"Watch it!" I yanked Detective Zyr from the path of the swinging enchanted door before it banged shut.

The minute he scented vampires we knew something was wrong. A dark energy crackled in the frigid apartment. Aurie swayed on her feet as pandemonium swirled around her. Books flew off the shelves. Framed prints rattled against the walls.

Trillions of invisible pings of emotion played shrilly in my head. The din was underscored by a low rumble—the sound of my big leather couch gaining speed as it rushed toward the detective and me. Zyr caught it at the last second, but his face was a mask of concern as he looked my way for answers.

"What happened, Yokai?" I asked warily.

"Did you lie to me?" Aurie croaked.

Confused, I shook my head. I held up my hands, taking a cautious step toward the angry ghost as I cast Empathy to figure out what she meant. I sensed her distrust and growing cynicism, but it was the blade of her anguish that cut the deepest.

"You feel alone," I murmured. The sensation felt like the day my parents dropped me off at my last religious therapy camp when I was sixteen. Right after I'd been released from the hospital. "You feel betrayed," I whispered.

Aurie bit her quivering lip, nodding as tears fell.

"You know, my father once told me, 'If you can't stop acting out, don't come back.'" I held up my butterfly tattoos for her to see. "You're not acting out. It's just hard to contain what's going on inside, right?"

"You made it out alive," she sniffled. Her focus sharpened on me, and I knew it was progress. I slowly edged another step toward her.

"Yes, I got a second chance, and this Afterlife is yours. To finish your unfinished business. I'm not asking you to turn off your feelings. I'm offering to share the burden if you're willing to tell me what's wrong. We're here for you, Yokai."

"Darcy Cyprian came." Her tear-streaked face resumed its leaking as she said his name.

"Cyprian, himself, came here?" Zyr growled incredulously.

He turned to charge after the vampire, but Aurie needed us. I reached to stop him. Incredible savagery raced up my arm and slammed into my chest, and I let him go. Zyr glared at me with fiery yellow eyes, baring his teeth. His claws were out. The times I had thought he was wild in the past paled by comparison.

"You can't go after him alone." I tried to reason with the wolf.

"What? You want me to radio in and say, 'Vampires found my enchanted witness protection'? I'm going—"

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me what happened to my sister." Aurie suddenly stood between us, no longer out of sorts. With her clarity, the mayhem in my apartment settled.

"Aurie?" My hands hovered at her shoulders to usher her to the couch. "Why don't you lay down a moment until you catch your bearings?"

"Answer the question, Detective."

She focused all her attention on Zyr whom she had by the collar of his shirt. I glanced down. The ghost was levitating to put them on the same level. Her ebony curls floated around her face in a breeze that wasn't of this world, and her clothes rippled in the same chilling currents. The cold made my breaths condense into fog.

If Aurie was a blizzard of death, the werewolf brought a lethal heatwave. The rings of fire encircling his pupils flamed like solar flares as he balled his fists. I cupped his elbow to hold him back, but neither of them seemed ready to walk away. My concern went up another notch.

"What the hell happened to Haley?" Aurie yelled.

Uneasiness slid over the detective's face. Gods, I wished I hadn't seen it. Was it possible the vampire had gotten inside Aurie's head with a twisted half-truth built on something Zyr had omitted? His guilt seared into my consciousness in confirmation.

Aurie's face balled when she saw his look of contrition, as well. "The sad thing is I lowkey liked you," she said brokenly, shoving away from the detective. His amber eyes lost their wildfire, and the fight went out of him. With an apology on the tip of his tongue, he reached for her, but she cut him off. "Don't you dare act like you care about how I feel after you've lied to me!"

"I haven't lied to you, Aurie. You can't trust Darcy," Zyr defended himself feebly.

"No! Why is he the only one who told me about Resurrection? Neither of you ever mentioned it."

I was astounded by her accusatory stare in my direction. "Everything I know about it, I learned in Sunday School, but I take it you're not talking about being born again. Wouldn't you like to sit and talk things through?"

Aurie ignored my outstretched hand and continued trudging the room. I surveyed the carnage of my apartment and kept a concerned eye on her. "You never even told me I would get powers like this," she said.

"Because you're not like other ghosts," said Zyr. "Aurie, I've had scores of dead witnesses, and I've never seen a single Soul like you. Most cross over before getting a whiff of telekinesis. Your ability to impact the Real World came astonishingly fast, and your descent into poltergeist-like activity is troublingly premature. There's something...special about you."

