The Stranger Inside (30 page)

All the hairs on my arm stood on end.

Somehow Hanna had gotten me confused with Kenzie, maybe because we were sharing the same body.

That day I didn’t know what was going on, though. Today I did.

Suddenly, Hanna snapped out of her paralysis. She took off running. I mean, she
bolted
for the door.

It took me a second to drop the papers I was filing and chase after her. But I did. I ran out of the office and chased her down the hall, yelling, “Hanna! Hanna wait!”

But she didn’t wait. She ran out of the building. Out of school!

Whoa. I obviously had some seriously scary demons in me.

Great.

***

After school, I told Sawyer about the Hanna thing. He listened with a puzzled expression, then said, “Lets go talk to her.”

“I told you, she left.”

“She might have left,” he said, “But she came back. I just saw her in the library.”

When we got there, there she was, sitting at a table doing math.

“She won’t talk to me,” I whispered to Sawyer at the door. “Whenever she sees me, she runs.”

He grinned. “Well, she doesn’t run when she sees me. She’ll talk to us.”

Hmm. He seemed awfully confident. In a way that was good, I wanted him to be right—her to actually talk to me. Only, why was he so cocky about it? Did Hanna have a thing for him? I was kind of getting the feeling she did.

And when I saw her look up at us, I
knew
she did. Her eyes lit up when she saw Sawyer, and she didn’t even run away when she saw me—though she looked like she really, really wanted to. Only, we kind of had her cornered at the table.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Sawyer said, bypassing chitchat. “Jodi has a ghost in her and she thinks you can help her. Can you?”

Hanna looked from Sawyer to me, then back to Sawyer. “I can’t,” she said. “I wish I could. But—”

“Hanna,” he said coaxingly. “We really need your help.”

She bit her lip, looking scared. Finally she said, “What do you need to know?”

Sawyer looked at me, and I widened my eyes. What did I need to know? I needed to know everything. “Why do I have a ghost in me?”

Hanna shook her head. “I don’t know. I have no idea.” She stood up. “I can tell you this, and then I’m going to go and you can’t follow me. Okay, don’t follow me? Because I can’t have that spirit after me. I’m not like you guys, I’m clairvoyant—I’m susceptible to spirits.”

Sawyer and I looked at each other, having no clue what she was talking about. But I nodded. “Okay,” I said. “We won’t follow you.”

“There’s a spirit
in
you—but there’s also one
after
you.”

I swallowed, my heart pounding. “You mean, after Kenzie, right?”

 “Right, whatever,” Hanna said quickly, totally ready to bolt. “But the spirit that’s after you … it’s evil.” Hanna said this last part as she hurried toward the door. Then she was gone, sprinting away.

I looked up at Sawyer, feeling kind of sick. Hanna hadn’t actually told me anything I didn’t know. But she had confirmed all my fears just the same. There
was
an evil spirit after me. But at least it wasn’t
in
me, right?

CHAPTER 32

After school I went to the downtown library to see what kind of books they had on exorcisms and demons. I grabbed a few to check out, then almost dropped them when I turned and saw a boy watching me. It was disconcerting. Especially because here in the dark library, he seemed to almost glow.

I stumbled back, my heart exploding.

The guy raised his hands, like to let me know he meant no harm. But he had been watching me with his head tilted like he was contemplating something dark and menacing—and, you know, he was
glowing
! Or maybe not. Maybe I just imagined that. Maybe it was the light from the window catching him funny and I was just all spastic now—thinking everything was paranormal … because apparently some things were.

Anyway, now he wasn’t glowing. Now he looked like a normal guy. A
hot
normal guy. And I recognized him from school. Kyle Ryan. He was an artist and he dated this girl named Rain. They were usually glued to each other—like they lived in their own little world and no one else existed. Sort of like Jeremy and I used to be. I didn’t really know them or anything—never talked to them … but then, I didn’t really talk to anyone but The Clutch.

Kyle took a step toward me—but I had this urge to run from him. I have no idea why. It must have been Kenzie. Her impulse. Because really, I was drawn to the guy. Like a moth to light. Like he really
had
been glowing. I had this deep “want” suddenly to be around him … for warmth. Or protection. Or something.

