Mrs. Erickson’s smile was touched with a hint of sorrow, possibly at the thought that the invisible people with whom she interacted were dead. “And there she is—she tends to be more chatty. I’m not sure if they are—or were—married, but they really are a lovely couple.”

Kaylin nodded, which seemed safest. But she was curious. She assumed—they all assumed—that Mrs. Erickson was delusional, but not in a way that caused harm to others. Given the delusions that did, they accepted hers. What if she wasn’t? What if she was seeing things that others simply couldn’t see?

She had seen Severn’s weapon chain in a way that Kaylin had never seen it. Maybe she wasn’t the first, but she was the first to mention it.

Kaylin, who had not taken a step forward when Mrs. Erickson had gone to greet her invisible friends, poked Hope, who had remained more or less standing on her shoulder. Hope lifted a translucent wing and smacked Kaylin’s face with it to indicate his annoyance, but left it across her eyes.

Mrs. Erickson was not, as Kaylin and the rest of the Hawks had assumed, harmlessly delusional. Or if she was, Kaylin had just fallen into the well of the older woman’s delusion.

She could clearly see, through Hope’s wing, a young man and a young woman.

02

As Mrs. Erickson said, the young man was with a young woman. They were both dark-haired, the hair color itself bright and natural; their eyes at this distance appeared to be brown. Were it not for Hope’s wing, Kaylin would have assumed they were oddly dressed but otherwise normal humans. She couldn’t hear them yet—she was uncertain that she’d be able to hear them at all—but could see that Mrs. Erickson had also been right about which of the two was chattier; it was the young woman who was now talking animatedly—she was one of those people who tended to use their whole body, especially their arms and hands, when speaking.

Remembering Mrs. Erickson’s reluctance to reply when alone, Kaylin, face masked in wing—which would probably draw attention here—quickly joined the old woman, standing by her side but a half step back. She didn’t want to frighten the ghosts.

It was clear that the ghosts could see Kaylin, and equally clear that they hadn’t expected to be seen by anyone who was not a friendly old woman; the girl stopped midmotion, which is to say her arms froze, when she glanced in Kaylin’s direction and their eyes met. To Kaylin’s surprise, all conversation stopped, and the young man immediately stepped between Kaylin and the young woman who had fallen silent.