Dead Girl Dancing

by Linda Joy Singleton

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  Dead Girl Dancing: The Dead Girl Series © 2009 by Linda Joy Singleton.

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  First e-book edition © 2010

  E-book ISBN: 978-07387-2207-8

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  I could not believe I was in the wrong body—again!

  Memo to self: Never make a promise to a dead grandmother.

  Last I knew, I was talking to Grammy Greta via an out-of-body experience. She said I had a talent for helping people and I’d make a good Temp Lifer. On the other side, my grandmother has this important job as an Earthbounder Counselor—she gives humans in crisis a time-out from their lives by sending in temporary replacements. I was so flattered by her praise that I’d promised to help her any time. But I hadn’t expected her to switch me into someone else’s body right away—especially the body of my boyfriend’s sister, Sharayah.

  Standing in front of a full-length mirror, I stared at shoulder length dark hair, curved cheek bones, an eyebrow ring and shocked eyes. Transforming from a high schooler to a college girl didn’t sound bad in theory; being mature and of legal age for a few days could be a cool experience. But being my boyfriend’s sister was sooo going to ruin my love life. Eli and I hadn’t seriously kissed yet—and now even thinking about kissing him was illegal and immoral.

  I mean, how could I make out with my boyfriend when I was his sister?

  And where was Eli’s sister? I wondered, frowning into the mirror at the pierced brow and blue eyes—not brown—staring back at me. Since I was here, did that mean Sharayah was in my body? Was she still in the coma, or waking up to the shock of her life? According to Grammy, Temp Lifers only replaced people who couldn’t deal with their problems and were in crisis mode. What was Sharayah’s crisis? And how was I supposed to help her when I didn’t know how to help myself?

  Seeing everything through a stranger’s eyes tilted my equilibrium, distorting my senses. Nothing smelled the same and my skin fit uncomfortably, closer to the bones without the cushion of extra pounds. Swiveling my hips away from the mirror made me feel like a floppy doll yanked by puppeteer strings. I steadied myself on a dresser, my elbow brushing a digital clock that flashed 4:57 a.m. Almost morning? But it seemed like I’d only been sleeping a few minutes. If the clock was right, then not only had I lost my body—but also nearly twelve hours.

  At least it was easy to guess where I was—in Sharayah’s college dorm room. If the reflection in the mirror hadn’t clued me in, there was the framed photo of the Rockingham family: Sharayah, her parents and brothers Chad and Eli. The room was only slightly bigger than a closet and clearly divided into two personalities. One side was all girly pink and organized, with matching satin pillows and a pink quilted comforter on a neatly made twin bed. A sharp contrast to the other side of the room—Sharayah’s half, I assumed, since that was where I’d awakened. Her twin bed was tangled in blankets with piles of clothes and random stuff abandoned on the floor. There was an odd smell, too; a mix of sweat, perfume, and alcohol. When I inhaled, my stomach reeled and my throat ached with bitter dryness. I ached all over, too, like I’d jogged for a whole day (and I hate exercise). When I looked down at myself, I realized the baggy shirt I was wearing over a lacy red thong was a guy’s shirt.

  Who was the guy and how did I end up with his shirt?

  This was not good.

  What had Eli told me about his sister? I remembered his hurt expression when he’d talked about her sudden personality change: dropping friends, shutting out her family, and acting wild.

  Exactly how wild? I worried.

  I spotted a black leather handbag on the end table beside Sharayah’s bed and started for it—then yelped when I bumped my foot on an empty wine bottle, which rolled under the bed and clinked like it had hit another bottle. Someone had been doing some serious partying … and I had a sick feeling it was me.

  Did Sharayah’s crisis have to do with too much partying? Or was she having romantic problems with her (shirtless) boyfriend? I couldn’t even begin to guess until I found out more about her. So I opened the leather handbag and found a hair brush, an earring shaped like a skull, cherry lip gloss, an iPod, keys, a cell phone, and a wallet with Sharayah’s driver’s license showing she’d recently turned twenty-one. There were also two credit cards, a college ID, postage stamps, a restaurant receipt—and twelve hundred dollars in cash.

  “Wow!” I exclaimed, flipping through the crisp green hundred-dollar bills.

  Ordinarily, lots of money would inspire whoops for joy—instead, my worries multiplied. Why would a college girl carry around so much cash? I doubted it was for anything worthwhile like textbooks or tuition. And my thoughts darkened. I hated to suspect Sharayah of anything illegal—she was Eli’s sister after all—and if she got in serious trouble, he’d be devastated. The crisp green bills seemed to burn my fingers. I dropped them back into the purse.

