Grave Possession (Wraith 3) (14 page)

“Because of a picture?”

“And the lies. I never told him you were at school with me.”

“Oh.”

“You can sit down if you want.” I pointed to the desk chair. He walked toward it, but sat down on the floor with me instead. “Yeah. I kept that from him. I don’t even know why. I guess once you start lying about things, it just sort of happens.”

“It’s hard not having someone to talk to,” he agreed. “I confided in a counselor at the program. He was into all this supernatural stuff anyway. Like Jeannie. I decided to trust him.
He’s the one who helped me realize I could handle this without the drugs. He taught me how to work with the ghosts, not against them.”

“I don’t think I could ever tell Louis.”

“Then it was probably never going to work anyway,” Connor said, before cramming a cookie into his mouth. He stretched his legs across my floor. He always looked so big in here. Even bigger now.

“Probably not.”

We sat quietly across from one another, careful not to touch. The music from my iPod filled the silence between us. I pushed my hair back and said, “On the topic of being honest, I should probably tell you some things.”

“Okay.”

“Like, ever since I fought with Charlotte something has been weird – with me. I feel like she got to me somehow.”

“How?”

“It’s like she left her fingerprints on my insides. Like she left a part of herself – no, that’s not right. A smudge or smear. A thumbprint.”

Connor leaned forward and frowned. “Does it hurt?”

“No, it doesn’t hurt, but there’s just this blackness that I feel sometimes.” He still looked confused, and a little pissed. “I’ve felt off since then. I’ve been sad and depressed. Cold inside. I crave warmth and energy.”

“Energy?”

“Yes, energy. Something that fills me up and makes me feel less sad or lonely. Like, right now, I’d give anything to fill this stupid hole in my chest.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Jane?”

The intensity behind his eyes scared me. “Nothing. You wouldn’t get it.”

“No? You don’t think so? Because it sounds an awful lot like how I felt when I was self-medicating.”

“What? It’s not like that at all. God, I knew you would overreact. Just like Evan,” I muttered.

“Evan?” Connor tilted his head like he was trying to see me clearly. I refused to look him in his accusatory eyes, but he stood up and walked to the door. Through clenched teeth, he said, “Wait here.”

I waited, not because he told me to, but because where was I going to go? I heard his boots on the wooden stairs and was unsurprised when he came back in, not alone, but with Jeannie. I shot him a dirty look and said, “You told on me?”

“Payback sucks.”

My aunt pushed past him and into the room. “He didn’t tattle, Jane. He’s worried.”

I picked myself up off the floor and said, “Look, everything is okay. I’m fine. Is it a big surprise that something changed when Charlotte tried to body snatch me? She was
in my body
. But, amazingly, what happened was a good thing. A great thing.”

Jeannie watched me closely. “What?”

“I got Evan back.”

The response from the two of them was so silent, absorbingly quiet, that I could hear the second hand on my clock tick past. Connor broke the moment, glaring around the room. “Where? I don’t see him.”

“I don’t see him ‘here,’ like I used to. We kind of meet each other in the middle.”

“That explains the extreme aura following you around,” Jeannie said. “What do you mean you meet in the middle?”

“I don’t know. I guess I sort of zone out? Or get half-way to sleep and I’m able to extract myself from my body. Lift up. He meets me there. It’s in the room where I’m sleeping. We just talk. He comes from his side and I come from mine and we just talk. It’s been nice. He’s my best friend.”

“Ava is your best friend,” Connor reminded me.

“For the record, Evan’s also worried about this,” I defended. “I’m not sure why it’s a big deal. Everyone is happy. I’m getting what I need and Evan gets to see me. Do we really need to know why this is happening? I take energy from ghosts and it fills the rotting spot in my soul Charlotte left. There has to be a reason the spirits are in my life – maybe this is it?”

“Evan’s worried and you didn’t think you needed to talk to anyone? Why the hell are you so stubborn?” Connor asked.

