I felt my face flush thinking about how he had smiled at me in science this morning. No words. Just a smile.
Right now, he was outside on one of the fields with the school soccer team. What position did he play? I had no idea. That was where my plan came in. I would become the newspaper’s sports photographer. I’d go to the soccer games. I’d get to watch Jayden play. It would be totally normal, because watching him would be my job.
“Now, we’ll divide into our groups to work on the different sections. I see some new faces today. New people, please come see me.”
I jolted out of my Jayden dream. I’d missed most of what Mrs. Notkin had said.
“Good luck,” Lily whispered before she headed off with a girl and a boy I didn’t recognize.
I made my way to Mrs. Notkin’s desk and waited while she talked to several other kids. I held a red folder in one hand.
“Hi,” Mrs. Notkin said, her tone businesslike.
“Hi.” Talking to adults made me nervous. I reached into my folder, pulled out the application sheet that Lily had me download from the Wire website, and thrust it toward her.
Mrs. Notkin scanned the paper. “A photographer. Good. Did you bring any work for me to see?”
I opened the folder, revealing three photographs that I’d blown up large. A swirly shell reflecting the glow of the setting sun. An overflowing trash can on the boardwalk. I’d taken that one just outside Midnight Manor this past summer. A worn, chipped gravestone in the little cemetery on the hill by the school. I’d visited that cemetery during the school dance a few weeks ago, after I was crowned Harvest Queen. And bumped into Jayden there.
I’d worked hard on these photos, before I even knew about the newspaper and came up with my plan to be the sports photographer. I’d been taking photos for years. Playing with light and contrast. Trying to get it right. Trying to get it like my mom did.
My mom was a photographer. She took the most beautiful photos of everyday things. I had three framed pictures hanging in my room at home. All were pictures of objects my mom had taken. My favorite one was a picture of a porcelain figurine in the shape of an angel.
I never knew her. She died giving birth to me, but looking at her photos makes me feel close to her. Like she’s talking to me through the images.
Mrs. Notkin frowned. Obviously, my photos were not bringing about the same intense feelings for her.
“Do you have any action shots? Or ones with people?” she asked, sliding the images back into the folder.
“I don’t usually photograph people,” I admitted.
“Why not?”
How to explain? People were complicated. They were more than just a body and a story. They were made up of layers. Layers that sometimes got left behind after death.
A porcelain angel was just a porcelain angel.
I shrugged, staring down at my sneakers as if a better explanation were written there.
“I like your work, Sara,” Mrs. Notkin said, smiling at me. “These pictures show a lot of talent. But a school newspaper is about people. People make the news. I have four other students who want to join us as photographer, but I have room for only two. I have asked them, as I will ask you, to bring me three samples of your best action photos or portraits of people. I will decide based on the merit of your work. Next week, bring me three new pictures, and we’ll take it from there, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed. I was glad I hadn’t told her I wanted to be the sports photographer. Not yet. First I had to prove myself.
I inhaled the smell of the cinnamon candles, as I fidgeted outside the purple velvet curtain. My camera hung by a strap off my shoulder. Voices murmured behind the curtain. Lady Azura’s distinct rasp. A lower tone with a musical quality.
I smiled. She had a client. Maybe our flyers were working. Lily had plastered them everywhere her relatives worked—the pizza place, the ice-cream parlor, the motel, the visitors’ center, and the clothing store. She’d pretty much covered the whole town.
A woman finally emerged. Skinny, in a pale pink polyester uniform that had ANCHOR MOTEL embroidered on an oversize pocket, she barely raised her eyes to me as she hurried out the front door.
“Her shift starts soon.” Lady Azura poked her head out from the heavy curtain that divided her fortune-telling room and bedroom from the rest of the first floor. “You must thank Lily for me. I owe both of you girls thanks. That woman saw your advertisement.”
“What did she want?”
Lady Azura shook her head. “I cannot reveal the content of my sessions. I am a professional.” She turned back into the room.
I followed.
