Nickolas admitted with a shrug. I really am talking to a ghost, he thought, no less amazed than he’d been during their previous encounter. She actually seemed to smile the slightest bit at his rejoinder. “I have been here four hundred nineteen years. Can you top that?” “I didn’t want to bring it up, but I do look young for my age.” He actually smiled a little. Gwen looked doubtful. “Do you think I could pass for four hundred years old?” he asked. “Do you think I could?” He immediately shook his head. “No.” She appeared young—quite young, actually. She seemed to like his answer. The tension in her face appeared to lessen, and her eyes softened. ’Twas strange how even translucent features could be readable. “You are very much like Padrig,” Gwen said quite unexpectedly.
