“You’re sure?” Jennifer sat on the edge of the pool she haunted, squeezing imaginary water out of her hair. “There’s someone you know that would want to race me?”

  “I haven’t asked them yet, but…” Ever let his attention get tugged away by the lone swimmer, an older but rather fit gentleman, turning and kicking off the end to do yet another freestyle lap. “I’ll be honest: they want someone to be their friend. They’re lonely.”

  Hearing this, Jennifer immediately tuned out. “I’m not swimming to make friends. I’m swimming to be the best.” She snapped her swim cap back on and pulled her goggles on, eyes laser focused on a target Ever couldn’t see. Without so much as a good bye, she leaned forward, falling into the water without disturbing it.

  Noooo, Death moaned. This is a perfect set up. Jennifer wants to be the best swimmer, the whale wants a companion. It couldn’t be any more perfect.

  *I’m not going to lie to a soul just to get them to leave their haunt, Mentor,* Ever said.

  I’m not asking you to lie, Death said. Maybe just… embellish a little bit?

  Ever watched Jennifer lap the older swimmer twice.

  *No, I don’t have to embellish. I just have to tell more of the truth.* He jumped, mimicking a freestyle swimming motion, keeping up with Jennifer.

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  “It’s a whale.”

  “Not in the middle of a lap.”

  “It’s a whale,” Ever repeated, a little more loudly. In reaper form, he had to really force this out to make sure he was heard.

  “What?” Jennifer actually stopped, treading water needlessly. “What’s a whale?”

  The older gentleman swam straight through Jennifer, spitting water out as he turned his head to breathe midstroke.

  “The ghost that’s looking for a friend is a whale,” Ever continued. “I went scuba diving with my girlfriend at the start of the year at Warrnambool. We went and saw a ship wreck and there was the ghost of a whale there. It didn’t have any friends.”

  Jennifer stared at Ever; it was hard to see how she was feeling through her goggles. “A literal whale?”

  “Yes,” Ever replied. “My girlfriend’s a vet and she said that other whales might not have been able to hear its call when it was alive because the frequency was–”

  “Take me to it.”

  Ever blinked. “You mean the whale?”

  “Yeah. Why didn’t you just tell me it was a whale from the start? I love whales.”

  “I wasn’t… I guess I just assumed that you only wanted to race against people.”

  Jennifer shook her head. “‘Don’t assume. It just makes an ass out of you and me.’ That’s something my coach always told me.” She let a rare, wistful smile grace her lips. “I would have never gotten the chance to race a whale while I was alive.”

  “That’s great!” Ever offered his hand to Jennifer. She took it and he pulled her up, higher and higher until the pool she had spent life and death at was just a small rectangle on the ground.

  “I’m going to miss it,” Jennifer said, looking down. “But I’m ready for bigger and better things.”

  “Are you ready?” Ever asked.

  The swimmer nodded, a steely look in her eye. “Let’s go.”