City of Ghosts

“How do you feel?”

“Like my life’s been torn in two,” I say dryly.

Her eyes widen. “Really?”

I shake my head and laugh. “I feel fine. Normal. Well, as normal as it gets. Are you in much trouble?”

Lara shrugs. “Nothing I can’t handle.” I’m surprised to see a glimmer in her eye, something close to mischief. “It might surprise you to know that I have

“And he believed you?”

Lara shrugs. “We British have a high tolerance for the strange

Sometimes help is a place and sometimes it’s a person, and sometimes it’s a bit of both

Maybe I’m just borrowing trouble, as Mom would say. Looking for monsters in the closet. Shapes in the dark.

He’s my partner in crime.

The sidekick to my hero (or hero to my sidekick, I amend when he looks at me aghast). And he should have a say.

I think we’re supposed to be a team.”

He brightens a little. “Like in Skull and Bone?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Like in Skull and Bone.”

Purpose.

It’s crazy, but I know she’s right.

I can feel it in my bones. The answer to the questions I’ve had for the past year, the ones that have been getting louder and louder since the accident.

Why am I drawn to the Veil?

How am I able to cross it?

She cuts a sideways glance at me. “Let me guess, you’re a Gryffindor.”

I beam. “How did you know?”

She looks me up and down. “Reckless, headstrong, most likely to charge into a situation unprepared.” The edge of a smile. “Plus, you’re wearing a red and yellow Hogwarts sweatshirt.”

Anger changes people, but it changes ghosts even more.

“Don’t freak out,” I say slowly.

His eyes narrow. “That’s really not the way to start a sentence if you want me to stay calm.”