“Aiden, you’re a Heliomancer, so when you do accidental magic, it tends to come off as heat and light in some form. If not, it’s pure energy, explosions, things like that. Right?”

Kasey is speaking in a hushed, urgent, excited voice. Keeping one wary eye on the window open to the garden, having forgotten that she can’t be overheard. But Floyd and Spencer definitely aren’t listening in. I can hear the sound of them laughing about something, and the beginnings of what sounds like a heated debate.

Aiden matches Kasey’s volume. “So what?”

“So - Guardians specialize in all different things! You can do other kinds of magic, this is just what you’re best at. Rose, the Guardian in Port Sitka back then… she had her own, different specialization.”

“She already did accidental memory magic once, that we know of,” I point out. “She left the ghost at the convenience store, probably without even realizing. The ghost of a memory.”

“There’s been weird stuff going on with people’s memories all over this case,” Kasey goes on breathlessly, her words tumbling over each other in her excitement. “We know that. John Botswick was afraid his mind wouldn’t be his own anymore. Like someone might tamper with it. And even though a bunch of different people saw him around Port Sitka, nobody could remember what his face looked like after he was killed.”

“The Finley family, the owners of the farmhouse!” I jump in, remembering all at once, fumbling my phone out of my pocket. “Hugh Finley told us that his grandfather forgot all about the kid who was living at the farmhouse, the morning after it collapsed - hang on, I wrote down what he said… here we go. Dad said that my grandpa had completely forgotten about the kid at the farmhouse. And when my dad tried to describe the boy to my grandpa, he realized that he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t remember anything about the kid, just that there was a kid.”

“Rose was a worker of memory magic,” Kasey says breathlessly. “She’s the reason everyone’s memory of what happened is all over the place, or nonexistent! She did all of that!”

Aiden stares down at me and Kasey, then slowly lifts his gaze over our heads and stares with unseeing eyes at the wall, deep in thought.

“That… yeah,” he rumbles softly, uneasily, beneath his breath. “That’s got to be it.”

Kasey and I were both already pretty sure, but confirmation from the actual Guardian on the team is huge. We both let out a rush of excited breath, rocking on our feet.

“Rose and Leyla!” I whisper-shout, swatting Aiden’s arm. “They had a plan, we know that - this is what it was! They wiped themselves and Charlie out of the memory of the whole entire CIA! Probably the Stasi, too - and all of Port Sitka! Rose said in the ghost memory that she was working on a complex piece of magic, this was it!”

“Rose must have been a fucking powerhouse.” Aiden looks down at me, wide-eyed and impressed. “That must have been so hard. Jesus Christ.”

“Didn’t Rose and Leyla say in the ghost memory that they were running out of time to create the piece of magic?” Will realizes out loud. “Might that be why some people kept traces of the memories?”

Aiden had lowered his head in thought, but now it snaps back up sharply.

“Oh, I know what happened!” His blue eyes widen again. “Botswick showed up late in the game. After Rose had already been working on the piece of magic, right? She probably had to incorporate him into it at the last second, but then all hell broke loose on the night he was killed. She didn’t have enough time to work him into it. She probably only had the time to get started on that.”

“And that’s why everyone only forgot his face,” Kasey realizes, her voice suddenly very soft. “The Faceless Man.”

“This checks out,” Aiden says, after a brief, serious silence. “Jamie saw it all in the ghost memory. Rose and Leyla were in love, and they wanted to keep Charlie as their own. The only way they could do that was if everyone forgot all about them. Leyla was an agent, Rose was a Guardian, and Charlie was the son of an important Stasi agent, so… yeah, it was the only way.”

“Something must have gone terribly wrong with the plan,” Will murmurs, running a troubled hand over his jaw. “Rose must not have been able to trigger the magic until after Botswick was killed, else there’d be no way anyone would have shot him. There’d be no reason. He’d have forgotten what he was doing there, and everyone would have forgotten him, too.”

“That’s true,” Aiden rumbles. “He wouldn’t have been on the offensive or the defensive. So Rose must have triggered the magic after Botswick was already dead.”

I brighten up at that thought. “Hey, that means Rose was alive and well even after Botswick was killed, right?”

“Alive, yes,” Kasey says slowly. “Well? Not necessarily. I’m starting to worry that those green lights in the sky might have been Guardian distress signals.”

“Leyla said she thought that Botswick was planning something behind her back,” Aiden points out, keeping his deep voice quiet. “And Rose said she could hear that he was going to do something terrible, if they didn’t stop him.”

“And there was a cigarette with lipstick on it by the body,” Kasey murmurs.

