It took another two days for the road to dry enough that there wouldn't be trouble traveling into town or down the mountain to the cemetery grounds.

Ellie traced her hand over her lips for the thousandth time in those two days, biting back yet another nauseating wave of guilt and fear and confusion. She hated that kiss. She loved that kiss. It made her feel wanted and special and completely, totally horrible all at once.

Logically, Ellie knew that if she looked at the situation from an outside perspective, if all this had happened to someone else... she'd want them to take another chance on finding love.

However, the guilt gnawed at her mercilessly, and she wasn't sure that letting feelings develop towards someone she had a business relationship with was the best idea. Kaz wasn't planning to stay, and she needed to keep reminding herself of that. It was nice to have company, nice to wake up to conversation in the morning, and nice to know someone else was with her so she wasn't alone at night, but that was all it was.

It didn't matter that over the last couple of days, he'd taken to helping with building fires and drying meat. He even watched Simon skin a rabbit from one of Ellie's traps, and asked if he knew how to preserve the hide. Simon gave Kaz the skin, in the end, saying to clean it and take it to Abraham in town to learn how to tan it properly. In thanks, Ellie made rabbit stew for all of them that night. The leftovers were in the cellar, and they'd have some after returning from their trip out today.

Ellie took a deep breath of cool air, and tried to clear her head. She'd only known the man a week, and yet it felt so natural to see him around her home.

... However, she'd only met Ben a few times before they started seeing each other, too.

She couldn't think about that too hard, though. She couldn't think about Kaz and Ben in the same breath­, or she'd start thinking about how Kaz understood her magic, how he knew what it was like to feel almost alone in the world, and how it was refreshing and calming and made her fee­l things she hadn't felt in two years. She wanted to ­­curl into his arms and sleep there for a long time, the deep sleep of someone who feels protected and secure.

­­­­­Ellie's boot made an awful squelching noise as she stepped in a mud hole that hadn't quite dried after the rain. At the very least, it gave her an excuse to think about how she'd have to clean her shoes later instead of thinking about Kaz.

"Wouldn't it be more efficient to rent a room in town for a few days than walk all the way there? Especially if we'll be investigating for a while?" he asked from behind her, boot splashing into, no doubt, the same muddy mess she'd just stepped in.

"Probably," Ellie admitted, "but it would also raise a whole lotta eyebrows if it's not clear why I'm in town for a few days. Everybody knows everybody here, and they know I never spend more than a day in town. Besides, the cemetery isn't as far a walk as town is."

The cemetery was really about half the distance to town. They couldn't make much more progress until the Sheriff came back, and they didn't need to run any errands in Boone proper today. It would be better to spend a little longer at the grave and use the extra time at home to prepare a few more things to drop off to Emmaline in a couple of days.

"I don't mind walking," he said with a shrug. "More time for conversation."

Ellie breathed in through her nose and forced her shoulders to relax. Conversation meant getting to know each other, and while part of her was thrilled at the thought, another part was certain that it would emotionally kill her if she got any closer to Kaz and had to let him go when all this wrapped up.

"Fine," she conceded, trying to keep her tone light. "Do you have a job? I mean, besides making bargains."

"Making bargains is enough of a job in itself," he laughed. "It pays well, too."

"Does it?" Ellie raised an eyebrow, turning towards him, but the smile faded from Kaz's face.

"Desperate people always pay well. It doesn't matter what your line of work is."

"How do you pick what to charge?" Ellie asked. "I know that sounds kinda stupid, but is there a standard?"

"Yes, it's one soul per heinous crime," he deadpanned, unable to keep the sharp-toothed grin off his face, but then he grew serious. "No it's... For the magic, it's more important that there is an exchange at all than the inherent value of items or services. Worth and value are very different concepts."

"Such as...?" She shook her head. The information made sense, in theory, but she'd always thought about magic as requiring a cost equal to what was gained.

"Mothers like to keep baby teeth as they fall out, but when children grow up, do you think those teeth have any value to them?" Kaz offered, eyebrow raised.

"No. They can't do anything with 'em."

"Exactly," he said with a nod. "However, to me, those teeth are an especially potent ingredient in certain spells and curses, far more potent than any adult tooth pulled with pliers. They're lost innocence in a convenient capsule, and rather tricky to obtain."

