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“Why?”

“Because we gotta be quiet.”

“Why?”

“So your mama doesn’t hear you.”

His little face scrunched up in confusion before his eyes widened. “You don’t want Mommy to know you’re here? I told her I saw you today, but she didn’t believe me. She says nobody knows where you are.”

“She doesn’t know yet.”

He pointed at me. “But I know. You’re right there.”

“Yeah.”

He studied me for a long moment. “So what are you?”

That was a damn good question.

How the fuck did you explain being a ghost to a five-year-old who had just spent his afternoon playing outside with his friends, especially when his daddy was standing right in front of him looking like a regular man?

I folded my arms. “Think of me as your own personal superhero.”

He blinked. “But you a ghost.”

“Yeah, but I can still protect you. I just ain’t got no cape, and I don’t do all that flying-around-saving-the-whole-world shit.”

Kaidence giggled before climbing out of his chair and scrambling onto the bed. He sat cross-legged in the middle of it, studying me with the kind of seriousness only a five-year-old could manage while wearing pajamas with web shooters printed on the sleeves.

“You got superpowers?”

I chuckled. “A few, son.”

He thought about that for all of three seconds before the interrogation started.

His eyes widened. “Can you go through walls?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you turn invisible?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Can you go through the toilet?”

I paused. “What the fuck would I go through the toilet for?”

Kaidence burst out laughing, falling sideways across the mattress. “To scare people while they’re pooping.”

I shook my head. “Boy, I’m not coming through no damn toilet. Not only is that nasty, but that would be disrespectful.”

Apparently, that answer only opened the door for fifty more questions.

“Can you hear me when I’m at school?”

“If I’m close enough to you.”

His expression immediately became suspicious. “Can you hear me when I say bad words?”