Page 39 of Wraith

Kael flicked his cigarette, eyes narrowing as he noticed me. “You look like shit.”

I exhaled sharply. “Yeah, well. I just saw Lucian getting ridden in the middle of his own funeral by Lily, so excuse me if I’m not feeling my best.”

Kael’s gaze flickered. For a moment, he said nothing, just took a slow drag from his cigarette before releasing a plume of smoke into the cold air. “Say that again.”

“I saw them.” I swallowed hard. “Lucian. Lily. Ciaran. They were in the back pew. Lily was—” I broke off, shaking my head. “I took a picture.”

His skepticism was instant. “You took a picture.”

I turned my phone around and shoved it toward him. “Look.”

Kael’s eyes dropped to the screen. The moment stretched thin between us. He didn’t speak, didn’t react, just studied the image with an unreadable expression.

And then he inhaled sharply.

I saw it the second he registered Ciaran’s face—the unmistakable clarity, the silent, desperate plea. Kael’s fingers clenched around the phone, his lips parting slightly like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.

And then, just like that, the mask was back. He shoved my phone away, shaking his head. “It’s a glitch.”

I felt frustration coil in my gut. “Kael?—”

“Or some sick joke.” His voice was tight, controlled. “Someone could’ve tampered with your phone. Deepfakes, AI bullshit, whatever.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“I don’t believe in ghosts.”

“Then what the fuck do you think is happening?”

Kael didn’t answer. He exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand down his face. “I need to go.”

“To do what?”

“Think.”

He started walking away. Away. Like he could just ignore this, like he could turn his back on the impossible and pretend everything was normal.

“Kael, don’t do anything stupid!” I called after him.

But he was already gone.

I stood there for a long moment, watching the space he left behind, heart hammering. I wanted to chase after him, to shake him out of whatever dark thoughts were spinning through his head, but what would I even say? The proof was right there in my hands, and still, he refused to see it.

With a frustrated sigh, I shoved my phone into my pocket and turned back toward the chapel. The murmurs inside had started to die down, and I could hear the rustle of coats as people began filing out. Emma had been taken away in handcuffs, whispers following her like a funeral procession of their own. The whole thing felt surreal, like I had stepped into a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.

But Kael… Kael was walking into something worse. And I wasn’t sure how to pull him back.

Kael wasn’t answering his phone.

I’d texted, called, and even debated tracking his location, but I knew Kael well enough to know that if he didn’t want to be found, I wouldn’t find him. Still, the longer he stayed silent, the worse my anxiety got.

And then, just after midnight, my phone buzzed with a single message.

Come over.

Kael’s dorm was dimly lit when I arrived, the scent of stale beer and cigarette smoke lingering in the air. The first thing I noticed was the candles. Five of them, placed in a careful circle around a board on the floor.

An Ouija board.

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