The ghost, shrouded in shadows they had just been chasing, stood right in front of him. Only a few centimeters away, she stared at Caspian with eyes whose very whites were pitch black.
Caspian felt his legs tremble; he was on the verge of collapsing.
"I... I'm sorry for scaring you," a soft voice said suddenly.
"I overheard your conversation. You seem... knowledgeable about ghosts. Could you perhaps help me?" the ghost asked.
"H-how can we help?" Caspian stammered.
"Please, save me. I don't mean any harm. I'm just trapped. This man bound me to a box. For a long time, he forced me to work in the circus. If I didn't do what he said, he'd keep me inside that box for ages. You can't imagine how suffocating it is. But he told me that if I scared the owner of this house enough to drive him away, he'd set me free. Of course, I accepted immediately; I had no other choice. But he's likely lying to me... I fear I'll be stuck in that box for the rest of my life," the ghost said, speaking so fast it was hard to keep up.
"You're already dead... you'll likely stay there forever unless someone lets you out," Palm interjected.
"Wha... what? Are you serious?" the ghost asked with a hollow voice. Caspian noticed the shadows around her growing darker. Then, a creepy wailing sound began, making every hair on his neck stand up.
"Please, please calm down. We will help you," Caspian said, suppressing his fear to comfort her. Though he reached out to pat her back, but his hand swept through cold mist. He froze, a shiver chasing down his spine as he stared at his hands.
"Really? You'll truly help me?"
"Yes. Now, tell us, what do you need us to do?"
"He hid the box I'm bound to in one of the rooms here. Right in the room next to Mr. Gerald's..." she said, gliding through the air toward it. She passed through the door and vanished.
Caspian and Palm headed to the room and tried the handle, but it was locked. Then, with a faint click, the door creaked open.
'Everything here is creepy,' Caspian thought.
The ghost was waiting for them behind the door.
"Sorry, you forget how to use doors when you haven't used them in a long time," she said, spinning inside the room like a leaf caught in the wind.
"Where is it... where is it... where is it..."
Caspian leaned toward Palm and whispered, "Is her sanity intact?"
"Considering how long she's been unable to leave this world... it's stable, for now," Palm replied. He then stepped in front of the spinning ghost and stopped her. Unlike Caspian, she couldn't drift through him as she had with Caspian.
"Are you looking for the box?" Palm asked.
"Yes... I know he hid it here, but I don't know exactly where," she said, stopping her spinning.
Palm walked across the room and pulled one of the paintings off the wall. There was a hollow in the wall behind it. Reaching inside, Palm pulled out a tiny box—no bigger than a matchbox.
"How did you find it so easily?" Caspian asked in amazement.
"Mr. Mortis, sometimes you forget who I am, just as you forget who you are," Palm said with a smirk. "Just because I'm in the world of the living doesn't change the fact that I'm a Reaper. I can still see souls. And I can see the thread that binds this soul to its anchor." He showed the ring he had taken from the box.
Upon seeing the ring, the ghost let out a small cry.
"He... he bound me with that ring?" she asked.
"It must be something important to you."
"Yes. My engagement ring."
"Was this why you ran from the Reapers who came for you?"
"My fiancé... I died in a carriage accident just two weeks before our wedding. I only ran because I couldn't bear to leave him like that. I wanted to see him be happy again. At first, it was terrible. But a few years later, his family arranged a match, and they married. Though he saw it as a marriage of convenience at first, he eventually grew to love his wife. She's a kind, understanding woman," she said, starting to cry again.
"Sometimes, when I wasn't trapped in that box at the circus, I'd go to see him. He has grown old now. I am a fond memory to him. He smiles warmly when he speaks of me; he is no longer bound by grief. Now that I've seen him happy, I can finally move on. Please, release me from this pain."
"Don't worry. What you say is true; the bond between you and the ring is about to break. It's only the influence of the man who trapped you in this box that remains," Palm said.
"Thank you."
"What now? Mr. Gerald must be waiting in his room," Caspian said. The problem was solved. But how was he going to explain everything that had happened to Mr. Gerald?