“It’s a soul cake,” she says. “Dilara spelled them to prevent possession for a night.” She holds it up in a toast. “To not getting possessed.”

I smile halfheartedly and hold up my half. “To tonight.”

“Is something wrong?” Anna asks through a mouthful of cake.

I lean against the island. “I’ve just been thinking about Liam. It’s been over two weeks, and if Fin is in the Otherworld, and Kaden is in Wick somewhere, where is he?”

“It is strange,” Anna agrees, then winces. “Sorry. I know that’s not helping.”

Except in a way, it does. I’m tired of false promises, of coded words meant to make me feel better.

“Thanks for being honest,” I say, and she blinks at me in surprise. “It helps, knowing the truth. I like facts. They keep me steady. And you never lie to me. That’s more than I can say about a lot of people in my life.”

An all-encompassing grin breaks across her face, and I dig into my cake, my nerves settling.

We spend the rest of the day completing chore after chore, from decorating to showing late guests to rooms to assuring them that the rumors about the place being haunted aren’t true. For the most part. Anna says there is a ghost in the attic that the house refuses to let Gran send on.

As the sun begins to set, the last of the chores winding down, Anna finds me where I’m carrying plates of cookies to the ballroom. She leads me outside, where Elaine is waiting by the Charger with Max.

I slow, looking between them uncertainly.

“I had an idea earlier,” Anna says. “You said you like facts and answers, so I know not knowing what happened to Liam must be really hard for you. I thought…if you want…Well, Aunt Elaine can talk to spirits. If Liam…If he’s gone, she might be able to contact him.”

My instinct is to say yes right away, but I hesitate. This means getting an answer one way or another—and I’m not sure I can handle that right now. If I don’t do this, then for all I know there’s still a chance Liam might come back. But if Elaine contacts his spirit…

But I can’t say no. Not knowing would be worse.

“Let’s do it,” I say.

We climb into the Charger as Elaine explains the process. “The easiest way for me to reach a spirit is to channel through something they spent a lot of time with. Anna said your brother worked on this car a lot, so it should work perfectly.”

I run my hand along the steering wheel. “How will we know if…”

“If I contact him?” Elaine sets out a couple candles on the dashboard. “He’ll manifest here in an incorporeal form, similar to the ghosts you saw when you first arrived.”