Chapter Three: They're Here

Estelle awoke to the slamming of her closet door. She bolted upright within a second and tried to figure out if she'd been dreaming. The slatted wooden door of the closet had been closed when she went to bed, and it was closed now, but she was sure she'd heard it swing shut. Maybe she was just imagining it, like she'd imagined that shadow on the landing last night. Pale dawn light filled the room and the creaking from before had disappeared, and it seemed foolish to be frightened in such benign circumstances.

The closet door moved. Estelle's breath caught in her throat and the white-painted door slowly and silently opened. Inside, there was nothing but a few hanging dresses and her trunk against the wall. Estelle pulled her blanket closer around her and leaned against the wall, eyes glued to the closet door. She'd put her sword away in the corner of the closet, and she didn't dare approach it now. She wanted to call to Flynn or Yuri, but her throat was frozen. Besides, a closet door wasn't the most threatening thing. They were probably sleeping and she'd feel silly waking them up for something as harmless as a closet door.

It slammed shut again and Estelle jerked her blanket toward her chin. As firmly as she could, she called, "Who's there?"

A childish giggle was her only response. Estelle took a deep breath and forced herself to lower the blanket. There was nothing to be afraid of. It was just a lonely child who happened to be dead. She'd faced far scarier monsters before.

Then both doors of the closet flew open and the dresses rustled. Estelle couldn't tear her eyes away as they shook and swung on their hangers. "What do you want? Can I help you?"

The rustling ceased and the room went still. Estelle scanned the room, considering running to Flynn or Yuri's room. If the ghost had vanished for now, this might be her only chance. Certainly she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after this, so she should get out now and at least head downstairs.

She began slowly pushing the blanket down and preparing to dash to her door when something appeared on the foot of her bed. Estelle gasped at the sudden apparition and jerked her legs away from the end of the bed. It took a second of panic to even register what the figure was: a girl. She kneeled on the bed, watching Estelle with her head cocked to the side. Her dirty blonde hair hung around her face in a pair of braids as she leaned forward on her hands.

Estelle stared back at the girl, trying not to think about how weird it was to be able to see the wall through a child's head. "H-hello…"

For a protracted moment, the girl said nothing. Estelle was about to speak again when finally the ghost spoke. "Are you a princess?"

Estelle blinked. That hadn't been what she expected, but the girl leaned forward eagerly. Estelle simply said, "Yes."

The girl's face lit up. "I knew it!" She vanished, and a few seconds later she reappeared in the closet and ran her hands across the dresses. "You have so many pretty princess dresses! Do you have a tiara? Can I wear it?"

"Um… I do, but I didn't bring it."

"Awww…"

"My name is Estelle. What's your name?"

When she spun around, her daisy yellow skirt flowed like it was underwater. "My name is Lucy! You're the princess from Zaphias, right? I've heard of you. My mommy said you were going to be the empress one day."

"Actually, my relative Ioder is the emperor now."

"That's ok. Being a princess is funner than being an empress. Will you play with me?"

"Ok." Estelle crawled out of bed and straightened her night gown. Her fear had gone away and all she was left with was surprise. She had never expected to play princess with a ghost, and this vacation was turning out a lot more interesting than she had anticipated.

"Yay!" Lucy jumped in the air. "Let's go downstairs and we can have a tea party, ok?"

"Why don't we wake my friends up and they can play, too?" Wouldn't this be a birthday surprise for Flynn.

Lucy's smile dropped. "You mean the boys?"

Estelle nodded. "Yes, my friends. Their names are Flynn and Yuri."

Lucy wrinkled her nose. "I don't wanna play with boys. Besides, they're not princesses. I used to play princess tea party with my mommy but she went away so now I wanna play with you."

"Oh, all right." Her heart went out to the poor girl. Maybe if Mr. and Mrs. Caverly knew Lucy was still around as a ghost, they wouldn't have left.

Lucy disappeared and reappeared next to the door, which swung open without her touching it. "Come on, come on!"

"I'm coming!" Estelle hurried out of her room and headed downstairs to have a tea party with a ghost.

Something heavy fell on Flynn, jolting him from sleep. In the first confused seconds upon awakening, he became aware of something smothering him and a weight pinning him to the bed. Thoughts of ghosts flew through his mind and he panicked, flailing his legs and struggling to push the blanket away from his face.

"Happy birthday!" Yuri shouted.

Flynn paused, taking stock of the weight and realizing it was human-shaped. He pushed up, but the blanket pinned his arms down and Yuri had the advantage of gravity. "Get off me."

