Dead Girl in Love (22 page)

A few weeks ago, I’d been driving to a party given by the glamorous Jessica Bradley and I’d taken a wrong turn—a turn that marked the beginning of the weird string of events that led me into three different bodies. But at the time, all I’d cared about was getting to that party, positive it would raise my status at school and lead to influential new friends. When I’d gotten lost on a dead-end road at a cemetery, it had seemed like the end of my world. Then bad went to worse and I landed on my butt inside the locked cemetery gates in a prickly bush of nettles. When I picked myself up, itching and miserable, I’d climbed up a granite stairway to a crumbling but still-beautiful statue of an angel.

The angel in Alyce’s drawing.

This explained why the drawing looked so familiar, and why Alyce hadn’t been able to find the grave. Angelica’s headstone may have been purchased at Green Briar, but her final resting place was in a different cemetery. In the 1990s, when developers bought the land for Gossamer Estates, they’d closed down the old Gossamer Cemetery—which I never would have found if I hadn’t taken that wrong turn. Dustin had told me that the most recent graves had been moved but the older ones were considered historical and the fate of the cemetery was still tied up in courts. This was the final resting place where a grieving, mentally ill mother had buried her stillborn baby almost thirteen years ago.

I knew this was true, but I still needed to see it for myself.

But in a few hours the sun would set and Gabe would find me. He’d take me so far out of this body that I’d never be able to return. What would happen to Alyce? Her switch back wasn’t scheduled until midnight. Would her body survive until she could reclaim it? Or would the heart in her empty body stop beating? I could only think of one way to make sure she was safe.

So after the final period, I met Grammy as she was leaving the classroom. She came out last, with tangled hair and a dazed expression. “We had to use computers.” She threw her arms out in frustration. “I couldn’t find the button to turn it on or figure out how to use that mouse thing. Everyone was looking at me … laughing like I was an idiot.”

“You’re not,” I assured her. “You’re just old … I mean, well, you know.”

“I suppose you think it’s funny.” She glared at me. “You and Dustin weren’t any help when Jessica dragged me off at lunch. Do you have any idea what I went through? Suddenly all these girls surrounded me, saying we were having a meeting and I was in charge. My head hurt so much trying to remember names and figure out what was going on. Something about a party and making baskets for charity. Being dead is a big job—but high school is impossible. How do you survive?”

“I just muddle through like everyone else,” I said with a deep sigh. Then I switched to what I hoped sounded like an upbeat tone. “But you won’t have to deal with computers or meetings or school again. I’m ready.”

“Ready for what?” she asked, puzzled.

“To switch bodies. Let’s do it now.”

Unfortunately, switching back wasn’t that easy.

Grammy explained that she’d need to made arrangements with the other side to prepare Alyce for the return. “If the Dark Lifer isn’t apprehended, other souls are switching tonight, too. It’s wiser to wait till midnight when it’s already scheduled to happen. What difference will a few hours make?”

“A lot,” I said as we walked to the school parking lot.

Grammy narrowed her gaze. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

I hesitated, thinking of everything that was at stake. “Nothing important.”

“So we’ll stick with the original plan—the switch will happen at midnight.”

I knew there was no point arguing, not unless I was willing to tell her the truth, which I couldn’t because she’d prevent me from meeting with Gabe—which was as good as signing Eli’s death warrant.

Grammy had been driven to school by Dad, so I offered to take her home. Starting the car, merging with other cars, I went through the motions of normalcy as if on autopilot. I had to make idle conversation, too, and act like my world wasn’t ending in a few hours. I could tell by the way Grammy kept studying me that she was suspicious.

When I dropped her off, I longingly looked at my ordinary home in a quiet suburb that had always seemed boring and too crowded for a family of six, but now shone with a beauty that made my heart feel close to bursting. I memorized everything: the lawn that was never quite green enough, with its spotty patches of weeds; the bricked planter spilling over with blooming hydrangeas; Mom’s car in the driveway (Dad was still at work); and a porch cluttered with tricycles, a plastic princess castle, and naked dolls.

“Want to come in?” Grammy asked.

Did I ever! But if I went inside, I’d never come out.

When I shook my head, Grammy gave me one of those probing looks, then stepped out of the car. “Wait here a minute while I get something for you.”

I was so choked up I could only manage to nod. A few minutes later, she came back out.

“Here,” my grandmother said, as she held out her hand and pressed something small and soft into my palm.

I looked down and saw the rainbow cloth bracelet she’d woven for me before her death—the “lucky” bracelet she told me I could use to contact her whenever I needed help. With all the body-switching I’d lost track of it, but I was glad to slip it on.

Then I waved good-bye with a soft rainbow swirl around my wrist.

And I drove away from my grandmother, my family, and my life.

