The man shrugged and made his play. “Well, she’s supposed to be here for a while. Maybe you should go watch her next performance.”
“‘Performance’ is exactly the right word for it,” the boy scoffed.
“You’ve never seen a ghost?” April dared to ask.
“Well, of course not. There is no such thing as ghosts. Just lonely people who miss their loved ones, who are maybe more than a little afraid of the way we live now, up in space in aging stations and ships we are quickly forgetting how to repair. I get being scared, and I get missing your loved ones. I miss my parents every day. But I would never sully their memory with a game of pretend.”
April felt her cheeks flushing and quickly ducked her head. She had never heard anyone say such things before, and with such conviction. She had read Houdin
