I close my eyes before they can be blinded by the brightness. I’m still aware of the leather seat beneath me and Aiden’s long fingers in mine - not how it happened before, but this time we’re not bringing a flood with us. Again, I’m met with that weightlessness, a brief relaxing of gravity’s rigid rules - and then the Corvette hits turbulence. The entire car shakes and trembles, and oh my god, what if it comes apart and scatters us across time, what if it can’t handle two trips like this in one day, it’s not designed for time travel - no car is designed for time travel!

I’m on the verge of total panic when the Corvette does one more extra-large bounce, then stops completely. I open my eyes slowly.

Daytime has vanished, and darkness presses in on either side of the car. A thin rain is once again falling on the windshield. The temperature has dropped significantly. I don’t see any evidence of fields on either side of us.

I turn to look at Aiden. His eyes are rounded and still sparking with white-blue magic. Together we twist to look at Ralph, who is safely in the back seat, groaning softly.

Did we do it? Where are we?

Aiden must be wondering the same thing, because he silently opens the driver’s side door and steps out of the car. I scramble to get out on my side. The night air is a shock against my skin after the searing daylight of City Hall. I shudder as cold droplets sprinkle down on me. Aiden is stopped on the other side of the car, staring out at - the river, which is only a foot or so away. It hits me all at once where we are.

Aiden took us to the Ghost Office. Complete with the car and Ralph and everything. We escaped. We got the watch.

“We did it,” Aiden breathes.

“We DID IT!” I scream.

I don’t even care right now, not about anything else but him. I race around the side of the Corvette and practically tackle Aiden; he sees me coming at the last second and throws his arms open wide. Crashing into his chest, I hit him with so much force that he actually staggers backward. A little oof of surprise escapes him, and then we go down to the ground, a laughing ball of tangled limbs.

I’ve never felt this kind of happy, the way I can be with him.

“You were amazing!” I laugh into his chest. “You time-traveled us, you rescued us…”

“Yeah, well.” Aiden pulls back, looks up into my eyes with a sweet smile that makes me half-crazy. “It’s unbelievable, what you can do with the right help.”

He sits upright, easing me up with him. I move in tandem with his gentle touch. There’s some kind of open language between his body and mine, and normally I would put it down to the literal magic connection we’ve forged, but somehow I feel like it was there before. There's a voice in my head screaming for me to flatten him back out against the mossy pebbles and kiss him right here and now.

“Are you okay?” he asks, one hand still splayed out on my back.

“Yes. I think.” I run my hands over myself, checking that I still have all my limbs. “Are you?”

“I’m fine. Better than fine.” His blue gaze is glowing, suffused with brilliant light. I want to gather his face into my hands and smooth my thumbs over his cheeks.

“Uuuuggghhhh," Ralph groans, dragging himself out of the Corvette. He stumbles out onto the riverbank, clinging to the car to stay upright. Aiden gets to his feet and offers me a hand. "Where are we?"

“You think he remembers anything?” I murmur, as I'm hoisted upright.

“What happened?” Ralph stammers, pressing his palm to his temple. “You guys dunno how to drive for shit. Bumpiest ride of my life.” He pauses. “Or did I drive?”

