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dreary gray mist blanketed the empty, white landscape — not that I had a huge collection of samples to draw conclusions from on what was normal in this afterlife-slash-realm thingy, but something about the addition sent a shiver of unease racing down my nonexistent spine.

“That’s new,” I whispered, testing out the vocals. They came out normal, not some audio version of funhouse mirrors from hell. “That’s a plus.”

No replies raced back with their opinion.

It was quiet tonight, apart from the unsettling gray mist.

I eyed it with distrust.

“Where to?” I asked, doing my best to ignore the sinking cold sensation that seeped into my soul as I waded through the blanket of fog.

Was it more difficult to move?

Nothing, in any direction, meant I had no heading.

“If I were a stalker ghost, where would I be?”

Since I had no body, I didn’t so much close my eyes as I just tuned out the visual for the moment. The mist made it difficult to concentrate, and the lack of anything within sight just made it distracting, so I ignored it.

Last time, I’d been pulled in ghost boy’s direction, so maybe I could find him that way again—if I focused.

Much like before I fell asleep, another sigh of frustration escaped.

How could I clear my head when what I suspected was my mental landscape had literal billows of fog making things difficult?

“Come on, Willa. You can do this.”

At first, there was nothing, even as my… awareness expanded, as if I’d stretched my soul to further fill the corners of my mind.

Then, the first blip pinged on my radar, so soft that I almost missed it, but my attention turned in a certain direction, and when I asked myself why I’d done so when there was nothing discernibly different from the hundred other directions, the answer came to me.

I grinned. “There you are.”

With increasing eagerness, I drifted with a mission, more than ready to ask questions and get answers.

The journey was slow going, like slogging through molasses at times, and I strongly suspected the mist had everything to do with that, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.

“Answers. I’m getting some answers.”

Along the way, my anxiety would spike, worrying I was going in the wrong direction, so I’d send out another wave of awareness and smile at the returning ping.

Was this how bats felt?

If so, sonar ranked up there with actual, real-life magic.

The returning nudges grew in both frequency and strength at a steady rate, alerting me that I had to be getting close.

The pace increased so steadily, in fact, that when a loud and violent dong reverberated through me, I paused, shaken by the intense urgency that washed over me.

“H-Hello?”

The sensation of goosebumps creeped over me, even if I lacked a form.

That was clearly a response, but a kind one or a threat? I couldn’t tell.

I wanted to pull my hair out. “This is frustrating! Is it illegal to give me any clue to what I’m supposed to do here?”

The pull grew stronger in the direction I’d been traveling, for what that was worth. It could be that malicious entity that’d attacked me.

On the other side of the coin, it might be ghost boy.

“Should we maybe try it while we’re here and all?” I joked out loud. “Yeah, let’s go ahead and try it. We made it this far. What else is there to do? Study more gray mist?”

With that thought in mind, I went to drift forward when a large, abnormal figure appeared.

My breath caught as I froze, squinting at the grayish blob.

Except, the longer I concentrated, the more I realized it wasn’t some fiendish creature, but two figures side by side.

“Um…”

“Willa!”

I jerked, helplessly pulled forward until I slammed into the barrier of my brain. “Owww.”

“Willa!”

My thoughts did a mental record scratch. That tall build, solid and broad… My hands had wrapped around those wide shoulders, I’d scratched my nails through that thick brown hair, and those eyes… How many minutes had I spent staring into them, wondering when he was going to wake up and leave me?

“Ben?” I rasped, feeling a gaping crater open in my soul that made breathing difficult.

Ben grew clearer, pounding a fist against the invisible barrier. “Willa!” He said other things because his full, Cupid’s bow lips moved with urgency, but none of the sounds reached me.

Frustration welled within me. “Oh, come on. It’s Ben. Let him through.”

From one blink to the next, Ben stood in front of me, as clear as he’d been when he’d visited me. I soaked in every feature.

If his sudden reappearance confused him, he didn’t let it slow him for long. He gathered me close enough that the cool, reassuring calmness of his presence soaked into me.

Ben’s nonphysical hugs were as all-encompassing as the ones in real life.

Real life.

Doubt crept in. If this was real, then why was Ben here?