  Picking up Sharayah’s cell phone, I punched in Eli’s cell number, envisioning him sleeping peacefully. My head throbbed so much there wasn’t room for any guilt about waking him. This was an emergency and I needed him; that was all that mattered. Hurry, answer! I urged, listening to ringing as I walked over to Sharayah’s family portrait, running my finger across the unruly curl of Eli’s hair that waved across his forehead. Another lifetime ago (actually only a few days ago) I’d looked at a copy of this exact picture in Eli’s room. He wasn’t athletic or cover-model pretty like his brother Chad, but when I looked into his eyes, I saw loyalty, humor, intelligence … and I missed him.

  “Huh?” Eli said groggily, after about eight rings.

  “Eli!” My heart jumped at his voice. �
��I’m so glad you’re there!”

  “Who is … ohmygod! Sharayah! Is it really you?”

  “Uh … sorry but no,” I said in a lower-pitched, melodious voice I’d never heard before. “I’m not her.”

  “What are you talking about? Do you want to talk to Mom or Dad?”

  “No! I called to talk to you.”

  “What is it? Are you in trouble?”

  “Not exactly—but I’m afraid Sharayah is.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “Eli, I’m not—” I sucked in a shaky breath. “I’m not your sister.”

  “No matter what you’ve done, Shari, you’ll always be my sister. Nothing can be that bad and you know we’re always here for you. Are you okay? Mom and Dad are worried sick, I mean, you didn’t come home for Christmas! What were we supposed to think?”

  “Eli … I know I sound like your sister … but it’s Amber.” I braced myself for his reply, knowing that being in the wrong body was unbelievable—but it wasn’t like this was the first time. Only yesterday I’d been a wealthy, gorgeous, disturbed girl from school named Leah Montgomery. Eli knew to expect the unexpected with me. It was one of the many things I liked (maybe even loved) about him.

  “Amber?” he repeated. “Amber Borden?”

  “How many Ambers do you know?” I sighed. “It happened again.”

  “This isn’t possible. You can’t be Amber—she’s still in the hospital. I was with her yesterday until visiting hours ended, hoping she’d wake up, but she never did.”

  “That’s because I’m not there anymore. I think Sharayah is taking my place. I was shocked when I woke up in your sister’s dorm room—and her body.”

  “No way!”

  “It’s true. I can hardly believe it myself.”

  “But you can’t be my sister!”

  “Only on the outside,” I told him. “Inside I’m still the same directionally challenged, chocolate-obsessed math geek. The last time I saw you—yesterday, I guess—we were in the hospital waiting for the magical switch from Leah’s body to mine. After we kissed, I saw this dazzling light and talked to Grammy. I thought everything was going to be okay—until a few minutes ago.”

  “What went wrong?” he demanded. “Leah acted like she was herself again, but you just kept on sleeping and no one could wake you up—even the doctors couldn’t figure it out.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m a Temp Lifer.”

  “Huh? A what?”

  “Temp Lifers are like body doubles—stepping in for the rough scenes when someone can’t deal with their life role. Only instead of working for Hollywood, Temp Lifers report to the other side,” I explained, although it was hard to describe something I didn’t fully understand.

  My grandmother had said Temp Lifers were usually souls who had passed over, except in rare cases when a living person (like me) helped out. As with anything good, there was a bad side, too: Dark Lifers. These renegade Temp Lifers hijacked human bodies to avoid returning to the light. I’d had a creepy encounter with one and never ever wanted to go through that again.

  “Let me get this straight,” Eli said, as if trying to be calm even though I could tell he was upset. “Instead of returning to your own body, you swapped with my sister?”

  “Yes.”

  “So while I was waiting for you to wake up, holding your hand and saying … well, things I would never say to my sister … it was her and not you?”

  “Um … yeah.” I bit my lip. “But I doubt she heard you. She might not even be there. I don’t really know how this all works. I swear I didn’t know this was going to happen when I offered to help my grandmother. I didn’t think she’d really switch me.”

  “You didn’t think at all,” he said bitterly. “Finally we hear from my sister and you’re not even her.”

  “This sucks for me, too. I’m alone in a strange place instead of with my real family. I hoped to be back with them by now … and with you, too. I really miss you, Eli. I was looking forward to being in my own body and spending a lot of time with you.”

  “I wanted that too. Only now we can’t … well … anything.”

  “Yeah. I freaked when I looked in the mirror and saw your sister. I mean, YOUR SISTER. How could Grammy do this to me?” Tears swelled in my eyes. “Everything is so messed up. I just want to be me again.”

  “Ask your grandmother to switch you back.”

  “Don’t you think I would if I knew how?” I wiped my eyes and gold flashed from the elegant bracelet on my wrist. It looked expensive, the sort of bling I dreamed of affording someday when I became a famous entertainment agent. But at that moment I’d give anything to wear my cheap “lucky” rainbow braided bracelet. Grammy said if I was ever in trouble to say a “magic” chant and twist the bracelet to contact her, but I didn’t even know where the bracelet was. Without it, I was lost—literally.

