Page 49 of Unhinged Magic
“How much do you know about ghosts?” I asked.
Scar stared at me like I was delusional. “And you’re asking me why?” She raised a perfectly-manicured brow. “I would think you were the expert in that department.”
I sighed, crossing my arms. “You would think so.”
Her nails, dark as midnight, snapped as she mindlessly flicked each one. “So, what gives?”
Could I trust her enough to tell her everything? “Have you ever heard of a ghost not moving on from their fated mate?”
Scar’s brows flung to the ceiling. “What? No, never.” Her stare narrowed, buzzing with questions. “Are you seeing your mate… as aghost?”
I pursed my lips together before answering. “Possibly.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered, shaking her head. She undid the lid of the alcohol, quickly producing two shot glasses from a nearby cupboard. “Tell me everything.”
There stood my problem. I wasn’t sure I could.
At my silence, she pushed a shot glass full of the amber liquor toward me. I picked up the glass, eyeing its contents. “What even is this?”
“At this point, I don’t think you should care.” She lifted hers to her lips, tipping her head back, emptying her glass. Wiping her thumb over her bottom lip, she stared at me expectantly.
I did the same, grimacing as the liquor burned its way down my throat. “It’s… complicated.”
It wasn’t a lie. Just a truth bent to an appropriate level of a 'need to know' basis.
Scar nodded. “Obviously. How does this ghost-mate thing work?”
“It doesn’t.”
She gave me a look that screamed a sarcastic 'no shit'.
I pushed my shot glass away. “Please don’t tell anyone. This has to stay between us.”
“Pinky promise.” She held up her little finger, and I curled my own around hers.
“So, what’s the deal? Tell me everything,” she gushed.
I pulled in a deep breath. “Well… the ghost literally just shows up.”
“Okay. I hate to point out the obvious here, but he’s dead.”
“I know,” I said, letting out an exasperated breath. “How do I fix this? How do I get him to move on?”
Scar held my gaze, pushing up from her elbows, a lone finger tapping against the countertop. “I heard this one thing… but it might be a bit of a push achieving it.”
I eyed her curiously. “At this point, I’m all ears.”
“My mom used to hear her piano being played in the middle of the night, the same song my grandmother would play to her when she was a child.”
A chill spread over my arms. This was my kind of story. “And?” I pushed, eager to hear the rest.
“When she went to investigate, there was no one in the room, and she believed it was my grandmother unable to pass over. Mom told me she placed her death notice on the mirror by the piano. I guess between no reflection in the mirror and seeing the notice, it was enough to help her accept her death and move on. Only…”
I looked at her skeptically, knowing it couldn’t be that easy. “Say it. There’s always a but.”
Scar tucked her hair behind her ears. “Well, I don’t know how you find the death notice of a ghost you know nothing about. I mean, this spirit could have died decades ago.”
I took a moment to register her words, hope suddenly filling my veins like a drug. It was a dangerous thing, hope. It had the power to both crush you just as easily as it did consume you in the blink of an eye. Only I couldn’t help but think that this ideawasn’t as farfetched as she thought. I knew exactly who my ghost was. And my bet was, his death notice wasn’t hard to find either.