Calla’s words echo through my head again. Do you know what he would have done, if…?

My mind sweeps one more time through the possible suspects, the people involved. Stasi agents Jahn and Scholz. Police Chief Joe Kemp, farmhouse owner Joe Finley. Charlie’s real father, the Stasi official. The hotel clerk who overheard the argument in Botswick’s room.

One by one, they’re crossed off the list, either for lack of motive, lack of it making any sense, or lack of any hint it might be the case.

But Rose and Leyla knew that he was going to do something terrible.

This all comes down to those two. There’s not a doubt in my mind, and one glance around at the faces of the rest of the team tells me that we’re all on the same page.

“I just don’t believe,” Aiden says slowly, “That Leyla killed him just to stop him from doing whatever he had planned. I can’t imagine that Rose would have been okay with that. She’s a Guardian. And I think Leyla meant it, when she said she wouldn’t hurt anyone unless she had no other choice.”

“Something must have gone very wrong.” The gears are turning behind Kasey’s dark eyes as she does the math. “Botswick must have put into action whatever secret plan he had, before they could stop him. Starting with collapsing the farmhouse.”

We all look at each other in disbelief.

“We’re so close,” Kasey breathes, pressing her fingertips to her mouth.

“I can’t fucking believe this!” I tug on Aiden’s sleeve, and he casts me an excited grin. “We’re missing so few of the pieces! How the fuck have we made it this far?”

“Those two out in the garden are to thank for it, in part.” Will tosses his head in Floyd and Spencer’s direction. “Have we thought ‘o that, folks?”

“Of what, my sexy lumberjack man?”

“My love, if we bring the Research Department with us from here, they’ll be hearin’ true stories of Guardian magic. Ghosts are one thing, but that’s another, no?” Will sinks his hands into his pockets, his bright green eyes very serious. “We’ll have to let them in or cut them out, so to speak. Someone has to decide. And I reckon that someone is you, Aiden.”

Aiden stares hard at Will, then lapses into silent thought. It takes him some time to come back with an answer, but everyone in this kitchen knows by now to patiently wait.

“I actually don’t think it’s up to me,” comes the surprising answer, his rich voice even more slow-spoken than usual. “Because I wouldn’t just be telling them about me, I’d be telling them about Rose, too. There’s a chance she could still be alive. I can’t… without her permission, I can’t.”

We all take a second to absorb that. I think Aiden is right, despite the guilty, apologetic look he casts in Floyd and Spencer’s direction. I weave my fingers through his, give them a gentle press. He looks down at me, and I flash him a small, reassuring smile.

“That’s perfectly understandable,” I tell him, and then, turning to Kasey and Will, “Right?”

“It is. Good man, Aiden.” Will gives Aiden a warm nod, then winces a little. “Still, it’s a sore thought that Floyd and Spencer will go on thinking the case is forever unsolved.”

“Well, the hope is that if we go talk to Leyla, and we can show her that we know the whole story, she might talk to us.” I shrug my shoulders uncertainly. “Maybe she’d be willing to talk to all of us, Floyd and Spencer included. Then we would have permission, and that’s a different story.”

“I honestly think that’s the way.” Kasey runs her fingers through her short hair. “I think if we can bring Leyla like, ninety percent of the story, show her that we already know the truth, that she can talk freely to us… she might. She might tell us all the rest.”

“Most of what we’re missing now is from the actual night of the murder, right?” Aiden asks. “We have a pretty good idea about what happened before and after. The night of is a mess, we’ve got no fucking idea.”

“We know that was the same night the farmhouse collapsed,” Kasey jumps in. “And Floyd very correctly pointed out that we haven’t tried Jamie’s supercharged Vision there yet. It was probably the craziest night of Rose’s life, so I think there’s a very real chance she may have done other accidental magic, left other ghost-moments there. Right, Aiden?”

“Yeah, definitely. It’s hard to explain, but…” Aiden hesitates, choosing his words. “Guardian magic has a lot of unintended effects, so many that half the time I don’t even notice them. It works in weird ways, but… if Rose did a piece of magic as huge and complicated as the one we’re talking about, it would have set off a wave of extra, free-flying Guardian magic she didn’t even mean for. So… yeah, I think there could be a lot of accidental ghost-moments that she made on that night. It’s just that Jamie wasn’t charged up, so we didn’t see them.”

Kasey beams in excitement, and I let out a heavy sigh, tipping my head all the way back, pressing my palms over my eyes.

“So does this mean that Aiden and I have to go back to the creepy scary ruins of the creepy scary farmhouse? Presumably in the dead of night, to avoid trespassing charges?”

