by Alicia Rades
But music . . . I might be able to work with that. “My boyfriend is in a band. Not the school band like me. They’re more into pop, but they write their own songs. You should check them out sometime. They’re actually going to be playing at my mom’s reception.”
Sage shrugged. “There are some local bands I’ve been meaning to check out, but I don’t know. I don’t really have the time.” She bit her lip nervously like she wasn’t telling me the whole truth. I got the feeling it was about whatever she was afraid of.
“Maybe you could give me your number and I could text you when their next performance is,” I suggested.
“Oh, uh, I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t really give out my number.”
“I understand,” I said as kindly as I could, but I was actually disappointed.
“But you seem really nice,” she said with a shy smile. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to actually get out once in a while.”
I grinned, perhaps too excitedly. I would be able to see her again and maybe get some more answers! At the same time I got excited about getting her number, I realized that it was too easy. I could only wonder what would go wrong later.
3
My first indication that something was wrong happened when we got in the car. We had purchased our dresses, and Mom had even bought me the pearl earrings. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and opened the Facebook app, hoping to learn more about Sage on her profile. I found a few other Sage Andersons online, but based on the profile pictures, none of them were her. I tried Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram but didn’t find a single profile matching the girl I’d met in the bridal shop. I even turned to Googling her name, but all I came up with was the social profiles of other girls whose pages I already looked at.
How could a girl about my age not have a Facebook account? Or maybe her profile was buried beneath all the other results. I hadn’t realized Sage was a common name, let alone that there was more than one Sage Anderson in the world. I tried narrowing my search but still couldn’t find her.
Then a thought hit me. What if the Sage I met at the bridal shop wasn’t the girl I was supposed to save? What if her last name wasn’t Anderson and I was focusing on the wrong person? What if one of the Sage Andersons showing up in my search was the girl Melissa warned me about?
No, that didn’t seem right. It had to be the girl in the bridal shop. No matter how long I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a clear answer.
Robin and I had planned to hang out after my shopping trip since I was already in the city and that’s where he lived, but I called him disappointedly and told him I couldn’t make it. I didn’t tell him about Sage yet because I hoped I would have more answers after we tried contacting Melissa.
Robin and I had been dating since our trip to Florida last Thanksgiving when I rescued Hope and learned about Robin’s car accident that led to his prosthetic leg. Our relationship was somewhat odd because his uncle Teddy was engaged to my mom, so in a few short weeks we’d technically be step-cousins, but we’d long gotten over that fact, and no one else seemed to mind since we weren’t blood related.
But I couldn’t hang out with him right now, not when a girl’s life depended on me. He didn’t ask me why I couldn’t come over, but he did ask if I was alright.
“I’m fine,” I told him honestly. “After we finished shopping, we realized we had something else to do, and it’s not something that can wait until the wedding.”
He seemed to understand even though I wasn’t telling him the whole truth. I wasn’t exactly lying to him either, but I didn’t want to worry him.
After I ended my call with him, I found Emma’s number in my contacts. She was my best friend and knew about my abilities, too. Emma had even been trying to channel her inner psychic over the past few months and was getting really good at it. The way my mom put it, Emma didn’t have a natural connection to the other side like I did, but since everyone is mildly psychic, the work she’d put into practicing had made her a bit more psychic than the average person. I told her briefly about Melissa and Sage and that we were holding another séance.
“That’s so cool,” Emma raved. She was always excited when I brought up anything related to the paranormal, and she had taken it upon herself to research the crap out of anything supernatural. We even had regular practice sessions together. I knew Emma probably wanted Derek to join us, but even after all this time, he was still a bit of a skeptic.
When we arrived home, the house was empty. Teddy had said that since we’d be gone anyway, he might as well work the weekend at the station. Even though Mom and Teddy weren’t married yet, he’d completely moved in a few months ago.
I hung up my lavender dress in my closet, which felt oddly depressing thanks to Melissa’s warning. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Picking out my maid of honor dress was supposed to be fun. I lingered at my closet door for a few seconds, staring at the dress. But it will be worth it, I thought, if I can save her.
I forced my gaze off the dress and headed back to the living room. On my way out of my room, I caught a glimpse of my crystal ball on my dresser. I made a mental note to try that later if the séance didn’t work. Sadly, crystal ball gazing was one of the skills I still couldn’t quite get down.
Mom already had candles placed around the kitchen table. When I walked into the room, I made a note of how there were six chairs around the table but there would only be five of us conducting the séance. I wondered briefly what it would be like if Teddy filled that empty chair.
When I first found out about my—and my mom’s—abilities, Teddy didn’t know either. I’d helped Mom tell him, and he seemed accepting of it. Only later did I find out that he had a heightened sense of intuition, a type of psychic power, although it wasn’t as strong as the rest of ours. I wasn’t entirely sure what Teddy was capable of, but the way I understood it, he and Emma were at about the same level. They were both believers with mild abilities.