"Special?" A near-hysterical laugh erupted from her. She covered her face, and it turned to a sob. When she dropped her hands, her expression was blank. I couldn't bear watching her struggle to hold it together on her own. I pulled her into a hug, expecting her to protest, but she didn't. We sat on the couch. Zyr dejectedly took the barstool across from us.

I studied him as he stared at her. She buried her face in the crook of my neck. While her silky tears wet my skin, his contrition spread scarlet in my consciousness. Whatever secrets he kept, he wasn't unaffected. I sensed he was developing a fondness for Aurie, not merely physical attraction. After a moment, she dried her face on my shirt and seemed more composed.

"Funny, he said the same thing," she mumbled.

"He talked to you? That's important." The detective dug out his phone and a stylus to jot down notes. "Did he say why you were special?" Zyr quizzed her.

"Something about how my sister and I got into that party." Aurie gave a careless shrug. "He said it was an exclusive event for Supernaturals."

"Well, how did you get in?" I asked.

"Like I told the detective, Haley flashed a doorman. What I can't figure out is: How did I get out if Darcy wanted me dead? He could've easily killed me in the penthouse. Why let me get downstairs, use Haley's voice to ask me to come back up, all to orchestrate a hit-and-run? None of it makes sense."

"Wait, what do you mean Darcy used Haley's voice?" Zyr interjected.

"He did it again tonight," Aurie explained. "At the party, when I called my sister, I'm certain he projected her voice into my head and said come back upstairs. Tonight, he made me think it was you at the door, Detective. That's the reason I went out."

Zyr set aside his notes, steepled his fingers, and pressed them to his lips. "No, it doesn't make sense. But why would he suppress evidence if not to cover up his misdeeds? Why would he continue to chase after you if he wasn't behind the hit-and-run?"

"I don't know, but whatever his motives," said Aurie, "my sister and I both got into that event. That's why I need to see for myself that she's safe." She vacated my embrace and strode purposefully toward the door, but Detective Zyr rushed to block the exit. "I'm going home to my family. Move."

"Aurie, be reasonable," said Zyr.

"You don't understand! Nobody's keeping you away from the people you love!"

"Wrong," he roared. "The Council exiled me from my pack for choosing to do my job, and right now my job is keeping you safe! So, stop acting like you're the only one who's ever lost something."

I hurried across the room to separate them. "Zyr, enough! Aurie, chill! Don't run off half-cocked. Give us a chance to get to the bottom of this. You have to trust us."

"Trust him?" She sniffed. "When I first got here, and you logged into my Instagram, Haley hadn't made a new post. That wasn't unusual then, but it's been over two weeks with no posts. Something is wrong with my sister."

A healthy, popular Instagram model not keeping up with social media? I frowned and turned to Zyr with my arms crossed. He looked miffed, but I didn't relent. "Tell her what she needs to know."

Finally, he pushed a hand through his hair and reached out to me for understanding. "Alright, there are details I haven't talked about because Aurie's not ready to hear."

"You don't get to decide that. I'm not a child!" she exclaimed.

"You're nineteen," we both replied.

"Wrong, I'm dead! I think I can handle anything else life fucking throws at me."

I had to admit she had a point.

Detective Zyr blew out a breath and reluctantly confessed: "Your sister's in the hospital."

"Oh my God, did he hurt her?" Aurie asked in distress.

"No, honey. Haley had a psychotic break, but she's under the best care. I haven't been trying to deceive you. I've been trying to keep you focused on the Light. Ask yourself why Cyprian wants you worried about your sister. It's to stop you from crossing over!"

Aurie's eyes drilled into his to make sure he was telling the truth. The detective spread his arms as if he had nothing left to hide.

"Well, Darcy Cyprian definitely succeeded at one thing," said Aurie. "I'm not going anywhere until I know Haley's okay."

Zyr threw up his hands in frustration. "That's the worst possible decision you could make. Every second you spend in Overlay City puts you at risk. Listen to me, Aurie."

"Hey! Before we start another war, can we clean up the casualties of the first one?" I suggested, defusing the situation before things got overblown.

I stooped to pick up the magazines near his foot and noticed a business card on thick black vellum. The words "Spellcaster, Charmer and Black Magic Woman" were printed in white. I slipped it in my pocket with the intent to find out how Darcy Cyprian expected to make Aurie Edison a modern-day Lazarus.