Ellie squinted at him, frowning. "You... bargain for baby teeth?"

Kaz only shrugged, like it was a question he answered often enough and had no qualms with. "Sometimes. What's more important is the worth that I place on the trade rather than the monetary value or the apparent value to the person offering the item to me. If we both agree that what we earn from the trade is of equal value, it's enough to satisfy the magic."

"So it's different than doing it alone..." Ellie murmured. That made sense.

If you cast a spell on your own, the only emotion and opinion going into the working was yours. There was no outside perspective to balance. It made perfect sense that adding someone else into the mix changed things, but it was interesting that the items exchanged only needed to have worth to the people asking for them.

"It's very different. And, since the people who make bargains with me are typically people who see what they want as worth an infinite price, I can charge almost anything I want without worry." He paused. "I don't actually take souls, though. That seems rather crude."

Interesting. Ellie bit her lip for a moment, the gears in her mind turning over and over. She supposed that not everyone would really have use for souls— after all, she wouldn't know what to do with one. Maybe demon society wasn't all that different after all, or at least maybe it wasn't where Kaz came from.

"What do you take?" she asked hesitantly, unable to cage her curiosity.

"Cold, hard cash is never a bad payment. Sometimes I'll bargain for rare spell ingredients, like the teeth. Once, I even acquired an entire estate that I sold a few years later for a pretty penny, after I got tired of living in the area."

"Holy shit," Ellie said slowly. "You're one of those weirdo rich guys."

Kaz scrunched his nose in distaste and Ellie laughed loudly, the sound echoing through the trees. It was enough to get him to loosen up a little and smile, but he didn't look at her as he spoke.

"I can't deny that I have a... sizeable bank account stashed away," he admitted, "but I'm actually a writer. Or... I was," he said with a sigh. He sounded so despondent that it made her heart ache, and she found herself moving a little closer to him. 

"Was?"

"Would you believe I wrote romances a long time ago?" he asked with that sharp smile and a hesitant glance.

"Not a bit." She smiled back.

"You'd lose that bet, then," he said, laughing. "People love a novel with scenes that make their toes curl and their ­­­­­­­heart rate rise."

"Scandalous," Ellie gasped, dramatically throwing her hand over her forehead.

"You don't seem to be a fan, yourself. I didn't see any on your bookshelf."

"I don't mind 'em." Ellie waved her hand noncommittally. "I like a good love story, and I'm not offended by a steamy scene. Sex is sex. It's human, people do it, and I'm not gonna act like they don't or pretend I'm a precious flower," she said with a snort. "It's just been... hard to read 'em lately."

"Understandable." Kaz nodded, and there was some measure of comfort in knowing that was all the communication they needed about the matter. She didn't have to constantly open old wounds around him. They actually had a chance to heal.

"What happened after?" Ellie asked, quickly returning to the previous subject. "After you were a writer, I mean."

"Well, I worked in..." he paused, tilting his head back and forth. "I think the best way to describe it is that I worked with people who were in mental or emotional distress for a long while. Got them back on their feet, that sort of thing."

"Sounds nice," she said, glancing off into the trees. "What happened?"

"Maybe I just took a sudden liking to making bargains with idiotic humans for a living," he bit back, but there was little real malice to it. It was just enough to know she'd hit a nerve.

"Yeowch, kitty has claws," Ellie muttered. "Maybe another time, then." She reached up and patted his shoulder gently, picking up her walking pace just a little.

"... You are, for the record, the least idiotic human I have ever bargained with," he muttered from behind her.

"Considering you've known me all of about a week, I'll take that as a high compliment." Ellie flashed a bright smile over her shoulder, a little surprise to see his mouth drop open for a moment before he composed himself.

"You might be surprised. This is a long trip for a bargain."

"Usually in and out?"

"For the most part. Some take a little more finesse, but most are finished in a day. The longer ones take a week, two at maximum."

"Oh, so I booked you for a big job, huh?" she asked, veering left off the main path and up the hill that led to the cemetery. It wouldn't take them long to get there now.

"In a sense. I have to admit this is one of the... more pleasurable trips I've made." He sounded almost... but no. There was no way Kaz felt shy about that, but when she looked back, he wouldn't meet her eyes.

