When the Obeahman disappeared, the ghosts all vanished.

Thomas says it was like they just evaporated in a cloud of white mist and sunlight. With their killer gone, there was nothing to tie them to the living world anymore, and they just...left.

At first, I was angry that no one had come to help me in the fight in the attic. But then I realised, what could they do? Cas and I were the only ones who could do it. Nothing could have saved him.

So, as ridiculous as it sounds, I went home. Not for long, though. Within minutes, I was out again, on the computer at the library. There was someone I had to talk to.

It took a while, but I found the address. She'd moved around a lot, but I found her in the end. An hour later, I was on a train. Then I was off the train. Then, with the aid of a town map, I was at the door.

Of course, Cas' mother didn't know who I was. I didn't tell her, either. I must have looked awful, covered in dust and bruises, frozen on her doorstep. I think I was bleeding. I can't remember.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then I pulled the athame out of my pocket and showed it to her. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with one hand.

"Is that-"

"It's over," I said flatly. "He's gone. Really gone, this time." I didn't need to say who I was talking about.

"And what about the- the thing that-"

"Gone. Cas took him away with him when he saved me. He saved- he saved hundreds of people. Like I told you... It's over."

She nodded. Then- "Do you know where he went?" She asked. "Cas, I mean."

"No. But I don't think he's coming back." Then I turned and walked away. I was almost around the corner when I heard the shout.

"Wait! What's your name?" I hesitated.

"Anna Korlov." But was it? It didn't seem right. Not when, in another life, Cas and I might have been- "I mean, Lowood. Anna Lowood." She blinked at me, then nodded slightly.

"Were you and Cas-"

"We were," I confirmed. "And we- if we'd had more time, we could have been so much more." And then I left without a backward glance, heading back the way I'd come. She didn't try to stop me.
~O~
It's been two weeks, and not a day goes by when I don't miss him.

A lot of people believe death is the end, but I have seen for myself that that isn't true. I don't know what comes after, not really, but I lied to Cas' mother. It isn't over. It's never over. How can it be?

I'd like to tell you a story. Maybe you've heard something similar before. Maybe you haven't. But the story I want to tell starts with a girl who killed her parents and a boy who was killed by a ghost. For five years, they drifted, one breathing, one not, but both cut loose from the world by death. And then the girl found out about the boy and made her her mind to kill him.

But she couldn't do it. Because he should have tried to kill her, but he didn't. And maybe that was the start of what they became. Because the moment the girl kissed the boy, she knew she would never consider hurting him. Not even for a second. And every step, every heartbeat- or rather, lack of heartbeat- tied them to each other even more until they were bound forever.

And then the boy vanished. He saved a lot of people in doing so, and actually, the girl saved people too, no matter how many times she tries to give him all the credit. But the boy had disappeared. Still, the girl will never believe he has stopped existing. She promised she'd find him, and you know what? Somehow, someday, she will.

Somewhere out there in the universe is a dead boy who loves a living girl, and she will not rest until they're together again.

My name is Anna Lowood.

This is my story.