Spirit Seeker

by Joan Lowery Nixon

  Still troubled, he went on, “And right now I guess I’m not ready for anything but trying to make sense of my own life.”

  I thought of how I’d wondered, for just an instant, if he had wanted to tell me he was guilty. I would never let him know what I’d thought. I would never let anyone know. I interrupted. “It’s okay, Cody,” I said. “I feel the same way. We’re good friends, and for now that’s all. Okay?”

  I walked toward Mom’s car with a sense of relief so huge it carried me along like a balloon.

  I glanced at Glenda’s house. The telepathy had worked, she’d sent for help, and I wanted to thank her for what she’d done. But as I started across the street, I saw Glenda’s next-door neighbor, Mrs. Marsh. She gestured toward the police cars. “Has there been more trouble?” she asked.

  I skipped all but the most important news. “Cody’s been proved innocent,” I answered.

  “I knew Cody was a nice boy,” she said. As I reached the walkway to Glenda’s house, Mrs. Marsh said, “If you’re looking for Glenda, you won’t find her at home. Her sister’s ill, so she drove to Beaumont to take care of her.”

  “But I sent her a message. I thought …”

  “She asked me to collect her mail. It’ll be waiting for her when she gets back.”

  “Holly!” I heard Sara cry as she raced from Mrs. Marsh’s house.

  She hugged me, bursting out, “You’re not hurt! I’m so glad!”

  I hugged her back. “Sara! What are you doing here?”

  “I knew where you were going! I knew what you’d do!” she said. “So I drove over here, I saw your car, and I knew you didn’t belong in that house. Then I saw Cody’s uncle drive up. He had something in his hand. I didn’t know for sure what it was, but it looked like it could be a gun. I was so scared, it was hard to think. Glenda wasn’t home so I banged on Mrs. Marsh’s back door, and she let me use her phone to call your dad.”

  “It was you who saved us?” I hugged her again and burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny? What happened in there?” She backed off and searched my face. “You’re not having hysterics now that it’s over, are you?”

  “No, I’m fine.” I stopped laughing and tried to explain. Remember when you said Glenda was using the power of suggestion with me? Maybe you were right, although I’m glad I didn’t find it out until after I …”

  “Make sense,” Sara said. “What are you talking about?”

  “Follow me home, Sara,” I said, “and I’ll keep my promise. I’ll tell you all about it.”

  Mom had heard what happened, and her face was a mixture of happiness at seeing me and anxiety that I’d been in danger.

  Sara had a million questions for me. Finally, as Sara was leaving, she winked at me and said, “You took care of Cody’s problem. Can you get rid of your guilt about Paula now?”

  “I hope so,” I said.

  “If I’d been the one who hadn’t told on Mindy, you would have forgiven me, wouldn’t you?”

  “Of course!” I said.

  “Then stop beating yourself with guilt. You ought to be able to forgive yourself as easily as you can forgive other people.”

  “Is anybody ever able to do that?”

  Sara’s smile stretched into a grin. “Probably not. But work on it, Holly. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I answered and grinned right back.

  * * *

  Wednesday. 10:00 P.M. When Dad arrived home, he found both Mom and me waiting for him.

  “Jake … thanks for calling and telling me what happened,” Mom said.

  He smiled at Mom, but I had plenty of questions for him and couldn’t wait.

  “Cody was afraid of that woman who claimed she saw him in a convenience store. Where did she come from?”

  Dad looked up, surprised. “There wasn’t any such woman. That didn’t happen.”

  “Then Frank made up the story!” Furious, I said, “He was trying to frighten Cody into running. Frank’s a greedy, horrible monster!”

  Mom put a hand over mine to calm me down. “You’re the only one who really believed in Cody,” she said. “I—we—don’t approve of all the methods you used to try to help him, because even though they worked, you put yourself in danger.”

  “Both you and Dad said I was obsessed, and maybe for a while I was,” I admitted. I wound my fingers through Mom’s and smiled at her. “I used to be on your side. I got angry at Dad for neglecting us and spending so much time on his cases. But I understand now why he does.”

  I could see hurt in Mom’s eyes, so I quickly added, “I’m still on your side, Mom, but I’m on Dad’s side too. I found out he was right when he said after a crime takes place, everything happens fast. It is a matter of working nonstop to catch the truth before it disappears.”

  Then I grabbed Dad’s hand, too, and held them both tightly. “Maybe things between you can’t go back to the way they used to be, but don’t give up. I love you both so much, I’m asking, please, just try.”

  At first, Mom didn’t answer, but Dad spoke up. “Lynn, all Holly asked was that we try,” he said. “We can at least try. I know I will. I promise.”

  As Mom stared back at him, her gaze softened. “Yes, Jake,” she said. “I do want to try.”

  I grinned at them both, so happy I could hardly stand it.

  But there was one more thing left to do. I sat on my bed with a pen and a pad of notepaper on my lap. Glenda had tried in her own strange way to help, and she deserved to hear what had happened directly from me—but by mail, not in person. I felt easier at a safe distance from Glenda.

  As I wrote, Dear Glenda, the phone rang, and I answered it.

  Glenda’s voice was soft as she said, “You are thinking of me, Holly, and I have been thinking of you.”

  A chill shivered up my backbone. “Y-Yes, I am thinking of you. I was just about to write and tell you about going to the Garnetts’ house and what happened.”

  “I know what happened. You had the courage to seek the spirits and find the answer for which you were searching.”

  “Well … uh … sort of,” I explained. “Except it wasn’t spirits that gave me the answer. It was figuring things out and …”

  She didn’t give me a chance to finish. “Congratulations, amber girl,” she said, and I heard a click as she hung up the phone.

  As I got up from the bed, I wondered what I had been afraid of. Forget all that stuff about clairvoyance and super powers, I told myself. Glenda’s not magical. She probably heard about the arrest as soon as Mrs. Marsh could get to a phone, and then saw the story on the evening news. Sara had been right about Glenda’s power of suggestion. I refused to ever let Glenda influence me again.

  I glanced at my reflection in the mirror over my chest of drawers and smiled. I was not an “amber girl.” I was me—Holly Campbell—and I knew now that the spirit I had been seeking—and had found—was my own.

  JOAN LOWERY NIXON has been called the grande dame of young adult mysteries. She is the author of more than 130 books for young readers and is the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She received the award for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Is Murder, and The Other Side of Dark, which also won the California Young Reader Medal.