“And because it’ll probably be easier to see all the ghosts in the dark.”

“Not helping, Will!” I drop my hands from my eyes and scowl darkly at Aiden. “You jerk. It’s because of you I’m the only one of us who has to personally witness ghost-moments from a night of murder and mayhem. Why don’t you give my same kind of Vision to Floyd and Spencer, so I don’t have to suffer alone?”

“Dude, first of all, who’s the one who watches horror movies left and right-”

“That’s not the same thing!”

“-and second of all, I have no idea how I gave you your Vision, didn’t you just hear me say that Guardian magic has all kinds of effects I don’t even know about?”

“Maybe that can be the next project for Team Ghost Office, once we finish the battery,” Kasey says brightly. “Figure out a way for Aiden to give the rest of our team members the Vision.”

“Okay,” Aiden scoffs, turning around to stir the pan simmering on the stove. “You guys are way overestimating my skills, right now.”

I point at my own eyes. “Except you already did it, once.”

Aiden pauses, staring at me over his shoulder, then shakes his head like we’re all being ridiculous.

“That is such a bad idea. We’re just lucky that I didn’t accidentally give Jamie demon Vision. He told me himself that he’d never have forgiven me for that.”

“I do not fuck with demons, that’s why, don’t even say that word in this house-”

Spencer pops up in the garden window as if summoned, a few blueberries in his hand, his eyes bright and eager with interest. “You guys talking about demons?”

“No,” I tell him firmly. “No.”

“I’m down to talk demons with this man,” Kasey informs me, pointing at Spencer. “He knows his history.”

I bite back a groan. “Take it outside, then! And Aiden is repeating for you, Kase-face, not me!”

“I’d be doing that from inside, though, because I’m cooking.”

“God. Damnit. Spencer, Kasey said that she’d take you up on the demon talk. She’s coming outside in a second.”

His face brightens again immediately. “Wonderful!”

He disappears from the window, and the rest of Team Ghost Office turns to face each other again.

“So - next step is the farmhouse with Jamie’s Vision?” Kasey asks quietly. “We all agree?”

I let out an agonized sigh as Aiden and Will nod enthusiastically.

“Are you coming with us, Kase-face? Or did you want to run a few more tests before we try to take you out of Ketterbridge?”

“Sadly, I won’t be able to see what you’re seeing, anyways, Jamie.” She makes a pouty face at me. “I wish I could, but - realistically, it’ll hold up the investigation for us to start running more experiments with taking me out of town. That’ll be for later. Believe me, I’m coming along when we finally go talk to Leyla.”

“Kasey’s the one coming, then?” Aiden looks searchingly at Kasey, then at Will. “You guys are certain?”

“I would rather give my energy to Kasey, and let her go along.” A faint, glowing blush climbs up Will’s transparent cheeks as he explains. “I’ve been here so long, I - I can’t leave until Kasey can leave with me. Until we can go together.”

“Totally understandable, man,” Aiden says warmly, then reaches over and ruffles my hair. “Looks like it’s you and me, Keane.”

“Yay!”

“And the farmhouse.”

“Fuck.”

“When can you guys go?” Kasey asks, and Aiden shrugs his broad shoulders.

“This weekend? I know we’re all excited, but - real life. Work. Archives.”

“Flower shop,” I add. “Science class.”

“No, yeah, that’s perfect.” Kasey nods eagerly, rocking on her feet. “This weekend. We’ll get some answers.”

With the matter settled, Aiden and I start taking down glasses and arranging hot plates of fried plantains and spicy jerk chicken. Aiden sends some fireflies drifting out into the garden, keeping them well away from Spencer, who tries to lean close for a better look at them whenever they drift near him. Luna pads outside to introduce herself as Aiden and I return to hand out the plates.

It’s a quiet spring evening, soft and purple, only the faintest breeze in the treetops. But there’s some rowdy noise from the garden as we get to know our newest team member. Loud talk, shouting and laughter from him and Floyd and the rest of us. They end up staying much longer than planned, until Floyd realizes they need to get back to Greenrock and pick up Ida from his neighbor’s house.

It’s a warm, lively, colorful evening. A nice break in the midst of the case, time to breathe.

I have the sense that we’ve been slowly, painstakingly climbing our way up a mountain of theories and evidence and suspects, and we’re finally about to reach the top. All we have to do is make it, and then it’s going to be an unstoppable rush down the other side, where answers and the truth are waiting.

One more piece of evidence, or one more ghost memory. One more, and I think we’re there.