It happens in the blink of an eye.

One moment I’m standing by Kasey’s side, in this strange, airy building they’ve brought me to. Then Aiden puts his hand down on the map, and I don’t even have time to see his fingers connect with the surface before I am wrenched forwards by some unseen force.

I close my eyes, and when I open them again, I am surrounded with silence, and semi-darkness.

Where am I?

I have landed on my back. I sit up, panting and bewildered, and look around.

The scene that meets my eyes is so baffling that I don’t know what to make of it. I blink hard, expecting it to clear away, but it does not.

I am, I believe, in the center of downtown Ketterbridge. A road I’ve walked many times before, or else I would not recognize it. There is no one here, no one. Every sidewalk and window and shop and doorway is completely empty. There is not so much as a pigeon on the road, or a breeze through the trees. Everything is motionless.

And the town itself… what’s happened?

The sky overhead is one solid sheet of dark blue. In fact, everything is that same deep navy color. All the buildings, the streets, even the plants. It would be nothing but that color, except - there is a white-blue glow clinging to everything, breaking up the monochrome, making the town visible around me, giving it definition. The houses and shops put it off. The trees. The sidewalks. I am in a half-lit, two-toned world of utter stillness and silence.

There are no stars. No clouds. No moon or sun.

“Hello?” I call.

There is no answer, not so much as an echo. I turn slowly on the sidewalk, trying desperately to understand, when - muffled voices disrupt the silence. As if from very, very far away. It’s the faintest thing, and broken up. I can discern only a few snatches of each sentence.

“...go in there and get him? How would that...”

“...go alone, I don’t fucking think so…. with you…”

I get the sense that the voices are coming from above me, not around me. I move to cup my hands around my mouth, so I can try to shout for help.

Instead, I gasp, taking an instinctive step backward.

I... I can see my hands.

I can see my hands.

I begin to tremble as my eyes travel from my hands, up to my arms, then down my body.

I can see myself.

I had forgotten what I looked like. I take the fabric of my shirt in a handful, give it a tug. I watch the movement, astonished. I hold my hands up in front of my face, staring, just staring. Even the sight of my battered, worn old workboots… I have not seen them for so long.

It would appear that I have not aged. So far as I can tell, I look as I did moments before I went into the river.

A flash of blinding, white-blue light across the sky draws my gaze sharply upwards. It’s followed immediately by a second, equally bright burst of light. I stare up at the blank sky, waiting to see if there will be more, but the world falls completely still again.

A moment passes. Another. And then I hear something.

“Goddamnit, Jamie! Why did you grab me? I told you not to come!”

“You are honestly so dumb if you thought I was gonna let you do this alone. What, do you only have two brain cells floating around in there, just bumping into each other?”

“Dude, what if it’s dangerous? We don’t know-”

“You think I’d be more likely to let you go alone if it was something dangerous? Let my Companion Plant go all by himself and dive into - you know what? You actually only have one brain cell, man. At most. And that’s me being generous.”

I have been stunned into frozen silence, but now I start creeping forward, towards the voices. I come to the end of the block and stop. I peek around the side of a building, and see two men getting to their feet in the middle of the road. One tall, built much like me, and the other shorter, more slender, wearing a flannel.

It seems essentially impossible, but - it’s Jamie and Aiden. Two splashes of bright color against this blue and white world.

They are still speaking. I was so staggered by their arrival that I forgot to listen.

"-our fault that he's trapped in here in the first place,” Jamie is saying, brushing off his hands.

"I know. Do you think that Ariana made the map, too, by the way? Because if she did, that means she basically built an entire shadow town. Un-fucking-believable. I could never."

"Okay, but why would you ever need to, is the thing?" Jamie pauses, staring around. “God, though, look at this place! It’s like Ketterbridge from another dimension, or something.” He crosses to the nearest building and tries the door. “It won’t open. I can’t see through these windows, either. It’s like a prop town.”

“How the hell are we gonna find him?” Aiden reaches for his hat, which landed next to him on the street. “He could be anywhere. I thought we’d touch down at the Ghost Office, for some reason, but we’re - we're right in the center of town, aren’t we?”

“Looks like we might have to do some exploring, I guess?” Jamie says, turning back to Aiden.