Ellie blinked, brow furrowed. "Are you serious?"

"Why would I lie?"

Ellie did not know that demons could make puppy dog faces, but she certainly would never doubt that fact again.

"It's just... There's no sex and no parties out here, and it seems like everyone has some kinda weird inhuman reaction when they look at ya," she said, nose scrunching as she frowned.

"You don't," he murmured.

As they spoke, they crested the hill. The cemetery was on high ground, just as it needed to be, which was why it was so far away from the town proper. It was a huge swath of land divided into various family plots and church sections, all ringed by a black iron fence with a large gate at the front.

"Yeah, well, I'm the local weirdo," she said with a shrug. "What can ya do?"

Kaz opened his mouth to speak, but as Ellie tugged on the gate to open it, the sound of the rusty hinges screaming in protest drowned out whatever he'd planned to say.

She turned to Kaz, suddenly serious.

"I don't know who's gonna be around today, y'hear? We get in and get out, and don't talk to anyone but Ben," she said, maintaining eye contact. "Clear?"

"Are these spirits dangerous?" His brow furrowed as he glanced between Ellie and the graveyard beyond.

"Mostly, no, but if you agitate 'em, they can be. Any spirit can be dangerous, especially if you clearly have no intention of givin' what they want. Best not to engage," she said quietly. They were a decent distance from the nearest graves, but as soon as they stepped over the threshold of the iron gate, they would be in spirit territory. Best to keep her voice low... just in case.

Kaz nodded silently, and then he did something she didn't expect.

He held out his hand.

Ellie blinked. She poked his palm with her index finger, trying to figure out what he wanted, but Kaz just scoffed.

"Hold my hand, please," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're a formidable force on your own, but any hostile spirits certainly won't bother me."

"Confident," Ellie grumbled, cheeks turning red as she took his hand and walked off at a pace that was probably too fast, practically dragging him along behind her.

Ben's family plot was about halfway back. The plot was almost full, too. Their family had been in these mountains almost as long as Ellie's, and it was actually a little surprising they hadn't met sooner... but they did run in different circles.

Ellie could clearly see a few spirits milling about. It was a myth that spirits were more active at night, but it was certainly harder for people without the Sight to see them during the day. For the most part, there weren't many restless souls in the cemetery. She could think of five, maybe seven at most, which truly wasn't bad in a rural town where accidents sometimes happened and not everyone died a peaceful death. Still holding Kaz's hand, she marched deliberately past those half-corporeal forms made of mist and shadow, keeping them in her peripherals but careful never to look directly at any of them. It was not a good idea to let ghosts know you could see them if you were unprepared. Ellie had learned that as a young girl, and she's never forgotten.

A rectangular outline of stones, clearly placed by hand, marked the Mathers family plot. Taking a few steps forward, Ellie guided him towards the nearest marker. The state of the simple stone markers made it clear which one was most recent, even without checking the dates, but Ellie didn't need to look at the stone slab to know what was carved on it.

BENJAMIN MATHERS

1894–1926

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

She almost dropped Kaz's hand, but he must have felt her grip go slack and tightened his hold.

"I've got you," he said softly, nudging her towards the grave.

"The other spirits probably won't bother us now. You can let go," she whispered, but Kaz shook his head.

"That's not why I'm holding on now. Though..." he trailed off, gaze sweeping over the cemetery for a moment. "If my holding your hand is still a deterrent to them, it's an extra benefit."

They stood in front of Ben' tombstone for a moment while Ellie closed her eyes, concentrating on the sound of the wind in the trees and the energetic presence of the other spirits around her. If she wanted to, she could identify where every spirit in the graveyard was with her eyes closed. However, she was looking for only one specific presence.

"You there, Ben?" she whispered, reaching out with that sixth sense she'd always known.

If asked to describe it, Ellie might say she could touch without feeling, see without seeing. It wasn't exactly one sense or another, and yet it was more than her other senses... and less. Trying to describe what it felt like to sense spirits, to sense magic, was like trying to describe the color green to a blind man. You could get close. Very, very close... but there would never be anything exact enough to describe what it really was.

