I stared at Allan for a long time. A thousand different thoughts were racing through my mind—so many that it would be impossible to voice them. This night had gone from fun, to creepy, to absolutely insane. But one thought dominated all others.

Greg.

“What did you do?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. I could feel a storm brewing inside of me.

“I brought you here for a banishing ritual,” he said, his voice soft. “Lorelai agreed to help me. She’s very experienced with this. Now, I know that all of this is a lot to swallow, and tonight has been way stressful, but it’s over now and you don’t ha—”

“YOU EXORCISED GREG?” I shouted, shattering the momentary peace.

He took a step away from me, shock written clearly on his face. “It-it wasn’t an exorcism,” he stammered, “it was just a cleansing ri—wait.” His eyes grew wide. “Did you just call the thing that’s been haunting you, Greg?”

My hands balled into fists. “Yes,” I hissed, “because he’s my friend and that’s his name!”

Allan shook his head again, as if what I’d just said wasn’t computing. “You were friends?” he asked in disbelief. “You were friends with the ghost that was haunting you?”

“Well not anymore!” I yelled, “Because you just had a psychic banish him!”

Turning around, I stormed out of the incense riddled room. I heard Allan say a rushed ‘thank you’ to the lady before he hurried out after me. It was, of course, still raining. I didn’t care. I walked right into it. I was so furious that the rain would probably just turn to steam around me.

“Okay,” said Allan, “I can see that you’re angry and I am extremely confused. What exactly is going on?”

I whirled around to face him. The raindrops running down my face were probably doing wonders for my mascara. “That’s a great question!” I shot back. “What is going on Allan? One minute I think I’m on a normal date and then poof! You turn out to be a massive creep who drags me to this place where you’ve set up a banishing ritual! What the crap?”

“I’m sorry,” Allan said, his gray eyebrows low over his eyes, “but at what point did I become a massive creep? As far as I’m concerned, I was just trying to help you!”

“Oh gosh,” I said snidely, “I don’t know, maybe you became a creep when you slipped something into my drink.”

Even in the shadowy darkness, I could see his face grow red. “You—you saw that?” he asked.

“No,” I spat, “but Greg did, and he told me.” I folded my arms. “So what’s your deal? Are you a rapist or a serial killer or what?”

Even though I would have thought it impossible, Allan’s face got even redder. “No!” he cried, “I—I’m not any of those things!” He wiped the rain from his face. “But that must have been when I saw the ghost possess you! He did it to tell you I put something in your drink and there I was thinking that I had to get you to Lorelai as quick as possible! I thought your life might be in danger.” He ran a hand through his soaking hair as he shook his head. “This has been a weird night.”

I wasn’t about to let my guard down yet. “So what did you put in my drink?”

“Holy water,” he answered. “It doesn’t affect all ghosts, but I wanted to see if you or the ghost had a reaction to it. When you started acting so weird and claiming to be sick, I thought for sure that the ghost had a powerful grip on you.”

I breathed out slowly as I processed this new information. “So you’re not a murderer?” I asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” he said with a weary laugh. “Come on, I’m freezing. We should head to the bus stop.”

I nodded numbly, my mind racing. I had so many questions, and worry for Greg was still gnawing at my mind. He couldn’t just be gone, could he? I pursed my lips. I wasn’t going to let this rest until I got him back.

When we arrived at the bus stop, we were the only ones there. The whole date had probably only lasted an hour, and most tourists would be out for a while yet. Glancing up at Allan, I struggled to keep my anger in check.

“Why didn’t you tell me what was going on from the beginning?” I asked. “Then I wouldn’t have been worried you were trying to drug me and Greg wouldn’t be gone right now.” My stomach gurgled. “And I could have eaten those chicken strips,” I added dismally.

Allan shrugged, his expression apologetic. “I knew a ghost was haunting you,” he said, “and I saw it possess you. I wasn’t sure how much power it wielded, so I couldn’t risk telling you. If I had, the ghost would have heard and it might have hurt you before Lorelai could get rid of it.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Is there any way to get him back?” I asked. I was afraid for the answer.

Allan shrugged again. “Honestly, I’ve never tried, but I guess we could hold a séance and give it a go.”

When the bus finally pulled up, we climbed on and went to sit in the very back. My clothes were soaked through and I couldn’t stop shivering. I felt startlingly alone now. When I looked around, I couldn’t see Greg. I was so accustomed to hearing his voice in my head that I felt lonely with just my own thoughts.

For a few minutes we rode in uncomfortable silence. Finally, I couldn’t bear it anymore. I had too many questions.

“So,” I began. I tried to think of a casual way to bring it up, but I was never one for casualty. “You can see ghosts.”

He gave a little nod as he glanced down at his hands. “Yep,” he said.

I nodded, trying to appear unfazed. In all honestly though, I was kind of freaking out. Ever since I'd started working at The King’s Rest, my life had lost all semblance of normalcy. “You gonna tell me more about that?”

