Текст книги "Bad Girls Don't Die"

Автор книги: Katie Alender

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

16

MRS. AMES USHERED ME BACK TO HER OFFICE.

“You have a telephone call,” she said, waving me to her desk chair. The receiver sat off the cradle.

My father is dead. My mother is dead. Kasey is dead.

“Hello?” I said, surprised that I could formulate a proper word.

“Alexis, it’s Mom.”

“What happened?” I braced myself for the worst. “What? Nothing. What do you mean?” “Dad’s okay?”

“Oh…yes, sorry,” she said, sounding only a fraction as apologetic as she should have, for giving me such a scare.

I sighed out the huge breath I’d been holding. “I talked to the police,” she said. “They made a mistake. The brakes weren’t tampered with.” “They weren’t?”

“Yes, they went over the car just now—”

“They’re positive?”

“Yes, they’re definitely sure,” she said. She drew in a slow breath. “Alexis, I’m sorry about…the way it looked last night….”

I had two options: one, tell her what Kasey did and try to explain the whole sordid mess, with Mrs. Ames breathing down my neck; or two, let it slide for now and explain later.

I went with Option Two. “You know last night wasn’t what it looked like.”

She sighed. “I have a brother, Alexis. I know that siblings can be a little too rough sometimes.”

I couldn’t believe she had somehow rationalized it to herself that way. That she had convinced herself I was capable of hitting my sister in the face.

“It’s a long story,” I said, and I felt Option One bubbling up inside me, dying to get out.

“You can tell me when I get home from work,” Mom said. “We have a few things to talk about, actually.”

Like shipping me off to a psychologist?

“And don’t think I see Kasey as blameless. She’s been kind of high maintenance lately, hasn’t she?”

I shrugged, not that she could see it.

“Are you still there?”

“Um, yeah. But I have to get to class.”

“I’m so sorry, Alexis.”

“Yeah, well,” I said. “I’m glad about the brakes.” “Me too. Okay, Lex. I’ll let you get going.” “Hey, wait—” “What?”

“Did Kasey go to school today?”

Mom paused. “I think so. Was she sick? No, I’m sure she went. She keeps talking about this research she’s doing. It’s all she can think about.”

Research?

“But she said she’d try to go by the hospital this afternoon and see your father.” Mom sighed. “I made her promise to take a break from her project—”

“What kind of project?” I asked.

“I don’t really know,” Mom said. “Something with genealogy, maybe? Did you have to do one of those?”

“…Yeah.”

“I’ve never seen her so intense about schoolwork. Maybe you two can go to the hospital together. Will you remind her?”

My mind was already swimming with thoughts of Kasey and what this newest information meant.

“Okay, if I see her,” I said. “I’d better go. Bye.” “Bye,” she said.

I hung up before she had a chance to say anything

else.

Mrs. Ames sat quietly on the far side of the sofa,

looking around the room curiously. A new perspective for her, I guess.

“Good news?” she asked.

“Great,” I answered. I couldn’t force myself to sound cheerful.

She stood up, giving me the look that means she knows I’m not a bad person, no matter what anybody else thinks. “Off to class, then,” she said gently.

“Sure thing,” I said, scooping up my bag and walking out the door.

When the final bell rang at the end of sixth period, dread washed over me. I sat at my desk for an extra ten minutes, pretending to be organizing my notes, but finally the teacher stood up and grabbed her purse.

Where was I supposed to go now? My first priority was, of course, to avoid Megan. My second was to avoid having to go home and face my mother or sister. My third (and this might win for second if the circumstances were right) was to find Carter.

Megan wasn’t waiting by my locker, thank God, but someone else was.

Pepper Laird.

I waited for her to say something about Mimi—or Megan—and I racked my brain, trying to figure out what I could say to shut her down.

But she spoke before I had a chance to.

“Did you know that Carter and I have been sort of on the verge of seeing each other for a while?” she asked in a loud, clear voice.