I still couldn’t pinpoint why there were so many psychic people in my life. Part of me wondered if it was just more common than I thought and that everyone who was psychic thought they were a freak and tried to hide it. Another part of me wondered if maybe it was the universe’s way of helping me learn to accept my abilities.
Emma came in the door just as my mom lit the first candle. She was my best friend, so there was no need for her to knock. She dropped her duffel bag and pulled me into a hug that sizzled with excitement.
“I know hosting a séance usually means bad news for someone,” Emma said, “but it’s so cool to be a part of it again.”
I smiled. Her enthusiasm lifted my mood slightly. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Sophie and Diane shuffled around the house to shut the shades. We definitely didn’t want anyone to see what we were up to. We still didn’t know how the community would react if they found out the town’s Halloween and herbal gurus had real powers.
I eyed Diane as she lowered the shade above the sink, and I wondered something out loud. “Do you think we’ll ever tell people?”
“What?” my mom asked in confusion.
I pulled my eyes off Diane and looked at my mother. Drawing out a chair at the table, I sat down as I spoke. “I was just wondering what would happen if the community knew about us. Do you think they’d accept us?”
My mother shook her head in amusement. “Crystal, I don’t think you realize how lucky you are. We weren’t lucky enough to have a network of psychics at our fingertips when we were growing up. My grandma was psychic, but that was it for me. Sophie did have a big family of psychics. But even so, we’ve all learned that not everyone is so accepting of the paranormal. I think it’s best if the town went on believing Divination was based off the make believe. The ones who understand the true nature of some of our products will seek us out. Other people don’t always understand.”
I let her words sink in for a moment. Maybe I had been too lucky lately.
“Okay,” I nodded and left it at that,
but her words only made me wonder when the time would come for a friend to turn away from me because of my gift.
My mom flipped off the lights, and everyone situated themselves around the table. Emma and I had only been to one séance before, the one we held to contact Olivia Owen’s ghost, which ended in me rescuing a classmate from an abusive relationship. Even though I was fairly inexperienced in séances, I was confident that if we could contact Melissa, I had the best team of people to do it sitting in my kitchen.
“Last time, we all held hands,” I said, “so I think that’s what we should do now.” I gripped onto Emma’s hand to my left and my mom’s to my right.
“Remember, Crystal,” my mom said, “this is your ghost, so you’ll have to lead the séance.”
I nodded. Even though I’d been doing my best over the past few months to confront my abilities and get better at them, I wasn’t entirely sure about doing this. Is there another Sage out there I’m supposed to meet? Will Melissa make contact?
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. My mind told me to rush through this to get the answers that might save a girl’s life, but I also knew that nothing would come if I hurried.
I spoke softly and gave a gentle reminder to everyone to clear their minds. I tried to let go of any uncertainties I had. When I met Melissa in the dressing room and she faded, it seemed like she wasn’t coming back. Would a séance work, then? I didn’t know.
I also couldn’t help but notice that none of us knew anything about Melissa. All I knew was her face and her name. I didn’t even have a last name. How could the rest of them focus on someone they couldn’t even put a face to? Last time, we had something that belonged to the ghost: Olivia’s volleyball jersey. This time, we had nothing.
Luckily, I’d practiced enough over the past few months that I was able to push these thoughts aside and clear my head. I opened my mind to the other side and encouraged everyone else to do the same. I could feel a heightened energy in the room, one that told me we were doing everything right, but I couldn’t feel a spirit anywhere nearby.
“Melissa,” I called out after a few minutes. I wished I had gotten her last name so I had more to go by. “You told me to help Sage. I need more answers. I need more so that I can help her.”
We sat in silence for several long minutes. Nobody moved or spoke. We were all so concentrated on the spiritual realm that if someone was listening in on us, they wouldn’t hear a thing. Even the breathing around the table had slowed to hardly make a sound.
“Melissa,” I called out several minutes later. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Was it my uncertainty in this task that made it impossible? Was it because I had very little to go on to get her to come to me? All I could do was call her name.
So that’s what I did. Another half hour must have passed. Every few minutes, I called Melissa’s name. I periodically reminded everyone to clear their minds. Even with all the thoughts racing around in my own head, I felt confident in my connection with the other side. I knew I had cleared my mind enough that I should come up with something, but nothing happened.
After what must have been 45 minutes of silence, I finally broke the circle. “She’s not going to show,” I told everyone. Hadn’t I already known that since she disappeared in the dressing room? I knew she wasn’t coming back to help me, and that fact scared me, like I was all alone on this. Then I gazed around the table and remembered I wasn’t alone.
“Even though Melissa probably isn’t going to show up again, we can still save Sage,” I told them with confidence. “We have until the wedding.” A shiver traveled down my spine when I realized how little time that truly was.
4
I slumped to my bed in disappointment. “I can’t let her die,” I told Emma.
“Crystal, she’s not going to die. She has you on her side.” Emma sat next to me on my bed.
