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A knock came. Sharp. Loud.

I jerked my focus away. Shoved the phone under me and clutched the book to my chest as the door opened.

Ghost stepped in, scanned the room, then settled on me.

“Mrs. Reid wants to know if you’d like dinner?”

Dinner.

I just stared at him, unable to answer.

I was numb.

Reeling.

Somewhere in the rest of the house were being set out. Food was being warmed. Life was just continuing while something beneath my feet had just opened.

“Yes.” My voice didn’t sound like mine. “Thank you.”

Ghost watched me for another second.

Too long.

I wondered what he saw. Then he stepped back into the hallway. I stood. Slipped the phone into my pocket. Picked up The Phantom and carried it to the dresser before placing it down. Carefully this time. But it wasn’t mine anymore.

Alaric’s inscription was still inside. His words were still there. So were the Clove Man’s. Both men etched into the pages. One asking me to trust him. The other asking me to look. I stared at it, then turned away. Ghost waited outside.

I brushed my hair. Smoothed my clothes. Hid the tremor in my hands and walked into the hallway. My body followed him toward dinner. My mind didn’t.

It’d already gone someplace else.

Beneath the study.

35

ALARIC

She wouldn’t look at me. I guess the mere fact she sat across from me at the table was a miracle in itself after what had just happened.

But still.

She wouldn’t look at me.

Her attention stayed on her plate.

Cut.

Lift.

Chew.

Swallow.

Every movement careful. Controlled. Like eating required concentration.

Maybe it did.

Mrs. Reid moved quietly around us, collecting dishes that didn’t need collecting. Straightening things that weren’t crooked. She felt it too. The silence. The fucking distance.