Um, no. And to be honest, I didn’t really care. The idea of them together wasn’t upsetting to me—because it seemed so completely impossible.

“Good for you,” I said.

Pepper twisted her sweet sixteen ring around and around her finger as we spoke.

“Nothing too serious,” she said. “But I thought for a while he might ask me to the dance.”

“Maybe he will,” I said.

“Noooooo,” she said. She was being altogether too calm for my taste, talking in a really smooth voice, like we were business associates or something. “No, you couldn’t possibly think that, because he’s taking you.”

“Not your business,” I said, slamming my locker shut and starting to walk away.

Her voice got louder. “I just thought you cared about him,” she called.

I turned around.

“You know, whether he has friends or not. Whether he fits in.” She stared straight into my eyes. “Whether he’s happy.”

I shook my head. “I have no idea what you’re—”

“My cousin was a senior at All Saints when Carter was there,” she said, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. “She told me what happened.”

I felt like a balloon that someone had let the air out of. “What are you…?” I took a step closer to her. “You know nobody here knows about that. You wouldn’t say anything—”

To Pepper’s credit, she looked truly shocked at the idea. “No!” she cried. “Hello, I have morals.”

Right. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Then why are you saying this to me like you have something hanging over Carter’s head?”

“Because you’re the one with something hanging over his head,” she said, her lips in an almost sneer. “And since you’re clearly too blind to see it, I thought I’d point it out. What do you think his life would be like if he started hanging out with you and your grotesque friends?”

I tried to imagine Carter interacting with the Doom Squad, but just couldn’t form the mental picture. Then I thought of how nice it had been at the park, just the two of us. And then I pictured an endless string of days sitting at the park—just the two of us.

It seemed a little monotonous, to be honest.

“Do you think they’d be nice to him? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing, watching him try to fit in? And then, if you ever break up, do you think his old friends will take

him back?” She frowned and leaned closer to me. “Do you think he could handle being as completely alone as you are?”

Up close, Pepper’s skin was a blanket of freckles, her eyes shallow hazel pools that seemed to let light pass right through. Her eyelashes were so pale you could hardly see them.

“I know how meaningless this must sound to someone like you. But I actually do care about Carter.” She stepped back and arranged her bag over her shoulder. “Do you?”

Was it possible that I’d become so much of a loner that I’d never be able to have a boyfriend without feeling smothered? What if I got in over my head—and then discovered that I’d dragged Carter in over his head too? But by then it’d be too late. I’d be over him. And I’d be trapped.

I watched Pepper walk all the way to the end of the hall and through the double doors.

Of all the many thoughts that sprang into my head about her, this was the one that got my attention: She was right.

It was one of those perfect fall afternoons where people can’t stop telling each other what a beautiful day it is. “Beautiful day,” the crossing guard said helpfully.

The sky stretched huge and dark blue and seemed to press down on the edges of the earth. It was warm in the sunlight, but a cool hint of breeze shook the leaves on the trees. They shimmied and quaked and reminded me of that dance move called “jazz hands,” where you stretch out your hands and wiggle your fingers.

I forced myself to stop thinking about Carter and focused on Kasey instead.

Possessed.

That had to be, like, the stupidest thing I’d ever heard.

I mean, how ridiculous was it to assume that just because Kasey was acting a little crazy, doing a few weird things, that she was actually possessed?

And anyway, Dad’s brake wires hadn’t been cut. That was big, because it proved that Kasey didn’t do it. And that was really important because “not trying to kill someone” ranked a lot lower on the psycho scale than “trying to kill someone.” And that meant that Kasey was maybe only slightly nutso instead of downright padded-room-worthy.

I slowly made my way toward Whitley Street, excuses for my sister’s behavior knitting together in my head. By the time I reached the house I practically had it all rationalized as a figment of my imagination.

But I still felt a spike of dread in my spine as I put my key in the dead bolt.

