A good start. She followed his lead and filled her plate, then proceeded to push the food around, pretending to eat. “To protect me from…?”

“The stigma of thinking your own mother was unbalanced. The thought that you had somehow…that you had…”

“Killed her?” The words croaked from Mary Ann’s suddenly tight throat.

“Yes,” he whispered. “You didn’t, you know. It wasn’t your fault.”

Her real mother, Anne—known to Aden as Eve—had died giving birth to her. That happened sometimes, right? No reason for her father to blame her. But then, he didn’t know the whole truth. He didn’t know that Mary Ann muted paranormal abilities.

She had only just learned of it herself, and all she knew was that her mere presence prevented people—and creatures—from using their “gifts.”

If not for Aden, she never would have discovered even that. He was the biggest paranormal magnet of all time. (And if he wasn’t, he should be. ’Cause anyone who was stronger—shudder.) Her mother had weakened each day of her pregnancy, little Mary Ann literally sucking the life right out of her. And then, at the moment of her birth, Anne/Eve had simply slipped away.

Right into Aden, Mary Ann thought with a sigh. Aden, who had been born on the same day, in the same hospital. Aden, who had also drawn three other human souls—ghosts—right into his head.

Only, Anne/Eve hadn’t remembered Mary Ann right away, her memories wiped when she’d entered Aden. Once they’d figured everything out, her mom had been granted the thing she’d wanted most in life, that which she’d been denied by her death. A single day with Mary Ann. And once her mom had gotten her wish, she’d vanished. Never to be seen or heard from again. Stomach…churning…again…

Her dad didn’t know any of that, either, and Mary Ann wasn’t going to tell him. He wouldn’t believe her. He would think she was as “unbalanced” as her real mom had been.