He raised an eyebrow as he stared at me. “You want to know more?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, “obviously. Why wouldn’t I?”

He leaned back in his seat. “I’ve helped a few people in the past, with ghosts and whatnot, and after it was over the last thing they wanted to do was talk about it.” His gaze found mine as a confused expression crossed his face. “Most people, when they encounter the supernatural, want to forget everything they saw. They don’t want to ask questions.”

I was starting to feel impatient. “Well, that’s great for most people, but I’m already friends with a ghost so I think it’s safe to say that I’ve come to terms with the supernatural in my life.” Allan laughed a little as I went on. “But even so, I mean, this is crazy! I can see Greg, but only when he lets me see him. Do you see ghosts all the time?”

“I do,” Allan said.

“How?”

His smile faded as he heaved a sigh. “To make a long story really, really short, I had a bit of a run in with a spirit when I was nine and some stuff happened. Ever since then I’ve been able to see ghosts. Among other things.”

I frowned. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d make it really short. “Among other things?” I asked.

His smile returned. “Yeah,” he said, “like this super cool albino look I’ve got going on. I lied to you before, I don’t bleach my hair.”

I stared at him for a long moment, shaking my head. I could barely wrap my mind around all of this. “What are the chances?” I murmured. “I get haunted by a ghost and then a few weeks later I meet someone who can see them? I go my whole life without weird stuff happening, and then there’s all this in less than a month.” Absently, I squeezed a drop of water out of a clump of my hair. “The timing could have been better,” I admitted. “When I first started seeing Greg, I thought I was going crazy. I would have done anything to have him gone, and now I would do anything to get him back.”

Allan gave me a strange look. “Yeah,” he said, “It’s my turn to ask a few questions.” He leaned forward and rested his chin in his hands, his blue eyes never leaving mine. “How did this whole thing happen? I’m trying to figure it out and I’m coming up empty.”

It was my turn to shrug. “Greg was haunting me and making my life miserable, but then one day I guess he started feeling guilty for what he was doing.”

Allan laughed. “Guilty?”

“That was my reaction,” I said, “but yeah, I guess he was. Anyways, after that we sort of struck a truce and I told him I’d help him out in haunting everyone else in the castle if he stopped haunting me. From then on we were sort of partners in crime.”

Allan’s smile was once again, replaced with shock. “You were part of that?” he asked. I gave a timid nod and he shook his head. “Unbelievable! I was starting to get seriously freaked because this ghost was haunting everybody and I thought I had to get rid of him fast! I saw it hanging around you the most, so I figured that would be the best place to start. I never dreamed you were actually helping it!”

I gave a nervous laugh. “When you say it like that,” I said, “it makes me sound like a horrible person. But honestly, I was just trying to keep my sanity. I didn’t want him to start haunting me again.” I shrugged. “Greg got bored doing that too though, so now we’ve sort of just been hanging out.”

The looks Allan kept giving me were getting weirder and weirder until finally, he had to laugh too. “I must say,” he said at last, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen somebody solve a haunting by befriending the ghost.”

“So you do this all the time then?” I asked. “You’re some vigilante ghost hunter that goes around saving people from possession?”

“Nothing like that,” he said with another laugh. “Like I said, I’ve only helped a few people in the past. I just do what I can if I happen across anything. Seeing a ghost terrorize everyone at The King’s Rest definitely caught my attention.”

“Are there other people like you?” I asked, “People that can see ghosts?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m sure there are, somewhere,” he said, “but I’ve never met any. There are plenty of people who might claim that they can, and there are lots of people who are more attuned to the spirits, like Lorelai.” He took a deep breath. “But no one else can see them, and I mean really see them, all the time like I can.”

Oh boy. I couldn’t comprehend this. “Do you see everyone who’s ever died?” I asked. “Does everyone become a ghost when they kick the bucket?”

“Nah,” Allan said with a crooked grin, “Most people move on without a problem. The few that get stuck here, those are the ones I see.”

I shook my head, burying my face in my hands. He was being way too chill about this.

“Am I freaking you out?” he asked. “I’m totally freaking you out, aren’t I?”

“It’s fine,” I said, my voice muffled by my hands. “After being haunted for a couple of weeks, this is all just icing on the cake.” I slowly raised my head, a new thought hitting me. “How often do you see ghosts?” I asked. “Do you see any right now?”

Allan pursed his lips as he glanced around the bus and then out the window. “They’re harder to see in the dark,” he said, “but sure, there are a few that I see regularly on this drive.”

I shivered. “That’s creepy.”

“I guess so,” he said, “but it’s kind of awesome too. It’s like a superpower, right?”

I laughed. “That sounds like the worst superpower in the world.”

Allan’s smile softened as he lowered his gaze. “Yeah,” he whispered, “but you get used to it.”

By this time, the bus was finally pulling into the gateway of the castle. As it lurched to a stop, Allan and I climbed off. Hugging my arms tight around me, I shivered as I followed him through the drizzling rain into the great hall.

