Page 29 of One Last Touch

“Sometimes it draws attention and I think we’ve risked it enough for one evening.”

“How?”

“Well—” I could practically hear Sage’s brain working as he tried to describe what he meant to me. “Ghosts aren’t always conscious. Time isn’t the same for us as it is for you. I’ve been dead for over twenty years, but I haven’t felt them all. Sometimes we drift, thinking and feeling, caught up in the moments of our lives and stuck in our memories. Me and Angie… It was like electricity when you walked through the gates. You were change, you were new, completely different from the cycle of our existence that we’d fallen into.”

“You’re saying I woke you up, or something?”

“Sort of. But it’s different for all of us. Take your mother, for example. I bet she’d completely forgotten that she’d asked Angie to keep you in the dark. New ghosts sometimes drift more than others, their memories and cycles still fresh and vivid.”

“And… him?”

Sage blew out a breath that I didn’t feel. “He’s almost as alert as me, and I’m only like this now because of you—your arrival. But it’s easy to lose who you are when you’re a ghost and saying his name all the time…”

“It reminds him of who he is, what he lost.” I sat up in bed as Sage nodded. Despite the topic, with the sun peeking through my curtains and his eyes on mine, I felt.. safe.

“How do you think he knew? About me?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t think he did. He was still obsessed with Natalia, would yell for her as he roamed the halls and grounds. Things changed when she came back here. He changed, and that’s uncommon for a ghost.”

“You changed,” I pointed out and he gave a small smile that was edged in sarcasm.

“That had more to do with you than me. I had to be creative to keep you out of trouble.”

“Right,” I said, shooting Sage a pointed look that told him not to argue with me. “How did he change?”

“He watched her.”

“And?”

“That’s it, he just watched her. Didn’t threaten her or harm her, didn’t hunt us. For three weeks, he just watched.”

“Then what changed?”

Sage bit his lip and I tried to nudge his leg with mine but, of course, I passed straight through him. “Ah, sorry.”

He snickered but it faded fast. “Sorry, if I’m not concentrating then I’m not corporeal at all. Anyway, I think what changed was you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, but one moment he was docile, peaceful even. Didn’t interact with her at all. The next he was furious. He must have seen something or heard something while he was watching her that enraged him.”

“Something like secreting away a hidden child that might be his,” I guessed and Sage nodded.

“I won’t let him hurt you,” Sage said, voice hushed. “Even if it costs me my soul.”

A chill skated down my spine at his words, because that was what scared me most.

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, I woke up feeling disoriented as the sun poured into my room, hadn’t it been light when I’d finally fallen asleep? Sage lounged next to me in bed, reading one of my books, and looked up quickly when he saw that I was awake.

“What are you reading?” I asked and then winced at the huskiness of my voice. “Fuck. How long was I asleep for?”

“A full day. You needed the rest.”

“What about—”

“He didn’t bother us.”

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