Ghostly Guardians

When you can talk to ghosts, things are bound to get spirited. The ghosts have been there since before I can remember. When I was a kid, they doted on me, but as I got older, they got more demanding. I’ve spent my whole life seeing and talking to dead people and trying to pretend I’m not, because the living just don’t understand. Nobody wants to be around the freak who claims to see ghosts. Until I go to Mannix Estate.

After years managing a haunted hotel and estate, I thought things were good. Sure, the ghosts can be a handful—nosy, opinionated, interfering—but they’re also friendly and fun. We have a system. Everything was under control. Cue hysterical laughter. But after a minor blip with a demon in the basement and a vortex to the spirit world, the ghosts swear they have no more secrets. The danger is gone, and we’ve done everything we can to make the vortex safe. It should be fine. Nothing’s come through it for 50 years. It’s never that easy at Mannix Estate.

I thought pining for Daniel was an epic tragedy, but then I found out I’m a conduit—someone who can communicate with beings from the otherworld—and my unrequited love for one of my best friends seems less of a problem.