Page 25 of Haunt Me, Maybe

Her magic still sat at the surface, humming low and bright between us, as if it was waiting to see what I would do. I waited for the disgust to hit me, but it never came. Intrigue sat in its place, and that was just as dangerous.

I should have stepped back. I always stepped back. But the thought landed wrong, and the shock sent a jolt right through me.

What was happening to me?

Aven turned her head slightly, and her lavender hair brushed softly against my cheek. The maze may have loosened its grip, but the air around us hadn’t forgotten what it asked for. I relaxed my hold to give her space. Not enough to leave, though.

I told myself it was because she might still be shaken from her almost-fall. That letting go too quickly would feel abrupt and careless. The truth screamed louder than any excuse; I didn’t want this feeling to end. Being near her did something to me, something I didn’t have the words for yet.

The world felt sharper; more real. Colors didn’t blur at the edges. Sound didn’t echo in the way it normally did. When she was this close to me, I felt less like a memory and more like the man I used to be. I felt alive.

When did that happen?

Was it in this maze where my instincts took over without my permission? Or before? While hearing her laugh with Briony or watching her avoid her magic? She wasn’t destruction…she just…was.

She finally stepped fully out of my arms and turned to face me, cheeks flushed.

“You okay?” she asked.

I forced myself to nod. Words felt dangerous among all these realizations. Still, I owed her an answer.

“Yeah,” I grunted. “Just…making sure it’s done.”

The maze rustled behind us in disappointment, and for once, I agreed with it. It gave us one last, gentle shove—enough that Aven’s fingers skimmed past my hand and my pinky hooked around hers, holding her near me for one final heartbeat before letting her go.

The stalks parted, releasing us back to the open air and shattering the pocket of alternate reality we’d been lost in. This was when I usually left. I should fade back to the attic, right now, and pretend none of this mattered. Instead, I stayed and walked beside her as she headed toward the front of the farm.

I wasn’t sure what this was, exactly. I didn’t know where these new thoughts would lead or how it could go wrong. But I wanted so badly to find out. The further we got from the maze, the less overwhelmed I felt. Phasing out, I hid behind my invisibility, but I still couldn’t find the will to leave entirely.

For the first time in decades, I didn’t feel like retreating. What was this girl doing to me?

CHAPTER NINE

Aven

It was a completely different world outside the calculated stillness of the maze. Sounds were more vibrant, scents vivid, and it was definitely more crowded. Long lines formed in front of a row of wooden stands, the scent of fried dough mingling with the distinctive earthy sweetness of the cornfield.

Fenn sat hunched against the side of one, his concentration focused on the box of cinnamon sugar above his head. That deserter; no way was I buying him a donut after his little disappearing act. With a solid glare laser locked on him, I stomped over.

“You left me in there!” I accused, voice a harsh whisper so I wouldn’t draw attention.

It was cool to have a giant toad follow me around, but being caught yelling at him would have been too far into weird territory for even this town to explain away.

You were perfectly safe, Fenn replied. He hardly spared me a glance, still too focused on the preparation of donuts within reach.

I picked him up, ignoring his croak of outrage, and moved us deeper into the shadows. He wiggled and squirmed, but short of using magic, he wasn’t getting out of this conversation.

“There was no way you could have known that the fucking cognizant maze wouldn’t turn me into fertilizer.”

The maze and I had a perfectly cordial conversation, he said with a puffed throat, as if my accusation was an insult to his duty. I set him down on an empty picnic table and crossed my arms so I wouldn’t reach back out and chuck him. I knew you’d be safe, he continued. Between that ghost and the ancient aura running through the field, nothing was going to happen.

Except something did happen. I wasn’t sure what exactly, but things were different now between Wes and me—amicable, yet heated. My body replayed the moment I stumbled into him and how his grip burned through me with a warmth that shouldn’t exist. The firmness of his arms and the gentle but unyielding way he pulled me close. I tried to tell myself not to fixate on it, and of course, that meant every other thought left my head except for those.

He felt that difference, too, I knew he did. Why else would he still be hovering nearby? I was acutely aware of his presence; the air felt different. Thicker. Like it remembered us touching.

“The ghost’s name is Wes,” I said, half hoping that he would reappear at the sound of his name, but he remained stubbornly invisible.

Fenn smirked, a slow one meant to taunt. And how was your walk with Wes? Enlightening?