I snapped photos of her as she set everything back into place. Tarot cards straightened into a deck. Crystal ball shined with a soft yellow cloth, clearing the view into the future. Candles extinguished with a long-handled silver snuffer.
“Are you finished?” she asked. She was trying to pretend that my taking pictures of her was aggravating, but I knew better. I knew she liked it.
I didn’t answer. I watched her through my view-finder. She’d settled into the large armchair at the round center table. Her sapphire silk tunic contrasted with the nubby mustard-color fabric of the chair and made her look regal. She pressed her bony fingers together and stared back at me.
“Sara, stop hiding behind the camera,” she commanded finally. “We should explore yesterday’s . . . situation.”
I slid onto the spindly wooden chair beside her and rested the camera in my lap. “Explore?”
“You know as well as I do there are spirits in this house.”
“Of course I do,” I snapped. I didn’t mean to, but talking about ghosts put me on edge. I adjusted my tone. “I see and hear them all the time. That woman in the pink bedroom upstairs won’t stop crying. And rocking. Her rocking chair is always squeaking.” I leaned toward her. “But there’s a spirit on the third floor too. He was there when Lily was over. She was really scared.”
“I suspected that when I saw the two of you tumble out the front door. A bit melodramatic for you, Sara.” She raised her eyebrows at me as if I had disappointed her.
“Maybe you’re used to it. Dead people appearing. Talking to you. Getting in your face.” My words spilled out. “But not me. I’ve been seeing them since I was little, but until I came into this house, they always left me alone. They didn’t bother me. They didn’t try to ruin my life!”
Lady Azura’s eyes clouded with concern. “Wait. How are they ruining your life? What’s happening, Sara?”
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t been planning on telling her. But now it seemed like the right thing to do. “There’s this spirit I’ve been seeing. He’s always there. He follows this boy at school. He kind of watches over him. Makes everything easy for him. Clears a space at a crowded table or makes a path through the packed hallway.” I ran my fingertip nervously over the delicate gold-lace overlay on the table. The silky red tablecloth peeked through the floral design. “This spirit . . . he doesn’t like me. He hates me.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He shoves me, pushes me, does anything he can to keep me away.”
Lady Azura looked at me sharply. “He pushes you away from him?”
“No, away from the boy he guards, I think. He doesn’t like it when I’m around for some reason.” I raised my eyes to meet Lady Azura’s. “I didn’t do anything to him. I don’t know why he’s here.”
“I suspect he’s trapped,” Lady Azura murmured, deep in thought.
“Trapped? Where?”
“Here, as opposed to wherever there is.” She blinked her fake eyelashes rapidly. I’d noticed that she did that when she was thinking. “Every person has a soul. The soul is the essence of a person. The body is just a casing. An accessory, if you will. Death is not an end. When we die, our souls depart from our bodies, but there are times when souls simply can’t move on.”
“And so they stay behind, here on Earth . . .” I finished hesitantly. “Tha
t’s what I see. What we see.”
Lady Azura nodded. “Exactly. They stay behind for many reasons. Revenge. Unfinished business. To warn someone. To protect someone. They remain until the deed is done.” She sighed. “Sometimes, though, it is an impossible feat. An idea with no definite end. Then the souls become trapped, unable to move on, doomed to try and solve an unsolvable problem.”
I pondered this. Jayden’s brother, Marco, was trapped. He died and never left. But why?
“How can I find out why this spirit is still here?” I asked. “How do I get him to leave? To move on?”
“It’s not your place to help him on his journey.”
“What does that mean?” I cried in frustration. Lady Azura had a frustrating way of speaking in circles.
“It means that this spirit did not ask for your help. Alice asked you to become Harvest Queen. She came to you to help set her on her path. She came to you, so you could intervene. The spirit must always approach you.”
“So I’m just supposed to let him push me around?” And keep me away from Jayden, I added silently.
“No. Not at all. In fact, you must tell the spirit to leave you alone. Command it.” Her eyes blazed. “This is very important.”