I eased off. “Do you have… a medical condition too?”

Ben blinked, and I stomped down the mild, irrational jealousy of him having eyes to blink. He had a form… kind of?

“What? No.” Then, as if he’d just remembered something urgent, he crowded even closer. “Willa, you have to get out of here.”

My thoughts stilled. “What?”

“Now! You have to go!”

The landscape remained unchanged apart from some of the fog easing off, but that was a good thing in my book. Something about it had unsettled me greatly.

“Why?”

“There’s no time to explain,” he pleaded. “Just trust me on this. You have to leave. You’re in danger!”

The thing was, I believed him. There were no visible signs, and he had to be a construct of my mind because the longer I thought about it, the more I realized the odds of Ben somehow sharing this weird dream space with me were slim to none.

“Okay. How do I leave?”

Suddenly, Ben was replaced by a much closer, much clearer vision of the very person I’d been here to track down.

“You,” I said. Had he somehow taken on Ben’s likeness and imitated him? My brain kept spinning its tires in the mud, not getting anywhere on making heads or tails of this overwhelming situation.

“There’s no time to do this nicely, and if you value your life, you’ll listen very carefully.”

The rich, honeyed tones of his voice had me stilling in place.

“Can you do that?”

“Uh, okay?”

He shook his head, and I felt as if I’d disappointed him, but he continued. “You’re going to wake up—”

“So I am dreaming… Sorry.” I apologized at the dark look he flashed me.

“You’re going to wake up and leave your room immediately.”

Not my bedroom. I was in a psychiatric ward, and since they’d removed the restraints, this guy’s first order was a tall one. “How? They lock the doors.”

“They will be unlocked. Listen, there’s no time. No questions. Just do as I say. Wake up and leave your room if you value your life. There’s a man on his way to kill you. He’s at the hospital now.”

Dread, so thick and cold it was almost a visible thing, slimed over my form.

“Good. You’re listening. In the hallway, turn left. There’s a supply closet. You’ll be able to hide there until he goes to your room. As soon as he does, book it to the stairs at the far end. If you’re lucky, he’ll search your room long enough to make sure you aren’t just in there hiding before he alerts security. This all hinges on if you can make it to that stairwell, so run like your life depends on it, because it does.”

“Okay.”

“After that, you can make it outside. They have minimal security on the first floor, and the guard will be distracted.”

“Just walk out the front door?”

“Walk out the front door and head for the woods. You can hide there until I reappear.”

I paused. “So fall asleep in the woods?”

A small, half smile quirked his lips, and I realized he was actually quite cute when he allowed his grave expression to slip off. “Not exactly. There’s no time. Just, trust us.”

“Us?”

“Sorry, this might sting a bit, but, like I said, there’s no time for being nice,” he warned a split second before he shoved his palm into me. If I’d thought I had no form before, I certainly felt it then.

In fact, my nerves were suddenly overloaded in an assault of information my brain struggled to process—from the pulse in my veins to the burn on my chest, to the starchy sandpaper texture of the hospital grade bedding.

I was awake.

For a moment, I entertained the idea of drifting back to sleep, but it would be futile. My muscles positively hummed with energy, and the urgency left over from whatever had happened in my head refused to budge.

I slipped out of bed, and it was as if once I’d made the decision to indulge my insanity, the insanity invited itself fully in. My hands shook with the need to rush, and the door handle fumbled in my sweaty grasp so badly that I feared it was locked after all.

It must have been unlocked, though, because on my third attempt, it turned.

Be careful, Willa. Check first , I cautioned myself, cracking the door open and peeking down the hall.

My heart rate tripled.

A man, tall and imposing, stood at the visitor’s desk, signing something and laughing with the two nurses on duty. For some reason, it brought to mind the grainy footage from the Save-A-Lot—the man who had cut my brake lines.

I didn’t know what made me think that other than the same general build and height, but something popped red flags through my system.

Go now , my inner voice reminded me, before he finishes. To the supply closet.

My heart lodged in my throat, making it feel as if I couldn’t breathe while being on the verge of throwing up.

I moved.

The rectangular lighting felt like the dead man’s walk through the light bath of a prison yard during a desperate escape.