I gave a smile at her compliment, but I wasn’t quite sure. In the past, it seemed like I’d never paid enough attention to my visions. This time, I wasn’t going to make that mistake. Still, no one’s life had depended on me before. Sure, I’d helped people who were in danger, but I’d never had to save someone from death.
The questions that sprang to my head only seemed to create a bigger problem. How was I going to prevent it? What could I do? How was she even going to die?
“I feel like I just wasted an hour. Trying to contact Melissa was useless, and now Sage is another hour closer to dying.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Crystal,” Emma said. “I have a good feeling about this. You’re going to save her.”
With Emma’s practice, she’d become talented at assessing situations and determining if they were good or bad. At first, I didn’t believe in her abilities, but I’ve started trusting them more and more. So when Emma said she had a good feeling about my involvement, it really did lift my spirits.
“I hope you’re not lying to me,” I told her, but I didn’t think she was.
“Cross my heart and hope to die.” Emma drew an imaginary X over her heart.
I paused for a moment and swallowed deeply. “You probably shouldn’t say things like that.”
She frowned. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
I stood from the bed and paced around the room to ease my nerves. “I don’t want to waste any time trying to figure out how Sage is going to die and how I’m going to help her, but I don’t know what else to do. I already tried to learn more about her online, but it’s like she doesn’t exist on the Internet. Don’t you think that’s weird?”
Emma nodded and shifted on the bed. “That is really weird. Doesn’t she at least have a Facebook account?”
I shook my head. “Not that I could find. I’m wondering if the girl from the bridal shop is the same girl Melissa warned me about. I mean, why else would a ghost warn me about a girl named Sage if I was only going to meet a girl with that very same name minutes later? This doesn’t make sense.”
Before Emma could offer her opinion, my phone began buzzing in my pocket. “Hello?” I answered, sliding back down onto the bed.
“Crystal,” Robin greeted.
Emma raised her eyebrows. “Is it Robin?” she whispered, leaning in until I could feel her breath on the side of my face.
I swatted her away but couldn’t help but smile at Robin’s voice despite the troubles I was having. “Yeah?”
“I just wanted to call and see how your thing went. Did you get everything figured out?”
“Not really,” I answered honestly. “But I’m glad you called because I just remembered something. I was wondering when your next gig was. There’s a girl I met today when we were shopping who said she wanted to check you guys out.” I only hoped I wasn’t wasting time on the wrong girl.
“We’re playing this coming weekend at Bradshaw Park. I already told you about that. It’s for Asher’s brother’s birthday party, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess I forgot that was this weekend. You don’t mind if I invite someone?”
“Nah, Troy won’t care if more people come. He’ll probably just feel more popular or something.”
“Thanks.” I wanted to steer the conversation toward Sage and her death so I could confide in Robin. To hell with him worrying. I knew if I wanted this relationship to last, I couldn’t hide anything from him, not even things related to my abilities. “Um, about the girl I’m bringing. I have something to tell you about her.”
“Uh, okay.”
“When we were shopping for my dress, I saw this ghost.” I paused to gauge his reaction.
Emma shifted on the bed and picked at her fingernails like she wasn’t listening, even though I knew she was invested in every detail of the conversation.
“Okay,” Robin said slowly as if he didn’t know where I was going with this.
I stood again and paced a few steps around the room before flashing a glance at Emma, looking for some way to help explain it all. “She gave me a warning and told me a girl named Sage wa
s going to die soon. I’m still not sure—”
“Wait,” Robin interrupted. “Sage who?”
“Anderson. Well, that’s what the ghost said.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re telling me a ghost told you that Sage Anderson is going to die?”
“Yeah. What?” I paused for a second, and then realization sank in. “Do you know her?”
“She goes to my school. I mean, we’re not exactly best friends, but she’s my lab partner. Crystal, if Sage is going to die, we have to save her.”
My knees rapidly grew weak. I sank back down onto the bed to steady myself.
“Crystal, what’s wrong?” Emma asked.
I stuck a hand up to tell her to give me a minute. “Does the Sage you know work at Special Day Bridal?”
“I think so.”
Suddenly, I became very excited. Perhaps the emotion was a bit unwarranted, but at least that meant the girl I met today was the girl I was supposed to save. Granted, she was in danger, but I wasn’t completely lost and wondering whose death I could prevent.
“Robin,” I said breathlessly into the receiver. “You’re my connection!” I had been looking for something that would connect us earlier, and now Sage and I had something in common: Robin.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Are you at least close enough that she might hang out with you?”
I could practically hear Robin shrug on the other end of the line. “I guess so. She doesn’t really hang out with anyone, but maybe if I asked her . . .”
I mentally added that bit of information to the weirdness surrounding Sage. I mean, it wasn’t like she was socially awkward or super ugly or anything. How could she be a loner?
“You guys are practicing at Asher’s on Tuesday night, right? What if you invited her to come watch you practice? Then Emma and I can come over, too.” I was happy the end of basketball season a few weeks ago also marked the end of pep band for the school year, so I was finally free to watch them practice. “I don’t think I can wait a whole week to learn more about her,” I added.