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When I didn’t say anything in response to his news of Luna, Merlin continued on. This time telling me about the ghost. “It didn’t come,” he said with a bored yawn. “Luna and I waited all night, and that rotten ghost didn’t even have the courtesy to drop in for a hello.”

I gripped both hands around my coffee mug and sighed.

“That’s a good thing, right? I mean, we don’t actually want the ghost to be here.”

“If it came here once, you can bet it will come again. By not returning last night, it’s just drawing things out for everyone, and that irritates me.” He flicked his tail to punctuate this remark.

“Maybe she knows we set a trap for her?” That would keep me away. Maybe it was stopping Virginia from returning as well.

“Maybe,” he answered pensively. “I don’t really know much about it. But I would assume she wouldn’t know about the potion until she began to materialize, and by then, it would be too late.” He had a point. There was so much we didn’t know when it came to our baby ghost, and that made this whole thing so much harder.

The cat door flapped open noisily, and Luna came trotting inside.

“How was your walk, my love?” Merlin asked, then hopped down from the table to rub his face against hers. It was the scene with the coffeemaker all over again. Well, at least Luna was already covered in cat hair.

“It was nice to get some fresh air while I thought about why Virginia failed to visit us again last night,” the white cat answered promptly.

Ah, so I’d been totally wrong about the whole trouble in paradise thing. I was glad I hadn’t pushed the issue. I really needed to butt out of my cats’ relationship and let them handle things for themselves. Lesson learned.

“You need to stop blaming yourself,” Merlin said softly.

They both jumped up on the table to reengage me in the discussion.

“Tell him, Gracie,” Luna begged, her blue eyes fraught with remorse. “Virginia was my familiar. I chose her. I failed to see that she had been corrupted. It’s all my fault.”

I reached out to stroke her back.“Merlin’s right. You really can’t blame yourself. Bad things happen to good people—um, cats—sometimes. That’s just the way of life.”

“Well, then life sucks,” she said with a sniff.

“Sometimes,” I agreed. “But you have a lot to be grateful for. Why, just this morning Merlin—” I stopped short. I was doing it again, interfering in their relationship. “Told me how lucky he is to have you.”

The Maine Coon winked at me, and Luna appeared to relax somewhat.

“What conclusions did you reach on your walk? Why didn’t Virginia visit us?” I prompted when I grew tired of the extended silence. That was the thing about talking with cats. They were huge fans of the dramatic pause. They also had no sense of urgency, meaning simple conversations could draw out for hours if I didn’t help to push them along.

“Maybe the ghost wasn’t Virginia,” Luna said. “Maybe it wasn’t even here for us at all, but rather for the house.”

“That’s an interesting theory,” I said slowly, even though I 100% disagreed with her assessment.

“If it’s Virginia, we’re prepared with our potion. If it’s not, then we have nothing to fear,” Merlin summarized.

“Yes, I suppose that’s right,” I said, taking another sip of my coffee. It was now dangerously close to room temperature, so I chugged it down fast and then rose to make a fresh cup.

“Anything else we should do about this now?” I asked while I sifted through my bucket of multi-flavored K-cups and selected a nice French roast.

“Now we wait,” Merlin said in a bored drone. “Either the ghost will return and we can deal with it then, or it won’t return at all, and we’ll be in the clear.”

Luna and I both nodded our agreement, but somehow I doubted it would be as simple as Merlin claimed.

And I think he knew that, too.

17

Several days passed with no more signs of our spectral visitor. As much as I’d doubted Luna’s theory, I now had to admit it was fully possible that some ghost other than Virginia had dropped by. Just in case, though, I called my Grandma Grace to make sure she was alive and well. She didn’t have much time to talk since life in her retirement community was full of exciting social events that were not to be missed, but she assured me she’d never felt better and would drive up to visit soon.

And so as the days ticked past, I focused on work and even managed to get some thesis research in. Drake and I chatted more at work than we had in the past, but I made every effort to keep all of our interactions platonic so that Kelley wouldn’t be jealous and he wouldn’t get the wrong idea about me.

He was an okay guy, but I had no time for close human relationships while I was settling into my role as familiar. And when eventually I did re-enter the dating pool, I needed someone with more direction and ambition than Drake. I could just picture the two of us drifting through life on handouts from my grandma and his parents while we both continued to work at the coffee shop until the day we died. That was not the life I wanted—nor the one I deserved.