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It just happened,
I had probably passed out.
I think I did.
I must've really, since the next thing I knew, I was once again falling over the edge...and into the abyss of another nightmare.
I DREAMT OF SHADOWS multiplying in the darkness. They were restless now, no longer content to simply watch and bide their time. This time, I could hear them, but their cries were distorted. Almost...inhuman.
But even so, it was as if I was on the brink of grasping what they wanted to say.
There was something about them...and something about me...that tied us together.
A bond that was new and timeless all at once—-
Just something there, dammit.
Something—-
But the truth eluded me, reality hauled my soul back into my body, and I woke up, heart once again threatening to bulldoze its way out of my chest, and another silent scream trapped inside my throat.
I shot up to a sitting position, my fingers fumbling in the darkness until I could turn the bedlight on.
The other half of the bed was empty, and the unexpected sight stunned me enough into unthinkingly calling his name out. "Hadrian?"
Only silence answered me back, and I would've felt rather abandoned if not for the sight of my clothes, all neatly folded on the bedside table, and with a Post-It note on top of it.
Emergency at work. Stay in bed. I'll be back in time for lunch.
Text me when you're up.
His mobile number was scrawled below the message, along with his signature, which seemed to be in Greek. After wriggling back into my dress and shoving my undies into my bag, I was about to tiptoe out of the bedroom when my glance absently fell on the bedside clock—-
Shit.
The time read...3:15.
Something cold skittered down my spine, and it reminded me of the time Nana had first revealed herself to be a ghost. With my knees feeling like they were about to give out any second, I sat back down on Hadrian's bed and and focused on taking quick, deep gulps of breath.
Whatever this could mean, panic will only make things worse, so calm down, and think things through.
I rifled through my bag until I found my iPhone, and I couldn't keep my fingers from trembling as I pulled up a new browser and hit Google with a search term.
3:15 time occult
The page reloaded with its first page of results, and I hastily skimmed the headlines until I found what I was looking for, and it was a whole lot worse than I ever imagined.
3:15...was called the witching hour.
Also known as the time when that guy from Amityville murdered his entire family—-
As well as that time of the day where demons were at their strongest and most powerful.
I called out to Mary Priscilla in a trembling voice even as a part of me appreciated the irony in seeking help and comfort from an eight-year-old ghost. "Mary Priscilla?" I waited anxiously for her ghostly form to reappear, but nothing happened.
She had told me before that she could haunt any place she wanted, but maybe there were some other rules she had forgotten to tell me, and it prevented her from crossing to Hadrian's apartment?
After sending Hadrian a quick text, I hastily left his apartment to get back into mine—-
"Saoirse!"
"AAAAH!"
I had already made a symbol of the cross with my fingers by the time I realized it was just Mary Priscilla floating in front of me.
Well, shit.
Letting myself still be scared out of my wits by the very ghost I was babysitting was like being caught in public with my pants down, and I glowered at the little girl in an attempt to hide my mortification. "Didn't you hear me calling for you from the other apartment—-" I broke off when I saw the terrified look on the girl's face.
"Y-You w-were in 13A?"
I had never heard Mary Priscilla's voice shake like this. "What is it—-"
"I asked about him like you told me..."
I froze.
"And everyone said..."
I almost didn't want to hear what Mary Priscilla had to say.
"They couldn't even see him."
Mary Priscilla's voice wobbled.
"I couldn't see him either."
And I started feeling cold all over.
"I think he's the Man in Black, Saoirse."
Chapter Eight
Twenty minutes and one cab ride later, and I was seated in front of Nana in Roger Hills' cafeteria, pretending to be in a phone call while I spilled my guts out to the oldest haunting ghost I knew. She had looked sick with fear when I told her about how I might've crossed paths with the Man in Black, but this had instantly turned into horrified dismay when I told her how I might also have had sex with him.
"You did what?"
It was a good thing the average human couldn't hear ghosts, or the few other people around us would've thought I had just told Nana I killed her pet poodle or something.
