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“I do have to warn you, though,” his mother said to Leo. “Becoming whole will make it possible for you to move on again. You may feel a pull toward crossing.”

Leo’s chin jutted. “I don’t want to cross. I want something else entirely. I was thinking, when you let me out of the seal, I was attached to Nate. Could I do that again once I’m whole?”

Miriam shot Nate a surprised look. Obviously she had not expected this turn of events.

“We thought it might let him leave the grounds,” Nate explained.

“You want to bind him to you? After what’s already been done to him…” She shook her head.

“I know what was done to me,” Leo reinserted himself in the conversation. “I’d like that to be undone, and then I’d like to go somewhere with Nate.”

Miriam took a breath. “The tether at my house formed because you needed an anchor, and Nathan was the strongest one available. It wasn’t deliberate. I couldn’t promise to reproduce it, or make it hold while the house still claims you.”

“Is there another way to do it?” Nate asked.

Miriam didn’t respond immediately. She studied the ring, and Nate could tell she was thinking very hard about something. “An object can work as an anchor. Not the way Caleb did it, but still. Once he’s restored, he could be tethered to the ring as a whole.”

Leo’s brows knitted together. “Would I be stuck inside it like I was in the seal?”

“No. You’d be able to appear near it, as you do here. Think of it as replacing the house as your anchor.”

“And if Nate took it somewhere, I could go too?”

“Yes.”

Leo turned to him, and Nate couldn’t help smiling back. To think that he could take Leo into town, to the hardware store, to look at furniture. Anywhere they felt like going.

“How close would he have to stay?”

“I’d need to work out the details,” Miriam said slowly. Something was bothering her, something she hadn’t yet worked out how to say. She addressed Leo again. “The binding would prevent you from crossing. You wouldn’t be able to change your mind and leave.”

“Could we undo it?” Nate asked.

“By destroying the jewelry.”

Leo studied the band. “All right.”

“Please give that more than a moment’s thought.” Miriam looked from the ring to Nate. “You would have considerably more power while wearing the ring. Especially with all of Leo bound to it. You’d perceive even more spirits and from farther away than you do now.”

Nate rubbed a hand over his face. “You mean I’ll have to learn how to shut them out all over again.”

Miriam’s expression softened. “I’m not sure that’ll be possible.”

Nate grimaced.

“We don’t have to do it,” Leo said.

Nate regarded his boyfriend. “It’s a small sacrifice to make for being with you.”

Leo looked uncertain. Miriam spoke before he could. “Is it?” she asked. “Are you sure this is what you want? You’ve worked very hard to remove ghosts from your life. Now you’re talking about arranging your future around one.”

Nate held his mother’s gaze. “Shouldn’t that make you happy?”

“It doesn’t,” Miriam said evenly. “I want you to make this decision with your eyes wide open. There are things the two of you won’t be able to share, even if Leo can leave the house.”

“Such as?” Leo asked.

“Most people Nathan knows will never see or hear you without help. He can tell them you’re there, but taking you somewhere won’t be the same as being able to introduce you to his friends.”