sure me and Penny must have done that too.

                Elle looks at me, then points an accusing finger. ‘You,’ she says. ‘You’re a honeymooner aren’t you.’

                ‘Not a bad one,’ I plea. ‘We found a balance.’

                Elle raises her eyebrows like she’s working me out, sussing whether I’m a trustworthy source. ‘OK,’ she says slowly. ‘But I’m watching you.’

                She looks out at the hills and forests in front of us. ‘Easton?’ She raises the inflection to make her word a question. ‘I’m bored.’

                ‘I think it’s quite nice here,’ I say, stretching my feet out a little.

                ‘Quite nice? We’ve got all of eternity for ‘quite nice’, how about thrilling, exhilarating, death defying?’

                ‘We’re already dead.’

                ‘Don’t get snippy with me, science boy,’ she warns. ‘Come on, let’s go have an adventure.’

                I make a sound like I’ve just woke up in the morning.

                ‘Come on,’ she says, elongating the words. She grips the arm of my chair and shakes it. ‘Play – with – me.’

                I sigh. ‘I was getting used to the quiet life.’ I sit up, stretching my back out. ‘Where do you want to go? Mount Vesuvius? The Moon?’

                ‘Now, I won’t be taking cheek,’ she says.

                ‘You get itchy feet don’t you,’ I say, smiling.

                ‘I can’t help it,’ she replies. ‘I spent my life sitting in hospital rooms. I never had sex, never got a tattoo, nothing. Best I ever got was dying my hair pink, then that fell out. You can’t imagine how happy I was when I woke up dead and saw my reflection.’

                I look at my best friend, rocking with the excitement to move. ‘Want to solve a crime?’

                ‘Ooh,’ she says, leaning back, a hand in the middle of her chest. ‘Easton, you entice me.’

                ‘Well I’ve been thinking for a few months now, we have powers. Superpowers you might say. Why not use them to do some good? Like we did with Yates’s step-dad?’

                ‘You’d better not be asking me to be your sidekick,’ she says. ‘Because that’s just not happening.’