The front hall was quiet. The whole place was quiet. Surrey Middle didn’t let out until 3:15 p.m., and it was only 3:00. So, according to my fresh, optimistic outlook, I wouldn’t see my sister for a half hour or so.

Which gave me time to snoop around her bedroom. Kasey did still steal those reports. That was worth looking into, right?

First I went to the kitchen, pulled out the phone book, and called the main office of Surrey Middle School. When the secretary answered, I put on my best “adult” voice.

“Hello,” I said. “I’d like to see if one of your students was absent today.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman replied. “We only release that information to family.”

“Oh,” I said, in my normal voice. “Well, it’s my sister.”

“What’s the name?”

“Kasey Warren.”

A pause, the clicking of keys on a keyboard. “Your sister is listed as ‘present.’” “Great, thanks.”

I hung up and climbed the stairs, feeling even better. I set my stuff down outside my door and hovered for a moment outside Kasey’s bedroom.

“Stop being a wimp,” I said out loud.

The sound of my voice gave me a burst of courage. I

put my hand on the knob and turned, pushing the door open and stepping inside in one motion.

Kasey was sitting on her bed, looking out the window.

Fear flooded over me when I saw her, and I was about to say something in my own defense, when I suddenly realized she hadn’t even turned around.

I stood very still and watched her. Her eyes were wide open and she sat with her legs crossed, her long hair pulled back with barrettes, her fuzzy peach sweater glowing in the sun.

She didn’t seem to see or hear me at all.

I cleared my throat.

Nothing.

“Kase,” I whispered. She didn’t move.

Fear seized me so fiercely that tears sprang into my eyes. I took a step backward toward the hall.

“Why are you leaving?” Her voice was flat, cold.

I stopped. My fists curled so tightly that my fingernails dug into my palm.

“I just wanted to see if you were home,” I said.

“But the secretary told you I was in school, didn’t she?”

Tell me about it.

“I thought I heard something,” I said. “You’re lying.”

“Kasey…” I said. “What exactly are you doing?” She still didn’t look at me. “I’m thinking,” she answered.

“About what?”

“About something someone offered me.” “Who?”

She didn’t answer.

“Do you mean drugs?” I found myself hoping it was that easy, but with every silent second that passed as I waited for an answer, my highly precarious sunny outlook grew cloudier.

“You don’t have any friends,” Kasey said, as if the thought had just occurred to her.

“I have a few.”

“I didn’t have any friends either.”

She turned away from the window, and her eyes searched the shelves of dolls.

“I do now, though, Lexi,” she said. “I have a new friend. She says I’m…special.”

I moved a halting step closer to the bed. “I’ve always been your friend, Kasey.” I moved forward and put my hand on her shoulder, but she yanked her body away as if I’d burned her.

“Don’t touch me!” she cried.

I didn’t want her to see my trembling hands, so I stuffed them into my pockets.

“Who is she, Kasey?” I asked. “Where did you meet her?”

She looked at me for the first time, her face in shadow. All I could see of her eyes was the light glinting off them from the window.

Did I even want to know what color they were?

Suddenly my sister was off the bed and right in front of me, holding on to my forearm so tightly that the skin around her fingers was turning white.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. Her voice was small and scared.

“I’ll help you,” I said. “Kasey, maybe your new friend isn’t…nice. Maybe it’s not a good idea to take…whatever she’s offering.”

“But you don’t understand,” she said. “When I do what she tells me to, it’s like magic. Nothing is scary. Even if people are mean to me, I don’t care. And everyone does what I say.”

Magic. My heart sank back in my chest.

“What do you mean…they do what you say?”

My baby sister was possessed.

She seemed to have forgotten that she was holding my arm. The pressure slowly increased as she spoke. “I mean I can tell people things, and they just want to listen to me. They believe me. Like the attendance lady at school. I called, Lexi, and I told her to mark me as present. And she did.”

“Who…who else have you done that to?” “Officer Dunbar,” she said. Oh no.