"No, no, we need to celebrate your birthday properly. Twenty-five, is it? This might take a while." He punched Flynn's side, light enough that through the padding of the blanket, Flynn barely felt it. "There's one. Two!" His other fist hit Flynn's opposite side.

"Yuri, stop, let me up."

"Nope!" He punched Flynn a third time but pulling his arms away to punch gave Flynn an opening to try to throw him off.

Flynn kicked and thrashed, throwing punches of his own through the blanket as Yuri rained abuse on him. Yuri counted through his laughter, though it became harder and harder to land punches as Flynn slowly gained the upper hand and struggled out from under the blanket.

"You're such a child!" Flynn's yell was smothered by the blanket in his face, and Yuri responded with another easy punch to his shoulder.

"Younger than you, old man!"

Flynn's attempt to kick him between the legs was ruined by Yuri's knees holding the blanket tight.

"Twenty-five!" Yuri announced, punching Flynn square in the belly. Then Yuri rolled over and lay on his back, panting for breath.

Flynn threw the blanket off and emerged with a gasp. The blanket had left his hair in even more disarray than usual. "Are you satisfied?"

Yuri grinned. "Yep. Happy birthday."

Flynn punched Yuri's shoulder. "Thanks, I guess. I hope we didn't wake Estellise."

"I'm pretty sure she's already up. Her door was open when I came over here. You hungry?"

Flynn nodded. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"I was going to ask you that." Yuri hopped off the bed. "You decide, birthday-boy."

"Oh, I don't know… cook whatever you feel like."

Yuri slapped his forehead. "No, it's your birthday, you're supposed to pick what you want."

Flynn shrugged. "I like everything you cook. Let's see what Estellise wants."

"She's going to say the same thing," Yuri said as they left the room. "She's going to tell you that it's your birthday so you have to pick, so you might as well figure it out."

Flynn sighed. "How about waffles?"

"Sounds good."

They started down the stairs. At the middle landing where the stairs turned, Flynn stopped and held out his arm to block Yuri. His ears prickled and then he glanced back at Yuri. "Do you hear Estellise's voice?"

Yuri nodded slowly. Quietly, he said, "Sounds like she's talking to someone."

"Who in the world could she be talking to?" Thoughts of the intruder put him on edge. They'd suggested it was a ghost last night, but Flynn wasn't sure he believed in such things. Estelle's voice didn't sound frightened, but if someone had broken into their house and was having a chat, maybe she was just good at keeping her cool. In any case, he hurried forward. With Yuri close behind, he burst out of the foyer and found Estelle sitting at the dinner table with a tea set. She looked up as he and Yuri entered and smiled.

"Good morning. Happy birthday, Flynn."

Flynn stared at the table. There were clearly two places set up, but no tea in the cups. Was she getting things ready for them? But who was she talking to?

"Everything ok?" Yuri asked. "We heard you talking."

"Oh, yes." She glanced to the empty chair in front of the other table setting. "Lucy, where did you go? It's ok, these are my friends. They're very nice."

Flynn shared a nervous look with Yuri. Estelle was an adult; shouldn't she have grown out of imaginary friends by now?

Yuri looked back to Estelle first, and then his breath cut off. Flynn shared his shock when he saw a small, transparent girl hiding behind Estelle's chair, peering around her shoulder. "Is that…?"

"Yuri, Flynn, meet Lucy Caverly. She used to live here."

Yuri stared for a second, and then waved. "Yo."

"We're having a princess tea party," Estelle explained, like that answered everything.

Any intelligent response fled from Flynn's mind. "I… see."

"That looks fun." Yuri walked closer. "Mind if we join?"

"No!" Lucy yelled, stopping Yuri short.

"No? Aw, but I want to play princesses, too."

Lucy huddled behind Estelle. "You're not a princess. Go away."

Estelle turned to her. "Lucy, that isn't very nice. Apologize to Yuri."

"No, it's fine," Yuri said. "She's right; I'm definitely not a princess." He reached the table and leaned on it.

Flynn would never cease to be amazed at Yuri's ability to roll with things. Flynn was still reeling from the presence of a ghost playing princess, while Yuri had already moved on to chatting like she was a normal little girl.

"I'm going to cook waffles. Do you want any, Estelle? You can have some too, Lucy, if you still eat."

Lucy shook her head. Flynn had still only seen half of her, since she was hiding behind Estelle. "No. Go away. You're interrupting. I wanna play with Estelle."

