Cian

Lucie put on some pants.

She tossed on a pair of leggings and the black ankle boots that seemed glued to her feet with how often she wore them, and we clambered into her Subaru and sped off. I let her keep my hoodie on—mostly because I liked the way she looked in something that belonged to me, almost as if it made our connection that much stronger, a tether that would never break.

Her mouth was set as she raced down the road, competing against the clock, profile like something out of a painting in the early morning sunlight. The flush to her cheeks was still there, her eyes still alive with the moment we'd shared earlier.

I looked away from her and manned the radio, feeling like an idiot. I shouldn't have said any of the things that I'd said, shouldn't have done any of the things I'd done. Touching her was enough, but kissing her? What was I thinking?

But I don't care.

She wasn't serious. People said things like that because they were sympathetic, even pitying, and didn't want you to feel worthless. It didn't matter how they did or didn't want you to feel; all that won out in the end was the truth.

The radio had resolved to pure static. Lucie let out a frustrated grunt, reached over, and turned it off. The pavement whirred underneath us. "I'm confused," she said.

I waited. I didn't know what to say.

She glanced at me, exhaled, and shook her head. "Not about...well, screw it, I'm a little confused about that, too, but that's not what I meant. I mean I don't get this. What do you think is happening to Vinny?"

"There's this thing people do when they don't want ghosts quote-on-quote haunting their house, Lucie. It gets rid of the ghost. They fade away forever and they don't come back."

There was a pause. I heard her breaths, smelled the roses on her skin, the strange scent of death underneath. The light we were approaching turned to red. Her breathing hitched, teeth gritting as she let out a small tsk. "He's being exorcised? Who would do that?"

"I'd like to think my parents are on the Definitely Not list," I said, dropping my eyes to the glove compartment, "but then again, I don't think I know them as well as I think I do. Who knows what's more important to them: their son or their image?"

"Cian," Lucie said with a deep frown, sorrow in her voice. "I'm sure they wouldn't do that. I promise—"

"Don't promise."

She didn't promise.

She just sighed, shoved a few mussed hairs back into place, and stepped on the gas, speeding forward again. The rest of the ride to my house was silent.

There was a silver Tesla parked in my driveway, and a sedan beside it with the vanity plate N0SP1RITS. I put a hand to my forehead. I had thought there was no way this could get worse. I was mistaken.

I grabbed Lucie's hand, crashing through the front door. Immediately I coughed, holding a hand to my nose and mouth. The foyer smelled strongly of beeswax candles and a sweet but sickening incense, the tendrils of smoke rising to the high ceiling. I was shouted at as I crossed the threshold not to scuff the salt lining the entrance.

Mom and Dad were both in the foyer, huddled near the parlor with wide eyes, and Eden stood near the stairs, stone-faced. There was a wiry man in a pressed, gray suit standing underneath the chandelier, chanting something from a leather bound book in his hands. All the noises melded together in my ears; I had an earsplitting headache.

And Vinny. Vinny was nowhere.

I looked at Eden with wide eyes, marching towards her. "What is this! What are you doing?"

She didn't so much as blink in my direction, just flipped her dark hair over one shoulder with a sigh. "Your house is possessed, obviously, by a troubled spirit. Consider this my gift to you, Cian! I've brought Reverend Vanderbilt. He's one of the best exorcists out there."

It took all I had not to shove her against the wall. The chanting continued from the man's direction. "You idiot!" I screamed at her, jamming my fist against the wall. A squeak came from Lucie's direction; my knuckles throbbed. "That troubled spirit is my brother, and I won't let anything to happen to him even if I die for it!"

There was a choked voice from the top of the stairs. It sounded raspy and unhealthy, as if whoever it belonged to was just barely holding on. "Cian...it's okay," Vinny said.

My eyes zipped to him and froze there. He was as faded as an old photo, a mere remnant of my brother. There were dark circles around his bloodshot eyes, his form frail and trembling. He couldn't stand, and was sagging against the banister with a white-knuckled grip.

He closed his eyes. "I'm a burden for you. I know that."