I step out onto the street and come closer to them, the better to hear what they’re saying.

I freeze as Jamie’s wandering eyes come to a stop, looking right at me.

“Oh-” he gasps, and tugs Aiden’s sleeve. “Aiden - look!”

Aiden whips around, and then they’re both staring. Staring directly at me.

At first, it seems impossible. They must be looking right through me, at something behind me. I turn to check, but there’s nothing, no movement on the street, nothing to grab their attention. I turn back to them, and - I could swear that their eyes are fixed on my face.

“Oh my god,” Aiden murmurs, his eyes wide. “It’s him!”

“Oh, he’s cute,” Jamie says, nudging Aiden’s arm. “Kasey’s gonna be so stoked!”

Are they talking about me?

If we weren’t in an otherwise completely empty world, I wouldn’t believe it. In fact, it doesn’t matter. I still don’t.

And then, raising a hand in greeting, Aiden says, “Will? William Clarke?”

For a handful of seconds, I am so flabbergasted that I cannot move, cannot speak, cannot think.

So, so long have I waited for someone to see me. I have wanted this moment more than anything. Yet now, with two sets of eyes on my face, looking right at me, seeing me, really seeing me -

I am overwhelmed. It is too much. Panic hits me with the force of a lightning strike, and I gasp, taking a stumbling step backward.

“Oh - Will, we’re friends!” Jamie takes a step towards me, alarm spreading over his face. “We’re here to help you!”

I scarcely hear his words. Light-headed, overcome, my vision swimming and my breathing stopped - I turn and flee.

“Will, wait!” Aiden shouts. “We want to help you! Don’t run!”

I do not stop. These two may both be from Ketterbridge, but I have had two hundred years to learn its every nook and cranny. When I get around the corner, I turn and rush into a dark alleyway, blocked by an oversized planter at the entrance. I back up into the shadows and hold still.

A moment later, I hear running footsteps following after mine.

“Shit!” Aiden says, out of breath. “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know, he was only like two seconds ahead of us! Maybe he can disappear, like Kasey?” Jamie raises his volume. “Will! Can you hear me? We’re all on the same team!”

“We know you probably haven’t had friends in a long time, Will!” Aiden chimes in. “But we promise, we’re your friends! We just want to help!”

I hold as still as I can, convinced that the loud hammering of my heart will somehow give me away.

“Well, we have to find him,” Jamie says. “Should we just walk around? He can’t have gotten that far.”

“Yeah, come on. He came this way, so. Keep going this direction?”

I remain cemented to the spot long after their voices fade away. I don’t know what just happened to me. In that moment, being looked at, observed, after my very existence hasn’t been acknowledged for so long… I do not know if my body still has blood, but it felt like all of the blood rushed to my head, throwing my balance, knocking every coherent thought from my mind.

I am still shaking. I can hear my pulse in my ears, and with each beat of it, my vision blurs in tandem, making me dizzy.

It’s a long, long time before I can so much as take a step. I move out of the alley and into the now-empty street. If Aiden and Jamie are around, I don’t hear them.

I look up as the sky flashes that white-blue color. Two times, again.

It takes me a second, but I understand. It’s Aiden and Jamie.

They left.

I don’t know what to do, so I begin to walk, with no particular place in mind. I walk alone, and the familiarity of that sensation does something to calm me. My breath evens out, and the frantic tempo of my heartbeat slows down.

I don’t realize where I’m going until I come to a stop on Benton Street.

I sit down on the curb, where I have sat with Kasey so many times before. I have no need of air, but I take long, deep breaths.

The sky flashes again.

Only once, this time. Is it Jamie, or Aiden? Why did one of them come back alone?

I put my hands behind me on the sidewalk, then lean into them, looking up at the empty sky. Where there should be clouds and constellations, there is only blue. Jamie said something about my being trapped in here, but where is here? Is this my summoning? I can’t begin to understand.

I sit there in silent contemplation, only vaguely aware of the passage of time, until a movement in the corner of my eye catches my attention.

I turn my head, and Kasey is there.

Standing in the middle of the street, her dark eyes wide and shining, her hands slack at her sides.

She is looking right at me.

I draw in a trembling breath, then begin to lurch to my feet. Kasey lifts her hands, spreading her fingers.

