If I Have To Be Haunted Readalong: Day 4!

Amazing photo by @stephdaydreams!

Hello bookworms!

Happy Thursday and welcome to day 4 of our readalong of If I Have To Be Haunted by Miranda Sun. I’m so excited to be reading this one with you, I hope you are loving it so far!

Wow, there was a lot of action in yesterday’s chapters!

Today we’re reading from chapter 20 to the end of chapter 25. Let’s do this!

When you’ve finished today’s section, catch up with me in the comments down below so we can discuss the beginning of the book. Happy reading!

Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for If I Have To Be Haunted by Miranda Sun from Chapter 20 to Chapter 25. Please only read on if you have finished this section!

-!SPOILERS!-

We start today’s chapters with our characters finally getting a chance to recuperate – we know they need it! Cara sits next to Zach on the grass, her wet her down to which he remarks he likes it that way and tucks a strand of it behind her ear. A classic move that gets me every single time!

Cara begins to realise how nice Zach has been to her over the last few days but convinces herself it’s only because he needs her to bring him back to life. She wonders if he will come back kinder or if they will go back to the way they were. I think Cara doesn’t help herself sometimes and her denial prevents her from seeing that Zach does care about her. She asks him what he saw in the fog to which he replies he saw her. But then he quickly adds he also saw a bunch of other girls all telling him they loved him. Way to ruin a moment Zach!

Zach asks her how she first found out ghosts were real and she tells him she was around five when she saw the ghost of her neighbour a week after she had been to his funeral. Her mom had explained her ability to her but looked disappointed; disappointed that she’d passed a trait she hated down to her daughter.

Brittany appears telling them there is something they’ve got to see. She leads them to a place called ‘Extinction Meadow’ and tells them “Haven for vanished things. If you do not exist elsewhere, you will exist here. You will remain alive. Death will not touch you as long as you stay in this place.” They have the sudden realisation that if Zach stayed here he would be able to live. He asks Cara if she would be good with that and losing out on the money in their deal. Cara realises she wants him to stay by her side but she won’t admit it to him so instead she tells him to stay if he wants to. Zach walks away to think about it and Brittany tells Cara she doesn’t buy it and that something is going on between them. She tells them that when she first met them it was obvious because of their body language and it’s obvious they both feel the same about one another. Zach returns having decided to continue as he wants to make it back to Autumn Falls. Cara is secretly relieved.

Suddenly the ground begins to tremble beneath their feet. A massive snow-white dear appears in front of them out of the woods followed by several others. Three of the stags bow down to allow them to climb onto their backs. They galloped onwards alongside the river and then through the next threshold.

They arrive at a place that is an expanse of desert and dust. Suddenly nausea swirls in Cara’s stomach and she coughs on a dry throat finding blood on her lips. Her knees begin to buckle and she falls, desert under her palms. It is then that Cara realises Ouroboros blood awakens magic and is so potent it can have the extreme effects she is experiencing, including death.

Cara finally tells them she thinks she ingested Ouroboros blood. Brittany tells them she doesn’t know of much that can help but if they can find the river again there might be something. She talks of a group of magic healers and a mystic temple her gran had found when she had been her once. They follow the river to try and find the temple and healers, Cara barely lucid and struggling to stay upright. Finally, they make it to the next threshold and are flung into the dark. Using her flames with what little energy she has left, they give off enough light to see they have arrived in a cavern. Using a few sticks on the ground they can create makeshift torches and they begin to move forward in silence. It isn’t long before they find a monster slumbering before them, and then another. They tiptoe their way through the caverns trying not to disturb any monsters and avoid nearly being eaten, again. They come to a passageway where a big green monster with limbs like tangled tree roots is slumbering. One by one they walk over it until it moves in its sleep sending Cara crashing to the ground, hard. It then awakes and screeches alerting all the other monsters. Zach grabs Cara’s arm and they begin to run as they near the threshold Zach picks up Cara and carries her and they pass through the threshold.

Cara wants Zach to put her down but he knows she can’t even stand or keep her eyes open. Brittany tells them that was the last threshold and the temple has to be here somewhere. As they continue, Zach carries her and she tells him it hurts everywhere and she hears him say “I’m gonna kill him.” They arrive at the temple at which point she is barely conscious and hears Zach say you have to help her. The healer tells him there will be a price which he replies “You don’t know who I am, do you? Whatever it is, I’ll pay it.” Does he mean because he is rich and well-known in Autumn Falls or is this foreshadowing something else?

In the next chapter, Cara finally awakens in a bed with her wounds freshly bandaged. She looks around the room and sees scorch marks everywhere. A woman then enters the room and informs her she has been asleep for two days and it is now the day before Zach’s life ran out. We also find out that the people at the temple are called ‘Memory Keepers’ and they store memories in the library inside their temple. She also informs Cara that she burned everything in the room except for her own clothes and Zach and that he held her hand all through the night. Didn’t leave her side once. And he sacrificed a memory for her.

Cara however, is very angry at him for giving up a memory to save her as it could have endangered his tether to the earth and she says “How did you want me to act? Oh, yes here: my endless gratitude for not letting me die! You didn’t have a choice – you need me to bring you back to life”. Does anyone else find her to be very stubborn and a little naive? It’s pretty clear that if he spent the night holding your hand it isn’t just about you being able to save him…

Zach then leaves, his parting words being that she was dying and he would have given up anything.

In the next chapter, they get ready to leave the temple now that Cara has recuperated a little, having just a few more threshold crossings before they reach the snake. Two thresholds pass without incident. The third threshold is called ‘Fools Gold’ and it is a ghost town, but they were the ghosts. They decide to stop for an hour to rest and find a boarded-up store with a door open. Brittany’s ghost detector gives the all-clear and they inside. Once inside they settle down and make a fire; Brittany and Cara talk about their families, their struggles and upbringing in marginalised communities. They relate to one another and talk about their grandmothers and the things they learned from them. After this conversation, Cara decides that when she sees Laolao again she is going to ask her for help in understanding and practicing her powers as it is after all, her legacy.

Cara awakes to the sound of Brittany’s ghost detector going off and she opens her eyes to find two ghosts looking down at her, one with a knife in his hand aware of the fact she can see them. Suddenly there are ghosts everywhere with all manner of weapons. Knowing her fire can’t do anything to ghosts she tries to summon her power to make them cross over. It doesn’t work and the miner ghost in front of her grabs her arm and flings her across the room. Zach suddenly appears telling them to get away from her and makes one of the ghosts disappear with a knife made of ghoststeel. Cara then finds herself with a knife to her throat held against the wall. The ghost and Zach go back and forth in conversation and Cara uses it to use her new power to heat up the knife at her throat without the ghost noticing. When he tries to slash her throat it has already melted. The ghost then disappears with Zach chasing after him. Cara collapses to the ground.

Zach comes back and immediately rushes over to Cara and they apologise to one another and then Brittany arrives after dispatching a ghost. She asks where Zach has disappeared to and he shows Cara a dead cactus flower and tells her Happy Birthday. Upon finding out it’s her birthday Brittany gives Cara one of her ghoststeel knives as a present. I can’t lie, that’s a pretty awesome present!

Well that was a tense few chapters! Will they ever stop almost being eaten by monsters and nearly dying?!

Anyone else feel the ever rising tension between Cara and Zach? Do you think they will finally admit their feelings for one another?

What’s your favourite thing about Brittany and Cara’s blossoming friendship?

Do you think they will find the other Signet Snake in time to save Zach?

I’m so excited yet also a little tense to see what will happen in tomorrow’s chapters, see you there fairies!

Love,
Jodie