We're so wrapped up in explaining everything that at first, we don't notice that Cas is gone. It's not until I turn to look at him that I realise he isn't there.

"Cas?" I call out, frowning. Thomas glances around with me, looking confused. Carmel just shrugs.

"You know he's been gone for like, ten minutes?" She asks.

"Ten minutes? I repeat. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because he's a ghost? I thought disappearing was a dead people thing."

"No, not really," I murmur, getting to my feet and going to stare out the window, as if I'll look down and see him waving from the street below. No luck. Why would he just vanish?

"Anna," says Thomas suddenly. "There's-"

"Not now, Thomas." I've barely said a word to him since we started talking to Carmel, and he hasn't spoken to me. I like to think I scared him a bit.

"Seriously-"

"I'm busy," I snap. "Help me find Cas."

"Just look!" He shouts. Thomas doesn't shout. I'm so surprised that I actually do as he says and turn to face him. He's pointing at something on the opposite wall. Next to him, Carmel is frozen. I follow the path of his finger with my eyes and gasp when I reach the end.

"Was that- was that like that before?" I question. The old, slightly cracked mirror that still clings to the wall by a thread has steamed up. It looks like this belongs in a sauna. But this is not a sauna. This is Thunder Bay and it's November. And the heating isn't on.

"No... I don't think so." Carmel replies.

"Well...that's..."

"Look!" Thomas gasps. Lines begin to take shape on the glass surface. From lines to patterns. Patterns to letters. Letters to a word.

HELP

"Cas?" I whisper. "Cas, is that you?"

AT HOUSE. DANGER. HELP ME.

"What do you mean danger?" I ask, my voice slightly louder this time. No more words appear on the mirror. "Cas!" I yell.

YOU HAVE TO KILL HIM. IT'S NOT JUST ME. HURRY.

"What does 'not just me' mean?" Thomas asks

HE GOT OTHERS. NOT JUST ME. HELP THEM. CAN'T KEEP WRITING. TOO DANGEROUS. HURRY.

"Cas? CAS!" Nothing. "Come back!" But he's gone. I whirl to face the others. "Who's HE?" I demand. Carmel shrugs and Thomas frowns. "Well, it doesn't matter. I have to go back to Cas' house and find him." I'm almost out the bedroom door when Carmel catches my arm.

"Hey, don't think you're going without us." I shake her off impatiently.

"That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm not even going to let Thomas come. Who knows what's in that house? No offence, really- but you'd be a dead weight."

"Fine," she says, "then I'll go myself and it'll have nothing to do with you." Great. Then I'll definitely have another death on my conscience.

"Okay, whatever, we'll all go," I sigh, defeated. "It's better that I'm around, since I know what I'm doing. But you should know that not all ghosts are like Cas. If there's more than one around-" I stop when it becomes apparent she isn't listening. She probably hasn't heard a word I said since I told her we'd all go to the house. "Look, do what you want, but if I tell you- and that's both of you- to get out, you get out. No hanging around, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." She definitely isn't listening.

"We're like the Ghostbusters!" Thomas blurts out, delighted. A sharp look from me has him staring at the floor.

"No," I tell him icily, "we are not Ghostbusters. Ghost hunting is not like that. If you want to come with me, you are not going to mention that terrible movie again." Terrible, not to mention inaccurate.

"What's wrong with-"

"What's right with it?" I retort. "Come on, we have to go." We make our way down the stairs and just as I'm about to open the front door, Lucinda stops me.

"Where are you going? On another one of your ghost hunts?" I stare at her. I hadn't told her anything about it. How could she possibly-

"Don't give me that look. I may be old but I'm not stupid. You think I know nothing of the dead?" I know she knows about witches and magic, but she isn't one herself. Who told her?

"She's a witch!" Thomas gasps. Mind readers can be useful, on occasion.

"You never told me!" I accuse. Lucinda shrugs.

"My dear, you've been living with witches for years. Didn't you notice?"

"I-"

"Well, of course your mother wasn't the only one in the family. It's a bloodline, you know."

"But- you-" I don't believe it. How did I not know? Talk about a bombshell. "So everyone... You, all my aunts... You're all witches and you know what I do?"

"Naturally."

"And none of you thought to tell me?"

"I thought you would've realised. And why should I tell you anything? You neglected to mention your dead boyfriend upstairs." Oh. She knows about Cas, too. Carmel gives me a shocked look and Thomas is mouthing boyfriend? in my direction.

"I wouldn't say he's my... Never mind." I sigh. "But if you know about Cas, you know where we're going, don't you?"

"Yes. And I know why you have to go. But be careful, you understand me? I wish I could help, but I'm much too old."

"I'll see you later," I tell her as I push down on the door handle.

"Anna," she says, just as I'm stepping out onto the path.

"Yes?"

"For some reason, you and your friends remind me of that film."

"Film?" I echo. Please don't let it be what I think it is.

"Yes, with those strange people who had to fight the giant marshmallow."

Oh, she has got to be joking!