Page 4 of If I Stopped Haunting You

“You have one of those faces. I know this is kind of nosy, but if you don’t mind me asking, why haven’t you put out another book?”

“Sorry?”

“Lou,” Laszlo warned.

“Laszlo told me not to say anything, but I read your book a few years back when I was visiting him. You have such beautiful, heartfelt writing… but you haven’t put anything else out.”

Because I can’t.

“So, any plans?” Louise went on.

Pen wished she could tell Louiseyes. She wished she could promise something else soon, but she couldn’t. “It’s kind of why I’m here,” she admitted.

“In Scotland?”

Pen nodded as they came to a halt behind Laszlo. “I don’t really do this.”

“Traveling?”

“Going to retreats or buying last-minute airfare.” Pen worried her lip, swiveling to the large cobblestone square. “I don’t do things on a whim. But I’m hoping this will be good for me. Getting out of my apartment, seeing the world. Inspiration, you know? I just need a bit of inspiration, and I’m not finding that back home.”

Pen didn’t say that she’d also made a pact with herself. If she walked out of that castle with nothing, then it proved she wasn’t meant to be a writer, and she’d finally give up for good. She deserved more than half-assed promises of a better future. She deserved to really try.

“Ta-da!” Laszlo sang, waving his arms at a sandwich board.

“Thisis your big surprise?” Pen asked, raising a brow.

“Oh, come on! Haunted tours are fun. I figured it would be good preparation for the castle.”

“You don’t really think the castle’s haunted, do you, Laszlo? It’s probably just a gimmick to pull in more tourists.”

He shrugged. “Won’t know until we go.”

Pen frowned, but Louise smiled and nudged her. “I’m game if you are.”

The black sandwich board was covered with bloody letteringand a terribly photoshopped ghost that looked remarkably like a human draped in white sheets. It was kitschy, yet the longer she stared at it, the more she wanted to go. It was probably the most touristy thing she’d ever do in her life, and damn it, Laszlo was right.

“Fine,”Pen relented, the corner of her lips curling.

“Good, because I already bought tickets.”

He hauled her and Louise toward a crowd of tourists beside a church. It was a gorgeous cathedral illuminated from the inside with candles. The soft, ethereal glow shone through beautifully crafted stained glass depicting religious scenes. Louise elbowed Laszlo when a balding, middle-aged man with a thick accent and a silky red cape appeared, checking their tickets. Laszlo held up his phone and nodded to their guide.

“Welcome to the City of Ghosts,” he called in a great, rolling accent, turning to their group. His cape billowed out around him, the cheap, luminescent fabric catching the last of the day’s faint sunshine peering in from between stormy clouds. With dramatic flourish and a coy smile, he waved his arms and bowed before walking her and their small group of tourists through a narrow alley, across a lit lobby for the tour company, and down a set of stairs into what appeared to be a tomb.

“What have you gotten us into?” Pen murmured.

“This trip is about inspiration,” Laszlo insisted, “so take it all in while you can.”

“It’s perfect,” Louise murmured, eyes round and excited.

Grumbling under her breath, Pen clutched her jacket close, the cold of the underground creeping in past her layers as the guide swept their group through the narrow rooms and farther under the city. The crypts were crumbling, stone lying in heaps at the base of faceless walls, and Pen shivered as a chill crept across the back of her neck.

“These vaults were built in the 1700s, expanding to well overa hundred separate chambers for storage. They even housed taverns and businesses at times. But because of the porousness of the rock, they were subject to flooding. And as the vaults were abandoned, another group began to take over the secret chambers under the city.”

They meandered down through a narrow doorway and into a large, open room. This one was taller than the others, and Louise and Laszlo stretched out, lazy smiles gracing their lips, but the large space, left empty but for a single light, only made Pen shiver more.

“Are you scared?” Laszlo asked, catching her eye.