"Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what." – Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

A scream punctuated the air but now we were closer, I realised it wasn't just any scream. This was a scream that sent me running full speed down the corridor, yanking Raff with me, for I knew the sound of my best friend's voice and knew the scream to have come from here. Raff and I arrived the same time as everyone else and we found Maya bent over with fright in the hallway, her face white and her body shaking.

"Maya, what happened?"

I saw it as quick as lightning the moment Maya locked eyes with me. Something had happened to Maya to make her understand my situation more.

"I saw her as clear as day, standing before me now, with not a care in the world."

"Who did you see?"

"She smiled at me, waved even, as she lingered before my eyes and then she floated away."

"Who are you talking about Maya?"

"Harriet! You said it before Valera that you'd only seen her once. Can you be sure of that or am I going mad within these walls?"

Outcries and whispers of words had erupted from those around me once Maya had uttered those words. Had Maya truly seen Harriet, or had it been a trick of the light? Either way, I couldn't let Maya believe she had lost her mind.

"You're not mad Maya. I've seen Harriet before, much like you have just experienced. Like a spirit she roams the Castle, but I believe she is less spirit than you think."

"You've seen Harriet?" shouted Raff, as he took a step away from me and dropped my hand. "Why didn't you tell me."

"Don't you dare judge me without all the facts Raff, I thought we had moved past this. I. AM. NOT. HER. Yes, I have seen Harriet since the ball. She appeared to me much like she appeared to Maya and I too was fearful of her. I thought she was a ghost. The first thing I wanted to do was run and get you but she told me not to and that you couldn't know of her existence yet."

"Why not?"

"She's trapped, isn't she Valera."

I nodded towards Maya.

"Trapped how?" asked Ben.

"Trapped where?" asked Freya.

"I don't know but I know it is up to me to free her."

"Fat lot of good that is," said Maggie.

"Maggie..." warned Raff.

"If you would all shut up for a moment, I think I have a theory on all this," said Maya.

"Another theory Maya, really?"

"I'll have you know that my brain can be very smart when it wants to be, Valera."

This experience seemed to have brought the sassy out in Maya.

"Well, hurry up and be smart, or everyone will start disagreeing again."

"We all know that Valera is essential to the curse being solved. That at least, is a fact we can agree on. Valera's job is to solve the curse as much as it is to right the wrongs committed. Raff and Valarie didn't get to cement their love or explore what could have been—"

"Where are you going with this Maya?"

"Impatient much? You and Raff, Valera both look like the cat that got the cream. I'm assuming here, but is it because you've cemented your feelings for each other?"

I blushed scarlet, but I was pleased to see Raff with a similar redness on his face.

"Right, so that confirmation was probably sealed by a kiss. I believe that confirmation has broken some kind of barrier that has held certain aspects of the curse back. Like, for example, Harriet."

"That's why she appeared to me and no one else?" I asked.

"I don't understand," said Raff.

"Think about it. How long do you think Harriet has been trapped in this Castle? Don't you think she would have revealed herself if she could? It must be awfully lonely for her not to be seen by anyone. She appeared to me because I was the only one who could see her all the time due to my affinity with the curse."

"Exactly."

"Why do you believe a simple kiss could break part of the curse? It seems too simple to be true."

"Valera and Valarie share the same soul. Valera has won the love that Valarie was denied. Your love for Raff. In all the fairy-tales of old, it is love that conquers all and love that gets the happy ending. My theory is that because Valera has attained something that Valarie was unable to have, that it has weakened the strongholds of the curse. Think of it as being the first layer removed."

"Why though? I mean, to what end?"

"Everything is connected to Raff," I said, pausing to gaze lovingly at him. "I see the past and I see every mistake Valarie makes and how she feels about them. I uncover Valarie's mistakes in the past and in the present, I can right them. I can have the life that should have been Valarie's, that's what Maya means."

"It's a good thing?" asked Raff.

"Of course, it's a good thing. Don't you want the curse to be broken?"

"Absolutely, but at what cost?"

"Raff?" I asked.

It had gone very dark in the hallway like all the lights had gone from the walls. I had seen Maya's theory as a positive thing and thought the others did also. Yet why were the faces around me so sombre, and why was I so dizzy?