Kaylin, curious to see whether or not ghosts had the ability to actually touch anything, nodded. Hope squawked loudly in her ear, but it was a grumpy or annoyed squawk. More or less an echo of the many voices in her daily world, except he didn’t bother with actual syllables.

Amaldi walked through someone. They didn’t notice. She didn’t appear to notice much either, she was so focused on Hope. Darreno, had he required breath, would have been on the verge of passing out, he seemed to have held it for so long. He watched as she reached out, very slowly, to touch Hope.

Hope squawked again, and when her hand was in range, he bit her finger. She gasped and instantly drew back. Hope had drawn blood.

As far as blood went, it was about as deep a cut as a cranky cat who hated to be touched would make. Kaylin, however, knew that cat bites could cause a lot of problems for the bitee.

“I’m sorry,” she said, immediately lifting a hand to hold it between Hope’s small jaws and anyone else’s appendages. “He doesn’t usually do that.”

Amaldi smiled. She turned to her friend. “Darreno, look!”

He hadn’t looked away once. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m bleeding!” she repeated, in an entirely different tone. Maybe being dead drove people crazy. She sounded as if she’d just been given an unexpected and miraculous gift. Darreno gave her a look that probably matched Kaylin’s.

The crowd that had gathered—moving slowly as if minding their own business—also stared at Amaldi.

Mrs. Erickson noticed immediately. “Amaldi,” she said, her voice just above a whisper.

Amaldi caught it anyway, and turned.

“People are staring. At you.”

Amaldi blinked, her arm frozen in midair, the shock of being bitten—and the delight in it—suspended. She blinked rapidly as Darreno rushed to her side, stepping in front of her as if to protect her from the curiosity—or the hostility—of strangers. No one could see him. Kaylin considered telling Hope to bite him as well, but Hope had never been the most compliant of companions.

If Kaylin thought the slowly moving stream of witnesses were surprised—and annoyed—by Amaldi, it was nothing compared to what happened next. Hope, with no word from Kaylin, withdrew his wing; she could no longer see Darreno, but could still see Amaldi clearly. She could therefore see the moment when Amaldi began to shimmer in place, limbs becoming translucent, transparent, and then nonexistent, followed swiftly by the rest of her body. People shouted, some screamed, and if milling witnesses were a bit annoying, panicked witnesses who now tried to run away through the rest of the people were far worse. She wasn’t a Sword, and technically, she wasn’t a Hawk either, being off duty and without a partner.