I turned and glared at him. “Me? Are you really asking me that question?”

“Yes! You just admitted you’re stealing spiritual energy and you still don’t think you’ve got a problem!”

“How dare you judge me. And what are you even doing here? You ignored me for an entire year and you think you can just show up and jog with me or ask me favors. You got your kiss and I let that slide. But you still managed to ruin things between me and Louis. I think we’re even.”

“Don’t blame your omissions of truth on me, Jane.”

“Says the pot meeting the mother-freaking kettle.”

“Calm down,” Jeannie said. “There are people downstairs and, wow, if you could see what I’m seeing. It looks like a hurricane brewing in the air between you two.”

Connor and I both took a step back from one another. I couldn’t look at his disappointed face one second longer and turned my back on both of them. I knew better than to confide in them. In anyone.

“Jane, when you leave your body what happens?”

I kept my back to them, refusing to answer.

“Jane, come on. It’s important. Maybe you’re right. It could just be another aspect of your gift we haven’t realized yet. Perhaps it’s not a bad thing.”

I glanced over my shoulder and Jeannie seemed genuine. Connor, on the other hand, still looked furious. “I kind of float up and out of my body. Then it’s me and Evan. I can see and touch him. He can see and touch me.”

“Are you in the same room?”

“Yes, but it’s a little darker. Hazier or something.”

“And this energy thing?” Jeannie asked. Her tone was soft and supportive. As always. “Can you tell me more about it?”

“It happened the first time by mistake. A ghost came to me. I’d been avoiding them – I didn’t want any of them to touch me because of being Shadow Bound. God forbid they knew about that, like, through some kind of ghost gossip chain, and tried to body snatch me. But this one girl grabbed my hand and, instead of feeling cold, I felt warmth. Not just on my hand, but in my heart. In the empty spot left from everything that happened last summer,” I explained. “Once the feeling faded away, I wanted it again. So, I tried it with the next ghost and it was easy. It felt right. Like Charlotte had taken something from me and I was getting it back.”

“And Evan?” she asked.

“I didn’t expect that to happen. One night last school year I fell asleep – or thought I had – and he just appeared. I thought it was a dream. Sometimes I still do. Things are different there. Pretend? Shadowy wisps and inky crows and I’m not always sure what’s real. But he always takes care of me. He lets me take energy off of him, so I’m not doing it with other ghosts.”

“Are you sure it’s real? You said it seemed like a dream.”

“I’m sure,” I said, but part of me wondered about the strange stuff that happened when we were together.

I realized what I told them sounded pretty crazy. Maybe I was. I stared at the posters on my wall, the ones I left when I moved to school, and they seem so juvenile, yet they also seemed like a part of me. How did you let the past go? How could I turn my back on Evan again?

Jeannie tugged on my sleeve and I spun, falling into her open arms. Connor stood by the door, hand rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes were fiery hot, the anger and hurt boiling beneath the surface. I rested my cheek on Jeannie’s shoulders, letting the tears fall. When I looked up again, he was gone.

*

After Jeannie left my room and the guests were huddled on my parent’s back porch drinking and eating their way through the New Year, I left my room to sneak to the bathroom. On the way back, I heard Connor’s voice at the bottom of the stairway. He hadn’t left after all. I pressed against the wall and strained to listen to his low voice.

“Savannah’s packed with them. I feel like everywhere I go I’m tripping over one dead guy or another.”

“And she doesn’t?” Jeannie’s voice cut through the darkness.

“Not that I can tell. Just the couple we’ve worked on together. The first time I noticed it was with the guy in the river. She dove right in – no clue it was a ghost.”

“Are you helping all these people?”

“Jane and I are working on one girl together – we can’t figure out her angle. We crossed over one amnesiac. I brought her to both of them. She didn’t see them first. I did.”

“Curious,” Jeannie said.

