Ben stood up by my head and held my hand. He kept playing with my hair, too, and massaging my scalp. I felt like a cat, rubbing my head into his hand. It was awesome. I hadn’t felt so relaxed in forever, though that might have been the drugs. They gave me something to make sure I got plenty of rest.
Kevin stood near Wren. Every once in a while, when he thought no one would notice, I caught him looking at her. He could see her, I knew he could. He could see her as clearly as I could. Whatever Noah had done to him, it had made his abilities as a medium stronger.
I watched as he slowly reached out and laced his fingers with hers. My breath caught when she turned her head to look at him. I had no idea how it could ever possibly work between the two of them, but they’d figure it out.
Mace stayed down at the bottom of the bed, but every few minutes he’d tickle my feet to make sure I wasn’t drifting off. He stopped once I kicked him. He smiled at me.
“Olgilvie’s locked up,” he told me. “They found some of Laura’s things in his apartment.”
“Creep,” I muttered. “At least we don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“Oh, hey,” Roxi said, whipping out her phone. “I took a picture of you at the concert when you were all, like, Death Goddess. Where is it?” I watched as she swiped through the millions of photos on her phone. Wren made a noise when she paused at one of Wren and Noah at Kevin’s party. Roxi didn’t notice and thankfully kept swiping until she found the right one. “There. Look.”
Wren leaned in closer. On the screen was a girl who could have been either one of us, but she looked super bad-ass confident. Half of her hair was white and the other half red—just like what I’d read online about the Melinoe myth. She was dressed in a leather suit that looked like something Catwoman would wear.
“That’s me?” we chorused. And then we looked at each other. It was at that moment that I realized she really was my other half. Not in a weird way, because I knew who I was, and what I was. But it was nice knowing that no matter what, Wren would always be with me.
“We have to help Emily,” I said. “And Alys.”
Wren nodded.
“Emily? Alys?” Ben looked down at me. “You’re not talking about more ghost stuff, are you? Lark, you’re in the hospital.”
I smiled and gave his hand a shake. “It’s not anything big. Besides, the only ghost I want to see for a while is my sister.”
“As if you had any choice,” Wren chirped.
A nurse came by with a bouquet of flowers. I already had one from Ben and one from Nan. “Who sent those?” I asked. They were gorgeous—white and red roses. I really hoped they weren’t from my parents.
Gage, who had taken the vase from the nurse, set them on the bedside table and opened the card.
“‘J.B.—thanks for reminding me what it’s like to be alive. You rock. Love, Joe.’”
We all exchanged glances.
“Joe?” Mace asked. “As in Joe Hard?”
“How is that even possible?” That was Roxi as she snatched the card from her boyfriend’s hand. “Oh, my God. It really does say that.”
Gage frowned at her. “Yeah—I didn’t make it up.”
She kissed him. “I know. I’m sorry.” That’s all it took to make Gage happy-smiley again.
I stared at the flowers. “How did he do that?” I wondered out loud. “He moved on. I saw him do it.” How would he even place an order for flowers? Online? My head hurt just thinking about it.
Ben squeezed my hand. “How about you don’t wonder how and just appreciate that he did?”
I smiled at him. “There you go being all wise and stuff.” But he was right. It really didn’t matter how Joe had done it. What mattered was that he had, and that Wren and I had helped him get back to Laura. That was all that mattered.
My friends stayed a little while longer but left when I started yawning. Ben gave me a kiss and told me to call him when I got home the next day. Since it was Saturday, he could come over and baby me if I wanted. Maybe watch a movie and get me caught up on homework.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, and pulled him in for another kiss.
When everyone was gone, it was just me and Wren. She wandered over to Joe’s roses and gave them a sniff. “Do you think it’s a coincidence that they’re red and white?”
I laughed. “No. Not at all.”
Smiling, she skipped back to the bed. “Are you tired?”
I nodded, yawning as if on cue. “I am, yeah.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
I shook my head. “No.” I patted the bed. “Crawl in. There’s room.”
She immediately slipped under the blanket, sliding in so that she faced me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “About Noah. About everything.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to make it up to you.”
I looked her in the eye. “There’s nothing to make up. You thought he liked you, and you turned the tables on him in the end. Just think, if you hadn’t met him, we wouldn’t know what we are, and Emily would still be his prisoner. Who knows what he would have gotten up to on Halloween if not for us? And we freed all those ghosts.” I yawned as sleep came knocking. “We’re rock stars.”