I woke from the first blissfully unaware sleep I’d had in what felt like years to find Liam sitting in a chair across from me. I was lying on the large, white living room couch - our compromise to me not wanting to be carried to Liam’s room - and I gave a quick passing thought to the hope that I wasn’t bleeding on the couch before I remembered that my physical body wasn’t actually injured. I sat up slowly, my muscles tense from the exertion of the day, and Liam looked like he was about to get up and help me, but I shook my head. “I’ve got it,” I groaned. “Of everything I’ve been through in the past few weeks, a few tired muscles is nothing.”
“Alright,” Liam said, sitting back, his eyes hardening slightly. “Then do you want to explain why you’re suddenly acting a lot colder toward me?”
I winced. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
He shrugged, looking down at his clasped hands in an attempt to mask the hurt in his eyes. “I don’t know if it is to everybody else, but I noticed it the moment you came back.” He leaned forward, his eyes finally flicking toward mine. “I get not wanting to relive it to all of them, but I’m hoping that you’re ready to share it with me so I can understand what’s going on. So we can work toward fixing it.”
I sighed - with that sort of plea, it was hard to pretend that everything was normal. But still, how do you tell someone that the demon took their form and tried to kill you? “When I was under…I saw you,” I started, foolishly hoping that that would be enough of an explanation.
Liam’s eyes bored into mine, as though trying to find the rest of the story for himself. “I was there?” he asked. “Like, you pictured me while you were fighting or?”
“No, not like that,” I said, shaking my head. “Like you were actually there.”
His brow furrows at that. “I mean, we know that I wasn’t, though,” he argued. “I guess you were asleep, but Luke, Caitli, and Circe could vouch for me.”
“No, no,” I said, swinging my legs off the couch so I could fully face him. At some point while I slept, someone had put a blanket over me, and that slid to the floor around my legs as I moved. “I know you weren’t actually there. I know that,” I repeated, more for my benefit than his. “Demons are kind of known for their tricks.”
He stared at me blankly for a minute before abruptly sitting up. “The demon looked like me, didn’t it?” He nearly whispered. I nodded, not quite able to make eye contact. “Well, shit,” he said, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head. “And if what Circe said about the demon was accurate - that you two would literally have to fight - no wonder you can hardly stand the sight of me.”
“That’s not it at all!” I gasped, reaching out and grabbing his hand. “It just…it takes a while.”
Liam lifted his head and slowly met my eyes, giving me a small half-smile. “A while.” He let out a long breath before continuing. “I guess I can deal with a while.”
I nodded. “Let me fully heal up, and then we’ll see how we’re doing,” I said, pulling the blanket around me again. “With as tired as I still feel, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d be out of commission for the next week.”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
He gave me another half-smile, but at least this time, it didn’t seem quite so forced. “A whole week of sitting around doing nothing? We’re going to have to dock that from your paycheck,” he joked. “We’ll probably have to go out without you for this next one, then - Caitlin’s been dying to get us back on the road and hunting ghosts again. She claims our numbers have been abysmal, and obviously we’re going to lose all of our followers if we take a three-second break,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I would prefer to wait until we have our resident psychic with us to see the ghosts, but I think I got outvoted.”
“Speaking of which,” I said, reaching toward the remote on the small coffee table next to me, “I suppose that’s something I should try now that I’m awake.”
Liam tilted his head in confusion. “What?”
“Seeing if I once again can see ghosts.”
***
An hour later, Liam and I sat on the couch, watching a marathon-length collection of videos that Liam was pretty sure contained real ghosts. I had suggested starting with the first video I’d already seen - the one that had introduced me to Grady - but he had insisted that, if we were going to be sitting around all day anyway, he might as well make it interesting. There had been nothing in the first video, but I had expected that from the moment he turned it on. It was a video from the channel “The Ghost Bros,” and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a video of theirs that actually had a ghost in it. They always supposedly got some sort of activity, but I was pretty sure they were behind all of it. But, compared to sitting there and stewing in my thoughts, it was still fun to watch.
I curled up on my section of the couch, pulling the blanket up over me. Liam had sat on the other end of the couch when he started the video, but to my relief, he hadn’t tried to get any closer to me than that. I wasn’t sure what I would have done if he did. I knew logically that this Liam and the demon were not the same person. The demon hadn’t even pretended to be him - it just wore his face. And yet, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that at any moment, he was going to turn and attack. While I tried to watch the video, I couldn’t help but flick my gaze back to him, and every time I did, I felt my stomach turn. He either didn’t notice or decided to ignore it, instead pointing to elements of the video and asking if I saw anything.
An hour later, we were on the second video, and while I could still feel the exhaustion in my body, I just couldn’t sit there anymore. I swung my legs off the couch. Liam’s eyes swung to me immediately. I was expecting him to tell me to keep resting, but he stayed silent, merely grabbing the remote to turn off the video. I pushed myself to my feet, wobbling a bit as I stood. “I just can’t sit here anymore,” I explained.
“I didn’t ask,” he answered, standing up with me. “You don’t have to keep resting if you don’t want to, but I’m going with you if you leave.”
“No,” I argued, shaking my head lightly, because that’s what I really wanted. As much as I liked Liam, I needed time to get my head straight when it came to him. Being near him this long after the demon felt suffocating in a way I couldn’t really understand.
“Not an option,” Liam said, but he backed up a couple of steps, keeping himself far away from me. “If you’d rather I grab Luke and have him escort you, then fine, but you’re not going anywhere by yourself right now. You’re lucky you’re not in a hospital bed again.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want Luke either. I just…” I faltered, not sure how to finish my sentence.
“Need it to not be me?” Luke answered for me. He tried his best to keep his expression neutral, but I could still see the pain behind his eyes.
“Not exactly,” I said slowly. “I just need some way to know that you’re actually you and now, you know.”
“I know.” He shook his head and took a couple of steps toward me. I immediately felt my muscles tense, but he held up his hands as though to calm me down. “Can I just try one thing? If it doesn’t work, I swear I’ll back off for as long as you need me to.” I didn’t respond for a moment, allowing my heart a moment to catch up with itself. Slowly, I nodded. Without a word, he took another step toward me and then gestured for my hand. I gave it to him, and he pulled it to his chest. My hand played against the curves of muscle under his shirt as his warmth flooded into me. That alone was enough to start to calm my nervous system - he was warm. Alive. I could feel his heart beating within his chest. None of that would happen with a demon, and more importantly, it was just so Liam.
I smiled up at him lightly, and his grin radiated back at me. “See? Sometimes I have good ideas,” he joked. “We can go wherever you want if you still want to flee. But I am me, and I’m coming with you no matter what.”
I rolled my eyes at his corny statement, but as I did so, I happened to catch site of something. “Holy shit,” I muttered.
