“An appointment?” He seemed amused by the idea. “What manner of appointment could you possibly have in the Shadow Lands?”
“The book on Emily and Alys is in the Special Collections department. I had to make an appointment to look at it.”
He frowned. “Why do you need a book? They were your ancestors, weren’t they? Don’t you already know all there is to know about them?”
“We know practically nothing about them. That’s why I need to see the book. Emily’s been trying to make contact with us—she completely ruined the bathroom mirror. We think that the book might be able to help us.”
“You said she’s been ‘trying’ to contact you. You’ve seen her?”
“Yes. We think she might be in trouble, and she’s the only person who can tell Lark and me what we are.”
“Then you had better keep that appointment.” He smiled. “I want to tell you how honored I was that you took me to your place of rest. My own remains are in that very same graveyard. I should have shown you.”
“Why don’t we go now?” I suggested.
He pulled back, brows raised. “Really?”
“Why not? Do you have something else to do?”
“All right.” He stood up and offered me his hand. “Let’s go.”
Instead of interdimensional travel as I’d used the night before, I pulled him along with me outside, so that we could drift over the grounds of Haven Crest. Even though it was dark, I saw the place as it was, regardless of time of day. The grass was still a rich green, and the trees were a riot of greens, golds and reds. Even some of the vines clinging to the brick buildings were shot with crimson. It was beautiful—despite the ugly stage the construction crew had almost completed. They’d put up some temporary fencing around the area as well, I supposed in an effort to keep people from sneaking in.
Was that Officer Olgilvie I saw, standing in the grass beyond the stage? What was he doing here?
“I will be so glad when that bloody concert is over and done with,” Noah remarked. “It’s such a nuisance.”
I turned to him, the policeman forgotten. “There will be so many people here.” I thought about them, all those living, breathing souls ignorantly trespassing on spirit territory. All those wide, gleaming eyes watching Dead Babies perform, catching glimpses of ghosts, glistening in my hand...
“Wren?”
I whipped my head around. “What?”
“You stopped moving.” He was right, we were still. “Is everything all right?”
I laughed. “Daydreaming. Sorry.”
“What about?” he asked.
Before I could stop myself, I blurted, “Eyes. I like eyeballs. I have a collection.”
He didn’t even blink as we started moving again. “I should like to see that—if you would show me.”
Shouldn’t I feel guilty for thinking about plucking the eyes right out of the sockets of the living? Probably, but I didn’t. I didn’t even care if it was because of Halloween or something else. It didn’t matter. Being with Noah mattered. Feeling like I could be my real self with someone and not be judged for it mattered.
But...not even Lark knew about my collection. She’d never seen them. “Maybe I’ll bring them with me someday.”
He didn’t push, and I was glad.
“I used to collect things,” he said. “For the first thirty or forty years of being a ghost I would tuck away little keepsakes—hair from relatives because it was easy to collect. Once I was strong enough to interact with objects, I’d sometimes stash away handkerchiefs—not that I had any need for them.” He laughed. “In the 1950s I became obsessed with collecting teeth.”
I smiled. I loved how relaxed I felt with him. Not anxious like I had been with Kevin. I felt like we were two halves of the same whole—sort of like my connection to Lark, but different. More intense.
We drifted into the cemetery. It was serenely pretty under the moonlight. There was no one here—no teenagers steaming up the windows of parked cars. It was nice.
“I envy you your freedom,” Noah remarked. He was in the lead now, guiding me toward his place of rest. “You can go anywhere you want. You’re not bound by a place or thing.”
“I don’t know why I’m that way,” I replied. “I just am.”
“I didn’t mean any offense, dearest. I think it’s wonderful that you can do all these things. And I’m happy to join you on any journey during which you wish to have my company.”
“We can go anywhere you want within the town. I haven’t tried to go any farther.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. It might be nice to visit the house where I grew up.”
I’d take him there in an instant. “Whenever you want.”
The McCrae crypt stood a little farther ahead. It was dark stone, bright and shadowed by the morning sun. We passed through the door—most ghosts chose to go through a door even though it was no different than a wall. Habit.
Inside the crypt was dark—the sun streaming through small stained glass windows, painting squares of red, yellow and blue on the dusty floor.