Page 210 of Love at First Fright

Vivian winked at me. “Farewell, darling. You were a magnificent audience.”

They disappeared in a shimmer of light.

Molly and Thomas approached their end together, fingers intertwined. Molly turned back, gave us a little wave with her free hand.

“It’s been a pleasure to serve you,” she called.

Then they were gone too.

Edmund followed. Then the rest. One by one, the ghosts of Grimthorne Manor stepped through invisible doorways and ceased to exist.

Until only Bat remained.

Just him and me in a basement full of corpses and broken things.

Those brown eyes found mine, and the weight of what was coming crashed over me like a wave.

“You’re covered in spiderwebs,” he said, running one hand through my hair.

“Never mind that.” I could barely speak around the lump in my throat. “Can you see a door?” The question came out as a whisper. I already knew the answer. Could see it written across his pale face.

“Yes.” His voice matched mine. Small. Broken.

The word hung between us.

“You have to go, then.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“You have to.”

Bat drifted closer. The air between us grew colder with each inch he travelled. I could see the pillar through his chest, the outline of Harrison’s body through his legs.

Above us, the house creaked and settled. Adjusting to the absence of its ghosts. To the silence where their voices had been for centuries.

Bat flickered. He raised his hand toward my face.

I held my breath.

His fingers found me. Just barely. Ephemeral and cool but there—gossamer-thin contact that sent goosebumps racing down my arms.

He adjusted my glasses with infinite care, straightening them on the bridge of my nose. His thumb traced along my cheekbone. Light as dust motes. Delicate as that moment in the attic when I’d first played his guitar and felt something touch me in the dark.

“Promise me, Charlie,” he said. “Promise me you’re going to leave here and live.”

“Bat—”

“Quit ExorSquad. Go back and finish your music degree.” His thumb continued its gentle path across my skin. “You’re brilliant, Charlie. You deserve more than being bashed about by ghosts for minimum wage. You deserve everything you truly want.”

My throat closed. I nodded because words wouldn’t come.

“Play my guitar, every day.” His hand dropped away, leaving cold absence. “Think of me when you do.”

The tears came then. Hot and fast, spilling down my cheeks before I could stop them. I tried to swipe them away, but they just kept coming, blurring my vision until Bat became nothing but a pale shimmer through saltwater.

He reached up again. His translucent fingers caught my tears, wiping them away with the tenderness of someone memorizing every feature of my face.

“I’ll carry you in my heart,” I whispered. “Always.”