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I strip off my clothes and fold them neatly, placing them on the shelves by my bed and pull on my pyjamas instead. I don't own much, just a few sets of clothing and a couple of books. Nothing of any particular interest other than it belongs to me.
Now I'm back home, it's better to be comfortable.
"Did you hear, Syxe?" Annalise says.
I turn around, surprised she's talking to me.
"No. What happened?"
"They're planning on organising our Shadow Oath next month," she says, excitement coming through her voice.
"That's good," I say flatly. I'm mostly filled with dread over the idea. Once I've sworn the oath, I'm sure I'll never be able to leave.
Which means I have to figure a way out of here in the next couple of weeks or face being trapped here forever.
Chapter Two
The streets are almost empty this early in the morning. But this is the earliest I've been able to get out of the house after a restless night. I hate the idea of taking the Shadow Oath, and the more I think about it, the more certain I become that it's not the right thing for me to do.
But refusing isn't really an option either. I don't think anyone ever has. At least not anyone I've ever heard of.
I push the thought to the side, worried about where it will take me. I'm going to have to figure it out. Very few of the over eighteen at the house look particularly happy with their lives, and I don't want to become one of that number.
Not that I know how to stop that happening. I feel like I'm stuck, but I don't know why.
I glance up, surprised to find I've come to the same spot where I saw Agatha yesterday. I'm not sure why I'm back here when there was nothing I could do to help her before, but the word reaper has been running around my head since I got into bed last night.
What am I thinking in coming here? A ghost isn't going to give me any answers. None of them have ever done anything helpful before, but maybe this time is different.
I glance around, trying to find the telltale signs of a ghostly presence. This is the first time I've actively looked for one. Most of the time I try to avoid making any kind of contact with them so I don't have to engage in frustrating conversations.
There's nothing. I'm not sure where Agatha or any of the others I have gone. Normally I can spot ghosts wherever I am, I've never had a problem with not being able to find them.
An old abandoned building on my left beckons to me for unknown reasons. I don't question the feeling too closely and follow my instinct to go inside. I'm not sure what's making me so reckless today. Maybe it's the impending Shadow Oath and the thought that I'll never be able to get free from whatever the people in the Association have over me. I truly wish I knew what it is.
A broken floorboard creaks as I step on it and enter. Things rattle all over the house, making it clear that it's in a truly awful state of repair. The rooms don't have any furnishings, which suggests it wasn't abandoned by people who were actually living here at the time.
"Hello?" I call out.
Unsurprisingly, no one responds. I'm not sure what's happened to all of the ghosts around here, but they're definitely gone.
A door slams behind me and I jump out of my skin. Maybe I should give up on the idea of sleuthing around and trying to uncover things myself. I'm clearly not good at it.
But I want to find Agatha and find out what she knows. It almost seems as if she knows things about me that could help me understand my past. And make decisions about my future.
I side-eye the stairs, not entirely sure whether or not I trust them to hold my weight when I go up them. It's not like I'm particularly heavy or anything, but they don't look stable enough to have anyone go up them.
I push aside a curtain covering a doorway, sending plumes of dust into the air. Some of it gets caught in my throat and I have to cough a few times to clear it.
"Hello, Syxe. I wondered when you'd be back," Agatha says from behind me.
I spin around.
She floats a few feet away, looking the same as she did before.
"This used to be my house, you know? My children cleared it out after I died. But they missed something."
"Is that why you're still here?" I'm not sure what makes me ask the question, but it feels right to.