I looked at my parents. They said nothing. I looked at Eden. She said nothing.

The only noise was the chanting.

"Lucie!" I yelped.

She didn't hesitate, merely did as she knew I wanted her to, kicking the salt in the door so that it broke the circle. Eden turned towards her with a scowl, and Lucie's smile back at her was devilish. "Try me," she seethed, and added a word to the end that made Eden flush angrily and that I also couldn't repeat.

I adored her so much right then that it hurt.

Vinny coughed from the staircase. Veins had started to climb up his arms now; his chest spasmed, and he cried out and slid further to the ground, fingers splaying against the carpet. My chest twisted. I would not watch him go. I would not.

I charged the exorcist.

Eden squealed, and so did the guy underneath me, but I didn't care. I knocked his book from his hands, which I noticed now was a Bible, and tore his rosary beads from his grip. They snapped, the beads skittering across the wood flooring like fleeing ants. The man's dark eyes were angry slits as he reached for me, red-faced and livid, but I pinned him to the ground. "If you ever hurt my brother again, I will seek you out and make sure you go to heaven in the most brutal way possible. Do you understand me?"

The candles went out, thanks to Lucie. Eden was hiding her face in her hand, shaking her head.

The exorcist said, gritting his teeth. "It's done now. The chant is over. The ghost will be gone, and so will his power over you, boy."

"Power over me?" I scoffed. "Who the hell"— I paused, grunting as my tongue hissed its painful rebellion, and ignoring the strange look the exorcist gave me— "do you think you are?"

Vinny was groaning again. I got up, waving the fumes away from my face. Momentarily, my eyes landed on Eden, whose gaze was fixated at the top of the stairs, almost as if she knew who was there.

I grunted, scaling the stairs to Vinny, my feet thundering the ground underneath me. Vinny was all I could think, all I could see, all I could remember. Vinny's chubby, toddler fingers reaching for me to hold him. Vinny's scraped knee in the park when he was in second grade, the tears in his eyes as I patched him up and said, Hey, you're okay, buddy. You'll be fine. The bay's breezes in Vinny's hair, the sound of Vinny's laughter, the weight of him on my back as I carried him piggyback across the front lawn.

You won't leave me now.

I knelt beside him, my fingers itching to reach out and touch him. My throat was tight, tears in my eyes. "Vinny, come on. Get up. You're fine. You're fine. Don't leave me like this. You told me I'd never be alone, you jerk, you jerk."

He smiled, though it looked like it pained him. He coughed, curling his knees to his chest and shuddering. The exorcism had drained his energy, the very substance his existence was based on, and everything of him was slowly fading. "How'd you know to come find me? I thought...I thought you were mad at me..."

"I wasn't mad at you, Vinny! I was just...I don't know. I don't know," I sniffled. Unable to contain myself, I reached to brush his hair out of his eyes. I felt nothing instead. My heart fissured like one of California's fault lines. There was silence around us, the carpet coarse underneath my knees, the taste of despair in the tears on my lips. "Please don't go. Please."

Vinny's smile was gone. His eyes closed again; I could see the floor through him now. He was giving up. I wanted to scream. "It hurts too much to stay."

"No! Vinny! Vinny!" I wiped tears from my eyes as I watched him become weaker and weaker, watched my worst nightmare play out in front of me, watched my only anchor drift and leave me floating through the abyss. All I seemed to be able to do was scream.

His eyes flew open. With a sputter, he seemed to come back to life, his essence flickering and then remaining like a temporarily lost television signal. The veins in his skin disappeared, his eyes bright as a sunrise. He sat up easily, his mouth open in an O. "But...my energy was all gone..." he looked up at me, his expression a toss of relief and terror. "Cian, what is this?"

I got up, turning around. Eden and her hired exorcist were both watching, and so were my parents, huddled together in the entrance to the parlor. Lucie was standing on the stairs, but her eyes were rolling back in her head, her skin taking on an unusual pallor. Her posture went limp.

I surged forward, and she fell against me, only getting to murmur my name before her consciousness drained and she slipped away.