“But how do I make him leave for good? You know, go away and leave the boy he guards alone too?” She’d been communicating with the dead for almost a century. Surely she could tell me how to make him go away.
“Well, you could . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. She’d changed her mind about whatever she’d been about to reveal. “Sara, I know it’s hard, but you must mind your own business. Just stay away from this spirit. Stay away from the boy he follows.” She looked me straight in the eyes. “Far away. Okay?”
I nodded but didn’t hold her gaze. I knew it wasn’t possible to stay away from Jayden. He was in my science class, after all.
Lady Azura suddenly pressed a pale lavender scrap of paper into my hand. I stared down at it. Had she changed her mind and written down for me how to get rid of Marco?
Whitening toothpaste
Fennel seed
Butterscotch Krimpets
Part of the deal my dad had made with Lady Azura to rent her house was that we’d help out. He’d do repairs. I’d run her errands after school. I sighed and shoved the list into my jeans pocket. I rode my bike down the street to Elber’s, the convenience store on the corner.
I leaned into the handlebars and thought about Lady Azura. Why wouldn’t she tell me what I needed to know? I’d seen her summon spirits for séances. I’d seen her look into the future. She’d even predicted that I’d meet Jayden at school this year and fall in love. Not by name, but it was him, and when school started, there he was. Waiting for me.
But Marco was waiting too.
I skidded to a stop in front of Elber’s brick front and green-and-white awning. Wedging my bike next to a blue dirt bike on the rack, I entered the fluorescent glare of the store.
Mr. Elber raised his bushy eyebrows and leaned his arms on the front counter. “Sara, I was wondering where you were. I thought maybe Lady Azura ran out of things to buy!”
“No chance of that,” I teased. Lady Azura sent me to buy two or three things every day instead of doing one big shopping trip. Mr. Elber and I were becoming buddies.
I headed to the toothpaste aisle. I scanned all the choices for a sparkling smile, squatting to better reach the brand she liked. On to the next item. What was fennel seed? I wondered. Probably an herb or spice for her fortune-telling. I’d have to ask Mr. Elber.
Fortune-telling. If Lady Azura wouldn’t tell me the secret to getting rid of a spirit, could she at least tell me what was going to happen next? Was I destined to spend the rest of the year dodging a teenage ghost?
“I see you,” said an unnaturally deep and low voice.
I froze, my fingers still gripping the toothpaste box.
“I see you,” the creepy voice murmured again.
Chapter 5
I glanced over my shoulder. Mr. Elber rearranged the display of lottery tickets by the counter. He didn’t look alarmed. He hadn’t heard anything.
I chewed my lip. Just me.
Slowly I stood up. I tried to ready myself for the spirit waiting for me. The spirit calling to me.
My eyes darted nervously up and down the aisle. Empty.
Then I saw the hair.
Thick wavy brown hair.
Hair I’d been staring at in class for weeks.
“I scared you.” Jayden stepped out from behind the rack of chips.
Relief flooded me. I tried not to smile. “That wasn’t funny.”
“That’s as funny as it gets at Elber’s.” He jerked his head in the direction of Mr. Elber furrowing his brows together as he attempted to color-code scratch-off cards. Was one color luckier than another?
I turned back to Jayden. He wore his gold-and-blue soccer uniform. Dirt was smeared on his left leg, from his thigh down to over his knee-high socks. Bits of grass clung to the caked mud.
“I guess you’re buying soap,” I teased, and immediately felt the color rise in my cheeks. Soap made me think about how last week I’d smelled all the soaps to figure out what made him smell like he did. I knew what brand he used. Suddenly my little comment was way too personal.
Jayden glanced at his leg. “Nah, this dirt is a badge of honor. I slid across the goal and bodily stopped the shot from going into it. I was the hero. This is my trophy. In fact”—he reached down and flecked off a small piece of dried mud—“I may sell it. For you, an excellent price!”
I rolled my eyes. “You wish. You’d have to pay me.”