“I went to talk to him this morning about the car,” she said. “I told him he was wrong, what he wrote on that form about the brakes—so he changed it.”

“Oh…Kasey,” I said.

She let go of my arm and went back to the window. There were no cuts or burns this time.

“I did it for you, Alexis. They were going to arrest you.”

“So it was true—the brakes…?” The “attempted murder” threat this morning—she was going to somehow pin the whole thing on me.

Kasey ducked her head and turned away.

“No, oh no, Kasey, please” I said.

“It wasn’t me, Alexis,” she said. “I didn’t cut the brake wires.”

“But you know who did?”

She raised her hand to her mouth and started nibbling on her fingernails, then shrugged.

“Kasey, Dad could have been killed.”

“I know!” she said. “But that was an accident. It was just supposed to be a joke.”

“But you didn’t do it?”

She shook her head emphatically.

“Then…who did?”

“My friend.”

None of this made sense. I felt like I was talking to the Cheshire cat.

“Kase, who is this person?”

My sister’s voice went squeaky, and she covered her face with her hands as if she was embarrassed. “She’s just someone I met.”

“Can I…meet her?”

Her fingers fell away from her face. “Maybe.” A puzzled frown pressed her lips into a pout. “I mean…maybe you already have.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

But I was beginning to.

In the hallway the other day, with the dirty socks.

“Kasey,” I said, “do you remember coming into my room last night?”

She flushed pink. “Yeah,” she said in a tiny voice.

“How’d you get that bruise on your face?”

Now her eyes flashed and she raised her chin defiantly. “You threw a book at me.”

“No,” I said. “That’s not what happened.”

She started chewing on her fingernails again.

“You don’t remember,” I said. “Because it was your friend in my room. And it was your friend in the hallway with the dirty socks. And stealing the reports from school, right?”

“I guess,” Kasey said slowly.

“Listen to me!” I said. “You got that bruise because you hit yourself in the face.” “You’re lying!” she cried.

“I never take off my rings,” I said, holding up my hand so she could see them. “If I had hit you, you would have scratches on your face.”

She touched her face, and her fingers traced the smooth skin of the bruise.

“Kase, there is no friend.” A thought dawned on me. “You have, like, multiple personalities. You just need to see a doctor and get some pills or something.”

She walked over to the window and put the palms of her hands flat against the glass.

“I know you’re lonely,” I said. “But I’ll be your friend.”

Not that schizophrenia was so great, but at least it was a medical condition. It had symptoms and a diagnosis and treatments.

She rested her head against the glass, then backed away from the window and turned to me.

“You fool,” she said. Her voice was low and hard and angry. “You cannot chase me away. I like it here.”

Then she dashed toward me, lifted her hand and gave me a shove that sent me flying across the room. I crashed into Kasey’s dresser and fell to the floor, the air completely knocked out of my lungs.

Her strength wasn’t the strength of an angry thirteen-year-old.

It wasn’t…human. But that was impossible. “Kasey—” I croaked.

“You are just jealous,” she snapped. Her voice grew thin and rasping.

I looked up into her burning green eyes.

“I want to talk to Kasey,” I said, trying to remember something, anything from the TV movies I’d seen about people with split personalities. “I want to talk to my sister. I know she’s still here.”

“You do not know anything.” But she turned away and rubbed her eyes with her balled-up hands. Her shoulders slumped, and her face relaxed into its usual pout.

Kasey was back. “Lexi…why are you down there?”

I stared up at her, unable to stop my body from shying closer to the floor. “You pushed me.”

“No I didn’t.”

Was it possible that she really didn’t remember? “…Your friend pushed me.”

She looked around the room, like I’d been talking about a real person. Then her eyes got a faraway look. “Oh,” she said.

“Who is she?” I asked. “What is she?”

Kasey hugged herself tightly and turned away.

“Please,” I begged. “Make her leave us alone.”

I saw the muscles in Kasey’s jaw clench up, then relax, then clench up again.

