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“Love you.” The smile he sent her way didn’t reach his eyes, but she didn’t even seem to notice.
“Bye!” The door swung shut, and as soon as Jason heard this, a mask seemed to fall from his face, and his face became a picture of weariness as he collapsed on the edge of the bed.
He stared blankly at the wall for a long moment, and just when I was wondering if he had drugs in his system, he suddenly bent down and clutched his head in a painfully tight grip.
“I’m sorry.”
And he started to weep.
“God, I’m sorry. And I still miss you, dammit. Why did you have to die?”
I had never seen him cry in all the years we had been together, and knowing that I was the reason behind his tears now had me stumbling to my feet. The sight of him weeping caught me off guard, but I quickly blinked the tears back. I couldn’t cry here. Jason might not be able to hear me, but Hadrian would. He had agreed to wait outside the hallway to ward off any possible ghosts in the area, and it didn’t seem right if Hadrian saw me crying over my ex.
I tried to control my emotions, but the urge to cry just kept growing stronger.
Shit.
And then I was running, rushing blindly through wall after wall after wall until I eventually ended up in the supplies room at the opposite end. The space was cramped and windowless, its lights switched off, but at that moment I found myself welcoming the darkness as tears rushed down my cheeks.
I’m sorry, too, Jason.
I let the tears fall freely, doing nothing to stop them because I knew this was going to be the last time I would ever cry for the man I had used to love.
I HAD JUST LEFT THE supplies closet and was slowly making my way back to Hadrian when I sensed someone watching me from behind, following me.
“Saoirse…”
Fear transformed into full-blown terror when I heard the ghost whisper my name, and I didn’t even think of looking back. I just broke into a run, panic once again getting the better of me, and because I was simply unlucky that way, I accidentally found myself running through a wall-mounted mirror.
Shit, shit, shit.
But it was already too late for me to look away, the mirror not only showing my own reflection but that of the ghost as well.
It was a man in his late twenties and dressed rather formally in a tweed coat with elbow patches. He would’ve looked totally normal…if not for his eyes. They were completely white. Paper white. And they were staring straight at me.
“Saoirse…”
My brain cells kicked into overdrive a violent twitch rocked his body, and I threw myself through the door, screaming Hadrian’s name as I fell hard against the hallway floor.
The next few minutes were a bit of a daze. Hadrian seemed to have reach me with the speed of lighting, asking me what was wrong, but I was too terrified and shaken to say a single word. In the end, Hadrian simply swept me up in his arms, completely indifferent to the bewildered stares he invited when he stepped inside the elevator.
It had me imagining how Hadrian probably looked in their eyes, with his arms weirdly positioned over his body like he was carrying an invisible burden (a.k.a. me), and it almost had me smiling. I probably would have if I hadn’t caught sight of the same ghost standing behind a building post just as Hadrian stepped out to the basement.
My arms instinctively tightened around his neck, and Hadrian tensed. “What is it?”
“I c-can see him again,” I half-stammered.
“Where?” Hadrian demanded.
I pointed a finger to the ghost’s direction, but of course it was already gone.
The drive back was spent in silence, but with Hadrian firmly gripping my hand the whole time, I could feel the fear draining out of me until I was able to breathe a little more easily and think a little less crazily. And as my heartbeat settled back to normal, one thing became clear: I couldn’t let this happen over and over again. This was fast becoming a phobia, and it would cripple me permanently if I didn’t do something about it.
“Hadrian?”
His hand squeezed mine, letting me know without words that he was listening.
“Is there a way for me to fight back, in case a ghost turns violent?”
HADRIAN ASKED ME TO wait in the living room as soon as we were home. A moment later, he returned from his study and knelt down to place a heavy gold coin in my hand. It had strange markings engraved on its surface, and I almost dropped it when I felt the coin vibrate powerfully the moment I ran my fingers over its textured lines.
“It’s a special coin,” Hadrian said tautly.
