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The Internet’s Most Haunted Influencer

Page 106

by Silvana Falcon

He reached out, gathered everything he had, and pushed. His finger sank to the first knuckle in the trackpad, and the screen didn’t so much as flicker.

“Unbelievable,” Leo said again, quieter.

He should scream the medium awake.

Then again, he’d screamed quite enough over the past few… had it been days?

And had Nate heard him? Down here?

That was an uncomfortable thought.

But maybe Nate hadn’t heard. Maybe he’d made too much noise himself, taking the house apart.

He looked like he’d been hard at work, at least. Frankly, he looked like a mess, with all that dust in his hair and the shadows under his eyes. Even in sleep, the crease between his brows hadn’t smoothed out.

He couldn’t be comfortable.

His neck was going to be ruined by morning, bent like that, and the kitchen chair was doing his back no favors. None of this was any of Leo’s concern, of course, but he didn’t want the medium to be tired and cranky in the morning.

“Nate.”

Nothing.

“Nate.” Leo leaned in next to his ear. “Nate.”

Nate came awake swatting at him. “What?”

“You fell asleep.”

“I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did. And you can’t sleep here. You don’t even have your stupid seal.”

“My stupid—” Nate scrubbed a hand down his face, and looked at the screen, and visibly located himself in space and time. “What time is it?”

“Who cares? Go to bed, you look terrible.” Leo pointed at the doorway.

Nate squinted up at him. “Are you seriously sending me to bed?”

Leo straightened, arms crossed in front of himself. “Yes, I am.”

“What about your list?”

“It’ll still be there in the morning.”

“Okay.” Nate looked as if he wanted to say something else, or as if he wanted to pose a question.

“What?” Leo asked, growing impatient.

“That name you’re looking for,” Nate started. “Are you hoping you’ll find it or that you won’t?”

“I don’t know,” Leo said, surprising himself with his honesty.

Nate nodded. Then he closed the laptop, and stood, and stretched until something in his spine made a sound that couldn’t be healthy, and left the kitchen.

“Goodnight, Leo,” he said on his way out. “It’s good to have you back.”

Leo blinked and did not know how to respond to that.