We were ready to wrap it up for the day. We had to, as the sun began to set.

  And Juraj picked this exact moment to inform me of his find. A boot.

  A simple leather boot. No big deal.

  Except... it was too small to fit on Eilias's foot. Relatively new, burrowed into the ground... or... was it? There was no sign of digging. The hole was seamless, as if the ground itself tried to swallow the damn thing. It was hard to spot, he only did so because the metal parts of the footwear glinted. I would need to ask around town. Speaking of which... we would need to return soon. Before the rays of sun hit just the right angle to become spears.

  ...

  Back in my inn, at last! My mood? Shitty, glad you asked! I had some new leads and the Slav proved to be useful. Those were the good news. As for the bad ones, I had new leads, which meant more victims of the woods. The world didn't really care when people went missing in Burrowood. It looked like Burrowood didn't care either. Just how many folks vanished before Eilias? How many after?

  "Why don't we just... y'know. Tell that child where we found it? It could be the hunting ground of that monster. He could handle it."

  Juraj chimed in, cradling his... no, this can't be the eleventh shot of moonshine. For my own sanity, I decided that I simply didn't count them right.

  "Because, my dear intoxicated friend, the child of summer would likely 'handle' us both. We cannot keep him waiting."

  The puzzled expression on his face was annoying and priceless at the same time.

  "Right now, think of him as a bomb. You light the fuse and throw it towards what you want gone. Light the fuse early, and it will explode in your hand instead."

  His eyes dropped to his own hands. What was that?! That quick spark of emotion? Terror? Fear rooted in past memories. Interesting. Although not as amusing as I thought it would be, not in the slightest.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  My gaze swept the interior, like many times before. The usual blend of folks did nothing to soothe my worries. Once again, I needed intel. This time, however, I had an idea where to get it.

  Grabbing my Slav, I made my way towards a corner of the room. It was a bit darker, and a lot colder than the rest of my inn. That was caused entirely by its inhabitants. I shot Juraj a sidelong glance.

  He stood there, unfazed. Any and all cold and fear had drowned about five drinks ago. He didn't even flinch when one of the customers stepped into a mirror and disappeared. He did rub his eyes, though.

  "What..?"

  "Ever heard of specters?" rang a voice from behind. It was just Chester, floating two inches off the ground. A young man, could be in his teens when he died. Brown coat, bare feet, and scrawny form were now his permanent look. He would rock it till the day he decided to move on. Which, knowing him, wouldn't be anytime soon. Heavens, was I glad to see Chester!

  Juraj, not so much. I saw his lips trace the foreign word.

  "Ghost. Chester is a ghost. Not really an old one, but quite notorious. He knows what others don't."

  I introduced him.

  "Or just likes to run his mouth!" The remark was rewarded by laughter of a see-through crowd.

  Yup. Everyone liked Chester. Even Juraj would, eventually. If he'd forgive him a prank with a handshake, which he was about to pull.

  ...

  "And that's more or less what happened. Did you hear any gossip on... your side?"

  Chester shifted in his intangible form, a pointless gesture. His other half was still in a wall.

  I let the information soak into him, scanning our booth. Juraj glared, Chester pretended to be scared. Everything as it should be. Finally, he stopped squirming and started speaking.

  "God, this is not good. This is so not good!"

  Tell me about it.

  "Chester, focus. What can you tell us?"

  He sighed in thought.

  "Quite a lot, actually. I can't speak for the living, but on my side, folks are scared. Like, actually scared. Vibrations and currents around town are twisted now, evil. Not good at all. Look around."

  I did. He continued, with newfound dramatic flair.

  "Almost every one of ours is either here, or on the other side. Did I say that what's happening now is not good?"

  With a bit of surprise, I noticed he was right. Specters huddled together, talking, laughing. I couldn't read them, but they seemed... nervous. Like a school of fish next to a pike in a lake. What in the damnation can scare ghosts?!

  When I asked out loud, my friend didn't have an answer.

  "We don't know. We felt death, a lot of it. But no one new showed up. That's pretty damn scary, all things considered. It's like whatever happened to them didn't leave enough to even form a ghost."

  The Slav's glare narrowed.

  "You said you feel death. How many?"

  Chester did his favourite gesture, shrugging his shoulders.

  "People die here all the time, my friend. All I can tell you is that they died more."