“Alright,” I said as soon as we were inside. “How are we going to get Greg back? You mentioned a séance?”

Allan looked troubled. “Yeah,” he said, “but if we went to your room to hold one, I doubt your roommate would appreciate it.”

“Too late for that,” I said dryly, “since the only roommate I had was recently exorcised. Come on.”

We both moved through the great hall and into the employee housing. Our drenched, modern clothes drew more than a few stares. As I reached my room, I fumbled with my numb hands to unlock the door. Technically, boys weren’t allowed in girl’s dorms and visa-versa, but I’d learned pretty quick that no one followed that rule. Once the door was open, I followed Allan inside.

“Here we are,” I said as I gestured to the small room, “this is my humble abode.” I pursed my lips as I glanced around. The room was a disaster, my bed wasn’t made, clothes and books were scattered everywhere, and there was even a bra hanging off the foot of my bed. I was classy, real classy.

When I braved a glance at Allan, I could see that his eyes were wide as he stared at the mountain of boxes. “I understand what you said about roommates now,” he said. He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, my mom is such a hoarder. I’ll bet she never even goes through this stuff.”

I swallowed. I had totally forgotten that his mother was the manager.

As Allan stepped into the room, I could hear something crunch underneath his shoes. He froze, and then slowly lifted his foot. I cringed when I saw that it was a few pieces of cereal. He raised an eyebrow as he glanced at me.

“Why have you got cereal on your floor?” he asked.

If, at any point, the earth wanted to swallow me whole, I’d be pretty okay with that. “When I’m bored,” I whispered, “I throw cereal at Greg and try to make it go through his head. It drives him crazy.” I shifted my weight uncomfortably. “I probably should have cleaned that up.”

Allan stared at me for a moment, dumbfounded. Then, he burst into laughter.

“You,” he said when he finally caught his breath, “you know how to handle a haunting! That is fantastic.”

“Glad you think so,” I said. Mentioning Greg had reminded me why we were here. “So, how do we go about communicating with the dead?”

He blinked a few times, as if trying to collect his thoughts. “Oh, uh, we’ll need a candle, if you have one, and something that belonged to the ghost.”

“Sure thing,” I said. Walking over to the pile of junk, I pulled open the long box and picked up the blade of the sword. I placed it on the floor, then opened up my satchel and laid the hilt next to the blade.

“So it wasn’t a brick after all,” mused Allan as he watched me take the hilt from my bag.

“Oh,” I whispered, “I completely forgot I said that.” I could feel heat rise to my face. “I didn’t know what else to do in that moment.”

Allan chuckled at my expression. “No, no, it was good. Carrying a brick around makes way more sense than a sword hilt.”

“Yeah, totally,” I said as I turned around, “because this whole night has been really big on making sense.” Picking up the candle and matches from off my nightstand, I carried them over to where Allan was kneeling on the ground. He lifted the hilt of the sword, studying it closely.

“Where did you get this?” he asked.

“Um, yeah,” I choked, “I uh, might have, maybe, you know, gotten the sword from the mountain of antiques next to you.”

He looked up at the boxes. “Awesome,” he muttered, “someone else gets haunted by something my mom bought.”

“So this isn’t the first time?”

He gave me a hopeless glance. “Nope.”

I didn’t know if I should laugh, or act concerned, so instead of replying, I just set the candle and matches down, and then crossed the room to turn out the lights. When I turned back around, I could see from the dim light of the window that Allan had picked up the candle, matchbox, and hilt, and was starting to juggle them.

As I stepped around him, I gave him a flat look. “You got my friend stuck in limbo and now you’re juggling with the things we need to get him back.” My frown deepened. “That’s super professional.”

Allan gave me a sheepish look as he quickly set everything back down. “Sorry,” he said, “bad habit. I wanted to see if I could do it with the different weights.” He cleared his throat. “But it was clearly in bad taste, so here we go.”

Striking a match against the box, he lit the candle. Sitting down in front of him, I took a deep breath as I stared at the broken sword. “So,” I murmured, “I’m really hoping this doesn’t get me fired, but Greg started haunting me because I’m kind of the reason the sword is in two pieces.” I looked up at Allan hesitantly. “Please don’t tell your mom.”

Allan laughed, his face lit by the candlelight. “I think you’ve been punished enough,” he said. “Ghosts are rather particular about the things they haunt.”

“So I discovered,” I said with a breath of relief. I scooted forward. “Is this really all we need? A candle and the sword?”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “If this doesn’t work, we can always go back to Lorelai and have a real medium help us out.” His eyebrows settled low over his blue eyes. “But are you sure you want to bring him back? He is a ghost, and I’ve rarely seen ghosts be anything more than selfish and malicious.”

I gave a small nod. “Greg is pretty much both of those things, but he’s not dangerous. Besides,” I said, “he’s the only friend I have here and I don’t want him stuck in limbo, or wherever he was sent when that lady banished him.”

A familiar smile lifted the corner of Allan’s mouth and he shrugged. “Then let’s get this started,” he said.