“A ghost.” I don’t know what else to say. How can he know? There’s no way he can know. Aiden nods, looking very serious.

“I have reason to believe that there is a ghost in Ketterbridge. I know it sounds insane, but it’s true. I’ve been trying to track it down since I got back. With limited success, but I’ve already got step one down: I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out who it is.”

“Oh,” I say. “Oh.”

“Jamie, when you said you didn’t believe in magic-”

“I - maybe wasn’t being totally honest,” I admit, immediately. It’s clear to me now that Aiden isn’t going to judge me for this particular fact. In fact, it seems like he already knows what’s going on. “I think it’s clear you’re something magic. I saw what happened to your eyes last night. What are you? Can I guess?”

“I feel like that has the potential to be embarrassing for both of us, so no. Let’s just say… when I told you I came back to Ketterbridge to make things right, I did mean that. There are some people for whom that means a direct apology. Like you, of course, and… Melanie, eventually. When I stop being a coward about it. I would have been a coward about apologizing to you, too, but my aunt accidentally prevented that by asking you to get me from the airport. Once I saw you, I knew I couldn’t put it off. I hated the idea of you thinking I’m still who I used to be, I guess. Honestly, it’s bothered me for a long time.” He folds his hands around his coffee cup again. Glossy strands of his brown hair escape his hat, fall over his eyebrows. I want to reach out and tuck them away again. “I’m getting off track,” he says. “I - I wanted to come back and make things better in Ketterbridge. For everyone. I do have certain - um, natural abilities that make it possible for me to do that. I should have been doing it this whole time, but I was too busy trying to run away from - well, everything.”

No one has ever been able to leave me at a loss for words like Aiden Callahan. Normally I can’t shut up. Right now I can’t find a single thing to say.

“The problem is,” he continues, “I’m kind of - fucking terrible at it. I haven’t used any of these abilities since I was like, seven years old. Not even once. At least, not on purpose. Sometimes things happen without my intending them to. Like the dream you’ve been having. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t even know that I did that until you explained it to me.”

“The dream? The one with the tree?”

“Yes.”

I stare at him.

“But… what…”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” he quickly explains. “I think it happened while we were looking at the photos. My abilities are tied to my emotions, and if I’m feeling a lot, things just, um. Happen.”

My head is spinning.

“You still haven’t told me what you are, Aiden.”

He nods slowly.

“Maybe we can - come back to that later.” He looks so awkward and nervous, his eyes unable to stay on my face for more than a few seconds, his fingers fidgeting around his spoon. “The point is, since I fucking suck at - well-”

“Magic?”

“Fine, for now, let’s call it that. I’m terrible at it and I’m trying to figure everything out on my own. So I thought I would start with someone who I can’t hurt, if I fail to help them.”

“Like… a ghost.”

“Yes. I didn’t count on Gabby crashing her car. The ghost was supposed to be the first person I helped. I already knew there was one here, I’ve been able to hear it for a long time.”

“Hear it?” My heart is pounding. Can Aiden hear Kasey? “What - what did it say?”

“No, not hearing like that. It’s hard to explain, but I can just - hear that there’s spectral energy. I came back and started listening for it. It’s been so damn hard, I don’t even know if I’m doing anything right. But the ghost’s identity is the first thing to figure out. And I do think I know who it is.”

My heartbeat is pounding in my ears.

“You, uh. You do?”

“It’s someone named William Clarke.”

I blink, staring at him.

“What?”

Aiden pulls out his phone and scrolls for a minute, then turns it around to show me something. It’s a shot of some old registry book, with yellowed pages and flourishing, handwritten script. Based on the photo’s background, I can tell he snapped it in his office at work.

I suddenly understand why he chose to work at the archives.

Narrowing my eyes, I lean closer to the phone. The book is a list of names, dates, and professions. The page has water damage, and it looks old - like, old. Just next to the place where the ink has become unreadable, I see it: William Clarke, in an elegant, flowing script.

“What are these dates, Aiden?”

“Each line has a name, profession, and date of birth.”

“This says that William Clarke’s birthday is March 10th, 1797.”

“Yes. This document is from 1821. He would have been twenty-four at the time. It shows that he came to the area with a fur trading company. I have evidence that he stayed in Ketterbridge afterward, until his death one year later.”

“One year later? He died when he was twenty-five?”

