“Trust me, these walls mean nothing to a witch—locks, doors, windows—none of it. If she wants to come for you, she will.”

I don’t want to follow either, but without a moment’s delay, Ebb floats through the wall and disappears. Through the window, I see him floating out into the yard and looking impatient.

I take a deep breath, let it out, and then we walk into the hall and down the stairs.

There is only one ghost in the parlor when we get there. I stop short, chills spilling down my back.

“Fool child,” the one Ebb called the Murderer says to me. Germ and I stop in our tracks. He floats slowly closer, his eyes—red like coals—boring into me. They’re the eyes of someone who would happily squeeze my life away with his bare hands if he could. I see now there is a red rash around his neck, as if made by a rope. “After what was lost to hide you.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “What do you…?”

But the Murderer doesn’t let me finish. “Nevertell, nevertell, nevertell,” he whispers. “Never, never, never.” His smile drops off his face and he glares at me. And then he floats across the hall, through the basement door, and is gone.

Stepping out onto the front lawn, I shiver. Germ has pulled on her coat, but I’ve forgotten mine and I instantly regret it. Still, Ebb is already halfway across the yard, and it’s all we can do to keep up. My attention is so glued to his back, trying not to lose him, that I don’t notice what surrounds us until Germ jerks to a sudden stop beside me, grabbing my arm.

“Rosie,” she says. I look back at her impatiently. She’s staring out across the lawn toward the sea, and after a moment I follow her gaze, and gasp.

Everything is different.

Far above us, where there was only sky before, is a distant and beautiful pink haze circling the outermost edges of the atmosphere between us and the stars, like the rings around Saturn. Beneath it, distant figures—made of white mist—move amongst the clouds like bees moving from flower to flower. I can’t quite make them out—they seem to change shape as they move—one moment becoming part of a cloud, another moment appearing to push clouds along ahead of them. Out on the ocean far beneath the sky, transparent ships float far away, projections of luminous light on the dark water.

It all takes my breath away. It’s strange, and frightening, but most of all, it’s beautiful.

Beside me, Germ’s standing with her mouth hanging open.