Page 143 of Haunt Me

“I am so not.” I shake my head. “I am at a complete loss here, guys. What do I do? What am Isupposedto do? I have to make it up to her, all those things she went through… I’ll have to make it up to her somehow. I didn’t do it all those years ago, because I didn’t know, but… someone has to.Ihave to. And I don’t even know where to start.”

“It’s not your job, little prince,” Manuela says kindly, her calm voice, a bit like Eden’s anchoring me to reality while I am freaking out.

“Stop calling him that, Manu,” Faith says—I’m impressed she remembers I said I hated it.

“Don’t stop, he likes it,” I say, and their eyes snap to mine.

“In that case, carry on, Highness,” Manuela says.

“Now,thatI hate.” I point a finger at Manuela.

She grabs my finger midair, and looks me in the eye.

“It’s not your job, do you hear me?” she says, her voice carrying an intensity I’ve never heard before. “Do not let what happened poison your future or your present. The monster doesn’t get to ruin anything else.Anything. So it’s up to both of you to move on. It won’t be easy, but if you decide to do it, you can.”

“It sounds like her therapist wouldn’t agree with that,” I say, but Faith is shaking her head.

“You were there, Isaiah,” she whispers. “If Eden forgets everything else from that time, she will still have you. She will remember you. And with you, she will remember herself. She will not lose herself, because you kept her safe with you.”

And that’s when it happens.

It just slips out my mouth, almost without thinking.

“Please call me Zay,” I say. “My whole family does.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” Faith says, bowing her head, and they both find this so hilarious, they nearly wake up Eden again with their laughter.

And that is how these two girls become my family.

Eden’s Poetry

GET MYSELF LOST

I tried to get myself lost once

Actually that’s a big fat lie

I tried to get myself lost all my life

But the woods always spat me out

Like a bottle spits out its cork

I guess they didn’t want me either.

I tried to get myself lost in you

And for a time it worked, I thought,

Until you said you loved me

And then it all dissolved

-I knew I wasn’t worthy.

Turns out you can’t exactly lose

The thing you never had.

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