The Warden's Lantern — Joselyn Vaughn

Dark, creaking trees. Cracking thunder. A ghostly orb.

Barbara Milanowski couldn't have picked a worse night for her amateur paranormal investigation, but she couldn't let her longtime crush Elmer Derecho's skeptism go unchallenged. When Elmer runs her off the road with his motorcycle and scolds her for being out in the inclement weather, her happily ever after drops with the barometric pressure and the loss of her keys and glasses. While spending time alone with Elmer was one of her fantasies, the dream date didn't entail diving into the mud and untangling herself from a raspberry bush.

While trying to protect Barbara from the storm, his eyes are opened to all the things in his life that are missing. Elmer had gotten comfortable with his maps and pictures and chasing tornadoes after the fact. But Barbara reminds him of his forgotten zest for adventures, and ignites his interest in the Warden's Lantern and for Barbara.

While sheltering in a dilapidated guard house, Barbara and Elmer are drawn out of the protection by the Warden's Lantern, the ghostly light Barbara had been trying to document. Elmer dismisses it as a trick of the electrical storm, but together they attempt to find the true source of the light. Will their shared talents solve the mystery and start a lasting relationship?