“Just tell her to go away,” I said. “She’s your friend, right? She’ll do what you want?”

She thought about it for a few seconds. Then she lifted a hand and studied her fingernails. “I like it, Lexi,” she said.

She liked it? Liked messing with brake wires and stealing things from school and pushing people so hard they flew across the room?

“But…” My voice wavered. “I’m still your sister, right?”

She shrugged. “Yeah.”

“So we can…we can…” We can what? I didn’t know. If only there had been a poster in the clinic: HOW TO TELL IF YOUR SIBLING IS POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL OR JUST COMPLETELY MENTAL!

I was scared out of my mind and trying to keep her talking, keep her with me.

“Don’t worry, Lexi, I haven’t made up my mind yet. I have until midnight tomorrow.”

“Kasey, I promise I will be your best friend, I will do whatever you want—”

“That’s not friendship,” she said, her mouth pulled into a tight frown. “Friendship isn’t just about doing what the other person says.”

Oh, sure, now she finds a backbone. “But isn’t she telling you what to do?”

She shook her head vigorously. “Not all the time. Sometimes she listens to my ideas.”

I really didn’t want to know, but I had to ask. “The thing with the car…whose idea was that?”

Her blue eyes narrowed and there was a hard glint in them. “I told you, she cut the brakes…but it was my idea to talk to the police.”

That was a good sign, right? That meant Kasey still cared, on some level.

“Lexi, I’m not asking for your permission. I’m not even asking for your opinion.”

Clearly not.

“I just thought you deserved an explanation.” “Kase, what if we talked to Mom about this?” “Don’t.”

“But Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t want you “No.”

Tears splashed onto my cheeks. “What am I supposed to do?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Live your life, Alexis.” Her eyes suddenly flashed from blue to green, a vivid emerald that seemed to burn right into me. “Your pathetic, lonely life.”

Then she grabbed her schoolbag and walked out, leaving me alone on the floor.

The front door slammed shut, and I collapsed, laying my head down on the carpet, crying tears of rage and fear and helplessness.

After a few minutes of intense self-pity, I forced myself to stand. I grabbed my sweatshirt and my house key and stumbled down the stairs, ignoring the sharp ache where my shoulder blade had made contact with the edge of Kasey’s dresser.

The afternoon sun was blinding after the muted light of our dark house. I stepped out onto the front porch and looked around for my sister.

Midnight tomorrow…

As my eyes adjusted and the world faded into view again, my heart sank. She was long gone. There was only one option left. I had to find Megan.

17

The football field was empty when I arrived back at the school, and something inside of me deflated. All my courage had been used up during my confrontation with Kasey, and now I was alone. And scared.

I sat down on the lowest bleacher and stared at my hands. Keep going, said the voice in my head. Go to her house. Find her.

But I just couldn’t. The longer I sat there, the more powerless I felt. Possessed or not, Kasey had almost killed our dad. With every passing minute she fell deeper under the power of whatever it was that was controlling her.

I heard chattering female voices and knew it was my last chance to get out of there before I was in it for real. I would have to face Megan, take whatever she dished out, and then grovel for her help—possibly in front of the entire Surrey High School cheer squad.

Did I have a choice? I could go home, break into the emergency cash jar, put some clothes in a backpack, and hit the road. Run away and leave the whole mess behind me. There would be plenty of room on the open road for new, smaller messes.

But it was too late to run away.

“What’s she doing here?” I recognized Pepper Laird’s voice, and the talking stopped short.

I looked up.

There they stood, toned, tanned, and all set to do high kicks and catchy chants. One thing was wrong with the picture, and I was it. If looks could kill, I would have been a charred pile of ex-Alexis on the bleacher seat.

Like a swan gliding through lily pads, Megan sailed to the front of the pack and stared down at me. Her eyes were cool, emotionless. They had none of the passion that I’d seen in them earlier when she’d offered her help. I’d waited too long.

“Don’t worry, Megan, we’ll get rid of her,” Pepper said.

