Page 18 of Ghoul Me, Maybe
She spins, eyes locking on mine. “How bad?”
“Ship cabin. Storm. Elias bleeding. I woke up with bruises.”
She curses in three languages and yanks me by the wrist into her back room. The walls are covered in sigils and dried herbs. There’s a half-burned candle in a jar marked“Memory Ward - Lavender & Sage.”
“Take off your shirt.”
“You’re going to have to buy me dinner first.”
“Sienna.”
“Fine, fine.” I peel off my sweatshirt.
Mira lets out a low whistle. “That’s a phantom bruise. You didn’t get that from tossing in your sleep.”
“No kidding.”
She presses her thumb gently to the edge. “That’s deep magic. You’refeelingwhat happened to him.”
“Why now?”
“Because you touched the coin. Because you made a deal. Because maybe you’re the only one who can carry what’s coming.”
“Not ominous at all.”
She meets my eyes. “You have to stop going to sleep near the wreck.”
“Noted. Unfortunately, it’s everywhere.”
She nods. “Then we find a way to protect you.”
I sit down at her cluttered desk, heart still thudding like a warning bell.
“He said my name,” I whisper. “In the dream. Just before he... before it ended.”
Mira looks grim. “He’s starting to remember.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Maybe. But if he remembers too much too fast, it could burn out what’s left of him. Or you.”
I glance down at the bruises, purple maps of pain I didn’t earn.
“Then we slow it down,” I say. “We find the relic. We end this.”
Mira hands me a charm—a glass vial filled with ash and salt, strung on a black cord.
“Wear this,” she says. “It’ll ground you. Keep your soul from drifting too far when the dreams hit.”
I slip it over my head, and it falls heavy against my chest.
“Thanks,” I say quietly.
She reaches out and squeezes my hand.
“I got you. Just… don’t lie to me. Not again.”
I squeeze back. “I won’t.”
