Page 59 of Ghoul Me, Maybe
Lyle steps out of the shadows. His clothes are rumpled, his long hair tied back haphazardly, glasses cracked. He looks like he’s been living off fumes and spite.
“We anchored you,” he says. “To her.”
“What?”
“You were slipping. Sienna kept you here—pure will. But that only goes so far. We had to do more.”
Mira wipes her face with the back of her hand. “We bound your spectral essence to her energy field. Old ritual. Half-druidic. Half-stupid.”
“It worked,” Lyle mutters, “but barely.”
I stare down at my hands. They’re whole—sort of. Solidenough. But the edges flicker. I don’t cast a shadow. My skin doesn’t warm. I’m a photocopy of myself.
“How long?”
Mira’s voice is tired. “A day. Maybe two. Unless we reinforce it again.”
Lyle snorts. “Or unless wefind the relicand use it to stabilize your tether properly.”
I drag a hand through my hair, fingers slipping through it like mist.
“So I’m on borrowed time.”
“You’ve been on borrowed time,” Mira snaps. “This is just... more expensive.”
I push up off the floor, barely staying upright. “Where is she?”
“Elias—”
“Whereisshe?”
Lyle nods toward the stairs. “Haven’t let her out of our sight. She nearly walked into the surf again last night.”
I don’t wait.
My feet don’t make noise on the steps.
Upstairs, the room is small, warm, full of candlelight and exhaustion. Sienna’s curled on the bed, still wearing the same salt-stained hoodie from the wreck. She’s pale, bruised, asleep.
And even in sleep—hurting.
I sink down beside her.
She stirs instantly, eyes flying open. The second they land on me, she gasps.
“Elias?”
I reach for her.
Our fingers touch.
It’s not solid.
But it’sthere.
Her lip trembles. “They said... they said you were gone.”
“I was.”