"I ain't seen you before," a familiar voice said. Ellie whirled towards the sound, relieved to see Ben's semi-transparent silhouette taking shape. He leaned against a nearby tree trunk, looking at them curiously. "You a friend of Ellie's?"

"Yes," Kaz said with a nod. Something about the confidence in his tone made her chest feel warm.

"Hey, Benny. We just dropped by to say hi. How ya feelin' today?" Ellie asked, taking a step closer. She tried to drop Kaz's hand, but he held tight.

"I... don't know," Ben said, brows furrowing. "It's like I'm there and then I'm not. I think I'm okay. But I can't... I can't remember how I got here."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Kaz asked carefully.

"I... saw Ellie in the woods. She told me we'd walk home. Now..." Ben frowned, then winced, pressing his hand to his forehead. "I don't know how I got here from there. When was that?"

"It's okay," Ellie whispered, trying to soothe him. "That was a couple days ago now. Don't try too hard if it won't come to ya." She moved within a few feet, instinctively reaching out... and then dropped her hand suddenly. Ben's eyes followed her hand as it came to rest at her side, a slow understanding dawning in his eyes.

"Ellie..." he said softly, wringing his hands. "Somethin' happened to me, didn't it?"

"Yeah, sweetie. It did," she whispered.

"Do I want to know what it was?"

"I don't know. Do you?" Ellie's tone was even, but she had to fight to keep her voice steady.

"I trust you. Do you think I'm ready to know?"

"I..." Ellie paused, then shook her head sadly. "No. I'm sorry, baby, but I'm scared to put the pieces together in the wrong order. We should focus on other memories first."

Ben nodded slowly, looking resigned as he stared off into the middle space at something she couldn't see. At this point, she was happy to let Kaz take the reins, though. He had questions to ask, and Ellie... Well, she'd already asked about everything she could think of in two years' time.

"Ellie says everybody in Boone likes you," Kaz said carefully, and Ellie was not oblivious to his use of present tense. She'd have to thank him for it later. "Is there anyone at all you have tensions with?"

"Mmm... honestly no," he said, shaking his head helplessly. "It's a small town. Everybody's had a spat here an' there, but nothin' that lasts long."

"No one has problems with you two together? At all?" Kaz blinked, looking back and forth between Ben and Ellie.

"Didn't say that," Ben said with an awkward chuckle. "Ellie can tell ya as well as I can that Jeannie had her feathers ruffled for a while, but she smoothed out the closer to..."

He trailed off, as though trying to remember. A cold spear of panic prickled in Ellie's mind. The wedding. She couldn't let him think too hard about it—

"Anyone else?" Kaz prodded.

"If I'm honest, my uncle never liked it, either, but Ma shut him up real good about it one night and he at least wasn't as... Well..."

"Openly prejudiced?" Ellie offered.

"That," Ben agreed, wincing.

"Why haven't we talked to him yet?" Kaz asked, brow furrowed as he briefly turned to her.

"He's on vacation," Ellie hissed through gritted teeth.

Kaz opened his mouth for a moment and almost immediately closed it, eyes wide and brow furrowed. "Ah," he grunted, nodding in understanding.

They were going to have to talk about that one on the way home for sure... but she'd hoped that it wouldn't be necessary to hash it out before they actually met the man. It would be bad enough just going in and asking for the files. Having to explain it all somehow made it even worse.

"Hey..." Ben's spirit said, turning towards Kaz. "Can you look after her for a little while for me? I'd do it myself, but I think I'm... stuck here for now."

"Stuck..." Kaz muttered, tilting his head slightly, but before he could dive too deeply, Ellie took a step back and forced a smile.

"I'm okay. Really," she insisted.

Kaz and Ben seemed to share a glance that she couldn't quite interpret. She wasn't sure how strong Kaz's sight was, but some kind of understanding passed between them in that moment.

"I will," Kaz said with a nod.

"Good. If she's happy, it makes it... easier. All of it."

"Seriously?" Ellie asked, eyes narrowing. "Y'all gonna talk like I'm not here?"

"I know ya hate it, just like I know you hate people takin' care of ya," Ben said firmly. "I'm not a skin' permission. I'm askin' you to know when ya need help."