“We’re probably fine,” Aiden says, and all I can do is laugh.

~~~~

Ralph’s face contorts before his eyes even open. He lets out a pained, dry sound.

“Noah?” He sits up groggily in the back of the car, swipes the back of his hand over his mouth. “What time is it?”

“It’s 5:30 AM,” Aiden answers. “You passed out again. Normally I would tell you not to throw up back there, but it’s your car, so.”

Ralph slumps forward and rests his forehead on the console.

“Ugh. Water. Please.”

“Quit complaining, we’re almost there.”

The sun breaches the horizon as Aiden makes the turn up the gravel driveway. Through the pale dawn glow, I spot someone sitting on Ralph’s front porch. Probably Grant, sleeping outside like he was the last time we came here. But the person straightens up and gets to their feet, revealing himself to be Noah.

He’s got his phone in his hand, and he takes quick strides down the steps towards us. Aiden rolls the Corvette to a stop just before the porch. Before he can even take the keys from the ignition, Noah is at the window.

“Aiden? And - Keane?” His eyes go round as Aiden opens the door and climbs out. “What happ- holy shit! The car…” His eyes travel over the crack in the windshield and the spattered mud. “Where’s Ralph?”

I hop out of the passenger’s side, giving Ralph enough room to crawl free. He staggers out of the Corvette. Noah seizes him by the collar and throws him up against the car.

“You dumb fuck!” he shouts, his eyes wild. “Where were you? I called you a hundred times!”

“Don’t be so fuckin’ needy, then!” Ralph shoves him away and spits onto the gravel. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”

Noah stills, like he’s gathering himself together in order to prevent an explosion.

“Ralph,” he says quietly, “You left in the car and didn’t say anything to anyone, and then didn’t come back all fucking night. We thought Cameron caught up with you.”

“Yet I don’t see Grant out here throwing a shit fit!” Ralph winces. “Move. I’m too hungover for this shit.”

He pushes past Noah and heads for the house.

“Hey!” Aiden shouts. “No more fucking with Jamie. No more stairwell ambushes. And next time we’re not bailing you out.”

Ralph spares us a scowl before he starts walking again.

“We’ll see,” he calls, over his shoulder.

“What. A. Dick,” I mutter, and Noah lets out a choking, mirthless laugh. “Let’s go, Aiden, we have to get my car back.”

Aiden nods and turns to Noah.

“I’ll be back to drop off the Corvette.”

Noah grabs Aiden’s arm before he can climb back into the car.

“I’ll come with you,” he says. “I’ll bring the car back. Save you guys a trip.”

This is puzzling, but it would save us some time. Aiden meets my eyes over the roof of the car, and I shrug.

“Fine,” he says. “But you’ll have to ride cargo.”

Noah peers into the back of the car.

“Ralph didn’t throw up back there, did he?”

“No.” Aiden hesitates. “You’re sober, though, right? If you’re going to be driving?”

Noah sighs, presses his hands to his eyes, and climbs into the back.

~~~~

“What the hell happened last night?” he asks, when we’re back on the road. “The car looks like shit. Ralph looks worse.”

“Pulled him out of a bad spot. Some bar in the middle of nowhere. We had to get the address out of his phone so that we can even find our way back.”

“Yeah, Noah-” I twist in my seat to look at him. “Maybe you can help us out in the future by not letting him go meet up with fake girls who are really hordes of big angry dudes trying to kill him?”

I falter on the last word. I didn’t take a good look at Noah while we were at Ralph’s house, but he almost resembles Aiden, with all of that tired darkness gathered around his eyes. Like he hasn’t gotten solid sleep in days.

“Or just - trying to mess him up, or whatever,” I amend lamely, turning back to face the front. “He says he didn’t steal the car.”

“No, he didn’t. Not exactly.” Noah leans back, staring out of the window. “Ralph... he's been doing some gambling. He got in pretty deep with this guy who’s super loaded, Hunter something, I don't remember. The idea was that we’d get Hunter super fucked up so that he’d agree to play Ralph for one more hand. If Ralph won, he’d call it even, let go of the debt. But Ralph got greedy, got into his head, got him feeling way too confident. He ended up agreeing that if Ralph won, the debt would be forgiven and Ralph could take the Corvette.” Noah shakes his head, blows out a breath. “I knew it was a bad idea. Now Hunter is sobered up and he’s got that psycho Cameron on our asses. That’s why we decided to stop going out for a little while, just till everything cooled off. Or that’s what we agreed, but then I came outside last night and Ralph and the car were gone. I thought…” He trails off.

At least someone in this group understands the gravity of the situation.

“What are you guys going to do?” Aiden asks, his eyes still on the road. “Cameron’s not going to stop coming after you.”

“Ralph says he’ll give up eventually.”

I let out a half-laugh and bite it back a moment too late.

“Look, this is a hell of a car.” Aiden runs his hands over the wheel. “I wish I’d gotten to drive it under less terrifying circumstances. But it’s not worth getting your teeth kicked in, or worse. Honestly, a red Corvette? It’s so conspicuous, it’s not going to be hard for them to find you guys again. You need a plan.”

Noah chews the inside of his cheek for a moment.

“What would you suggest?” He shrugs helplessly. “Ralph’s not going to let me-”

“You don’t need Ralph’s permission for everything, dude,” I tell him. “I mean, you’ll probably piss him off if you do something about it. Like, definitely. Personally I wouldn’t want to make him mad, that’s for sure-”

“Jamie.” Aiden catches my eye in the rearview. “Not helping.”

“Right. Sorry. I’m just saying, you’re a grown man, Noah, you can make up your own mind about things.”

