A man was standing in the corner of the room, watching Liam and I, as though there was no reason why he shouldn’t be in this room with us. As soon as I saw him out of the corner of my eye, I snapped my face in his direction. He tilted his head, his eyes meeting mine. He didn’t look worried, just curious.

  Liam immediately turned his head to look in the same direction I looked, letting my hand fall from his chest as he moved. The Ghost Bros played on in the background, talking about things that definitely weren’t happening. The man in the corner paid no attention to them, or to Liam.

  After a moment, Liam turned his face back toward me, confusion written on every line. “Did you hear something, or what? That side of the house faces the highway, so sometimes when you’re in here, you can hear the traffic, although I would have thought they’d drown it out,” he said, gesturing to the screen.

  I flicked my eyes back to his for a moment before they returned back to the man. “Are you not seeing him?”

  Liam raised an eyebrow. “Seeing who?”

  The man in the corner slightly raised his hand in a wave, as though trying to draw Liam’s attention, but his gaze was now focused solely on me, his eyes bulging slightly.

  “Him!” I insisted, pointing to the corner where he stood.

  Liam swung his gaze in that direction for a moment before turning back to me. “Are you telling me that you can see ghosts again?” He asked carefully.

  “Are you telling me that there’s no one there?” I asked back, looking at the man more closely. His clothes were a little outdated, but nothing that would have struck me as odd if I saw him walking down the street. He didn’t have any hint of the distortion that I saw with so many ghosts, either, but that wouldn’t mean anything if he was recently dead. It just didn’t explain why he would be here.

  “Nobody that I can see,” Liam said excitedly, lightly grabbing my hand. I wasn’t sure if it was the excitement of seeing a ghost or the first steps to my getting over my uneasiness toward him, but I didn’t feel even the slightest urge to pull away. “Are you able to see them again?”

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  “I think so,” I said. I feel slightly unstable on my feet, but I took a deep breath and walked toward the man. “Hi,” I started, my voice sounding nearly as shaky as I was. “My name’s Andromeda. Can you tell me your name?” The man opened his mouth to speak, but for a moment, no sound came out but a low croak. He closed his mouth, averting his eyes from me. “It’s alright,” I continued. “It’s not the same as it was when you were alive. Part of the whole not-breathing thing.” I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile as I stepped closer toward him, Liam close on my heels. “We can work with yes or no answers until you find your voice, though, if you want?” He nodded, then opened his mouth again. This time, while it wasn’t very loud, I heard a light whisper of the word “yes.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liam freeze. I flicked my eyes toward him and saw fear in his eyes that I didn’t understand. “You’ve seen me talk to ghosts before,” I argued to him, as though it was possible to logic away his fear. My heart started to sink - if I couldn’t get over the fear of his touch and he was now suddenly afraid of me, then there was no way that this relationship was going to last for much longer.

  “Can you get him to say it again?” Liam nearly whispered to me.

  I raised my eyebrows at him, part in surprise and part in confusion. “You know he can hear you, too, right?” Liam nodded, but didn’t repeat his request. It was just as well, though, because the ghost was laser-focused on me anyway. I turned back to face the man in the corner, and our eyes locked. I could tell from his expression that there was so much more that he wanted to say, but his ghost form wasn’t used to speaking yet. “Can you please repeat that for my friend?”

  The man opened his mouth again, wordlessly tasting the syllables before speaking. Finally, he managed to eke out a quiet “hello.” Not exactly what he’d said before, but I’d take it.

  I turned back to Liam, who by this point was looking positively green. “Are you alright?” I asked tentatively.

  “I’ve gotta sit down,” he mumbled, his words all turning into one as he rushed toward the couch. I quickly followed him over as he flopped down, all thoughts of the ghost forgotten for the moment. The man might distort, but other than that, he’d be just fine waiting forever, but if I didn’t take care of Liam, I was worried that we’d have another ghost on our hands. Well, maybe not really, but he did look like he was going to vomit, at least.

  “I’d sit up if I were you,” I said, sitting next to him. “And put your head between your knees. It might not keep you from getting sick, but it’s not a bad start.” He did as I said, and I rubbed circles over his back as I waited for him to get over…whatever it was. All the while, the man in the corner watched us, occasionally moving his mouth as though he were trying to taste his words.

  “I…” the man said after a couple of minutes, and my attention flicked back to him. He had taken a couple of steps toward us since Liam had sat down, which made my muscles lock in place. He wasn’t a demon, I reminded myself. He wouldn’t hurt us. Couldn’t hurt us. I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax, although I could still feel the stiffness in my arm as I started rubbing circles into Liam’s back again. “I am.”

  “Just stop,” Liam said, his voice more of a moan than anything. He waved his hand in the direction of the ghost, and I felt my eyes flare as I started to put it together. “Go away. We don’t want to talk to you.”

  The man looked slightly disheartened as he heard the words, and though he stopped talking, he remained where he was. I let the silence sit around us for a few moments as Liam slowly sat up. He still didn’t look great, but at least some of the blood had returned to his face. “You ready to tell me what that was about?” I asked slowly.

  “If I could, I would,” he said with a sigh. “All I know is that when he spoke, I heard him, and that was my father’s voice.”