Estelle frowned. "Lucy, the boys need to use the kitchen. If you want, we can move somewhere else to play."

"Ok," she muttered. Estelle gathered the teapot and cups onto a platter. She gave Flynn and Yuri an apologetic look and then crossed to the foyer. "Here, let's sit in front room. There's a nice coffee table we can-"

"No!" The doors slammed shut in Estelle's face and Lucy appeared behind her. "We can't go in there!"

Estelle glanced between Lucy and the doors in confusion. "Why not? You can barely notice the funny smell."

Lucy shook her head. "No, that's a bad place. You can't go in."

"What makes it bad?" Flynn asked. I'm talking to a ghost. This was such a weird birthday.

Lucy hid behind Estelle's skirt and watched him warily. She didn't speak until Estelle repeated the question. "It just is. It's a bad and scary place and you can't go in, not ever!" As her voice rose, the chandelier above them swayed and the light flickered.

Estelle shared a nervous glance with Flynn and then said, "Ok, Lucy, we won't go in. Why don't we go up to my bedroom?"

Lucy nodded, and a second later she appeared at the top of the stairs. "Hurry up, Estelle."

Estelle looked to Yuri and Flynn. "Happy birthday, Flynn. You don't mind if I entertain her for a little bit, do you?"

Flynn shook his head, smiling slightly. Of course Estelle would be eager to help a dead little girl. "Go on and have fun."

After she disappeared upstairs, Yuri took a long look at the doors and tried the knobs. Just like yesterday, they were jammed. "I'd try to kick it in again, but I think that might make the kid mad."

"What do you make of this, Yuri? It's one thing to think a house might be haunted and another to have a conversation with a ghost."

"Sure is weird. I wonder why she hates this room in particular?"

Yuri was right: there were more important things to worry about than the mere fact of ghosts existing. He recalled the unpleasant odour and the uneasy feeling in the room and suppressed a shudder. "I don't know, but the girl might be right about this room being bad. There's something very peculiar about it."

Yuri strolled into the kitchen and stopped, gazing out the windows at the cliffs and the ocean beyond. "We thought she died by falling off the cliff. Do you think there's more to it?"

Flynn followed, checking the doors over his shoulder when he stood next to Yuri. There was something ominous about the simple white doors. "You think she died in that room?"

"I think a child would associate a room they'd suffered greatly in as a 'bad place'."

"Could there have been an accident?"

Yuri grimaced. "I don't know, but I'd like to find out. I wonder if Mr. Yates has any additional information to help us get in touch with her parents. Maybe if we could write to them, they could come back and put her to rest, or at least keep her company."

"That reminds me. I found a box of letters yesterday in my closet. They're from Mr. and Mrs. Caverly, to each other. Perhaps they might have some clues about where they'd move?"

"That might help. I'll start making breakfast, you go get the box."

Upstairs, Flynn heard Estelle's voice from her bedroom. He wasn't sure how he felt about her playing with a ghost. Lucy seemed harmless enough, but he didn't know what to expect from a ghost.

In his closet, he pushed the clothes to one side and reached for the box of letters on the top shelf. As his fingers brushed the box the closet door swung shut. Flynn plunged into darkness and he turned around to push it open again. A draft must have blown it shut. Yes, that must be it. He twisted the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. That was… a really strong draft. It couldn't be a ghost, though, because Lucy was distracted in Estelle's bedroom.

He tried the door a few more times, but didn't have any luck. "Lady Estellise!" He rapped the door. "Estellise, could you please help me out?!"

Flynn waited a few moments, but Estelle didn't respond. Why wouldn't she come running if he called for her? Was she all right? Fear for her gripped him and he cursed himself for leaving her alone with a ghost. Lucy must have done something to her! "Estellise! Estellise, if you can hear me, please come to my bedroom! Yuri!" He smashed his fists against the door, rattling its hinges.

Surely light from outside should penetrate the cracks around the door, and by now his eyes should have begun to adjust to the low light. Instead he closed them, because the complete lack of stimuli despite being open made his eyes feel achingly hollow. The closet was so oppressively dark he could feel it curl around him like smothering blanket. His chest felt tight, like the darkness was a physical veil he struggled to breathe through. Flynn pounded on the door again until his fists hurt. "Come on…" he muttered. He was afraid now, not for himself but for his friends. If they weren't responding to his increasingly desperate attempts to summon attention, something must be keeping them away. His desperation to get out of the closet spiked with the need to find out what happened to them.