“Will.” Her voice, so familiar, holds me to the spot. “You’re okay. It’s me. We’ve met right here, in this exact place, so many times before.”

For a moment, I am motionless.

Slowly, as if in a daze, I get to my feet. Kasey holds perfectly still, wary of putting me to flight. I can only stare at her. Her eyes, looking into mine. Seeing me. She’s seeing me.

“I thought I might find you here,” she whispers. “This is our place, isn’t it?”

I swallow hard, then take a hesitant step towards Kasey. She draws in a sharp breath, but doesn’t move.

“Wow.” She lets out a little laugh, her eyes traveling over my face. “Look at you.”

I take another step closer, then stop, faltering. I think that Kasey is holding her breath.

She takes a step towards me.

There now remains only a narrow stretch of pavement between us. Kasey stops, then holds out her hand, her palm facing me. Her eyes flit up to meet my eyes, and she waits.

I am transfixed by her eyes on mine. The fears that had gripped me before slip away.

I lift my hand, and lace my fingers through hers.

I feel the warmth, the press, the solidity of her hand against mine.

My heart stands still.

Kasey breathes out a soft, shuddering exhale, and I know that she feels me, too.

“Miss Lavoe?” My words are so hoarse, more air than voice. “It's really you?”

“Miss Lavoe!” She lets out a dazed laugh, then smiles up at me, radiant. “That’s - that’s cute, but you can just call me Kasey.”

“Kasey,” I try, and she laughs again.

“Yes. Hi.”

She bends her fingers around mine, and we both take in a sharp breath at the feeling. My eyes drop to our intertwined hands, then go back to her face. In a burst of wild audacity, I raise my other hand and tuck a lock of raven hair behind her ear, as I have wanted to do for so long. Kasey closes her eyes, her eyebrows drawing together.

I am winded by the feeling of my fingers brushing over her cheek, and the rich, glossy softness of her hair.

“I knew that you would find me,” I breathe. “I knew.”

“So you - you remember everything?” Kasey asks, her eyes fluttering open. “And all those nights on Benton Street, you were really there, every time?”

“I was,” I tell her, and she smiles again, her fingers tightening around my own. “I have become quite enchanted with your tales of history, Miss Lavoe. Kasey.”

She blinks, then blushes. I have never seen her blush like this, and pure, sublime bliss momentarily whites out every other thought in my mind.

“Will,” Kasey says, drawing closer, “We’re in the map, right now. Aiden thinks that with the tokens on the map, there’s enough of your concentrated spectral energy that - if I pull you out through its surface, you should come back into the real world with your voice, and your form.” She squeezes my fingers, and the feeling trills through my entire body. “I can take you with me.” Her eyes are inky black pools, shining with hope. “I can bring you back.”

The fear stirs in my heart again.

“Is Aiden quite sure?” I ask, and Kasey bites down on her lip.

“No,” she admits. “He isn’t, but - that’s what we think.”

If it doesn’t work… to lose my form, my voice again, when I finally had them back... to lose her again….

“Kasey,” I whisper, and she nods, like she understands.

“If it doesn’t work, if you come out incorporeal, we’ll put you right back in the map, and we’ll try again. I promise.” She releases my hand, then very gently puts her fingertips to my cheek. I could melt into her touch, dissolve into it, savor just the feeling of this for one hundred more years. “I won’t give up on you,” she says. “I’ll find a way.”

“I know it,” I manage. “I should think a woman like you accomplishes whatever she sets her mind to. Even death seems to have slowed you down very little.”

Kasey laughs again, then drops her hand from my face. “So you’ll come with me?”

I take a steadying breath, then nod, my heart pounding.

“What must I do?”

She takes my hand again, weaves our fingers together, and holds on tightly.

“Just don’t let go,” she says.

Never, I think, and close my eyes.

There’s a brief silence.

“Cool if I take a second to say that I’m glad you don’t have a mustache?” Kasey asks, out of nowhere. "I know that's not exactly like, our top concern right now, but still."

I open my eyes, look down at her, and burst into startled laughter. She begins to laugh, too, a devious grin on her face.

So it is that when the moment comes, when the ground falls away and we are lifted upwards, I am not afraid, but smiling.