Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

Wallace’s eyes bulged as he looked around the empty tea shop wildly.
“Um,” he said. “Hello? Where … where did you go?”
“Boo,” a voice whispered in his ear.
Wallace didn’t so much scream as squeak. He almost fell over as he
turned around. Nelson stood behind him, arching a bushy white eyebrow.
“How did you do that?”
“I’m a ghost,” Nelson said dryly. “I can do almost anything.” He raised
the cane as if to strike Wallace again. Wallace reared back. “That’s better.
Enough with this nonsense. You may not like being here, but that doesn’t
mean you can make the rest of us suffer because of it. Either keep your mouth
closed or come with me.”
“Why would I go anywhere with you?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Nelson said. “Maybe because I’m the only other
human ghost here besides you? Maybe because I’ve been dead far longer than
you have, and therefore know much more than you? Or maybe, just maybe,
because I don’t sleep either and it would be nice to have someone to stay up
with? Pick one, boy, or don’t pick anything at all, so long as you stop this
infernal racket before I show you the end of my cane again.”
“Why would you want to help me?”
Nelson’s eyebrows rose on his forehead. “You think this is about you?”
He scoffed. “It’s not. I’m helping my grandson. And don’t you forget it.” He
pushed by Wallace and shuffled down the hall toward the front of the house,
the little ears on his rabbit slippers flopping around. “About you,” he
muttered. “Bah.”
Wallace stared after him. He thought about picking right up where he’d
left off, but the threat of the cane wasn’t pleasant. He hurried after the old
man.
Nelson went back to his chair in front of the fire, grunting as he sat down.
Apollo was lying on his side in front of the fire, chest rising and falling
slowly. Someone had cleaned up the glass from the bulb that had shattered
earlier, and the lights from the sconces were dimmed.
“Pull up a chair,” Nelson said without looking at him.
Wallace sighed, but did as he was asked.
At least he tried to.
He went to the table closest to him and reached for one of the overturned
chairs. He frowned when his hand went through the chair leg. He breathed