“I’m calling security!” someone else said. Four cell phones flipped open.

But Megan simply looked at me. And I looked at her.

Five seconds passed. Ten. No one said a word. Finally Megan took a deep breath.

“Pepper,” she said, “please start the warm-up without me.”

Pepper stared in confusion for a moment and then obediently clapped her hands together three times. “All right!” she called. “Two laps, let’s go!”

And the cheerleaders, Pepper included, took off in two neat lines down the track.

Megan stayed. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched me.

It sounds silly to say, but seeing her standing there, I completely understood why she was so popular. There was something about her that was regal, composed. She was one of those people who never let you see them sweat. I had a vision of throwing myself at her feet, begging her forgiveness.

That was probably what it would take.

I stood up.

“I told you it would get bad,” she said. Fair enough. “Megan, I’m sorry—” “No, Alexis. Don’t apologize.” I closed my mouth.

“I get why you hate us. What they did to Beth Goldberg sucked, okay? But if we’re going to do this together, you have to trust me.”

I shook my head in confusion, but Megan mistook it for a rejection.

“I never said anything, because it sounds like I’m making excuses. But I was in Ireland with my grandmother when they put that presentation together. I wouldn’t have let them do it.” She swallowed hard. “I swear, Alexis, on my mom’s grave.”

I did not want to talk about graves and mothers.

“You don’t have to forgive me, but you have to believe me. That I’m not messing with you.” She had her arms folded in front of her, hands gripping her elbows.

It was the first time I’d ever seen her look…not perfect. Not in control.

I believed her.

“Something horrible is going on with my sister,” I said. “And I’m not a hundred percent sure, but there’s a chance…you’re right. Or she might just be completely psycho.”

“Pyscho how?”

“Like hearing voices,” I said. “Multiple personalities. Doing crazy stuff. Only…” She waited for me to finish.

“Only…superstrength isn’t really a symptom of a mental disorder, is it?”

Megan shook her head. “Sorry to disappoint you, but no.”

My head started to ache. “And, like…amazing powers of persuasion…”

She reached out and put her hand on my arm. “Trust your instinct, Alexis.”

I swallowed hard, looking at her perfectly polished red fingernails.

Her voice was gentle. “What do you really think?”

What did I think? “I think…she’s possessed.”

“I’ll help you,” Megan said immediately.

She grabbed my arm and started toward the parking lot.

“I want to know everything that’s happened,” she said. “And we need to go to your house. Whatever it is, it’s probably there.”

I looked up at the squad, almost done with their first lap. “Don’t you have to tell someone you’re leaving?”

“They’re smart girls,” she said, not stopping. “They’ll figure it out.”

A sarcastic reply made it all the way to the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it right before it slipped out. I grabbed my sweatshirt and hurried to catch up.

“So what happened?” Megan asked.

“She cut the brake wires in my mom’s car,” I said. Might as well lay all the cards on the table. “She was going to frame me for it, but somehow she convinced the police it was an accident. And she has some weird plan. She said something about midnight tomorrow.”

Megan led me to an ivory VW New Beetle. She was the only sophomore I knew who had her own car.

I glanced back at the entrance to the school. The double door began to open. Carter walked out. “Hold on,” I said.

Carter saw us, did a double take, then waved and headed straight over. “Where’ve you been?” he asked.

In spite of everything, I couldn’t keep a tiny smile off my lips.

Carter glanced at Megan questioningly, but didn’t ask. Instead he lowered his voice and looked right into my eyes. “Is everything okay?”

I shook my head.

“I’m sorry,” he said, touching my wrist lightly. The brush of his fingers against my arm would have made me melt in my shoes if Megan hadn’t been staring at us impatiently.

“You guys are going to have to do this later,” she said, flipping her cell phone open to check the time. “Alexis and I have things to do.”

Carter looked bewildered. “Where are you going? I’ll come.”