"You know I'm not good at that," she grumbled, eyes dropping to the dead grass and muddy earth in front of her boots.

"Well, then, it's a good thing I asked him, ain't it?" Ben smiled in a way that made something deep inside her ache a little, but she thought that perhaps the smile this time was more of a comfort than it was a knife opening old wounds.

Ellie closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. She could do this. It would be okay. They'd figure it out, she would find her closure, and things would go back to normal... Even if she wasn't entirely sure what "normal" meant any more.

"Ben—" Ellie began, but when she opened her eyes again, his spirit was gone.

The place in front of the tree where Ben once stood was empty, only shadows where his spirit had been. She should have been used to it by now, as his spirit often came and went at odd points, but it was always a little jarring every time.

They made their way out of the cemetery in silence, walking pasts the other ghosts as deliberately as they had the first time. The old iron gate squeaked and squealed their exit into the woods beyond the graveyard fence, but there was no one there to hear it. It was eerily quiet out here. Even the animals seemed to be hiding from the soggy weather.

They started up the road a little more slowly than they'd walked before. It was, in part, because they were walking uphill, and that was always a little slower. It was also because Ellie was lost in thought. She shot a glance or two at Kaz and thought he might be, too. If she looked very closely, it might be possible to see little gears in his head turning behind that puzzles expression.

For a few minutes, only the sound of their boots on the road kept them company, but Kaz still did not let go of Ellie's hand.

"About Ben's uncle," Kaz began, taking the turn off the cemetery path to go back to the village.

"His uncle is the Sheriff, yeah," Ellie huffed, adjusting her hat.

"And you didn't think it pertinent to tell me this sooner?"

"I was gonna burn that bridge when we got to it!" she said helplessly.

"Cross the bridge, you mean?"

"Nah, I definitely burned it," she muttered, shaking her head. "He uh. He kinda, probably, definitely thinks I killed Ben. We haven't really talked since he put me in jail."

"He put you in jail?"

"Arrested me soon after they found him, but there wasn't enough evidence to keep me and Pastor John vouched for my alibi. Still took him a damn week to let me out, though, and by then the rain had washed away anything I might have found."

"And we're talking to him... why?" Kaz asked, his tone clipped and gruff. It was almost more like a growl than speech.

"He's the only one who can legally let us access the case files," Ellie said, groaning. "That's the shitty part of small town livin', Kaz. Ya got the one guy, and if the one guy hates you..."

"The we access the files illegally," Kaz said calmly. Ellie's jaw dropped, but he sounded like it was the simplest thing in the world. "I do think we need to talk to him, though, if only to make sure he isn't the perpetrator."

"Why would he kill his own nephew?" That made very little sense to her. Even though he was an ass, Matthew had always been good to Ben. If he was going to kill anyone, Ellie thought she made more sense as a murder target than Ben.

"Why would he jail someone with a clear and obvious alibi besides to throw suspicion off himself while you were in hysterics?" he countered.

"... Okay, point taken," she said slowly, shoving her hands in her pockets. "We'll question him."

"It makes you feel terrible to suspect people, doesn't it?" Kaz asked, looking over at her curiously.

"... Yeah," Ellie muttered. "It's a small town. Everybody knows everybody, and I don't know if that's good or bad. I want to believe that everybody has some kinda good in them."

"Then you let me deal with the suspects," Kaz said firmly, suddenly moving to wrap his arm around her shoulders as they walked down the road. "

"I need to pull my weight. Can't put the whole investigation on you," she sighed.

It was important to her to participate in this. It was important that she have something to do with it. However, she couldn't deny that Kaz was right in a way. It was weighing her down after only a week. Reliving old memories was bad enough, but the pinching sensation she had started to feel every time she looked at Kaz was just making things worse.

Or... maybe better.

She wasn't quite sure.

"Just... let me take over for a little while. Just a couple of days. Please," Kaz said, gently squeezing her shoulder for a moment as he continued to hold her next to them while they walked.

It was nice being beside him. It wasn't just the warmth, as she'd tried to tell herself. He felt safe and strong and like someone whose word she could trust, and she loved it and hated it and never wanted it to end.

"Yeah," Ellie finally said. "Yeah, okay."

What if it broke her when he left?