"Yur-" his mouth snapped shut. Had he just heard something? Flynn tried to quiet his breathing, which was difficult because he now felt like the darkness was squeezing the air from his lungs. He could have sworn he heard… a rustle. There, that was it. So soft it was barely noticeable, but when he held his breath and stood absolutely still, he heard the soft whisper of fabric sliding against each other, and then the faintest scrape of metal on metal. It was impossible to see anything but he turned his head in the direction of the noise anyway. It came again, and he swallowed a lump in his throat when he recognized it. Something was rustling in his hanging clothes.

Flynn stepped back, slowly. Being alone in the darkness was unnerving, but the only thing worse was realizing that he wasn't alone. Flynn backed away until he pressed against the side wall, right under the shelf with the box. The rustling only became more lively, and the lack of anything else for his ears to focus on made it seem thunderous. He had left his sword in the closet, but it was on the other side and the only thing he knew for sure was that he didn't want to get any closer to whatever was over there.

He forced himself to control his breathing. Panicking wasn't going to help anyone, and he needed to get out of here so he could help Yuri and Estelle before it was too late. Deep breath…. Now let it out…. Pause….

Someone took a breath and it wasn't him. Flynn's heart jolted and he fought down a tremor of fear. The darkness surrounding him was already absolute, so instead of growing darker it grew heavier. He felt pressure pounding against his face like he was underwater and he gasped for air. It pressed against him until his trembling knees could no longer support him and he sank to the ground. He pulled his knees tight and pressed his back against the wall, so firmly he thought he might break through it and find freedom.

On top of the noise getting closer and closer, he could feel the presence of something other in the closet. Flynn squeezed his eyes tight and hugged his knees, praying it would leave him alone. The floor creaked and the carpet rustled and he knew the thing was right in front of him now, standing so close he could reach out and touch it if he dared. Goosebumps sprouted across his arms and his breathing came in shaky gasps. The world was crushing him, like it was trying to squeeze him out of existence, and he almost hoped it did before the presence standing before him decided to act.

A beam of light hit his face and the pressure vanished in an instant. Flynn gasped and blinked against the blinding light.

"Flynn?" Yuri stood in the doorway. "Are you ok?"

Flynn seized his chance and bolted out of there like a rabbit. He charged straight into the bed and fell on his stomach, heaving for breaths.

"What the hell were you doing in there?"

Flynn rolled on his side and saw Yuri still standing in the doorway of the closet, one hand on the knob.

"Don't go in there!" He sat on the edge of the bed, still coming to terms with the fact that he was fine, Yuri was unhurt, and the closet was now nothing more than a dimly lit space with some shirts on hangers.

Yuri gave the closet a confused look. "So, are you gonna explain yourself or do you just have an irrational phobia of closets now?"

As succinctly as he could, Flynn tried to explain what had happened. He struggled to find adequate words to describe the terror he'd felt. It wasn't that the dark closet had been scary, it was like horror had saturated the scarce air and soaked through his skin, penetrating his bones with hopeless dread.

When Flynn finished, Yuri looked back to the closet, uncertain this time. "That's… pretty weird."

"Didn't you hear me shouting?"

Yuri reached into the closet and pulled all Flynn's clothes off the rack. Flynn considered helping, but he couldn't bring himself to get any closer to that doorway at the moment. Yuri dumped the clothes on Flynn's bed and shook his head. "No, I didn't hear a thing. After you took five minutes to come down I came to see if you got caught up in something."

"Five minutes? Is that all it was?" It had felt like at least half an hour.

"I'm certain. Did you get the box of letters?"

He shook his head. "No. I had just been about to grab it when the door shut."

Yuri returned to the closet and poked his head in. He looked around for a bit, and then leaned over to grab something off the ground. "Is this the box?"

"That's it." Yuri held it out with the lid flung open. It was empty. "There were pages of letters in there yesterday."

Yuri snapped the lid shut and set it on the dresser. "Nothing now. Do you think whatever it was didn't want you reading those letters?"

Flynn remembered the unsettling feeling he'd felt yesterday while reading them, like someone was watching and judging him. He nodded slowly. "That might be it."

They heard a giggle and both looked in the direct of Estelle's room. "Do you think Lucy had anything to do with this?" Yuri asked.

"As far as we know she's the only ghost. I'll ask."

"I need to take the waffles off before they burn. If you're sure you're ok, go ask Lucy while she's playing with Estelle and come down when you're ready."

Yuri headed downstairs and Flynn lightly knocked on Estelle's door. She beckoned him in and when he entered, he found her alone. Estelle sat on the floor with the tea set spread out on a blanket.

