Page 52 of With All My Haunted Heart

I lower my voice, even though Laney is on the other side of the room. “I missed you, by the way,” I say, but instead of the smile I expected, Elle shoots me a worried look. Is that too much? Is it too soon to admit that I miss her when she’s gone? But then I realize that Elle can’t see that we’re alone. “Laney isn’t here. They’re on the other side of the library.”

The mischievous smile that spreads across Elle’s face feels like magic. “Well, in that case.” She leans in close and tilts her face to bring her lips almost to mine. “Why don’t you show me how much you missed me.”

“Bro! The Jens said you made a magic bulletin board!”

I jolt away from Elle before I get the chance to kiss her, and whip my head toward the doorway. Except…there’s no one there. It isn’t until I scan left that I find one of our newest ghosts strolling into the library, coming in through the wall.

Despite keeping her personal errand a secret, Elle did trust me to search for ghosts without her yesterday. I found Colton, the source of the interruption, at Oak Spires University. He died in an alcohol-fueled incident at his fraternity in the mid-aughts that he still insists was both epic and worth it. Despite his decidedly frat bro persona—and sense of humor—he’s a genuinely decent guy, which is why I let him come to the B&B.

“These women are not your bros, Colton. And would it kill you to use the actual doorway?” Harry, a philosophy professor who died in the 1950s, chides the younger ghost as he comes into the room through said doorway.

Colton shrugs. “Probably not, dude. Since I’m already dead and all.”

I hold back a laugh, barely, but when I see the confused look on Elle’s face, I clarify. “Colton and Harry just came in. They’re the ghosts I brought back to the manor yesterday.”

“Are the ghost goggles charged? I’d like to meet them.” Elle turns toward the empty room and offers a polite smile. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you when you arrived yesterday.”

Harry, dressed in his formal teaching attire complete with a tweed jacket, considers Elle. “She can’t hear us?”

“Not yet,” I tell him, and the words double for Elle. I focus on her. “I don’t want to interrupt the charging cycle, but I can draw the sigils on you directly.”

Elle tucks a strand of her gorgeous strawberry blond hair behind one ear. A soft smile brightens her face. “Go for it.”

Though I’ve been able to touch her in brief private moments over the past few days, each time is a thrill. I trace the amplification sigil across her skin, and that simple platonic touch makes me wish we were truly alone. I want to let my hand trail down her neck, let my fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of her neck so I can pull her close and taste those sweet lips.

Instead, I let my hands drop as her eyes glow bright with my magic.

While Elle, Colton, and Harry chat, Laney rejoins me at the table. I double-check that all the crystals are securely glued down, and then turn the antique mirror over. Earlier, I painted the mirror face itself black to serve as a base for the spirit board. Xander found the mirror in the attic this morning, and it looks original to the house. Even with the glass painted black, it fits the overall aesthetic of the B&B.

“Laney, could you try it again? With any luck, the words won’t disappear right away.” I step aside to give them space and watch as they draw their finger across the board, and their scrawled writing makes me suspect Laney was an artist when they were alive.

Testing. Testing. 1 2 3

“Hilarious,” I deadpan, even as a thrill of pride swells in my chest. The first time we did this, the teal-colored writing faded away after a few seconds, but this time, it lingers. “Now, try to erase it. Please.”

“How exactly do I do that?”

“I’m…not sure. Try wiping it away with your hand, like you would with a chalkboard.”

Laney wipes their palm over the letters, and the entirety of the mirror flashes teal before returning to black. “This is seriously cool, Pippa.”

“I want to go next!” Colton pushes his way forward with the unrestrained eagerness of a golden retriever puppy.

Laney smacks his hand, and Colton pouts. “We’re here for eternity. Patience, dude.”

“Everyone will get a chance to try it,” I say, not bothering to hide my smirk. Colton, who I suspect would have come out as pansexual if he’d been a college guy today instead of twenty-plus years ago, is clearly besotted with Laney. And, breaking dumbass-frat-boy stereotypes of his era, he’s never once messed up Laney’s pronouns since he learned them.

Colton leans around Laney and scrawls his finger across the board, leaving behind bright orange lettering.

Boobs

Laney smacks him in the shoulder again. “You are such a Neanderthal.”

“What?” he says, rubbing the place where Laney touched him. “Boobs are great!” He nudges Harry with his elbow. “Come on, man. You gotta back me up here. Boobs were great in the fifties, too, right?”

While the ghosts continue their good-natured bickering, I turn my attention to Elle. “We’ll need to find more antique mirrors so I can make spirit boards for all the common areas, but this is a great start. You were very helpful, thank you.”

“My pleasure.” She draws her lower lip between her teeth. “You know…I think there might be something you could use upstairs.”