“Thanks, Mr. Harry.”
Turning, I went toward the staircase to go to my bedroom. Halfway up, I found my brother sitting on a stair waiting for me.
“Hey,” he said softly.
With a sigh, I took the last couple of steps to his side and sat down next to him. “Hi.”
He licked his lips, and I bit back a smile. That was an old habit of his when he was nervous, but I knew it was anunnecessary gesture in his ghostly form. I guess old habits really did die hard.
Ugh.I hated that my brother was gone. Well, here in this place, because of Chance, he was still here for me to see, but he wasn’t alive, and that just sucked.
“So youaremad at me.”
It sounded more like a statement this time than a question, and I wondered if he’d asked it while I’d been in my head thinking about his death. “I’m really not. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
I didn’t know why I didn’t just confess to studying for my GED. He’d be so proud of me, but I just…couldn’t. I worried that my not finishing high school would be just another thing he blamed himself for. Like he didn’t sacrifice everything, including his life, for me.
I was comfortable with Lysandro being the only one who knew. Of course, that hadn’t meant as much lately since he kept disappearing from the library. When I tried asking where he’d been, he was all mysterious about it, so I stopped asking. So much for making my own friend outside of the house.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Stevie asked.
I shook my head, wishing I could lean into my brother but knowing it was impossible. He’d materialize further to give me a hug, but it zapped too much of his energy. “Not yet, but when I’m ready, you’ll be the first to know.”
We sat quietly for a few minutes before he whispered, “Do you want to leave the manor?”
I jumped, startled. “No. Never. Why would you even ask that?” Maybe that wasn’t quite true. I didn’t plan to live at the manor itself forever, did I? “Willowhope is my home, and I plan to stay here.” There, that was an honest statement.
Stevie stared at me intently. “Are you sure? Because if you’re only staying because we can see each other and speak here,then I can cross over. I don’t want to stop you from living your life. You never expected to live in a small beach town, so I understand if this isn’t for you. I don’t want to hold you back.”
Scared that he was insinuating something else—like maybe he never expected to haunt a small beach town in his death—I bit my bottom lip.
Summoning all my courage, I asked the one question I’d been too afraid to speak since I first found out that Chance had the ability to help spirits pass on to whatever was next. “Do you want to cross over?” I forced myself to stare him straight in the eyes. “Because if that’s what you want?—”
He scoffed. “Are you kidding? I love it here.”
“But don’t you get bored?” Maybe not so much since Trixie was around, but how long could they really roam the property talking before it got old?
He snickered. “Not really. Those older spirits out at the pond are full of stories. Listening to them is better than any TV show I’ve ever watched or book I’ve ever read. You should come hang out with us more.”
“Oh, I…” Trailing off, I bit my lip again. It was so hard knowing what to confess and what to keep to myself. I didn’t want my brother to feel bound to me, but I also didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and based on his behavior at dinner, I was doing exactly that.
A slight pressure on my leg drew my attention to where Stevie had settled his palm on my knee. “Tell me.”
“Everything’s been about me for so long. You died for me, and then you stayed around to watch over me, still trying to keep me safe even though you were gone. I don’t know. I guess I just thought maybe the pond was your space. Somewhere for you to go where it could just be about you for a change.”
His frown transformed into a soft smile. “You’re such a dumbass. I don’t think twice about following you around insidethe manor. We’re brothers, and I want to spend as much time with you as I can. It would be nice for you to get to know the pond spirits. They’re kinda becoming like, uh, well?—”
“Family,” I said with sudden realization. “They’re becoming family to you.”
He nodded shyly. “They are. It’s kinda nice being a young one out there. It’s like Trixie and I were adopted by a whole group of grandparents and aunts and uncles, and then there’s Harry. He’s like the old crochety great-grandfather of the bunch. He cracks me up.”
My heart lightened as he spoke. I knew exactly what he was trying to say. The same way I felt chosen by Chance, Jetty, Sky, King, and their families, that was the same feeling he had out at the pond. It wasn’t that Harry and Buck didn’t count as family for me, or that this family I’d found didn’t count for him, but he’d found people—his people—who dwelled in the same realm as him, and they’d given him something special. Sacred.
I grinned. “It sounds like I need to get out there more. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to be a burden. Who wants their annoying little brother around all the time, right?” I joked.
Exerting more energy, Stevie gripped my hand in his, and I almost cried with relief at the contact. “You’ve never been a burden.”
I knew he meant that, so we stayed on the stairs for another hour. I peppered him with questions about this afterlife he was living on the property, and he shared funny stories about the things they got up to out there. Apparently, they played pranks on each other, too, like he and Buck did on the guests who booked rooms here at the manor. Who’d have thought?
