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“Well, I can tell you the truth and I’ll tell it to you straight,” Max says before having a sip of wine. “And that’s the fact that I did die. I died saving your daughter and son-in-law’s life. I would have done the same for your wife if I was around, but unfortunately, at that point, I wasn’t.”

My dad slowly looks up at him. “Then how are you here? And how come she’s not?”

“Dad,” I say carefully. “Remember the conversation we had with Dex and Perry on Christmas Eve? Right here?”

“I’ve tried to forget,” he mumbles under his breath. A lot of ugly truths came out over that dinner, including the truth about my abilities.

“I’m sure,” I tell him softly. “But that’s still all true. You don’t have to believe it, but it’s true. Basically, I was able to reach into the Veil, to the world between worlds, and I was able to pull Maximus out.”

“And you can’t do the same for your mother?” he asks quietly.

I never told him that I had to get Mom out of Hell, that she was taken there by the same demon that took Max. I don’t want to get into that now. It would break him.

I shake my head and put my hand over his. God, it’s still shaking. “Dad…Mom is dead. I really wish she wasn’t, but she is. We can’t reach her. She’s at peace.”

“But she isn’t,” my father says sharply, eyes piercing into me. “I told you she isn’t. I told you I’ve been seeing her.”

“You’ve been seeing her?” Max asks.

My father nods but doesn’t go into detail. The fact that when he sees my mother, she keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. Don’t let her, don’t let her. So far none of us, Perry included, have any idea who she’s talking about and what it means.

“Have you seen her?” Max looks to me.

I shake my head.

“So, if I’m seeing Ingrid, and she’s a ghost, how do I know you’re not a ghost?” my father asks him. Back to the ghost thing.

Max shrugs. “I guess you don’t. I hope I’m not, though. I feel real. And I’ve been interacting with people, contrary to what Ada might think.”

“In The Sixth Sense, it looked like Bruce Willis was interacting with people, but he wasn’t,” I point out.

“Ada, that was a movie,” my father chides me, losing his patience.

“An awesome movie,” I add.

“Anyway,” Max goes on, spearing the last piece of lasagna with his fork, “I’ll figure it all out soon enough. Just got to get back on my feet, so to speak.”

My father eyes me. “Please don’t tell me he’s living here.”

“I’ll be next door,” Max says quickly. “For a little while, anyway. At the Knightly’s. They’re old friends of mine.”

“Of course they are,” my dad says with a loaded sigh.

“And with that, I should probably go,” Max says, getting to his feet, towering over the table. “Let Dawn and Sage know I’m alive and well. Or, if not alive, at least well. Thank you for a lovely dinner, Mr. Palomino.”

He picks up his empty plate and glass of wine, finishing the pinot as he takes the dishes over to the sink.

I get up and go over to him. “You’re going so soon?”

“Don’t want to overstay my welcome, little lady.”

“Can you not call me that?”

He grins. “Sure. Blondie it is.” He gives my father a nod and then heads off to the foyer. I follow, right at his heels.

“I told you how I feel about Blondie.”

“Uh huh,” he says, pulling on his coat. “Too bad I don’t care. Now you know what it feels like to have a nickname you can’t shake.”

“But your nicknames are funny,” I whine as he throws on his scarf and opens the door, the cold air flowing in.

“It’s only fair, Blondie,” he says, shooting me a smirk over his shoulder as he heads down the steps and crosses the yard toward the Knightly’s.

I close the door, feeling chilled from head to toe, and then go back into the kitchen, sitting in my place.

My father is staring at me, but I can’t read his expression.

I have a sip of wine, swallow. “What?”

“What is it with you and redheads?”

I have to laugh.

Four

“Want a reason? How about because.”

– Turnin’ On the Screw

I’m dreaming.

Dreaming that I’m standing in the Knightly’s front yard, staring at their house. I know it’s a dream because the world is white, with only the house having some color and features, like I’m on overexposed film.

And I’m lucid dreaming, too. I’m controlling this ride.

But what I want in that house isn’t there. I can sense Jacob, Dawn, Sage…and Max. But Max isn’t the man I’m looking for.

I’m looking for Jay.

And he’s not here.

I doubt he ever will be.

I feel the dream starting to fade from my mind, feel the control slip away into the black.