“I couldn’t sleep,” he told me.

“I know. I saw the light on in your window.”

“You did? From all the way in your cabin?”

I nodded. “I brought you some warm milk. It used to help me fall asleep. Want to try it?”

He nodded and I sat next to him on the edge of the bed. He took the mug in both hands. “Yum,” he said after the first sip.

He looked even skinnier than usual in his short-sleeved nightshirt and shorts. Why didn’t Julia have him in long sleeves and pants? I was the one who knew what Lee needed. I crossed to his chest of drawers and found a light sweatshirt.

“Are you wearing socks?”

He shook his head, so I found him a pair of socks, too.

When he’d finished the last of the milk, I helped him put on the sweatshirt and watched as he pulled the socks over his feet. I straightened the tip of one of the socks so that the hem lined up with his toes.

“Think you can sleep now?” I asked.

“I think so.” He lay down and I smoothed his hair away from his face. With his eyes closed, he looked even younger than his nine years. His little curved nose. His long eyelashes, his sweet mouth. “Stay with me until I fall asleep?” he asked.

“Of course,” I said. I switched off his light and took his hand in mine so he’d know I was there. “Are you okay, buddy?” I said, my eyes adjusting to the dark.

“Yeah,” he said. “It really hurt, but I’m okay now.”

I held his hand as his breathing steadied and slowed, until his fingers relaxed from mine. “What really hurt, Lee?” I finally asked, but he was deep in sleep by then.

I stayed for a few more minutes. If he woke again, I didn’t want him to find me gone. I sat, looking at his young face, and then I allowed myself to scan past his fingers, past his palm, to where a gold chain circled his wrist.

___

Back outside, the cold wind hit me. The moon was obscured by clouds and the ghosts were everywhere, darting through the dark. More of them than I had ever seen. I hunched my shoulders and kept my head down as I took the long way around the field, not wanting to walk among them. But even though I tried not to look, I saw the dancing girl break away from a group of other ghosts and move nearer to me, to the edge of the grass. I felt her gaze as I walked, and it filled me with a fury that tilted my vision and made me tremble.

I wanted her to go back to the others.

I needed her to stop staring.