“I’ve ushered a couple others as well, but that’s the weird thing. There are a lot of ghosts, but not many are looking for help. I’m not sure what they’re doing,” he paused and I pressed my hands against the wall, absorbing every word. “They do seem attracted to her. There tend to be two or three around her at all times, but she’s not aware.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Jeannie sighed. “Unfortunately, your description falls in line with what I’m seeing. She’s cloaked in death. Not just Evan. There’s something else.”

“Remember, when she first started this, I saw more than her. She had Evan and I had an onslaught. Maybe we’ve switched places?”

“Yeah, but I think the changes with her gift come from the incident with Charlotte. And you said she can see them if pointed out. There’s something about this I don’t like.”

They fell silent and I waited, confused and growing angrier by the second. Connor saw ghosts that I didn’t? Or couldn’t? He kept this from me? I peered down the dark stairwell and saw them at the bottom. Connor’s face was visible by the glow of the lower level hallway light. He looked as upset as I felt.

“I’m scared,” he confessed to Jeannie. “Jane is my compass. She’s always been the one to guide me through this mess – help me know what’s right and wrong. I’m better now, but I accept I’m still on shaky ground.”

“You’re strong and have been through a lot. More than a lot. A metric crap-ton of paranormal crisis, but you’ll get through this and you’ll back her up. Just like she’s always backed you up.”

“I can do it,” he said, looking a bit more resolved. “For her.”

*

The New Year started cold, rainy and like a slap in the face. Jeannie and Connor were keeping secrets from me. They were worried and, oh, apparently I had lost my touch. Ironic, since I’d been “touching” ghosts way more lately. In fact, I needed to get my hands on one immediately and fill the nagging, desperate emptiness that had engulfed my body over the last day.

I announced over breakfast that I’d finished packing my bags and would be leaving before noon. My change in plans upset my mother. She’d hoped I’d stay for one more day. But now I didn’t want to be around Jeannie or anyone else. Going back to school a day early seemed like the best idea. I dropped my bags in the entryway and walked into the kitchen, where my mom buzzed around, cleaning up from last night.

“Before you go, take these over to Ms. Frances,” Mom said, handing me a plate of leftovers from the party. I pretended I didn’t see the concern on her face.

I passed the old tire swing and knocked on Ms. Frances’ back door. I gave her a minute to get there – it took her a while sometimes. “Jane,” she said, when she saw me. “Honey, how are you?”

“Mom wanted to send these over,” I said, holding up the plate.

“Thank you, dear.” She pushed open the screen door and I stepped inside. In the kitchen, I left the plate on the counter. “You look tired,” she said. “And sad.”

“Boyfriend troubles,” I confessed. Everyone could relate to that and Ms. Frances wouldn’t ask too many questions. I also wasn’t sure how far reaching her gifts were and at least that wasn’t an outright lie. “But it’s okay.”

“You poor girl,” she shook her head. “My Darius found himself in trouble with girls all the time. I tried to teach him right, but they make foolish choices.”

“Yeah,” I said, scratching my thumb on the countertop. I didn’t really want to talk about Louis. Or Connor. Or even Darius. “I’m leaving for school in a little bit, but I just wanted to drop those off.”

“I appreciate it, dear,” she said. Her cloudy brown eyes rested on my neck. “I see you’re wearing Tonya’s necklace. I hope it’s providing you peace.”

“People compliment me on it all the time.”

“I see the darkness around you and, sure enough, you’ve got a mountain to climb. Be careful, Jane.”

“What do you see?” I whispered, desperate to know Ms. Frances’ secret.

The old woman just shrugged. “Just darkness. You’re in a delicate position. One toe in each world. There are consequences for that.”

The hole in my chest pulsed.

“I see other good things coming your way. You just need to have a little faith.”

“I’m trying.” I thought for a minute and added, “Things seem confusing right now. Sometimes I’m not sure what is real and what isn’t.”