I had one more thing to do before sunset—grave searching at Gossamer Cemetery. Dustin insisted on going with me, so my next stop was his house. I was secretly glad to have his company; besides, I needed his help to get through the locked gates. He worked part-time as a locksmith and had this slightly weird but impressive collection of keys—most hanging from the ceiling at Headquarters (his bedroom).

Dustin was waiting for me with the same key that had once before unlocked the Gossamer gates. I offered to drive but Dustin argued, pointing out my “directionally challenged” problem. He was right—I usually turned wrong when it was right, or was that left? We compromised: I would drive but he would navigate.

Once we were on our way, he pulled out a stack of print-outs.

“I’ve been analyzing our Dark Lifer facts,” he said, flipping through the papers. “And I have a theory about why the DD Team has never caught Gabe.”

“Why?”

“It’s important to understand his abilities and past history. From everything you’ve told me, we know more about him than the DDT. That’s why they underestimate him, assuming he’s like other Dark Lifers. But one big difference is that he doesn’t need to steal energy from Temp Lifers like average Dark Lifers.”

“True,” I said, nodding and slowing for a red light.

“And he doesn’t panic or cower in fear of being caught.”

“He’s not afraid of anyone.”

“And why should he be? He obviously has financial means or he couldn’t rent a pricey boat. He probably has secret bank accounts all over the world. But money is only a convenience for him. Can you guess his deepest goal?”

I thought for a moment, remembering how casually he spoke of material things but his passion when he spoke of his past. “Power,” I said. “He was dragged to the gallows for a murder he didn’t commit, which had to make him feel completely powerless. So now he’s all about being powerful.”

“Yes—in this world and others,” Dustin continued, reading from a paper. “He can astral travel without losing his connection to his borrowed body. And he was able to show you how to do this, too. Right?”

“He took me out of body to Alyce, in some other-side plane where she was resting. I couldn’t have gone there on my own,” I said carefully, not mentioning the second time we’d left our borrowed bodies, when I’d been swept up in overwhelming emotions.

“He also can find you, even when you’re in a different body.”

I nodded. “He said he can see my soul, like the way psychics see auras.”

“And the other side actually uses psychics to locate Dark Lifers.” Dustin made a notation on his paper, then scratched it out and wrote something else. “That’s my theory about Gabe, too. He’s psychic.”

I was so shocked I started to drift into the next lane, but stopped myself and steadied the wheel. I saw the turn-off for Gossamer Cemetery ahead and slowed down.

“Not psychic about everything,” Dustin said quickly. “Only when it comes to energy being directed at him. Thoughts can produce energy, and that’s what alerts him. When he first found you at Alyce’s house, had you been thinking about him?”

I flashed back to that first strange night in Alyce’s body, when I’d seen a shadow out her window. Yes, I’d thought of Gabe. Was it cause and effect? Had I thought of him first, or had his being nearby made me think of him? Either way, Dustin’s theory made sense—and it scared me even worse. It wasn’t like I could just stop thinking about him. Was he aware of my thoughts now, listening?

“You’re not making me feel better,” I said, slowing down as the road dead-ended.

“There’s still two hours before sunset.”

“One hour and forty-seven minutes.” I groaned, then killed the car engine and opened the door.

Even though I was in Alyce’s body, not my own, I started itching when Dustin used his key to unlock the cemetery gate and I stepped on the hallowed ground. Large chunks of broken concrete from what was once a paved path poked up like sharp warnings not to enter. Wild bushes and dying trees blocked our way, too, so we had to climb over or around to proceed. When I saw familiar prickly weeds, I moved away, careful not to touch the nettles.

It didn’t take long to find the crumbled stone staircase and the angel. I didn’t see Angelica’s grave, though, and wondered if it had been moved to a newer cemetery. Still, the angel was a solid clue, and that’s where we started looking for Alyce’s missing sister. There were many uneven patches of ground where wild grass had grown over what was once someone’s resting place. We had to really look, but then Dustin called out, “Come here!” I ran over and saw a cross-shaped wooden marker with faded letters scratched in the wood:
SAM
.

And as I stared at the name, thinking about Alyce, I felt an odd sense of connection. I could see Alyce’s face in my mind—smiling as she gestured to me with a thumbs-up. There was an enormous relief, too, as if her worries were sailing away from her and she was lighter now. Ready to come back.

“Let’s go,” Dustin said, twirling a key ring around his hand.

My gaze swept around at the cemetery and I thought about Dark Lifers. Dustin had tried so hard to study their abilities, searching for a weakness in Gabe. But there was no weakness. He was stronger than anyone on the other side, in soul and psyche. And as long as he chose to live off humans, no one could stop him. His only limitations were the time restrictions on body switching.