Page 99 of If I Stopped Haunting You

“We need to get Neil to a hospital,” Daniela said, rounding the table.

“What about the snow? We still haven’t heard back from Fanny,” Laszlo said, scratching his neck as he turned to Pen and Neil.

“I’m okay for now, really,” Neil insisted.

“You’re not okay,” Pen said.

“Well, I can’t drive those roads with the ice. And the car won’t start; I already tried. I don’t know how icy it is, or if we can get someone out here—”

“Keep trying Fanny,” Pen said. “I think Neil has a concussion, and he shouldn’t have followed me out into the snow.”

“I’m fine.”

“On it,” Laszlo said.

Neil grabbed Pen’s hands, ignoring her protests. Scrunching up his nose, he pulled Pen with him through the kitchen and down the corridor, pace quickening as he hurried toward the foyer.

“Where are you going?” Laszlo called after them.

“To figure this out!” Neil responded.

“Neil,” Pen said as she tugged him to a stop at the base of the stairs. “Neil, I’m not joking. You’re injured. And we don’t know what we’re doing. These areghosts. We don’t even know how any of this works!”

“Georgina won’t leave us alone. She pushed me and I hit my head. No, don’t look at me like that. Okay, fine, whatever. I’ll get it looked at later. Ghosts, whether they can physically touch us or not, can make you see things, make you think things, and make youdothings. We have to help Georgina and Archie do… whatever it is they need to do before it’s too late for us all.”

Pen’s eyes caught on something over his shoulder, and her pulse faltered at the horrific sight behind him.

“Neil.”

“Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“Neil.”

She grabbed his shoulders and turned him toward the portrait of Georgina. Black gunk seeped out of the canvas, dripping down and splattering to the floor. The woman in the portrait was practically unrecognizable. The black liquid bled from her eyes and mouth, trailing over the material, staining it.

“Oh, I do not like that,” Pen said. “Now this isreallysome real Dorian Gray shit, and I am not comfortable with the level of creeps that portrait is giving me.”

“If Daniela and Laszlo don’t see this, I’m gonna be pissed.”

Georgina was not going to stop. Things were only escalating, and sooner rather than later, somebody was going to get seriously hurt. Pen threaded her fingers with Neil’s, squeezing.

“Okay, if we do this, if we go up there to Georgina’s room, can you promise me something? Promise me you’ll be careful.”

He looked at her for a dreadfully long moment. “I promise.”

“Okay, then up to our deaths we go.”

Neil blanched. “No need to be so dark about it.”

He started up the steps, her hand still clasped tight in his.

It shouldn’t have been possible; none of it should have been possible. The ghosts, the castle, even she and Neil. Pen sprinted up the stairs behind him, her heart thundering.

She was quickly learning nothing was impossible here.

Chapter 30

NEIL