He grinned, then flicked the dirt at me.
I squealed.
Then I saw the shimmery figure in a dark hoodie. Standing beside Jayden. Glaring at me.
Marco.
Jayden stepped closer, shaking his muddy leg at me. We were just a few inches apart. His breath was warm.
In an instant, Marco was there, crammed between us. One hand was on Jayden. The other pushed me. Chills coursed through my body at his icy touch. He turned, and our eyes met. His eyes were neither light nor dark. A flat, muted gray that drew me in, pulled me toward him.
My body felt weightless. As if my feet were no longer on the ground. Light. Floating. His gaze obliterated all the gravity.
I have to get away from him, I thought. Just like Lady Azura said. Stay away. But it was so hard to focus.
Get away! my brain screamed.
With every ounce of energy I had, I wrenched my head away from him.
And then I saw the woman.
Sitting at a round table with a checked tablecloth. A stove and a microwave visible behind her.
I rubbed my eyes.
She was still there. The crease between her eyebrows deepened as she stared anxiously at a clock on the pale-green wall. Her fingers worked furiously, silently shredding a paper napkin, methodically pulling away strips. A ceramic bowl filled with red apples sat in the middle of the table.
What was happening? Where was I? This wasn’t Elber’s.
I leaned back and felt the slight vibrations of the refrigerator on my legs. A stainless steel sink with a few dishes stacked inside. A kitchen. I was in a kitchen.
The woman didn’t seem to notice me. Her eyes left the clock only to dart to the cell phone resting alongside the pile of confettied napkin. Clock. Phone. Clock.
Her pulse quickened as her anxiety mounted.
I wrapped my arms around my ribs. My breathing was short and quick.
The second hand on the clock reached twelve, and the ticking of the next minute reverberated through my body. My eyes were drawn to the numbers. I couldn’t understand why the hands moved so slowly.
The woman stopped shredding. Her nervous fingers played with the ends of her thick, shoulder-length brown hair. Her dark eyes betrayed her inner pain. Phone. Clock. Phone.
My heart thrashed in my chest. Anxiety pumped through my veins. I felt an
intense fear. Her fear.
Her fear now inside me.
He’s okay. He’s okay. A voice repeating those words. A prayer. Please, let him be okay.
Thoughts. Not mine. Hers. Her thoughts in my head.
Her thoughts, bringing me back to that day. The day she waited and waited. The day the clock kept ticking. The day he didn’t come home. The day the phone rang.
The hospital. A man’s voice she didn’t know. A man’s voice filled with practiced compassion. A man who was paid to deliver bad news.
A man who said her son was not coming home.
A man who said her son had been in an accident. A terrible accident.
The tears ran down her cheeks. Her shoulders shook with a grief so deep it was unbearable. I felt her grief. It penetrated every cell in my body. He was gone. Gone forever. The woman blurred before me. Emptiness surrounded me.
Surrounded her.
Us.
And then the dread started. The terror that it could happen again.
That it would happen again.
He was late. He should have been home by now.
Our tear-filled gazes found the cell phone. We needed to call and make sure he was okay. Alive.
But he hated when the calls came. Every day. One after another.
Checking. Always checking. Making sure he was okay.
She pressed her fists to her head, trying to drive away the gnawing sense of doom. The doom that filled my head too.
Unable to bear it any longer, she cradled the phone and began to type, one finger pressing all the worry onto the screen.
WHERE ARE YOU? WHY AREN’T YOU HOME YET????
A phone buzzed.
Louder. Louder still.
I blinked. Bright fluorescent lights startled me.
“Ugh, my mom.” Jayden held up his cell for me to see.
I blinked again. I was in Elber’s again with Jayden. Had I ever left?
Jayden glanced at the text on the screen. “Busted. I was supposed to run in really quickly and get her bread. She gets crazy when I’m late.” He typed something back quickly. Then he grabbed a random loaf of bread and hurried to the counter. He shoved some wrinkled bills at Mr. Elber.
Mischief Night Page 3
