Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Declan
Some nights, my apartment above the tattoo shop is less of a place to rest my head and more of a prison—but it’s still better than staying at Sterling House, the massive home on the edge of town that I inherited.
The back stairs creak under my boots, the old wood complaining with every step. A subtle reminder that iron and oaths hold me here in Crowsbridge Hollow, whether I want to stay or not.
No matter how much I want to forget Emery and her nosy questions, I can’t stop thinking about her voice and her sass. Is she foolish or fearless? Why is she so determined to dig into the town’s legends?
I unlock the door. The deadbolt—cold-forged iron—slides free with a heavy thunk.
I prefer my space simple. Couch, a worktable where I spend my nights sketching, TV, bookshelves that hold stacks of sketchbooks.
The only decorations are pieces I’ve forged myself—intricate shapes of twisted iron hanging in the windows, framing the doorway.
Anchors. Every piece is a scrap I’ve collected.
They hum with a low, familiar frequency, a constant pressure against my temples.
Without them, the Rider stirs and causes chaos.
I toss my keys on the counter, peel off my flannel, and kick off my boots. Restless, I pad into the kitchen and grab a beer from the fridge. With the first sip, foam bites at the back of my throat. It doesn’t do a damn thing to settle me. Few things ever do.
Outside the frosted kitchen window, Main Street glows faintly—strings of red bulbs blinking weakly through the fog. A few fat snowflakes drift from the sky, turning the view into a snow globe.
The tack under my skin shifts as I sink onto the couch. The Rider pulls at my ribs like reins tugged by an invisible hand. Always the Rider first. Always hungry. The horse on my shoulder flexes against the ink, hooves itching for ground.
I grit my teeth, ride out the flare until it fades to a dull gnaw. My eyes shut, and of course—there she is. Emery Corbin. Blue eyes, beautiful and haunting. Crow pin glittering against velvet. Her stubborn laugh, refusing to give me the satisfaction of scaring her off.
“Christ,” I mutter, dragging a hand through my hair.
I don’t want to think about her. She’s trouble wrapped in velvet and snarky comments. While I enjoyed the snark more than I want to admit, I don’t have the luxury of trouble.
Still, I sit forward and reach for the laptop resting on the short, heavy wooden table in front of me and flip it open.
Her name drops easily into the search bar. Emery Corbin.
The Curious Crow comes up first. Thumbnails full of her smiling face visiting cemeteries, churches, old buildings, vacant lighthouses, haunted hotels, and wooden bridges.
I click one, telling myself it’s for research purposes.
Her voice fills the speakers—steady, husky, and calm.
Serious. Not like the ghost-hunting clowns who shriek at every cold draft.
She treats the camera the way she would a friend she’s sharing a juicy story with.
She’s curious but skeptical. Open to listening but always landing on the same conclusion.
Doesn’t she understand, people with real gifts—supernatural or otherwise—don’t talk to “investigative journalists.” It’s not safe.
I click on a video titled The Vanishing at Raven’s Point: Debunking the Lighthouse Ghost.
Her pretty face fills the screen. She’s younger here, her hair shorter. But her eyes are the same. Intelligent. Slightly cynical. She’s standing in front of a storm-lashed lighthouse, speaking to the camera with a wry smile.
“...and while the story of the captain’s ghostly foghorn is a great way to sell keychains,” she’s saying, her tone dry, “the real tragedy isn’t a ghost. It’s the collapsed cliff face that the local council has failed to repair for a decade, a safety hazard that claimed two lives the officials would rather you forget about in favor of a spooky story. ”
Before I know it, I’ve watched several in a row.
She dismantles myths with forensic precision, but she does it with surprising empathy for the people affected.
Talkative girl too. Loves to use lots of big words.
But from her mouth, it’s not off-putting.
Something about her…she’s magnetic in a way I’ve never encountered.
Easy there. Not magnetic. Dangerous.
Unlike her other cases, the curses haunting Crowsbridge Hollow are real and deadly.
Enough videos. I click out of YouTube and return to searching for information.
Old articles, archived. Her byline stamped in black and white.
City council corruption, environmental pollution, interviews with different subjects.
Even won a few awards. Not a whiff of the supernatural in her reporting.
Her writing isn’t just good—she has a gift for painting a picture for the reader without injecting her own opinion.
A solid journalist, before her paper went bankrupt.
So why pivot to writing about folklore and debunking ghost stories?
I keep digging. Past the bylines, past the YouTube success. My search turns more specific.
Then I find it.
An entry from several years ago, a digital headstone in a forgotten corner of the Internet. Cold dread coils in my stomach.
Corbin, Elizabeth “Liza” (née Shaw)
Elizabeth Corbin, 53, of Lee, MA, passed away last Thursday, in Las Vegas Nevada.
She is survived by her daughter, Emery.
Private arrangements to be held at a later date.
That’s it.
The text on the screen is a monument to nothing. Lee to Las Vegas. A world of distance between a life lived and a life ended.
I’ve seen enough death to read between the lines. This kind of emptiness points to a death that can’t be sanitized. A death that came with too much shame, shock, and pain to be named.
Under my skin, the tack stirs again, irritation tangling with something too close to sympathy.
Does she chase ghosts to disprove them—or because she’s at war with them?
I dig deeper, my compulsion to unravel the mystery of Emery Corbin tightening its grip around my throat. She’s older than I thought. College and grad school in Massachusetts. No mention of Vegas. No other family.
She’s alone in the world.
I snap the laptop closed, jaw tight. Not my business.
She’s not my business.
Except she’s making herself my business by poking around.
Agitated and restless, I finish my beer and stand.
Outside, a bobbing light cuts through the fog, drawing me to the wide window overlooking the town’s cemetery.
Half park, half graveyard, it rolls over the hills in a sprawl of crooked headstones, twisted trees, mausoleums, marble angels, and tarnished bronze statues.
Kids mess around in the cemetery all the time.
One just went missing earlier this week.
You’d think they’d stay away, at least for a little while.
I edge closer, peering through the fog. Jeans, a hoodie—not the dress from earlier—but I’d stake my life that’s Emery, hell-bent on “investigating.” Bag bouncing at her side, hair catching stray beams of lamplight. Marching straight up the hill toward the Widow.
And beyond that, my family’s plot.
A cold spike of pain lances across my ribs. Air hisses through my teeth as the tattoos there—the braided iron tack, the symbols—burn and crawl under my skin like angry ants. The horse on my shoulder twists as if spooked.
The Rider senses an opening.
“Stubborn woman.” My voice is raw.
I lurch from the window, heart pounding. No time to think. I have to protect her from the story she’s so determined to dig into. I grab my jacket, fingers brushing the iron rivets in the lining, then stuff my feet into a battered pair of running shoes and slam the door behind me.
No way in hell I’m letting Emery Corbin visit the Widow alone.
Not while I’m still breathing.