“Yeah, it was the early 1800s, so. The life expectancy wasn’t what you’d call spectacular. The town records indicate he was crushed to death in some kind of logging accident.”

I stare at Aiden’s phone screen, at a loss.

“What makes you think it’s him? I mean, how can you possibly know it’s him?”

Aiden takes another sip of his coffee, seemingly to steady himself. I take his phone out of his hand and set it down between the two of us.

“Well - it would be much easier to confirm if I could just get the damn glasses to work so I could read the map. My mom left me both, but she never showed me how to use them. I’ve been listening, though, and I’ve been able to find traces. To be honest I started with - Kasey’s grave. Sometimes ghosts are drawn to recent deaths. Or so I’ve noticed.” He looks away, unable to meet my eyes. “I thought I’d pay my respects and maybe find a trail at the same time. And I did. I could tell that there was something spectral there recently. I followed it outward from there, and found the locations where William spends the most time. It’s taken me a lot of late nights, but I sifted through old unnatural deaths and made a list of suspects, then narrowed it down using the locations. For example, the ghost spends a lot of time on Benton Street. The address on record for him during his last year alive was on that street. He also spends time at this empty lot, which used to be part of a major logging operation back in the day. He’s been all over town, of course, but those areas have the highest concentrations of spectral energy, which I think means he comes back to them with some frequency.”

I’m sinking deep into my own thoughts. I don’t know what any of this means, or how to process it, but -

“Aiden, are you sure about this?”

“I’m like, 99% sure it’s him. There’s more evidence I have, we don’t have to go into all of it, but…”

I remember the strange movement in the trees when Kasey and I went to the lot. The sudden feeling of cold I experienced, while Kasey felt warm. She’s never made me feel cold like that. She herself has never felt warm, at least not in her second life. Which means…

Aiden can clearly see that I’m having a whole experience over here, because he leans forward, his face earnest.

“Look, I know how this all sounds. Honestly, I know. It sounds fucking insane, I get that. But I don’t want to lie to you, Jamie, not anymore, and I-”

I jolt to my feet so quickly that the table jumps, and Aiden sits back, his blue eyes round and alarmed.

“I - I have to go, I’m sorry.”

“What? Jamie, wait-”

“I’ll text you!” I grab my keys and burst out into the drizzle. I don’t even stop to think until I’m unlocking my apartment, flinging the door open. I rush inside and check my bedroom, then the living room, but she’s not there. “Kasey? Kasey!”

“What, what?” I whip around; she’s materialized by the window, the concern on her face apparent. “Whose clothes are you wearing? Are you okay?”

I rush to her, dropping my keys on the table, and grab her by her half-there hands.

“Kasey.”

“What’s the matter with you? Why are you smiling like that?”

“Because I’m happy!” I grab her by the waist and lift her right into the air. She weighs nothing, in this form.

“Oh my god, Jamie! What the hell happened? Why are you so happy?”

