Page 101 of Ever After

Finally, we come up against a door. Jowan gestures at the cracked, warped wood. “Open up. We haven’t got much time.”

I push the handle and it swings open with a groan that sounds horribly like it’s in pain. I step over the threshold and just stop myself from kissing the floor in gratitude. We’re back in the library. Xander stands staring down into the huge fireplace. The fire is cold, and I wonder if he’s remembering the times it was lit centuries ago.

He turns, and when he sees me, he smiles. It’s charming and far too real for a man who’s been dead since the eighteenth century. “Levi,” he exclaims as if we’re friends. “Thank you for coming.”

“Did you know I’d be back?”

He cocks his head. “Let us say that I hoped rather than expected.”

“It’s nice to see you again.” I clear my throat. “Thank you for the diary.”

His eyes twinkle. “I apologise for the manner in which I passed it to you.”

I shrug. “I suppose I should just be grateful that they don’t search you before you leave this place.”

“Mayhap I should have done that to guests in my day. It might have prevented the loss of two very valuable candlesticks after a ball.” He shrugs. “I hope you read it.”

“I did,” I admit.

“I thought that you might see something in my words that I missed at the time.” He gestures at me. “I am being very rude making you stand. Please come and sit down.”

I settle into the chair he’s indicating, and he takes the one facing me. He’s as real as me at this moment, and I try not to stare.

“Please don’t put so much effort into looking fully…” I hesitate. “…solid,” I finish awkwardly. “It must take a lot of your energy.”

He bites his lip and then breaks into laughter. The sound grows faint, as does his body, and I suddenly see the furniture behind him. He sits back. “Thank you. I must admit ’tis a tiring thing. How did you know about the energy?”

“I live with a psychic.”

“Ah yes, the famous Blue Billings.”

Pride fills me. “You’ve heard of him too?”

“Aye, of course. He is well known. Gifts that are probably only seen once every generation, if that.”

“And yet you didn’t want to meet him instead?”

“Nay.” He considers me. “I always trusted my instincts when I was alive. I see no need to deviate from that now I am long dead. Something about you tells me you are very important to my situation.” His lip quirks. “Besides, I hear Mr Billings is rather caustic with those he has no patience for. The spectral community is full of his aggrieved former customers.”

That startles a laugh out of me. “Well, that part of the legend is entirely right.”

“He will be at home with Bran, then. Two peas in a rather sarcastic pod.” His face softens as he says his lover’s name. “Tell me, have you seen him?”

“Yes, of course.”

He sits forward. “How is he?”

I consider that. “Bossy, impatient and very sarcastic.”

His lip twitches. “Ah, it seems very little changes as we pass from life to death.”

I snort and then smile at him. “He thinks only about being with you again.”

His face crumples and wavers for a moment, and when it flickers back, his expression is raw with longing. I turn my gaze to the empty fireplace, giving him a moment of privacy.

“Aye,” he says after a moment, “and in that we are at one. Tell me why you are here? He has sent you?”

I nod. “He can’t remember the week of his death.”