Trista has always loved abandoned houses and the paranormal. Now that she’s at college only fifteen minutes from the notoriously haunted Hollow Street house, she knows exactly where she’s spending Halloween. She packs a bag, puts on her favorite vintage dress, and sets off, hoping to spot the ghost of the young, dark-haired woman who’s said to haunt the house’s living room.<br><br>Fellow student Keira does not like abandoned houses, and she isn’t particularly interested in ghosts. Visiting the Hollow Street house was not how she’d planned to spend Halloween. But her little sister, who loves all things spooky, has begged Keira to check out the haunted house next to her university, and Keira has trouble saying no. She doesn’t expect to see anything supernatural, so it’s quite a shock to find herself face-to-face with a mysterious young woman in old-fashioned clothing who seems to have appeared from nowhere.<br><br>When the two ghost-hunters come face to face, each mistakes the other for the ghost she’s looking for. How tragic, they both think, that such a beautiful person should have died so young. Of course, things aren’t as bleak as they seem, and the two women might find themselves pleasantly surprised ... if they can make it to the morning. Because real entities haunt the Hollow Street house, and they’re anything but friendly.

Spirits in the Dark

For a long time Trista stood frozen, staring at the girl under the window, sure that the figure would melt away into nothing at any second. The girl was very slim, with long arms and legs carelessly folded. Her skin looked brown, though it was hard to tell in this light, and her cloud of dark hair was barely restrained by the clips that held it back on either side. Her pale dress and shapeless coat were hard to place in time from this angle, but didn’t look modern.


It was the girl’s face that was really striking, though: not pretty, exactly, but captivating. She had very high cheekbones and a sharp jaw, with a wide mouth that looked both wistful and inclined to wry smiles. Her lashes were long under dark, heavy brows. Her skin looked bare of makeup. She was beautiful, ethereal, indefinably wistful.


And, Trista realized finally, she was dead.


When she opened her eyes, Keira was not alone.


Chapter 7