"Lucy," Estelle said, "it's ok to come out. Flynn is a friend, remember?"

Lucy appeared again, hiding behind Estelle.

"Hello, Lady Estellise." Flynn squatted so he could talk to Lucy face to face. "And hello Lucy, too. Actually, I wanted to ask you a question. Can you do that?"

Lucy looked questioningly to Estelle, who smiled and nodded. "Go on, Lucy. Flynn is super nice, I promise."

Lucy hesitantly stepped out from behind Estelle and watched Flynn warily. "What?"

"Lucy, did you lock me in the closet just now? If you did, I need to know and I promise I won't be mad."

Estelle gave him a worried look, but stayed quiet while waiting for Lucy to answer.

"No." Lucy shook her head and folded her arms. "I didn't."

"Are you sure? I'm not mad and you won't be in trouble if you did."

"I didn't!" She stomped her foot. "I was with Estelle."

Flynn wasn't sure how good that alibi was when he didn't know the limits of a ghost's power, but she seemed pretty adamant. "Do you know who or what did?"

"Mmm…" She clutched her hands and looked at the ground, squirming and frowning.

"Lucy?" Estelle asked gently. "Do you know anything?"

She shook her head tightly. "M-mm." Her lips pressed together and she refused to meet their eyes.

Flynn held back a frown; looking unhappy would only seal her up more. "Lucy, if there is something dangerous in this house, then it's very important that you tell us."

She threw her fists out at the side. "I didn't do nothing! And - and you're not allowed to play in Mommy and Daddy's room! He'll get mad! Leave me alone!" As her voice reached a high pitch, the light in Estelle's room flickered. It didn't stabilize again until Lucy vanished, leaving Flynn and Estelle exchanging a worried look.

"That's… worrying." Flynn sat across from Estelle.

"Are you all right, Flynn? What happened with the closet?"

Flynn explained again, and Estelle's eyes were wide by the time he finished.

"Oh, that's horrible! Lucy was with me the entire time. She seemed perfectly normal and innocent. I can't believe she'd orchestrate something like that."

Flynn nodded. "I believe that. What I'm concerned about is that she mentioned a 'he' during her little tantrum. Do you think it's possible there is more than one spirit in this house?"

Estelle hunched her shoulders and frowned. "Well… I didn't want to think about this before, but last night I could have sworn I saw someone on the landing, but only for a fraction of a second. They were definitely taller than Lucy, though."

Flynn drummed his fingers on the carpet. "How sure is Mr. Yates that Lucy's parents are alive somewhere far away?"

"He said the house was found empty, so they assumed the family left. You think the entire family died? But what could have killed them?"

"I don't know. Everything was in chaos during the Adephagos. Aer-sick monsters? Scared looters from Capua Nor? More importantly, do you think we're in danger staying in this house?"

"Hm…" Estelle put her fingers to her lips. "If we assume that the 'he' Lucy mentioned is Mr. Caverly, and he's the one who locked you in the closet, then I think we can assume he was trying to keep you from accessing the box of love letters. They were very private between him and his wife, so he wanted to keep them away from you. What happened was frightening, I'm sure, but you didn't actually get hurt. There's no evidence that anyone wants to harm us, so I think as long as we respect their boundaries, we'll be fine."

Flynn nodded. "That makes sense. So, you're certain you didn't hear a thing?" He'd tried to pass off Yuri not hearing him as Yuri being downstairs and focusing on cooking, but Estelle had been right across the landing.

"No, I didn't." She shook her head. "I heard you come upstairs and then a few minutes later Yuri came up. I didn't hear anything."

"But I was pounding on the door and shouting as loud as I could."

"I don't know." She frowned. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right. I suppose we'll have to chalk it up to weird ghost powers."

"Probably. It's rather exciting, isn't it?"

'Exciting' wasn't the word Flynn would use, especially after his ordeal in the closet. "It's certainly intriguing."

Lucy was a sweet girl. She was six years old and could tell stories about the ships she'd watched off the cliff and the castles she'd built on the beach all day. It was obvious to Estelle that she was lonely, and playing with her reminded Estelle of how dearly she'd wished for a little sister when she was a child in the castle.

However, Estelle also wanted to sit in the kitchen with Flynn and Yuri and talk about grown-up things. It was Flynn's birthday, and she'd barely had a chance to speak to him at all. Yuri was in the process of baking a cake for Flynn, but when she suggested they go down to help, Lucy had thrown a tantrum until all the lights on the second floor flickered and doors slammed shut. She didn't want to spend the day with the boys and she cried if Estelle left her. Just separating long enough to eat lunch with the boys had ended in a series of slamming doors until Estelle finished eating and returned upstairs.

