"Yes."
"Run to the passenger seat."Franklin kept his gaze on the mouth of the alley.He trusted Elvin to stop them before they could reach the back door, but he couldn't stop them from exiting the bar and rounding the building.
When he reached the car, Axar was already inside.Good.He climbed in and locked the doors."Can she control you through car walls?"
Axar bit his lower lip."I think so.I only need to hear her voice, though it doesn't work through phones or recordings.She has to be there in person."
Small favors.
Franklin got them moving, turned out of the alley, and onto the road leading out of town without seeing any of Axar's family members."Where's your dad?"
Axar shook his head."Never met him.Or maybe I have, but I have no memory of him.I'm the youngest."
"But he's alive?"
Axar shrugged."I don't know."
Silence fell as Franklin focused on getting them out of town and toward his house."But you'd know if he was a ghost.He'd come to see you?"
"No, I only see shifter ghosts."He huffed.Franklin didn't understand the huff.
"You see shifter ghosts?Does it mean humans don't leave ghosts behind?"He wasn't sure he believed in ghosts.
Axar grimaced."I don't know.I've only ever been able to see shifter ghosts.Mother hates it, which is why--" He snapped his mouth shut.
"Which is why what?"
A head shake.
Part of Franklin wanted to push, but he let it go.For now.
When the house came into view, some tension left him.He had no neighbors close enough to see, and the forest was thick behind the building.
"I want you to stay here tonight."
"For one night?"
For forever, if Franklin had any say, but he suspected Axar would freak if he said it out loud."I have to get back to the bar, but you should be safe here.Don't open the door to anyone, and you'll be fine."
He parked and got out of the car.Axar followed, but he looked uncertain.
"I have a guest room.It's yours for as long as you want it, okay?"
Axar looked to the side of him and nodded--Franklin didn't think it was in response to his statement.
"What's she saying?"
"She wants to go back to the bar."
Franklin frowned."Can she go with me?"
Axar shook his head."No, once they see me, they're bound to me.It's why I have to go where they tell me to go.Otherwise, they'd be able to explore on their own."
"They're bound to you?"Franklin didn't like it.He was the only one who should be bound to Axar.
"They've described it that I'm like a light they see.They're in the dark, but they can see a light in the distance.They travel toward it, and once they reach me, they can see what's around me.They can see more than I do.Like earlier.We were in the murder room, but she saw them coming.But she can't leave me.Or she can, but then she's drifting in complete darkness."
Franklin nodded.Murder room?Did he mean the office, the former card room?He did, right?Franklin needed to talk this through with Elvin."Okay.We can check out the bar when they aren't there."Though, if there had been a body hidden there, they'd have smelled it already.Or maybe not now.She must've been dead for decades, if she died when she disappeared.Someone would've smelled it at some point, so he didn't think they'd find a body at the bar.
