On that note, we decide to call it a day. Or at least, I pay attention to my friends for the first time in about half an hour, and realise they look exhausted and traumatised to the point of near death. Besides, I need to get my head around all this and hear Annabel's take on things. Connor gives me his contact details, and we arrange to meet up tomorrow morning to figure out what the hell is going on, and what we need to do to stop it. I hope Connor has some ideas because I'm clueless.

Once we make base inside the B&B we've booked for the night, Annabel gets her chance to lay her thoughts out on the table.

"Nothing. I've literally got nothing," is the first thing she says once we're alone in my hotel room, and I ask her for some elaboration. "Memories of anything new. Well, that's a bit of a lie. I kind of have some boring kiddie memories of Connor from when we were young--talking about before you were even born here, though."

She crosses her arms with a huff, then manifests herself from the doorway to the end of the bed I'm sitting on. She's not trying to hide her frustration, but I don't think she should be so miffed. Her memories in general are pretty vague, and at least she remembers something more of Connor now.

"He seems cool though, right? Doesn't seem uptight at all, and he might actually be able to sort this shit out for me. And that blesser thing, what's that about? Sounds pretty impressive, if Ava's reaction is anything to go by. A brother. We have a literal brother, how cool is that? And he's alive!"

"One is enough," Annabel mutters.

I roll my eyes. "What's with the attitude?"

She uncrosses her arms. "I didn't turn dark, I wouldn't." She starts muttering again. "He doesn't know what was going through my head."

"Neither do you, mate. You literally don't remember. Clara said there will be some things your mind will block out, things you don't want to remember. Turning dark seems like a pretty good candidate for that."

"I know, but..." Annabel stammers. "Ugh, I just... I don't think it's that simple. Glad you love him so much, though." The last sentence is a sarcastic mumble.

"Wait," I say as I sit up and fight a grin off my face. "Are you jealous? Ha. You're jealous, aren't you?"

"No!" Annabel snaps. "No way. Don't flatter yourself. I just don't get why you feel the need to lick Connor's arse so much."

How can she not see how big of a deal this is? Not only is this guy literally our goddamn brother. I mean, what? But he's alive. He's someone in our family who's alive, and not just family, but a brother. We have a brother, and he's alive. I turn my attention back to Annabel, who's using her telekinesis to mess about with a dressing pillow beside her. He's alive. I guess that's never mattered to her.

"You don't get it," I mutter as I lie flat on the bed.

"Huh?" I hear Annabel say from above me.

"Nothing, don't worry."

Her pale face suddenly appears above me as her hair dangles over my face, inches away from tickling my nose. She stares at me with narrowed eyes. God, the girl isn't half terrifying when she wants to be.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she demands.

Before I can answer Annabel, a knock on the door saves my arse. Annabel disappears as I jump up, and I open it to see Carmen standing there.

"I'm sorry," we both blurt at the exact same time, then proceed to say, "for what?" in unison.

Now that's impressive. We both laugh, and Carmen asks if she can come in. I gesture towards the bed as an offer to sit down, then realise how grossly inappropriate that could come across, but it's too late and she's already nearing it, so for some idiotic reason, my instinct is to then go ahead and plant myself down onto the carpeted floor. I was clearly right in thinking that was a bizarre thing to do because Carmen gazes at me with raised eyebrows from the bed.

"You're so weird sometimes." She pats the empty space next to her. "Come here, you freak."

Bit mean. I give her a frown, then jump up from the floor to flop back onto the bed. I flash her a cheesy grin, and while I might be putting it on a little bit, I'd be embarrassed to admit how much of it is legitimate joy at the fact Carmen isn't absolutely terrified of me anymore. At least for now.

"So today was..." I start.

"Ridiculous. Insane. Huge. Literally terrifying at times."

"I mean, I was just going to say weird, but hey, go off."

Carmen jabs me with her finger. "Shut up." She rests her head back against the bed frame. "I'm sorry I acted so stupid earlier. I don't even know what it was, it was just--just, I don't know, the shock. The ghost and the tree branches, and--I mean, look." Carmen pulls her hair up into a mock ponytail, and on the sides of her neck are finger-shaped bruises. "The bitch literally caused grievous bodily harm."

"Holy crap, Carmen, are you alright? Do you need to get that looked at? Shit, I'm so sorry, is it painful? Do you need--"

"Whoa, slow down. I'm fine. It barely hurts. Seriously, I'll survive, it's okay. I just don't want you to think you messed up back there, or that I'm angry at you, or afraid of you."

"Carmen, I practically threw half a tree straight at you."

"No, you didn't. You threw it at the bitch with her hands around my throat, and if you hadn't, God knows what could've happened." I go to speak, but Carmen gets there first. "And don't hit me with that self-deprecating bullshit. You saved my arse back there, it just took me a moment to regain myself after being choked by a literal demon ghost thing." She smiles. "So thanks. Seriously."

My instinct is to argue back, and point out the fact that my well-established lack of control over the ability should've given me the sense not to try it in such a dangerous situation. But I'm trying to get better at this. I can't keep bashing myself if I want to get anywhere with figuring out this ghost stuff, or the mess inside my own head. Instead of arguing, I just nod.

I half give in and apologise to Carmen for scaring her, which gets me another jab in my side, but I can't be perfect all the time, eh?

"This must be crazy for you," she continues as she scans my face. "If I found out I had a sibling I never knew anything about, then went ahead and met the guy barely any time later, I swear I'd lose it."

"Eh, I guess."

Carmen rolls her eyes. "Seriously though, you sure you're alright?" she asks. "I know you could've died if he did, and blah blah blah, but it's okay if you feel a bit peeved off at Connor for never contacting you. Then there's whole memory stealing by your own father thing."

"I'm fine," I reply with a shrug. "I mean, honestly, I'm not fully sure it's actually sunk in, but I think I'm just so glad he's real. I know we had no reason to think the Murrays were lying, or my visions were wrong, or the guy we found online wasn't him, but I don't think I fully believed it until I saw him there, in the flesh."

"He's kind of hot, too. Reckon he's single? You should put in a good word for me."

I proceed to give Carmen the dirtiest look I've probably ever mustered up, and with Annabel as a sister, that's a bold statement.

"Yeah, sure thing. How does this sound? Hey brother I met literally five minutes ago, are you both straight and single? My girlfriend fancies you. Interested?"

Carmen jolts, literally jolts as if she's had a taser directly to the heart, into an upright sitting position.

"Did you just call me your girlfriend?"

"No! I mean, wait, no, not like that. I just--My point is, I assumed that was the situation--I mean, as in, not like you have no say or anything. I wasn't thinking, I just spoke--not like that's not what I want, but only if you do. I'm not bothered. Up to you."

Jesus Christ. I might need to take a rain check on that whole no more self-deprecating mindset thing.

Carmen doesn't reply immediately. She stands up with a closed lip grin on her tanned face, and walks around the bed towards the door. I genuinely think I've embarrassed myself so much that she's going to just leave the room without saying anything, and forget this whole thing ever happened, but as she reaches the door, she spins back around to face me. The smile is still intact, and it's tight, as if her teeth are trying to break through.

"I'll have a think about it."

She shoots me a wink, then leaves the room, and I want to slam myself headfirst into the bed frame.