“Hello, Kit,” Jack said. Quin detected an odd note of amusement in his tone.
Kit pressed a hand to his chest, staring wide-eyed at Jack.
“Welcome back,” Jack said.
“Some fucking welcome,” Kit said. “You almost shocked my heart into beating again.”
Jack gave that high, ringing laugh again. “It’s been a while.”
“We’ve never met.”
“I watched you. We all did.”
“So, can everyone see and hear them but me?” DJ asked. Quin had almost forgotten he was there. DJ had never been so quiet for so long in the short time he’d known him.
“I can’t see them either,” Rake said.
Jack addressed his brothers. “I think they’re friendly.” The boys all disappeared and then reappeared in the centre of the room.
DJ stumbled backwards into Rake, the poker he’d been holding clattering to the ground. “Yeah, okay, I can see them now,” he said.
“Matthew is the eldest,” Jack said. “And Tom is the middle one.” The shorter of the boys gave Jack a sharp glare. “Thomas,” Jack corrected, with a roll of his eyes.
“Do they not speak?” Kit asked.
“No,” Jack said, providing no further explanation.
“Why did you not show yourselves to me when I was here before?”
“You were human,” Jack said. “You wouldn’t have been able to sense us.”
“What about Lawrence?” Kit asked.
Jack’s form wavered, like static on the television. “We hid from him.”
“How did you know about the garden, Kit?” Quin asked.
“Lawrence told me it was why the flowers didn’t grow there.” Sure enough, when Quin joined him and Jack at the window, there was shrubbery and wildflowers everywhere but the patch he was staring at.
“It’s a shame,” Jack said. “I always liked daffodils in the spring.”
“It’s my national flower, did you know that?” Quin asked.
Jack brightened, his form appearing lighter than before. “I didn’t! How serendipitous.” Quin wasn’t entirely sure what serendipitous meant, but he knew one thing. He was going to buy a hundred daffodil bulbs the second they left the cursed manor. He’d plant each one in Jack’s memory.
“Why are you still here, Jack?” Kit said.
The boy dimmed. “Becausehe’sstill around.”
“Not for much longer,” Kit said. “But we need something of his. Something small, personal. An item he had a connection to. Does anything like that still exist in the house?”
Jack’s face screwed up, and he turned to his brothers. The oldest one—Matthew—nodded.
“There’s a gold locket,” Jack said. “Lawrence stole it from our mother when he took us, and he wore it for years.”
“Do you know where it is?” Kit asked.
“After we—” Jack broke off, his form wavering. Both of his brothers reappeared beside him, and he seemed more solid as he continued. “He kept it in the safe after that. In his bedroom, at the back of the wardrobe.”
