SPECIAL PROPER MAGIC: Chapter 7
Chapter Seven: The Empty House
“In all our searching, the only thing we’ve found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.”
—Carl Sagan
“What do we do now?” asked Holly. “Can you call your mum?” she said, looking around at the darkened lane.
“I don’t have a phone. It wasn’t considered ‘a priority,’ to quote my parents.” Adrian sighed.
“Even though I hate cell phones, it sure would be useful right now,” Holly admitted.
“Well, we can just go call at the Clarke house. We can ring my mum from there.” Adrian said simply.
“I guess that’s our only option,” Holly agreed. “What time is it, anyway?”
Adrian looked at his watch. “Three in the afternoon, according to my watch. How can it be dark? We were only at Ghost Lunch for a little while.”
“Yes, but we were in the ghost world, the spirit realm. Time is wonky around ghosts even on the living side of things; they kind of draw you into their time, and if you’re too close to them for too long you kind of are brought into the little pocket world they carry around with them. So a couple of minutes to you might be a whole afternoon, or hours might be just a few moments. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“So we’ve definitely been missing for at least a few hours,” Adrian said apprehensively.
“Assuming that this is even the same day we left,” Holly said. “I don’t know. I’ve never gone this far before.”
Adrian hid his face in his hands for a moment. “My mother is going to murder me.”
