"Probably," Robin agrees, chuckling quietly. All things die eventually, unless they're him. The next part comes naturally and easily, as if it was actually a part of the story, "But they were very happy up until then, and their spirits were at peace when it was time to go."

That's the ending he would have wanted. Humans rarely phase him, but unsettled ghosts always leave a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach--one of the many reasons he intends to keep this nest of them until he can find out why they are here in the first place.

"The last thing is your feet," he says, dunking his arm in the water and fishing around for an ankle. "Are you ticklish?"