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“Yeah. I know what you’re going to ask next. Yes. This was the last place I was alive. Kind of…” All trace of his humor had gone now; his expression was sad and serious.

“Oh.”

“No shit,” he whispered.

“Is that why you… um… hang around here?”

“Hang around?” He lifted a brow in sardonic amusement, and I knew his humor was restored. “I think you’ll find the technical term is ‘haunt.’”

“I hope I haven’t offended you.”

“Hey. No. Of course not. No need to stress.” His gaze slipped to my mouth. “You always chew your lip when you’re stressed. Did you know that?”

“No, I wasn’t aware,” I murmured, now conscious that I was biting it again.

He laughed and shook his head, as if he couldn’t quite believe he was here. But then neither could I. Deciding I’d probably asked enough questions for the time being, I changed the subject. “I told Dylan I would unpack and move all my things into this room.”

“Can I help?”

“Can you?”

“Probably not. But I wish I could.”

Rising from the bed, I went to the door. If I didn’t do this, Dylan would wonder what I had been doing. “I’ll go fetch my clothes from the other room.”

I dashed to the spare room.

He was sitting on the spare bed. “Hi.” He beamed, startling me.

“How do you do that?”

“Easy.” He grinned and lay back on the bed propped on one elbow, his hair falling over his eyes as he gazed at me. His grin was infectious.

“You’re fast, Fairfax. I’ll give you that,” I said, unable to hide the irony in my voice as I started retrieving my clothes from the chest of drawers in the room.

“It’s just practice.”

“How do you do it?”

Why do I feel so comfortable in his presence? He’s a ghost!

“Mind over matter. I’m not constrained by time and space like you are.” He smiled.

“Really?”

“It’s very simple. I just have to imagine where I want to be and voilà, I’m there.” He disappeared and reappeared in the rocking chair. “You did physics at school. I’m just light. I travel fast.” He made a swooping sign with his hand.

I shook my head. “You’re photons?”

“Yes! Exactly!”

“No. You’re just showing off.” I took the pile of clothes to my new room.

He was standing by the chest of drawers when I went in, startling me once more. “Boo!” he said and grinned.

“Hey!” I scolded. “You’re making this look too easy.”

“It is. Especially near you,” he added, no longer amused.