Silence returned to the table, making me think they were all waiting for me to lay out my master plan. Which, of course, I didn’t have.

I put my glasses back on, certain for the first time that I’d have done better to go to Moldavia by myself instead of requesting this meeting. Truth was, I could still go. Sure, the whole estate was now a crime scene, and I’d be breaking about twenty laws just by stepping foot inside. But if I could somehow reach Stephanie, she could be back as soon as tonight. If, in the process of trying to rescue her, I didn’t get us both killed. Or myself arrested and put officially under suspicion.

Except Wes was the one equipped with the prayers and talismans and the jokes that, though more annoying than not, sometimes helped to keep us all sane. And Patrick was the levelheaded one who always asked the right questions and kept us all from doing stupid crap. Like running into any situation solo—regardless of what it was.

And Charlotte. Charlotte had always been our best debunker and sounding board. The second half to my mastermind. Not just for SPOoKy, either. She was my best friend. Which was why we hadn’t worked as a couple.

Sometimes I thought the only reason we’d tried to be together was because everyone already assumed we were. But, romantically, Charlotte and I had mixed as well as a bulldog and a chicken.

We’d come out of it all right. We still had our awkward moments, and maybe a few lingering hard feelings. Some confused feelings, too.

When it had come to Stephanie, though, there’d been nothing to be confused about.

I’d had it for her from day one and wanted to bet that I always would.

Word had gotten around at school about someone moving into Moldavia. Stephanie was the only new student at Langdon. So, two and two had amounted to one breathtaking girl.

From that slow-motion moment when she’d first passed me in the hall, Moldavia became, for me, a house inhabited not by a monster but by a walking dream. Yet, all along, there had been a monster inside, too. And perhaps, despite my previous misgivings, a ghost as well.

Erik Draper. Perhaps he wasn’t my enemy after all.

Could it be that he was the key to reaching Stephanie?

And so, was that my plan? To go in and appeal to the figure Stephanie had been convinced was a walking dead man? Was it possible he had any power to combat this monster who had terrorized and killed?

And that threat of death. It made me get why my paranormal team was so reluctant to go after Stephanie. At the same time, though, Stephanie had become one of us. She’d become ingrained into the group—part of its heart. She was certainly part of mine.

So I had to believe there was still some way to reach her.

I had to because I was in love with her.