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I was speechless.
Everyone was happy.
I didn’t realize I had reached for Cassian’s hand until I caught myself squeezing onto him, as if he were my lifeline. I loosened my grip, but I couldn’t bring myself to let go of him. As if I did, I’d get swept up from the power rippling through the air.
It was beautiful.
When a tear formed and I had to blink it away, I asked, roughly, “What did you want to warn me about with Sabine?”
Beatrice was staring at Cassian, her usual impatience not present. That blank expression was still there, but somehow more pronounced. She pulled her gaze away, to me. She clipped her head from side to side. “It’s nothing.”
“Ahh-what?”
She gave Shelton a glare. “It’s nothing for her to worry about right now.”
“But—”
“Later.” She aimed a discerning stare at Benji, raising her chin up. “You, Little Poltergeist. Are we on for the library again?”
“Again? We’ve organized it twice now.”
“Today may be a sacred holiday for us, but so’s the library. The Witching Line will be torn down. The library, however, must never be torn down. It’s up to us to keep it standing. Are you with me?”
Benji’s shoulders slumped. He was giving in, but he stepped closer to me. “I’m happy your birthday is tomorrow. I didn’t know until just before you got here. Now I have all day to find a gift for you.”
“Oh.” Alarm rose in me. “No. You don’t have to—” My mouth clamped shut. I still hadn’t told Cassian or Lee about my birthday, and I didn’t know why I was holding it back. “You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s okay. I want to. I’ve never had a Living friend before.”
“Little Poltergeist!” Beatrice waved at him, halfway to the front door. She was about to step onto the pathway. A few of the spirits heard and looked around, unease on their faces. Beatrice ignored them, clapping her hands. “Come, come! Books wait for no one.”
Benji sighed, his head hung down, but he started after her. When he got to her side, they stepped onto The Witching Line.
The spirits immediately paled and stopped completely. Some hurried ahead to get away. Others just completely stepped off the path, disappearing, until Beatrice and Benji walked past. After giving them a healthy distance, the spirits began to walk again. The ones who stepped off, stuck their heads back on the path, saw Benji was gone, and shared shaky smiles with the others as they resumed their catching up.
“She has it wrong.” Noah moved closer, watching their departure as well. “Books literally wait for everyone. They’re there. They don’t move. They’re not alive.”
I almost smiled at that. “I think Beatrice would disagree. She’d say books are the most alive of us all.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “You’re just as insufferable as she is.”
He kept watching their progression as they stepped into the school now and it was the same. Benji was like a shark swimming through a school of fish. They quickly cleared the path for him. Beatrice was yammering away. Benji noticed the reaction to him and his light kept flickering in and out. He was getting more and more pale until he reached up for Beatrice’s hand. She stopped talking, losing so much of her own color in an instant, but her chin firmed and she gripped his hand.
“I gotta go in there. He’s going to drain all of her energy before they even get to the library.”
“He’ll drain you too.”
“I’m not quite a normal ghost. I can endure more. I’ll be fine.” He shot off, soon replacing Beatrice’s hand with his own.
Benji came alive so fast and abruptly it was startling. His head popped up. Even from where we stood, I could see him give Noah a big smile. And his color returned. It was the same pale color and paler than the other ghosts, but it was his normal color. He stopped flickering in and out.
Noah sagged, losing a slight amount of his color, but not as much and as instantly as Beatrice. He was right. He wasn’t a normal ghost.
I finally started to relax since all the ghosts were gone.
Cassian had been staring at me the whole time, his eyes wide. “Did you say Beatrice?”
“It’s true then?” A haughty voice came from the side, and my stomach dropped.
