Time slows as a single word passes my lips. “Me?”
Stunning.
Then, it all clicks.
Phantom is User4372957382. Phantom is the reason I became an overnight internet sensation. Phantom is the reason I got offered an audition at Lizbeth. Phantom is probably the reason I got in too. And, without a shadow of a doubt, Phantom is the reason Remington Blake got expelled.
They’re the orchestrator behind everything. I didn’t earn this. Any of it. It was given to me... by Phantom.
“You,” I breathe, my tone low and dangerous.
“Maeve.” My name is a plea, their palms raised in submission. “I only got the wheels turning in your favor, you did the rest. You made the art. You did it all on your own.”
“You’re lying,” I cry, my voice growing hoarse, choked with emotion. “You’ve been lying this whole time!” Hot tears cascade down my cheeks. “Who even are you?” I ask, yelling now. “You’ve never even told me yourname.”
“I’m Phantom, just Phantom.”
“How can I trust you now?” I demand.
“I—” Their gaze shifts again, moving to somewhere behind me. “Shut up,” Phantom yells. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
Without another word, they stalk toward me, the promise of death in their eyes. I back up until my calves knock into my bed frame. Fully expecting them to come at me, I flinch and close my eyes, but after a moment, I don’t feel their touch. When I open my eyes again, I find Phantom fisting the air, as if they were grabbing someone by the shirt and shaking them.
“You’re wrong,” they desperately bellow at the empty air before them. “She just said shelovesme. We’ll get through this. She’ll teach me how to do it. How to love. She knows how.” I watch in horror as they yell and scream at nothing. “I’ll destroy you if I have to! I swear! I won’t let you take this away from me!”
My tears flow faster, caused by heartbreak and fear in equal measure.
“Phantom,” I whisper, my voice shaky and unstable. “Wh—who are you talking to?”
They blink then. And, as if my voice drew them from a stupor, they turn their head slowly toward me. They release their grip on the air and begin to tremble.
“Echo,” they say softly. “It’s just Echo.”
“Who’s Echo?” I ask, even though I’m terrified of the answer.
“The ghost of someone I wronged.”
My belly feels hollow, like all my insides have been scooped out.
“A ghost?” I ask, my voice still quivering.
“It’s nothing. Nothing.” But I’ve heard that line too many times now for it to be true. This isnotnothing.
They close their eyes and shake their head as if they could banish the last few minutes from existence, but they can’t. I can’t unsee what I’ve seen.
Phantom is hallucinating. They have been this entire time.
It explains so much. All the times they spoke under their breath to someone no one else could hear. Every time their gaze traveledto someone invisible. And I don’t know if I’m in danger because of it.
Phantom’s gaze is imploring, and I know I only have a split second to decide. Just one. I take a deep breath.
And I run.
I make it halfway to the door before Phantom catches my wrist and pulls me back to their chest.
“Maeve,” they mutter as they crush me to them. “Shush, it’s okay. I know Echo is scary, but I’ll take care of it. I promise. I won’t let my demons get to you.”
Those words trigger a memory of my dream, from when Phantom spent the night. So, it wasn’t something my subconscious made up after all. I overheard them speaking to their hallucination and my tired mind merged it with my dream.