“I don’t need you to tell me I’m grown,” Noah snaps, suddenly sounding much more like his old self. He settles back into the cargo area and crosses his arms. “Now, if you two don’t fucking mind, I’m taking a nap. I haven’t slept in like, twenty hours. Wake me up when we get there.”

~~~~

I know that Aiden liked driving the Corvette, but I’m jazzed to be back in my own blue hunk of junk. It can barely go more than sixty miles an hour, which is fine with me. I’ve had enough high-speed chases for a lifetime. Noah vanishes in the Corvette before we even get my car rolling.

I start guiding us back to town, grateful for the sunlight and the GPS and the 30 MPH indicated on my speedometer. Last night was crazy, and if I didn’t have the watch in my pocket, I’d scarcely believe it happened at all.

“Where should I take us?” I ask Aiden, who is blinking sleepily in the passenger’s seat.

“Mmm. I need to go home. Change so I can get to work.”

“What?” I glance down at the clock. “Holy shit. You’re not going to call in sick? You need to be there in… less than an hour. You’re going to be late anyway.”

“Can’t miss today, it’s the first day we’re open since the flood. Now that I know for sure that we caused it, I feel like I should probably at least, you know. Show up for work.”

“Oh. Yeah, maybe we should send Gabby an Edible Arrangement or something.”

Aiden lets out a tired, huffing laugh.

“Or I know this super nice guy who could get us a good price on some flowers.” He yawns, thankfully missing the immediate blush that climbs up my cheeks. “Why is it that every time you show up at City Hall, something ridiculous happens?”

Oh, my god. In all the hubbub I completely forgot about why I had gone to City Hall in the first place. I was going to tell Aiden about Kasey. I never did. I haven’t even told Kasey that we lost the watch, time traveled, and got it back. I have a lot of explaining to do, and I can only hope that my two favorite people don’t both get pissed about everything I haven’t shared.

“Aiden. Are you still up?”

“Mhmm.” But his eyes are closed.

“Look - tomorrow, after you get some sleep, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

He opens one eye.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, totally. I meant to talk to you about it when I came to see you at City Hall, but then everything went crazy. Not urgent, but. Can we talk tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.” Aiden nods, resting his head on the window. “Sure. If I wasn’t so tired I’d pester you into telling me right now. You realize I’m going to be up all night wondering?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re going to be out the minute your head hits the pillow, dude.”

He doesn’t answer. He’s already dozed off, his face smushed against the glass.

~~~~

I haven’t brought Kasey to the Ghost Office before. She stops outside to take it in, and I see it through new eyes for the first time in a while: the burnt wall, the marks in the pebbles that we ran over when we accidentally landed the Corvette two feet from the water. The two broken windows. And she hasn’t even seen inside yet.

“We’ve, uh. Fucked up a few times,” I tell her, gesturing at the windows.

“More than a few times, it looks like.”

I guide her around to the front and shove up the metal door. Aiden and I leave it open when we work. There’s no house across the river, so no worries about peeping neighbors, and when it comes to the Ghost Office, sometimes a swift exit is necessary. Kasey follows me inside and drifts over to the wall with the workbenches and our printouts. She runs her eyes over the papers, the mold of my hand, the trash bin filled with broken glass and empty coffee cups.

“Yep. Looks like you two in here.” She arches an eyebrow at me. “Isn’t this the part where you tell me to be nice, and that he’s different and shit?”

“You came on the cemetery hunt, you already know that he’s different.”

“You’re testy today.” Kasey leans closer to the picture of William, squinting. “Nervous?”

“Well, obviously I’m a little nervous.” I hug myself defensively. “Why shouldn’t I be? Aiden could be mad. Like, really mad. We’ve been on a ghost hunt and I haven’t shared with him that a ghost is chilling in my apartment every day.”

“Lower your voice, Jamie, oh my god. He could turn up any minute and overhear you. Is that how you want him to find out?” She checks the door, but no one is there. “Do you remember everything I told you to say?”

“Yes! I’ve got it.”

She opens her mouth to respond, but I hold up a hand. I think I heard footsteps from outside. Sure enough, Aiden ducks under the door a moment later, still in his work clothes, two coffees in hand. He straightens up and gives me a smile so intimate and warm that for a moment I’m almost embarrassed that Kasey can see it. But I end up just smiling back at him like a goon.

“Hey,” he says, depositing the coffees on the workbench and tugging his backpack off his shoulder.

“Hey. How was work?”

“Better than yesterday, in the sense that I didn’t fall asleep at my desk.” He takes a sip from his coffee, licks a stray bit of caramel from his finger. “Anyways, I’ve been dying to know. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“It’s-” I hesitate, struggling. Aiden waits patiently, his head tipped to the side like a curious bird.

“You can tell me anything,” he says.

“It’s going to sound ridiculous.”

“Try me. I’m sure it can’t be more ridiculous than anything we’ve been through in the last few days alone.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath and steal a sideways glance at Kasey. “So, here’s the thing.”