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

The name was a little surprising. Trista was no expert, but she didn’t think “Keira” had been a popular baby name in the 1950s, no, the 30s. The girl who had become this ghost must have been born sometime during the Great Depression. If she’d survived, she would be older than Trista’s grandmother now. Instead, she looked around Trista’s age. She could have been a student at Trista’s school—might actually have gone there, if she’d ever started college…


She was being rude again. This was a weird situation, but maybe real manners at least partially applied. “Trista,” she said, with the best smile she could muster. “Nice to meet you.”


Keira was not at all prepared for this situation. She squinted through the gloom, trying to see the spirit better. It was getting darker and darker, though, and the streetlights really weren’t adequate anymore. In the movies, ghosts always glowed, but watching Trista fade into the shadows was somehow much eerier.


Chapter 8