And then her fingers clenched together in a tight fist, and Frank could no longer breathe.

The girl continued to smile down at him, her eyes a clear, tawny brown in her pale face. "You loved me…you said you loved me," she hissed. "But you didn’t…you killed Erik. And then you killed me. I DIED!"

Frank shook his head, trying to drag in another miniscule breath and not succeeding. Dimly, he was aware of other persons in the room now. Voices…he heard Joe’s voice, asking what happened, demanding to know what was wrong. He struggled to make his voice work, without success. Can’t Joe see her? She’s right there – he has to see her! Frank felt darkness creeping across his vision from the lack of oxygen, as he stared, mesmerized, at the menacing form hovering so near.

She gazed at him, coldly smiling, then an uncertain, questioning look crossed the pale features. "Why do you look at me so strangely? You do remember your Emily, don’t you? You haven’t…"

Her words were abruptly cut off, and Frank found himself being yanked sideways, hard. Matt and Joe had hold of him, both gripping his arms, and they were pulling him away from the table, away from the girl….

"Stop!" She had turned, and was reaching a hand towards Joe, her eyes blazing with fury. "Stop! Do not think to interfere in a matter of justice!" she hissed at the younger Hardy.

Through a haze, Frank could see his brother’s eyes abruptly widen, and he seemed now to be staring directly at the girl. NOW can he see her too?

"You would protect a foul sorcerer, a murdering scoundrel? He must pay for his crimes!" The words were white-hot with fury, icy-cold with hatred, and she spat them at Joe venomously.

Joe swallowed, then tightened his lips and stepped forward with determination. "I don’t know what your problem is, lady, or where you came from, but my brother’s not a sorcerer and he hasn’t killed anyone. Get away from him, if you know what’s good for you!"

He raised a hand, intending to push her back, away from Frank – and then frowned, startled when she flew backwards, out of the way. Joe rushed forward, hands outstretched to grab her – and just as his fingers were closing on her…she disappeared! He whirled about, his disbelieving gaze searching for her – and saw Frank on the floor, clutching at his throat and drawing in huge gasps of air, exhaling sharply to breathe in just as sharply again. Matt hovered anxiously above him, staring from Frank to Joe with an incredulous expression on his face.

Joe slowly raised a hand to his face, and caught a faint whiff of something sweet…lavender? The cloying scent seemed to clutch at his nostrils. Finally, he crouched beside Frank, attempting to avoid the shards of broken cups and the puddles of now-cold cocoa.

"Are you all right? What happened? And more importantly, who was that girl – and where’d she go?"

"Girl? What girl?" Matt demanded. "Joe dude, who were you talking to?"

"You saw her?" Frank choked out, still working on remembering how to breathe.

"Damned right I saw her!"

"Saw WHO?" Matt again, sounding plaintive.

Frank managed one deep breath, and then another. "That…that was the ghost I’ve been seeing," he said at last. "Emily. She said her name was Emily. She’s the one who’s been trying to kill me!"

Joe stared at him, wide-eyed, scarcely able to credit his hearing. "EMILY!?" he gasped. "The lightkeeper’s daughter who disappeared!"

"Huh?" Now it was Frank’s turn to look confused.

"Vanessa and I read about her today, in her father’s journal!" Emily. A ghost. An actual ghost. Nah, there’s no such thing! he reminded himself firmly. There is absolutely no such thing as a ghost. No such thing, at all, at any time. Nope, no way, no how. There had to be another explanation for it – for the whole spookiness of it. The way she seemed to not be there when he’d tried to touch her – or the way she’d simply disappeared.

Joe shivered slightly at the thought of how weird everything seemed. There aren’t any such things as ghosts, he mentally shouted at himself. It’s got to be lights and mirrors, or something, like stage illusionists use!

"You really saw her?" Frank repeated.

"Yeah, I really saw her," Joe admitted heavily. "But I’m not admitting she was any kind of ghost. Whatever she was, she’s gone now." And she’s not going to kill you, big brother, not if I have anything to say about it!

"I didn’t see anything!" Matt whispered, shaking his head in frustration. He and Joe helped Frank to his feet, and Matt held him propped against the counter while Joe picked up the broken cups and mopped up the cocoa from the floor.