  “Isn’t there anything you can do?” Eli asked me.

  “Wait to hear from Grammy, I guess. She told me she’s never far away. At least this is only a temporary job so once Sharayah rests a few days and is strong enough to deal with her problems, I should change back.” I hope.

  “Only a few days?” Eli sounded relieved. “That’s not too bad … it could even turn out to be a good thing.”

  “Good?” I asked skeptically.

  “Good for my family. My parents are really hurt because Sharayah won’t visit or even talk to us.”

  “You said she didn’t come for Christmas, so her problems started over three months ago?”

  “At least,” he said angrily. “A few weeks after Thanksgiving. We blame her boyfriend—some older guy named Gabe. She wouldn’t tell us anything about him but everything changed when they started going out. She switched roommates—dumping Hannah who’s been her closest friend since preschool. We heard from her other friends, too, wanting to know why she wasn’t returning calls. The only time we heard from her was when she needed money.”

  “About money,” I said, with an uneasy glance down at Sharayah’s purse. “Does she … uh … have a job?”

  “I doubt it. She’s majoring in pre-med and her college load is too heavy for anything except volunteering at clinics. But she’s changed so much that I have no clue what she’s been doing. Let me know what you find out. Now that I think about it, I’m glad you’re there. If my sister is so stressed out she needs a temporary replacement, who better for the job?”

  “Yay, me,” I said with zero enthusiasm.

  “You won’t be alone. After I work out some details—like borrowing a car from my parents—I’ll drive there.”

  “Really? You’ll drive all the way to … ” I paused, realizing I didn’t even know what city I was in.

  “You’re in San Jose,” he said, chuckling.

  That wasn’t too far—only a few hours’ drive. I suddenly felt much better. “I’ll be here waiting. It’s not like I can go anywhere else. I doubt I even have a car.”

  “Actually you do—if you can call that pint-sized Geo a car. Dad about had a heart attack when Shari bought that car instead of getting something from his dealership. That was only the beginning of her problems.”

  “She’ll be okay,” I assured him.

  “But will you?” he asked, so sympathetically that I felt like crying and had to swallow hard to stay calm.

  I didn’t know how to answer; I was reluctant to admit I was scared and worried I’d screw up Sharayah’s life as well as my own. I wanted Eli’s respect, not his pity, and the self-help books I studied advised stuff like “nothing is sexier than confidence” and “never show fear.” So I assured him everything was fine, that I would do a great job as a Temp Lifer and successfully solve Sharayah’s problems.

  For a moment I actually believed I could do this—like I was Super Amber and could achieve anything. But I guess my super powers didn’t include talking with guys, because there was this awkward silence between us, as if we were both waiting for the other to say something romantic. But
who knew if there even was an “us”? We hadn’t gone out on a real date, since I’d spent most of our time together in someone else’s body.

  “Well … um … ” I finally said oh-so-not-brilliantly.

  “I better … you know … go,” he said, just as brilliantly.

  “You should … I guess.”

  “I guess … but Amber?”

  “Yes? Yes?” My heart fluttered.

  “I just want to say … ”

  “What?”

  “That I … I … ”

  My cell phone beeped, flashing an incoming text message. I swore at the stupid timing of the stupid call, then realized Eli might think I was swearing at him and started to apologize as I hit the “stop” button to prevent another stupid beep from interrupting my conversation. Only the phone was a newer model than I’d ever used before and instead of shutting off the beep, I hung up on Eli.

  Damn! Not the romantic way I wanted to end our conversation. I considered calling him back, but didn’t want to go through that whole awkward good-bye thing again. Besides he’d be here in a few hours and then we’d talk—really talk.

  The text message indicator kept flashing, so I hit a few buttons until one seemed to work. There was no name of the sender, only an unknown phone number and a short message:

  I M WATCHING U.

  I flung the phone across the room like it was on fire. Then I raced over to the window with acute paranoia. The blinds were drawn but not completely closed, so I peered through them, seeing only inky night and the dim glow of street lights. Except for the faint noise of distant traffic, the night world was still and silent. But anyone could lurk in the dark; uninvited, unseen … unfriendly.

  Was someone out there staring up at me?

  Grabbing the blind’s cord, I shut out the night, yanking so hard the cord dug into my palm. But I hardly noticed the pain as I sagged against a desk, my pulse racing. No one could see inside now so I should be safe … only I didn’t feel safe.

  It was just a crank message, I assured myself. Still, I had this prickly sensation in the back of my neck—why threaten me? But what was I thinking? This wasn’t about me. This phone belonged to Sharayah. So the text was meant for her—probably a friend messing around or the “shirtless” boyfriend’s perverted idea of flirting.