“Because! You’re not alone!”

~~~~

“What?” Kasey had been half-smiling, an automatic reaction to the look on my own face. Now she looks very serious. “Jamie, what? What are you talking about? Put me down!”

“There’s another ghost in Ketterbridge!”

“What - what-”

“Aiden is going to find him!”

“Jamie. Stop it for a second. This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not joking!”

“Then I need you to actually sit down and explain to me what’s going on.”

It takes a long time to get through everything. I didn’t even have a chance to tell her about the car crash last night, or the madness that led up to and followed it. I have to explain all that before I can tell her about what transpired over coffee this morning. She has questions, of course, and the questions have long answers, too. This is a lot of talking even for me, and by the time I’m done, Kasey seems a little dazed.

“I can’t believe this,” she murmurs. “Or - I guess I wouldn’t believe this, if I wasn’t something impossible, myself.”

“Don’t you realize what this means? You’re not going to have to go an eternity unseen. We could find William, we could help Aiden find him!”

“Jamie, you absolutely can’t tell Aiden about me!”

“What?” I slow down, taken completely by surprise. “Why not?”

“I know you trust him, dude, but I don’t! If he really can play with the forces of the universe like that - we don’t know what he could do to me. What if he meant he’s literally ghost hunting?”

“No, he meant it as a figure of speech! He wants to help William, he told me so specifically. He wants to use magic to help people, he’s just - bad at it, I guess.”

“Jamie, please. You have no idea how scared I am.” Kasey’s eyebrows have drawn together the way they do when she cries, though no tears have appeared. She can’t cry anymore, but my heart is suddenly aching the way it used to, when she could. “I know you buy this whole brand-new-me thing, and maybe it’s true. But I don’t know this new version of him. All we really can say for sure is that he’s powerful.” She’s speaking urgently, gripping my forearm, even though I can barely feel it. “Who knows how fragile my existence is? I have no idea what could kill me all over again. You know what the difference was, before? One patch of black ice, one second with my eyes off the road, one fucking guardrail!” She pauses, takes a breath. “I’m not ready to leave yet, Jamie. It’s not fair. Please. Please. Please don’t tell him. For my sanity. And you said Aiden is bad at magic? What if he does something by accident? What if-”

“Kasey!” My heart is physically hurting right now. I have never been more frustrated at my inability to give her a hug she could feel. “Stop. I understand. I won’t say anything, I promise.”

She nods, slows down, her chest heaving. Does she need to breathe? Is it force of habit?

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” I hesitate, then nudge her shoulder. “But come on. Don’t tell me you’re not excited that there might be another ghost in town.”

Kasey shakes her head and gives me an exasperated look that quickly breaks into a smile.

“That is exciting.”

“And a logger, at that. Imagine the shoulders. You could get a cute ghost logger boyfriend. I’m jealous.”

“Are you? Given that you have a cute, uh - sorcerer, boyfriend?”

I let out a snort.

“My boyfriend, yeah right. I wish.”

I realize what I said a second too late. Kasey’s eyebrows shoot up, and I feel my cheeks burn.

“Hmm,” she says.

“This is about you, not me. We can still help Aiden find the ghost, right? We just won’t tell him you’re helping. Don’t you want to find him?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay? If he’s from the 1700s he’s probably like an old racist who thinks women shouldn’t have rights or something.” Despite what she’s saying, she can’t hide her excited smile. “But yeah, whatever. Let’s find him.” She turns and addresses my empty apartment. “William! Can you hear me? We’re going to find you.”

We both pause, and then Kasey swings around to look at me. Her eyes are wide and bright.

“Did you feel that?” I ask, and she nods.

“I felt warm,” she says.

“I felt cold.” A shiver runs down my spine. “Is he here right now? Can you see him?”

Kasey turns and slowly scans the apartment.

“If he is here, I don’t see him.” Her smile falters. “How are we supposed to help Aiden find him? We have no idea what we’re doing. Apparently he doesn’t, either.”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll play it by ear?”

“What did he say when you offered to help?”

“Oh, I didn’t offer. I didn’t even really say anything. I realized that you weren’t going to have to be alone and I rushed right here to tell you. I told him I’d text him, though.”

Kasey frowns at me.

“So, he told you all that, and then you didn’t say anything, and then you got up and ran off?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“And you’re not concerned that - maybe he thinks you did that because you don’t believe him and you think he’s crazy?”

There’s a ringing silence in the room. I just stare at Kasey, and she just stares at me.

“I just…” Oh, god. “I just thought of you, and how you were that night when we talked about you being alone, and everything else just-”

“You said you would text him, right? Did you text him?”

“No, not yet, I haven’t had a-”

“How long has it been since you took off?”

I haltingly reach out to press the button on my phone.

“About - two hours.”

Kasey and I just look at each other, wide-eyed.

“Oh, shit.” I grab my coat. I’m still in his pajamas. “Fuck. Oh my god.”

“Yep. You idiot.”

“I’ll be back later! I love you! Work on finding William while I’m gone!”

“Just how the hell am I supposed to do that?” she calls, as I rush to the stairs. I don’t even bother to take my car; for the second time in the last 24 hours, I’m running through the rain like a maniac. I have to stop to get my breath back and calm down before I knock on Kent’s door. Pointless, as it turns out, because his eyes fall on my wet hair and face and grow concerned right away.

“Jamie? You alright?”

“Did Aiden come home? Is he here?”

“Yeah, go on up.”

“Did he - um, did he seem pissed?”

“I don’t know,” Kent says, closing the door behind us, his eyebrows raised. “He didn’t say anything, he just came in and went straight up. Did something happen?”

“No, don’t worry, later Kent!”

I run up the stairs. Stop outside of the doors. Take a deep breath, and knock.