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But I couldn’t deny there was still a flicker of something there, urging me to nurse it and nurture it back to life.

Could I, though? Everything was different. I was almost certain it wasn’t safe for me to go near him, at least not yet. Ever since Blake had finished the arduous task of burying him, the insistent tugging at my core that demanded I absorb him like I had Bianca had eased, and I wondered if that was the key. I could only absorb someone if they had yet to be buried.

But if that was the case, did that include the spirits of those who had been cremated? Or was it the ritual of a funeral, the acknowledgement of the death that somehow made them immune to this new hunger? Because that’s what it was. It was like an empty cavern inside of me had suddenly opened up, begging to be filled. Yet, the other girls didn’t call to me like Bianca had. Like Chance had up until he was secured in the earth.

There was too much going on for me to focus on all of it at once, so I needed to prioritise. First, I had to tell someone about the woman in the basement. Then, I needed to focus on discovering what new abilities I seemed to have received through merging with Bianca, and learn how to control them, because that was how I was going to complete my third, and arguably most important task: making Blake pay.

Anything else beyond that could be dealt with once all was said and done, but now that I had my tasks organised in my mind, I could start working through them.

‘Chance?’ I called softly. His gaze flickered to mine, but it was like he wasn’t really seeing me. Whatever was going on inside his head was keeping him trapped there, and he needed to work through it to come back to me. It would take a while, I knew frompersonal experience, but the worst was over now. There wasn’t anything else Blake would do to hurt him.

‘Chance, it’s over now. I need to go talk to Rhodes or Gloria and let them know what’s happened, but I’ll be back soon, okay? I promise, I’ll be right back.’

I didn’t get a response, but I wasn’t expecting one. I hated to leave him like this, but it couldn’t be helped. I would just need to hurry back so I could be there for him when he finally pushed through the trauma. I didn’t have anyone helping me, so I could at least give him that, but there wasn’t really anything I could do for him right now anyway.

I gave him one last lingering look, and let the sadness for his suffering settle for a moment before locking it away to process later, and then I zoomed away. My bare toes skimmed the grass as I levitated towards Rhodes’ property, and I delighted in the tickling sensation that I never thought I would feel again. Not only that, but I found, to my immense satisfaction, that I could now not only move more freely, but more swiftly as well. The shackles that had held me in place since my murder were finally falling off, crumbling to dust beneath the strength of my newly heightened power.

It was an intoxicating feeling to be free again, but I couldn’t bask in it. There was no time for that now. Rhodes’ house came into view, and with only a small smile to show my pleasure at finally being able to do so, I stepped out of the trees and onto his front lawn. However, the closer I got to the house, the more trepidation I began to feel. What if I wasn’t wanted there? I was basically about to intrude on this man’s home. I might have found him a source of entertainment, not to mention he wasverynice to look at, but that didn’t mean we knew one another. I was essentially a stranger about to enter his space without permission.

I could wait outside for him to show himself, but I needed to get back to Chance, and the woman in the basement only had a few more days to live. Blake would ruminate in his most recent kill before turning his attentions onto the cop, so I didn’t have the luxury of waiting around. The poor woman wasn’t going to escape at least some of Blake’s torture, but if I acted now, then maybe she could be saved before it was too late.

With determination bolstering me, I slid through the front door and into a shocking scene.

Ashe was beside herself. Gloria was holding her up the best she could while also looking grim and pale, but Ashe was practically hyperventilating against her wife’s shoulder. Rhodes and Mikey were off to the side, plastering themselves against the wall as if to stay out of the way. Rhodes looked a little worse for wear, and I wondered if that was due to whatever was going on or if his illness was catching up to him. Mikey, on the other hand, looked greener than I’d ever seen him. He blinked rapidly as he leaned heavily against the wall, like he was doing everything in his power not to faint.

But it was Blake’s new wife – Chance said her name wasDakota– that truly caught my attention. While the other were freaking out, she was alert. On guard. Wide green eyes darted about the room like they were searching for a hidden enemy. No, not the room. They were shooting between the windows, and she seemed to be seeing something that caused the blood to drain from her face; the starkness of her suddenly paler complexion against the darker freckles dotting her skin was even more alarming than Mikey’s decidedly green pallor.

She looked terrified.

Rhodes was the first to notice me, though that was due to the fact that he was the only person here who could actually see me. I doubted the others suddenly had the same ability just because I was no longer an ordinary ghost.

‘Kali,’ he said in surprise, his back suddenly straightening at the sight of me standing here. My name on his lips was barely more than a whisper, but it caught the attention of both Mikey and Dakota. Ashe and Gloria were still panicking in the other room, too caught up in their own heightened emotions to hear him.

‘Kali?’ Mikey called out, then turned to Rhodes. ‘You can see her? She’s here?’

Rhodes nodded and took a step towards me, only to halt before he could take another. He looked at me with an odd expression, like he was afraid he would spook me if he got too close. Maybe I had given him that impression with my previous behaviour, but that wasn’t the case. Not then, and certainly not now.

‘Rhodes,’ I greeted back.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, but the question earned him only baffled looks from Mikey and Dakota.

I didn’t give them the chance to interrupt, however, because I had the feeling that they were panicking over Chance, and I had the answers they were seeking.

‘I came to give you information,’ I admitted.

‘About Chance?’ he asked hopefully.

‘He’s dead.’

He exhaled a shaky breath. ‘Fuck…’

‘What?’ Dakota asked in a high-pitched voice, her panic and confusion bleeding through. ‘What is it? Is he okay?’

‘She said he’s… dead,’ he informed them, his lips turned down into a grimace.

The news created a domino effect. As Dakota stumbled back like she’d been hit, Mikey bent over and hurled onto the floor. Rhodes simply deflated, closing his eyes and resting his back against the wall. His head tilted back, knocking it against the frame of a family photo as he breathed deeply through his nose.Ashe and Gloria finally noticed that the mood had shifted over here and came to join us.

‘What is it?’ Gloria asked, and I decided I should be the one to answer her while the other processed.