"Lucy, you need to calm down," Estelle said as the girl came out of one of her fits. The light in Estelle's bedroom came back on once Estelle agreed not to go downstairs at that moment. "You can't have a tantrum every time I leave your side."

"B-but I don't w-w-want you to go away." She rubbed her eyes and then grasped the skirt of Estelle's dress. Her hands didn't feel like normal human hands. They buzzed with energy, so it felt more like getting grabbed by a forcefield than a physical object. "I just want to play with you."

"I know." Estelle's stroked the back of Lucy's head, which had the same tingly energy as her grip. "But demanding I pay attention to you is very rude."

"Just for today." Lucy looked up pleadingly. "Play with me for today and tomorrow I won't bug you. I promise. Please?"

She was so lonely, Estelle thought. How long had it been since this little girl had a chance to play with anyone? Anyone would be desperate for interaction after being all alone in a house for over four years, and to a young child that was an eternity. Estelle remembered what it felt like to be a lonely little girl desperate for a companion, and her heart caved. "Ok, but only for today. Tomorrow you have to let me play with my other friends, too, ok?"

Lucy nodded vigorously. "Yes! I promise! Now let's play dress up with your princess dresses!"

"I don't think they'd fit you," Estelle said with a smile. Lucy reappeared in the closet and shuffled the dresses around. "You try them on and twirl around a lot, ok?"

"Ok, I can do that."

Estelle had brought her most casual dresses, but Lucy was enraptured with all of them. She sat on the bed and clapped as Estelle modelled them, cheering when she spun. Estelle wondered if she could have worn a potato sack, told her it was a special princess bag, and gotten the same reaction. It took about half an hour to go through all of them, and when she was done, Estelle sat on the floor with her green skirt pooling around her legs.

"That's all I brought, I'm afraid."

"You're so pretty, Estelle."

Estelle giggled. "Thank you. You're very pretty too, Lucy. I bet you could be a princess, too."

Lucy beamed, legs kicking the side of the bed. "Sometimes my daddy calls me princess."

Estelle thought for a moment. Slowly, she asked, "Lucy… do you know where your mommy and daddy are?"

Her legs stopped moving and she looked to the side. "Um… I…"

"It's ok if you don't know," she said gently.

"Well, I… Mommy isn't here anymore. She went away. I dunno where, but… she's not here. And Daddy is…"

"Is your father still in the house the way you are?"

Lucy chewed on her lips and then gave a tiny nod. "M-hm."

At least she had confirmation for her suspicion. "Is your Daddy a nice man?"

Lucy deliberated over her answer for a long time, and then said, "Every time Daddy came home from a trip, he brought me a present. And he'd rub my head and ask me if I was a good girl for Mommy. He tucked me in every night and read me stories, and he always checked under the bed for monsters. He let me ride on his back and pretend he was a horse and he made really good neighing sounds. One time a boy at school pushed me and Daddy yelled at his daddy until he apologized. Mommy said I couldn't eat candy after dinner but Daddy always snuck me treats he bought in town. I… I love my Daddy." By the time she was done, tears glistened in her eyes. She pulled her legs onto the bed and buried her face in them. Ghosts had no need to breath, but a habit from life drove her to gasp and sniffle with sobs.

"Oh, no." Estelle rushed to it on the side of the bed. "I'm sorry, Lucy, I shouldn't have asked." She wrapped her arm around the little ghost's shoulders, whispering soft consolations and rubbing her back.

"I love my Daddy," Lucy cried. "I do. I really do and Daddy loves me, too. And I love Mommy, too, even though she was mean sometimes. She always said she loved me even when she did things I didn't like."

"Yes, I'm sure he does." If his ghost was also in the house, there must be some reason he didn't play with her or make himself known. Estelle wasn't sure what the rules for being a ghost were, but perhaps it was easier for children to become ghosts and adults couldn't have as strong a presence? In that case, he was probably lurking in the house, more a lingering conscience than anything else, watching his daughter drift through the rooms alone. Estelle hugged Lucy tighter; every detail she learned about this house was sadder than the last. Some tragedy must have befallen the family, killing Mr. Caverly and Lucy, and leaving poor Mrs. Caverly a widow. Perhaps bringing her back to pacify her husband and daughter would put them at rest, but with the love letters gone, Estelle had no idea how they were supposed to find her.