Joe was silent as he worked, his mind churning. He had thought Frank was coming down with a virus before his ducking in the Bay – and now he was becoming convinced of it, although he couldn’t think of any illness that caused one to see things the way Frank seemed to be! But…but he’d seen the strange girl now too. Was this hallucination thing contagious?

"You," he announced at last, "should go to bed, and sleep and get better – and—" he continued, in the firmest voice he could muster, "stay AWAY from the lighthouse!"

"Why?" Frank asked him bleakly. "It doesn’t do any good to stay away. She’s coming here to find me – here and in the plane."

Joe stared at him. "The plane?"

Ooops. Frank sighed. "I hadn’t meant to tell you, but…she showed up on the plane this morning, when I was flying. Froze me so much that I couldn’t move – nearly crashed the plane before I could. I was absolutely positive I was going to die….But all of a sudden, she got completely spooked by something; I don’t know what. She called me a ‘foul sorcerer,’ and then she disappeared…and so I didn’t crash, and I landed the plane in one piece. And I went home and took Matt out on the boat to take his pictures…." He looked at Joe, and then Matt…and let his voice trail off.

"And nearly drowned," Joe reminded him grimly.

"I didn’t, thanks to Matt," Frank shrugged and smiled at their friend. "And I don’t think Emily had anything to do with the boat. And thanks to the both of you, she didn’t manage to do anything to me just now. Nothing permanent, anyway." He smiled tiredly. "Seems like I’ve needed an awful lot of saving, lately."

Joe shook his head. "No more than me, big brother."

"Or me." Matt put in – the first words he’d spoken in a long time.

"I’m bushed," Frank admitted, and headed for the stairs. "I don’t care how early it is, I’m going to bed."

Joe looked at Matt, and without a word, they both followed Frank. Bed sounded like a very good thing.

*****

Frank woke the next morning feeling much more refreshed, after a night’s sleep that had been free of nightmares. He sat up slowly, and ran his fingers through his dark hair, automatically fluffing it. He felt surprisingly good, considering the way the previous day had gone.

It’s nice to be warm. He considered his unexpected ducking in Barmet Bay and smiled wryly. The Bay, now – THAT had been cold! Very, very cold. Frank sighed in deep contentment as he shoved at a tangled heap of covers and made the effort to stand up. Pushing the covers all to one side of the bed, the elder Hardy finally swung his legs to the floor and got to his feet. Again drowsily rubbing at his head, Frank headed for the bathroom.

He’d expected to see Joe’s door to their bathroom standing open; Joe had earlier classes on Mondays than Frank did. To his surprise, the door was shut tight, and listening closely, Frank heard a soft, familiar snore coming from Joe’s room. Frowning, he turned and checked the time on his bedside clock. Yep, it really was that late. He knocked lightly on Joe’s door, then opened it and peered in.

"Joe? Joe! Wake up – wake up now! You’re running late!"

With a startled grunt, Joe jerked upright in bed, blue eyes wide. Frank grinned as he took in the sight of his younger brother’s blonde hair shooting out from his head in several different directions. "Huh?"

"You’re late!" Frank repeated, nodding towards the clock. Joe looked too, blinking, and then bolted out of bed.

"Oh crud! I’m late! Crud!"

Frank laughed as Joe shot past him into the bathroom. The younger boy grabbed Frank’s shoulders and pushed him towards his own room. "Out! Out! You’re in my way!"

Obediently, Frank left the bathroom to Joe, and heard the shower snap on with a peculiarly desperate sound. Two minutes to shower, one to wash his hair, and the water turned off, followed shortly by the sound of water running in the sink as Joe brushed his teeth. Calmly, Frank set about making his bed and choosing his clothes for the day, disregarding the noisy chaos going on just on the other side of the door.

When Frank arrived downstairs about 15 minutes later, he wasn’t in the least surprised to find that Joe had already left. Frank had taken his time showering, drying his hair, getting dressed. He ate a leisurely breakfast, chatting with his mother, and left a ‘hello/see you later’ note for Matt, who hadn’t yet made it downstairs. Finally, he slipped on his coat, kissed Laura goodbye, and went out to the Saturn.

As he reached into his jacket pocket for his car keys, the elder Hardy was surprised to feel something else in the pocket. He pulled it out and stared at it thoughtfully. The chain and coin from the lighthouse! The one that was in the wall where we found the skeleton! Frank shook his head, remembering how compelling his impulse had been to pick up and pocket the chain when he’d found it. I wonder why…?