Actually, that comparison was more spot on than was comfortable. The knob to a nondescript door without numbers turned easily in my hand, and just in time, too, because right as I threw myself inside and pressed as small as possible into the corner of towels and sheets, the laughter picked up down the hall before a man’s voice said, “Thank you, ladies,” as footsteps approached.

Every part of me shook. I feared he’d hear the shelf rattling.

“Oh, wait,” a feminine voice called. “I have to unlock her door.”

They were so close.

I put my hand over my mouth, so wound up that the slightest noise would make me cry out.

Keys rattled, and a brief pause followed. “That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” the man’s voice demanded before he tacked on with a chuckle, “I mean, what’s the barometer for weird in a psychiatric facility?”

The nurse laughed, but a nervous note edged her voice as the keys rattled again. “Oh, nothing. I must have been using the wrong key. Here you go.”

The man cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “I know this is unorthodox, but would you mind allowing me a moment to deliver the news personally?”

“It’s bad news?” the nurse asked.

“It is. That’s why I drove down myself. She might react poorly, and I don’t want to be the catalyst for getting her locked up longer.”

My brows lowered, wondering if this was just some unrelated happenstance. Could it be the man was visiting someone else?

“I don’t know. It’s not protocol,” the nurse hedged.

“Just five minutes. That’s all I’ll need. I think she’ll have the worst of it out by then. People deserve a little leeway, don’t you agree? Protocol is helpful, but when it’s bad news…”

“Uh, well…”

“I know this is against your policy. Heck, I’ve helped write several policies myself. How about I throw in some extra reservations for that new restaurant that opened in Gainsburg for your troubles? I know you’re taking a big risk here, but how neat would it be to have the mayor in your debt?”

My eyes rounded.

The mayor?

What was his name?

I knew I’d heard Dad say it before.

This couldn’t all be about me. The mayor wouldn’t make a special trip here for a girl he’d never met before, and he certainly wouldn’t go around cutting their brake lines. He was a busy man—an important man.

There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I was truly going insane, becoming overly paranoid and believing the fake people in my head.

Unable to resist, I moved forward to crack the door open and peek out.

As soon as I looked, I retreated, because that was definitely my room they were standing outside of.

I strained my ears, failing to hear their hushed tones now, but I did catch the quick laugh the lady replied with.

He must have convinced her to let him in alone…

With a teenage girl.

Supposedly, to give me bad news.

Was the bad news real or just his excuse to get in that room?

Chills raced up my spine. If the dream guy could be believed, the man’s goal was to kill me.

How did he plan to do that and get away with it?

No teenager should even have to think about their own mortality like this. It was nauseating.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered, overwhelmed.

You have to. You will , my inner strength argued back. Stand. Now.

As if possessed, I rose to my feet, and without knowing how, I understood this was my last chance. It was now or never. The man was inside the room, the nurse was distracted, and if I didn’t leave, I wouldn’t make it outside the front door before they sounded the alarm and put the hospital on lockdown.

Without looking back to confirm, I reentered the bright hallway with one destination in mind—the stairwell. It was my sole salvation, twenty feet away, just around the corner.

Ten feet.

Five…

“Hey,” the man’s voice called in the hallway.

I jumped but didn’t slow, which was good because he wasn’t talking to me.

“Yes?” the nurse asked. “What’s wrong?”

I didn’t hear any further conversation because I’d turned the corner and, as quietly as possible, entered the stairwell.

Don’t slow down. As fast as you can, get to the first floor. You have to make it out while the first-floor guard is distracted, otherwise you’ll be locked in.

Those words repeated like a mantra. Every step thudded through my bare feet and rattled my teeth. Each breath, I worried the alarm would sound.

Nothing happened.

Go on , my voice urged, as if I were repeating the ghost man’s advice like a mantra, following the instructions as faithfully as any gospel.

It was as if he was in my head, and I could hear him.

I stumbled at that thought, but not for long.

Hurry!

In the lobby, the guard on duty sat behind a crescent-shaped desk, kicked back in his seat and dead asleep.

Too easy , I thought, right as the silent alarm tripped in the building, sending the intermittent red emergency lights spinning their luminescent warning.