But Kenzie’s desire was stronger, apparently. I took off for the exit, but as I stumbled past Kyle he said, “You’re not going to find your answers in a book.”

***

When I got home from the library I was in a fog. I felt like something “good” had happened. But I had no idea what. I couldn’t even remember being there. I remembered Sawyer dropping me off at the library’s front steps on his way to work, but the rest was … gone. Erased from my memory. Had I turned into Kenzie or what?

***

Today during my office-aid-hour I had to do more filing. But Mrs. Daniels sent me on a quest for staples. “I know I have some somewhere,” she said. “Check my desk.”

Going through her drawers, I found a picture of her and Mr. Daniels and their three kids. She had a more recent picture of them on her bookshelf, but I liked this one better. They seemed like a happy family—not my perverted teacher and sporadically spazzy boss.

I immediately forgot about the picture and staples, though—and everything else— when Hanna came into the office. She passed me silently, going into the principal’s office, but she dropped me a note on the way.

I stared at the folded note a long time before actually reading it. Then I widened my eyes to the size of saucers, reading it again. It said, “Meet me in the cemetery.”

****

Luckily Hanna hadn’t tacked on “at midnight” to her message or I don’t think I would have showed. I mean, I had an evil spirit after me, wasn’t that spooky enough? Did we really need ambiance? I don’t think so.

And anyway, Hanna was terrified of me. The cemetery seemed like the last place she would want to meet me. Yet here we were, the five of us, waiting for Hanna, dead bodies all around.

Micah scanned the place. “My uncle’s buried here somewhere.”

He and Zack went to check out headstones. I was busy biting on my thumbnail, waiting for Hanna to get here and raise the dead—or vanquish the dead or whatever she was going to do.

Sawyer and Jeremy just stayed near me, Sawyer talking too much, Jeremy not talking at all. Finally, Hanna showed. “Let’s go over to my grandmother’s grave,” she said. “I’d feel better there.”

“Why the cemetery?” I asked.

“Because you can’t enter a protective circle with me—you can’t. But this land is blessed all over the place,” Hanna said. “Hopefully an evil spirit can’t easily enter. But I can’t take a chance on that. I can’t stay long.”

I swallowed, wondering why Kenzie could come here, but not a church. Here she just seemed to be asleep—like the place wiped her out, but I wasn’t sick or anything.

Hanna sat on her grandmother’s grave, making herself comfortable, sort of, but not really. She still seemed on edge. “Give me your hand.”

I gave her my hand, and she held it between hers, closing her eyes. “I’m going to talk to Kenzie, but in my head, so just be quiet everyone.”

Everyone was dead quiet, watching Hanna.

But she seemed to be having trouble. Finally she opened her eyes. “Kenzie won’t talk to me. She doesn’t want to leave. But I found out some stuff that links to her through you. She was in some sort of accident, a car accident—you saved her.”

I nodded, again amazed Hanna could read that—she seemed so … normal.

“Anyway, unless you can get her back with her body, you’re stuck with her,” Hanna said, rising to her feet. “Cause no one’s going to try to get her out, not when she’s got that guy looking for her. Like I said—we clairvoyants, we’re susceptible to spirits.”

“But I saw shadows,” I said. “Is that him?”

Hanna eyed me, as if afraid to talk about it. Finally, she nodded. “His minions. He has shadows looking for her. The thing is though, shadows can only look in a place once—unless the place is evil. Then they can kind of … dwell there.”

I swallowed. Although her words were terrifying, they were also a little bit comforting, a little bit. ‘Cause the shadows had already come to my room—I’d seen them. They couldn’t come back. Yay for that.

So, I was relieved—for a second. But then, Hanna’s next words had me shaking. Shaking, big time.

“But Jodi,” she said warningly. “You’re obviously susceptible to spirits too—you have one inside you.” She went on quickly, trying to reassure me. “You’re not as susceptible as me, obviously, or those shadows would have found you by now—you’d be gone. But they can get you, Jodi.” She gazed into my eyes, looking grim. “Watch out for the shadows.”

Watch out for the shadows. Watch out for the shadows.
Dad’s warning swirled in my brain, made me dizzy, ready to faint.

