Page 58 of Wraith

The thought sent warmth through my veins, something like relief, something like love.

Reaching into my pocket, my fingers curled around a small, familiar weight. My coin. The one I had flipped absentmindedly through every decision, every doubt. I pulled it out, running my thumb over the worn edges before placing it down on the stain beside me. A final gamble.

“I don’t need it anymore,” I whispered, watching as the dim light caught the ridges of its surface. “You decide now.”

A whisper of movement—so slight, so imperceptible I could’ve imagined it. The coin shifted, rolling just a fraction before settling again. My breath caught, my pulse a slow, heavy thrum in my ears.

A sign. She had taken it.

I closed my eyes, exhaling a long, slow breath. My fingers traced over the edges of the stain, feeling the dips and grooves of the aged wood. It was smooth in some places, rough in others, but it all belonged to her now. Everything here did. Even me.

The thought made my stomach clench, but not with fear. With purpose. With devotion.

I shifted onto my side, curling into the stain as though I could tuck myself into the memory of her. My cheek pressed against the floor, my heartbeat steadying to a slow, deliberate rhythm. My hands curled inward, cradling the place where she had died, like holding onto her essence would bring me closer. Would bring me home.

The air was so still it felt like the whole world had gone quiet. The only sound was my own breathing, my own pulse echoing in my ears. Then?—

A whisper. Faint. Distant. Or maybe not distant at all.

A shiver crawled up my spine as I opened my eyes, my gaze drifting to the coin I had left as an offering. It had moved again, just barely, shifting almost imperceptibly toward me.

A warmth bloomed in my chest, an aching, consuming certainty. She had accepted my gift.

My lips parted, my breath coming out in a slow exhale. This was real. She was real.

I reached for the coin, but my fingers only brushed against it before I hesitated. No—I wouldn’t take it back. It belonged to her now.

A small, broken laugh escaped me, barely more than a breath. “I knew you’d wait for me.”

The chandelier swayed again, a slow, deliberate movement. A response.

I shut my eyes, smiling against the bloodstain, inhaling deep. The scent of dust, decay, and something else—something sweet, something familiar.

Lilith.

She was waiting.

And soon, I would be with her.

Thirty-Seven

I hadn’t sleptin days.

Every time I closed my eyes, I heard it. The sound of water dripping. Steady, rhythmic, endless. I had checked my sink, my shower, even the damn pipes in the walls. There was nothing. No leak, no source. But it never stopped.

But it wasn’t real. It was just my mind playing tricks on me. Right?

I kept telling myself that, the same way I told myself that the ritual had worked. The same way I reassured myself that Lilith was gone. Banished. Done.

I hadn’t seen her since that night. No more flickering shadows, no more whispering in my ear, no more icy fingers on my skin. I should’ve felt relieved, but the silence wasn’t comforting. It was suffocating.

And then there were the messages.

At first, I thought it was a prank. A cruel joke, someone trying to get inside my head. But the number was always unknown,and no matter how many times I blocked it, the messages kept coming.

She’s waiting. Why did you leave her? You belonged with her too.

But it couldn’t be her. It couldn’t.

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