“See? I knew it.” He closed his eyes, basking in the sunlight.
“It’s funny to think about that conversation now,” I said. “I’d never set eyes on you or this place, and yet you already knew so much about me.”
“Not enough.” He smiled teasingly. “Tell me your deepest, darkest secrets.”
“I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“How about your childhood? Or your teenage years? What were you like in high school? Did you have a lot of boyfriends? Were you popular?”
I gave him a look. “Hardly.”
“Late bloomer?”
“You might say that.” A ghost had haunted the hallways of my school, making it impossible for me to participate in extracurricular activities after dusk. Not that I would have wanted to, anyway. By the time I entered high school, my reputation as a loner had become local canon. Rather than reinvent myself, I had embraced the solitude, retreating with my beloved books to the sanctuary of Rosehill Cemetery. “I grew up in a graveyard. You can imagine how popular I was.”
He grinned. “Were you teased?”
“Not really. I was pretty much just ignored.”
“Were you lonely?”
I hesitated. “Yes, sometimes. But being alone was all I ever knew. And in some ways, my childhood was idyllic. At least…for a time.” Until the ghosts came.
“That’s more than most people can say.”
I glanced at him curiously. “What about you? I can’t imagine that you were ever an introvert.”
“No, not an introvert. I had too much to prove. Too much to live up to.”
“Because you were an Asher?”
A shadow flickered across his face. “Because I wasn’t an Asher.”
“Was it hard when you first came here to live?”
“Yes, but I survived. It was eat or be eaten at Pathway Academy. And at Asher House.”
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant.”
He squinted into the sun. “It is what it is. Survival of the fittest.”
That made me think of Catrice’s hawks, and my mind turned once again to that troubling conversation I’d overheard. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered.
“Cold?”
“No…just someone walking over my grave.”
“Cheery thought.”
“Can I ask you about your stepfather?”
“Edward? What about him?”
“What was he like?”
Thane considered the question for a moment. “He wasn’t like Hugh or Grandfather. He had the Asher charm, but he was quieter. More introspective. At least that’s the way I remember him.”
“What did he do? For a living, I mean.”
“I have no idea. He tried any number of things, but he always seemed to fall back on his trust money.”
Was that bitterness I heard in his voice? I didn’t think so. More like resignation. He’d done more to restore the family’s holdings than either Edward or Hugh, his grandfather had told me. And yet he still had to fight for his place.
“He wanted to break free of the Asher shackles,” Thane said. “He just never quite managed.”
“What about you?”
“I’m not imprisoned. I like what I do.”
“And what is it you do, exactly?”
“I guess you could call me an overseer. The Ashers made their fortune in timber and mining, but these days, it’s mostly a matter of managing the investments, dwindling though they may be.” He paused. “I do understand why Edward left, though. Grandfather can be overbearing. Sometimes it’s hard to take.”
“Like trying to end your relationship with Harper?”
“Like trying to play God,” he said grimly.
“Do you think Edward was involved with Freya?” I asked.
He lifted a brow in surprise. “Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know. I’m just curious.”
He shrugged. “Given his reaction to her photograph, I’d say it’s a safe bet they had some sort of relationship, and I can’t imagine Grandfather being too happy about it.”
“Do you think he broke them up?”
“Does it matter? It was a long time ago and they’re both dead now.”
“I know, but I find all these relationships fascinating. Freya and Edward. Edward and Bryn. Wayne and Luna. Luna and Hugh. It’s all so—”
“Incestuous?”
“I was going to say entangled.”
“That’s the nature of a small town,” Thane said. “Especially one as isolated and insular as Asher Falls.”
“You’ve never considered moving?”
He frowned. “Why would I move? This is my home. This is where I belong.”
I thought about the familiarity I’d felt in those woods, and I pulled up my legs, hugging them to my chest as I rested my chin on my knees. What an odd, scary place this was. So much dark history. So many lingering emotions bubbling beneath the pastoral façade. Yet here I was and here I would remain because I couldn’t leave without knowing the truth. Without finding my place.
Lifting my gaze to the highest summit of the mountain ridge, I listened for that whisper. That telltale ripple through the trees.
Beside me, Thane caught his breath, and I turned to find his eyes on me. He looked pale and unsettled, though I hadn’t seen or heard anything to disturb the calm setting.
“What is it?” I asked sharply.
He reached out as if to touch me, then let his hand fall away before he made contact. “My God,” he whispered. “Who are you?”
A shiver ran up my spine at his stunned look. “What are you talking about? You know who I am.”
“It’s like seeing—”
“What?” Something inside me started to quake, and I tried to glance away, but the intensity of his gaze held me.
He searched my face. “The way you were staring up at the mountains just now…your expression…” He trailed off. “This is crazy.”
“What is? Please, just tell me.” But already I could feel myself withdrawing into my own head. For all my preoccupation with truth and destiny, I was terrified of what I might learn here, terrified of how it would change me. I sensed a connection to whatever waited for me on that mountain just as surely as I’d felt a suffocating tie to that hidden grave.
There was a reason I saw ghosts. It wasn’t happenstance, and it couldn’t be heredity because I was adopted. So what was I? Where was my place? Why, after all these years, had I been led here to Asher Falls?
He shook his head, as if trying to free himself of something unpleasant. “It was just one of those strange moments. Déjà vu or something.”
“Your reaction seemed more than déjà vu. You were genuinely upset.”
“No, not upset. Just…surprised.” He tried to laugh it off, but his voice sounded strained. “Sorry if I freaked
