glow that the sun destroys.”
The woman slides a little closer to me, looking out at the moon. “I never thought about the night like that.”
A strange peacefulness settles between us. Not quite like we’re old friends, but like we’re two people who want to be alone with someone.
“You’re new to the school?”
“Yes,” I say.
“I’ve never heard of a student coming in partially through the year.”
“There were…special circumstances.” The last thing I want to talk about is my brother’s death, but I also know enough to realize that ghosts often hold the secrets of a place. “My brother, Rayne, died recently. I took his place.”
She lets out a slow breath that makes goosebumps erupt on my arms. “I knew Rayne. Everyone knew Rayne. He was so handsome, so kind, really the best.”
When I feel a tear run down my face, I wipe it away. “He really was.”
“I’m so sorry.”
I draw my knees up, cautious to keep my balance on the top of the wall. “It’s okay.”
“Such a shame,” she whispers.
“They said it was an accident. That he found a sword, locked away in the cellars of the school, and sliced open his stomach with it…himself.”
The ghost turns to face me, and I regard her confused expression in my peripheral vision. “They said Rayne was playing with a sword?”
I nod, trying not to alarm her with any quick movement.
“But I heard…I heard he had angered someone.” I stay silent before she continues. “He had started digging into things they didn’t want anyone to know about.”
Now I do turn. “Who didn’t? What kind of things?”
She frowns. “It was something about the fae. About the past. About the dark and light fae.”
It’s hard to breathe. “Why would anyone care if he looked into that?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I know that there were whispers that he was angering people.”
“Thank you,” I say.
She nods, and lifts off from the wall, before pausing. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
When she fades away, I can’t seem to move. An old memory stirs at the edges of my memories, and as much as it hurts, I can’t help but let it in. I was six, I think. Dwade, Bron, and Lucian would often sneak over to our house that summer. With their lands bordering our own, they often ran wild through the woods only to appear on our property. Their parents didn’t like them associating with the mixed breed children, but they couldn’t openly stand against it. To lose favor with my parents was too dangerous a thing.
So that summer Rayne and I would wait, sitting in the trees, and watch for any sign of them each day. He always had a book in his lap, swinging his legs on the tree branch as if he was sitting on a bench. I never read. It wasn’t something I enjoyed, but I enjoyed watching him read. I would see the emotions flashing across his face and wonder at how a book could make him…feel. Sometimes his walls would be down, and I’d open myself to him and feel everything he felt. It connected us in a strange way, and when he was finished with a book, he would explain it to me, his voice so filled with wonder at the story.
Wonder at something on page. Not something he could see and touch.
I envied him. Not just that he enjoyed his books, but that he could feel like that. It was another reminder that I wasn’t like him, as much as I wanted to be. When he told me the things his heroes experienced, I found it interesting, but I cared as little about them as I cared about most things.
It was ironic that the one person I never seemed to have trouble caring about was gone.
Ironic or terrible?
I sigh and force the thoughts away before they can pull me under. Turning, I leap down from the wall. If anyone was out, they might be surprised by just how agile I am. All fae are agile, but the dark were more agile than most. Still, it wouldn’t be enough to give away the truth of what I am. Even so, I remind myself to be more cautious next time.
I’m halfway across campus when a shadow man steps out of the shadows of a tree. I pause and regard him with interest. He’s easily ten feet tall, with a long, stretched out body, red eyes, and sharp teeth dripping with drool.
“Hello,” I greet. “I have a shadow man at my manor.