Page 87 of A Ghost’s Guide to Haunting a Witch

“I like cats, so that’s no problem,” he replied, half-smiling.

“Great. Then you won’t mind feeding him again in about an hour?” she asked. “I have to go to work.”

Steven smiled again. “Sure. I wouldn’t want him starving on my watch. Besides, a cat’s probably good for this place. He’ll make it feel less . . . ghostly.”

“Ghostly?” Augustine’s stomach turned over. “That’s a strange thing to say about a place you own. What do you mean?”

Steven shifted on his feet, already looking like he regretted saying a word. “Yeah, um—” he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing briefly towards the hallway like the flat itself might be listening in. “Look, this is going to sound a bit ridiculous, but some of my previous tenants thought this place might be . . . haunted.”

The word hung there, slightly embarrassing, and Augustine blinked.

“Haunted,” she repeated, flatly.

“Yeah,” Steven said quickly. “But not, like, The Exorcist haunted or anything. Nothing dramatic. Just—” he gestured vaguely, clearly searching for something that sounded much less insane — “just things moving when they shouldn’t. Music playing at odd hours, even when nothing was on. Lights flickering. That sort of thing.” He hesitated again. “And apparently the temperature would just change. Like, suddenly too hot or too cold for no reason.”

Augustine’s stomach twisted again, just slightly, and she thought back, quickly, running through her time here. The quiet nights. The stillness.

“Well,” she said after a moment. “Nothing like that has ever happened to me here.”

In other places, sure, she thought, thinking of Theo. But not here.

Steven blinked, clearly surprised. “Really?”

“Yes.”

He let out a short, relieved laugh. “Well,” he said, a little too lightly, “I guess the curse is broken then. I mean, not that I think there’s a curse,” he added quickly. “Obviously. That was a joke.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I hope I haven’t, um . . . frightened you.”

Augustine almost said I’m a witch, I’ve heard worse. Almost said I believe in ghosts, actually — I’ve met one.

But she didn’t. Instead, she just tilted her head slightly, studying him briefly, before letting it go. “No,” she said simply, then, because it was easier, because it was normal: “Do you need me to show you to the kitchen?”

Steven shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. I used to live here. I know where the kitchen is.”

“You lived here?” Augustine asked. “When?”

“Oh, years ago. Back in the nineties. Right after I bought this place. I only lived here for a year or two, though.”

“The curse got you?” she asked jokingly, but Steven didn’t laugh.

“No. I just moved on.”

“Well, it hasn’t changed much since then, I bet,” she remarked, gesturing to the nineties time capsule around her.

“Right,” he admitted, flushing red. “I know it’s awful. It’s just . . . whenever I tried to change anything, things—” He stopped suddenly, and something about the way Steven was speaking made her pause.

“Things what?”

Steven hesitated. It wasn’t for long — just a second, maybe two — but it was enough. Enough for something to shift in his expression, for something subtle but unmistakable to slide in. The easy, polite smile he’d been wearing didn’t quite disappear, but it now looked strained around the edges. Like he was working just a little bit harder to keep it in place.

He looked, Augustine realized, oddly pained, and she drew her brows together slightly, studying him properly. Steven was objectively attractive, in a quiet, unassuming way. A little older, maybe his early to mid-fifties, with a softness to his features that made him seem approachable and kind. The sort of person people trusted without really knowing why.

I mean, he wasn’t her type. Not like that. Still, he was pleasant and easy to talk to. Easy to instinctively like.

Actually, Augustine added silently, he’s very easy to like considering how little he charges for rent. That helped with her assessment of him. A lot.

“When I lived here,” Steven finally said, his voice quieter now, “it was with someone else.”

Augustine didn’t interrupt.