He nodded, and tears misted his translucent gaze. “Thia.”
She let out a sob. “Is it really you?” Her parents had died here. If there were ghosts, why not them?
They nodded. “We had to see you,” her mother said. “Just once.”
“How could you leave me?” The words tore from her.
But Melina shook her head. “Not here. We trespassed just to see you. The other specters…It isn’t safe.” She reached out a hand, but dropped it just before she touched the protective ring of flames. “I’m so sorry, baby.” She turned toward Jason. “We should go.” They started to disappear.
“Wait,” Thia begged. She didn’t understand. Why find her, just to abandon her again?
Jason reformed. “There’s a cave not far. It’s spelled against evil spirits. If you could get there, we could be safe. We could talk.”
Thia sniffed. “You want me to leave the fire?”
He nodded. “You can make it. Hurry.”
She wiped her nose on the back of her hand.
Melina solidified again, closer this time. “Thia. Please, baby.”
Thia frowned, trying to make out a possible path. She wanted to believe them, yearned for it. They were different than the specters who had taunted her all morning—not mere tendrils of mist whispering at the edges of her mind, but warm faces she knew almost as well as her own. But if such a cave existed, wouldn’t one of her companions have mentioned it?
“There’s a song,” she said slowly, directing the words to Melina. “Grandma Winnie used to sing it to you when you were little. Do you remember?” It ran through her head now, alongside the memory of her grammy’s gentle caress as she recounted the story, then serenaded a five-year-old Thia in princess pajamas too.
Melina’s answering smile was twinged with sadness. Then she started humming. Her voice was soft, nearly lost in the crackle of fire. But there was no mistaking the melody.
The Beatles, “All You Need Is Love.”
Thia’s breath shuddered. That song didn’t exist in this world; there was no way for a specter to know it.
But then Melina fell silent, spinning toward the dark. “They’re coming.”
Jason cast an uneasy look between them. “We have to go now, if we’re going to make it out.”
Melina’s voice cracked. “I’m sorry. But I’m glad I got to see you again, just once.” She began to flicker out of sight.
“No,” Thia begged. “Wait. Please.” She chewed her lip. “Dess,” she whispered, nudging him with her free hand. “Dess.” He didn’t wake.
“Thia.” Her mother’s voice. It sounded afraid now. “Thia!” A scream echoed somewhere in the black, raising the hairs on Thia’s neck.
She paced the ring’s confines, trying to make out anything beyond. “Mom?” There was only darkness and the echo of her voice against rock. “Dad!” she called, louder.
The fire gave a loud pop, and she jumped. “Hello?”
Nothing. What if she was wrong? What if that really was her parents, and in her skepticism she’d just condemned them to whatever worse fate could befall the dead?
Melina’s whimper finally sounded. “Help me.”
She had to make sure. She’d come right back. She stepped back for momentum, then hurdled over the flame.
Or would have, if a hand on her arm hadn’t yanked her back. She halted mid-flight, careening into a hard chest.
“’Tis not your mother, lass.”
Thran. Thia shoved herself away, and he let her go.
“How do you know?”