“No, you can’t,” I said, pulling my wrist away from him.

“You really can’t,” Megan said, turning toward the car. “Sorry. Come on, Alexis, let’s go.”

There wasn’t time to explain the whole situation. My

heart ached—I longed to be wrapped in his arms again, pour out my troubles, make everything feel okay, even if it wasn’t.

“Call me,” Carter said, reluctantly taking a half step back.

“I will,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“Get in,” Megan ordered from the driver’s seat. I sat down in the passenger seat and let my bag slip to the floor as Carter walked away.

I guess I sighed kind of melodramatically or something, because Megan gave me a sideways eye roll as she backed out of the parking space. I noticed how delicately her slender hands moved the gearshift, the way her fingers grasped the steering wheel, and I felt like a clumsy, galumphing oaf. As we drove away from the school, I glanced back to see Carter’s car pull out of the parking lot and turn in the other direction.

“How long have you two been…?” Megan said.

“What? We’re not. Nothing’s going on.”

“The way he was looking at you…that’s definitely something.”

“I guess Pepper thinks so too,” I couldn’t help saying. “Pepper? She likes him, but he doesn’t seem to be into her.”

“She came to my locker and had a talk with me.” “What did she say?”

I recalled the dejected look on Carter’s face, and Pepper’s words came back to me. Already I was bringing him down, hurting his feelings, leaving him on his own. “Nothing.”

“Right,” Megan said. “Because Pepper’s famous for saying nothing.”

I didn’t respond.

“Now tell me everything,” she said. “How long has the weird stuff been happening?” “Since Tuesday night,” I said. “And is it just your sister?”

Interesting question. Dad was safely tucked away in the hospital—well, perhaps “safely” wasn’t the right word. And Mom? Sure, she was distant and detached, but that was just Mom being Mom.

“Yeah, just Kasey,” I said.

“Now skip to the part about me.”

I’ll spare you the gory details, but it wasn’t long into my little story that Megan had to pull the car over to the side of the road so she could devote all of her attention to staring at me in indignant disbelief.

When I reached the part about Kasey showing up at school that morning, I hesitated. Megan was glaring at me so fiercely that I couldn’t concentrate.

“If I’d known this was going to happen, I never would have—”

She raised a finger in the air and closed her eyes. I took it as a very clear way of saying, heave me alone for a minute or I will push you out of my car.

A few seconds and some deep breaths later, she spoke. “Okay, Alexis,” she began, “I’m not going to pretend I’m happy about being cast as an evil villain in your stupid little fairy tale.”

“Megan, I didn’t know—”

“Quiet,” she said. “Let’s just put the past behind us and not worry about it.” She exhaled. “For now.”

She put the car in drive and pulled back onto the road, shaking her head.

“Well…it’s convenient,” I said at last.

“What is?”

“If it had been about somebody who didn’t believe in ghosts…” I said, but I didn’t know how to finish. A sour, empty ache growled to life in my stomach. My arms felt weak, and I closed my eyes.

“So…what changed your mind? Why did you suddenly decide you needed my help?”

“Oh God,” I said. I hadn’t even talked about what had happened at the house, Kasey’s evil hoodoo.

So I told her. As the story went on, I felt more and more ridiculous. My thirteen-year-old sister cops an attitude and I run for cover.

I waited to hear what Megan would say.

“Tomorrow at midnight…What’s Friday? Is it an important date—her birthday or something?” “No.”

She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “It’s cool that you kept her talking. You never know what she might have done otherwise.”

I hadn’t thought about it that way. The weak place in me felt a little stronger.

For the first time since we’d gotten in the car, I wondered where we were going. We were driving past the new developments where houses as big as museums were being constructed on lots so small that they hardly had space for a front or backyard. (Dad makes faces and calls them McMansions. Mom keeps quiet, which I assume means she wouldn’t mind living in one someday.)

“We’re going to my house,” Megan said. “I need to change out of my cheerleading clothes.”

“Okay,” I said.