But I had to focus. Stay with the world. Because I could see Hanna was ready to bolt.

“Okay,” I rubbed my forehead, trying to gather my freaked out thoughts, save my breakdown for another time. “The thing about me getting rid of Kenzie, though,” I said quickly, “I have to get her back to her body?”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Hanna said, not sounding like we had much chance. “Kenzie has to willingly be in proximity to her body—willingly. But she doesn’t want to go. And her body is in a hospital, right? Look, I’ve got to go.”

“Wait,” I called after her, “I have my dad’s ring. Can you just tell me about my dad?”

Hanna had been hurrying away, but turned back to me, looking pained. “I can’t,” she said. “I’ve been with you too long.”

Sawyer stood. “Hanna, we really need your help.”

She groaned. Then came back to us. Sawyer seemed to know she would—if he asked.

“Just really fast,” she said, taking Dad’s ring. “Just whatever I get in a second, and don’t ask for more.”

We watched her as she held Dad’s ring. “Your dad saved that guy—I’m not going to say his name, but Kenzie knows. Actually, I probably shouldn’t say her name anymore either.” Hanna was quiet for a moment, listening or thinking or whatever she was doing. “I’m going to call the guy Ethan. He was into dark stuff, really dark.”

Hanna paused a long while before going on, seeming to see the events in her head. “The car accident—it mangled Ethan’s body. And your dad, from trying to help Ethan, was covered in Ethan’s blood—that’s how Ethan got to your dad—from his blood.” Hanna went silent, tilting her head. Then her eyes opened wide. She scrambled to her feet, tossing me Dad’s ring. “I can’t say anything else,” she said. “I’ve got to go, don’t follow.”

She ran off and we all stared after her, saying nothing. ‘Cause what could we say? We had promised we wouldn’t ask for more. And actually, I was too stunned to speak. Ethan had got to my dad through his blood. Got to my dad? What did that mean? Drove him crazy? Made him grab an axe? What?

CHAPTER 33

The next night at Sawyer’s the band couldn’t shut up, talking about demons and shadows and blood. They seemed to be talking extremely loud. Or maybe my ears were just suddenly over-sensitive. Just like the rest of me. I felt like I was going to fall apart—my whole body, piece by piece.

Sawyer gave me a tight hug, his body warming my shivering. “You okay?”

I shrugged, still trembling. I couldn’t stop shaking.

He held me tighter, smoothed down my hair. “We’ll get Kenzie back to her body.”

Right.

The guys huddled around Sawyer’s computer, keeping me/Kenzie out of the loop. So, I sat down with my laptop—trying to formulate my own plan. Looking up “evil spirits” and “blood” and “exorcisms” until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

I closed my laptop feeling sick and yuck and sort of hopeless, only to find Jeremy’s eyes on me. It made my heart quicken, and for a second I forgot about evil ghosts or possessions—or anything. Then he got a call on his cell. He got up to take the call in the other room.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

He’d been looking at me all night, like he was worried about me. But he didn’t say anything, nothing at all—to me. He talked to the guys, like usual and played his guitar. But he kept his distance from me. He had ever since Thanksgiving night when we got in the fight about his “guest.” Or Kenzie. Or whatever the fight had been about.

Now he seemed to have decided to stay away. It hurt. Killed. But I pretended like I didn’t even notice. ‘Cause.

There was a knock at the front door. I went to get it, thinking it was the pizza guy. But there was no one there. I looked around outside, feeling chilled. Then I saw the note peeking out from under the welcome mat. A note from Hanna, drawing us back at the cemetery.”

***

Hanna was at her grandmother’s grave waiting for us. She got right to the point. “I can’t stay here with you. But last night, I had a vision of your father’s last hours. I recorded it.” She threw a voice recorder into my lap. “Listen to it here. Then throw it away. I don’t want it back.”

Whoa.
She had a vision?

I threw a sidelong look to Sawyer, remembering what he had told me the first day I met Hanna,
She’s a witch
.

“Don’t listen to it until I’m gone,” she said, already running away.

We all sat silently, for a moment. Then Sawyer pressed the audio button on the recorder. I closed my eyes, hearing Hanna’s voice, but … it was different. She was talking as though she was my dad, as though she could understand his thoughts.