“What?”
“The release of the energy wave back into the universe was an extraordinary thing. Not only did you essentially stop the war and vanquish all the demons, including Dubu, but you also restored the future of the luiseach race. We predict that new luiseach babies will be joining our community—our new community, our reunited community—for centuries, millennia to come.”
I smile uncertainly. “So that’s a good thing, right?”
“Yes. It’s a miraculous, wonderful thing. But”—Aidan falters, searching for words—“that, combined with the fact that your heart and brain activity stopped during the time you and Dubu were fighting on the spiritual plane, means you have lost your luiseach powers. You are now a human. I’m sorry, Sunshine.”
I am now a human.
I sit up in my bed—or I try to anyway, before the pain in my chest and head and everywhere else makes me stagger back against the pillows. I’m no longer luiseach.
I am now a human.
The ramifications are so staggering, I can’t even think straight, form a reaction. Does this mean Aidan won’t want to have anything to do with me anymore? What about Helena and Lucio and all the other luiseach?
A tall, handsome doctor walks into the room. “Sunshine, it’s very nice to see you awake. We’re going to need to do an examination and run some tests. Could we have some privacy? Kat, you can stay of course.”
“I appreciate that, Dr. Kothari.”
“We’ll be right outside,” Nolan says, pointing to the hall.
Aidan leans over and kisses my forehead. Wait, has he ever done that before?
“You get some rest. We can talk later. But I just want you to know: nothing changes between us. I am your father, and you are my daughter. In fact, I feel quite privileged.”
“Really?” I say, touched.
But before we can continue with the poignant father-daughter moment, he rises to his feet and walks briskly out the door.
Yup, some things are still the same.
Now I feel exhausted, spent, full of confusion and relief and sadness and about a million other emotions.
A couple of nurses come into the room carrying collection tubes and syringes and all kinds of other equipment. Dr. Kothari and Mom confer in quiet voices as they scroll through a laptop computer together, discussing my vitals and stats.
The temperature in the room dips.
Obviously it can’t be a light spirit, as I’m not a luiseach anymore. Maybe the air conditioning is wonky?
The temperature dips some more.
I blink.
Oh my gosh.
Victoria and Anna are hovering across the room. They look so… happy. Joyous. Victoria holds Anna’s hand tightly—Anna’s other hand is clutching her white owl—and they’re smiling at each other, mother and daughter finally reunited.
I know what I have to do.
I close my eyes and try to help them both cross over.
I don’t know how to say good-bye to you both. But I have to. I want to. You belong together in the light, forever and ever.
Am I crazy? What am I thinking? I’m not a luiseach anymore. I’m being delusional—there’s no way I can pull this off… but how am I able to experience them now if I’m no longer luiseach?
A peaceful calm settles over the room as I open my eyes in surprise.
Anna drifts over and hands me her stuffed white owl. “Take care of him for me. Good-bye, Sunshine!” she whispers.
She goes back to her mother, and the two of them bloom into a beautiful ball of light.
And disappear.
CHAPTER 46
Eighteen Candles
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Sunshine! Happy birthday to you!”
I lean over the cake laughing and blow out the seventeen—no, eighteen—candles as my friends and family finish singing. They’re all here, sitting around our dining room table: Mom, Aidan, Nolan, Ashley, Lucio…
But not Helena. Because Lucio has brought along two extra guests.
Mom starts cutting the cake, which is my favorite—carrot with extra walnuts and raisins. happy 17th birthday, sunshine! is spelled out in yellow across a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. A bright sun with dark sunglasses grins in the upper-left-hand corner, and pink and orange flowers form a cheerful border across the bottom.
“Of course you get the S,” Mom says, putting a big slice of cake on my plate. “You’ve always insisted on the S ever since you were old enough to point.”
“Knowing Sun, that must’ve been when she was, like, one day old?” Ashley jokes. “J-K, Sunny-G. But let’s face it, you are a brainiac.”
“Guilty,” I say with a grin.
She hugs me, and I hug her back. I’m so glad my best friend is here to celebrate the big one-seven with me. After school ended in late June she went back to Austin but talked her parents into letting her drive up here for my birthday and beyond. Senior year doesn’t start for a few weeks, so we both have some time to chill and hang out.
Yesterday Ashley insisted on taking me on a back-to-school shopping trip. I said it had to be at the Salvation Army or Goodwill or a thrift shop, and she not only agreed but bought herself a cute vintage sweater at the new used-clothing store downtown. I let her buy me some new lipstick at the drug store. So, détente. And progress.
I don’t think Jane Austen’s spirit will be too offended if she sees Wild ’n Sizzling Scarlet on my lips.
It’s a rare sunshiney day in Ridgemont, and faint beams of light pour in through the windows. We play a Hell Girls cassette on Mom’s ancient cassette player in honor of Victoria. Oscar and Lex Luthor are parked under the table, patiently waiting for scraps of cake to fall—or for Ashley to sneak them crumbs from her slice, which she totally does.
Lucio sits between his parents, Argi and Jairo, his arms draped around both their shoulders. His dad looks like a taller, older version of him. His mom is small and pretty, with long dark hair and serious eyes. She brought me a pair of turquoise earrings for a birthday present and thanked me for my being such a good friend to their son.
Unbeknownst to Aidan or anyone else, Helena lost her nerve sixteen years ago. She wanted to have Argi and Jairo executed for what she considered to be their betrayal in not giving up my location. She couldn’t go through with it, but she also couldn’t have the rest of the luiseach community perceive her as weak.
So she pretended to go through with the execution. At the same time she lied to Argi and Jairo, telling them their young son Lucio had died of some rare illness, and sent them away, exiling them to a remote island off the coast of Argentina.
After the almost-apocalypse in April Helena confessed to Aidan what she’d done. Aidan was beyond furious with her but also relieved and overjoyed that Argi and Jairo were alive.
When they broke the news to Lucio, he cried for a long time. Helena apologized to him repeatedly, but he didn’t offer forgiveness—just demanded to see his parents immediately.
Aidan arranged for Argi and Jairo to be flown to Ridgemont to be with their son.
And now they’re together, and I’ve never seen Lucio so happy.
So much tragedy.
So much joy.
“More cake, sweetie?” Mom asks me.
“No, thanks. Listen, can I be excused? I need to go upstairs for a second.”
Her face immediately clouds with worry. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine! I’m good! This is an amazing party. I just need to, um, take a mental health moment.”
“Got you. Take all the time you need, Sunshine State.”
Nolan catches my eye as I head toward the stairs. He starts to rise from his chair, then nods and sits back down. Still a mind-reader, which is one of the reasons I love him.
Upstairs I throw off my shoes and flop down on my bed. There’s no AC in this house, so my room is actually warm, even a little stuffy. I open the window and lie back down. A breeze blows in, smelling like pine need
les and fresh grass as well as roses from the bushes Mom planted in the backyard last summer.
I’m now seventeen, which would have made me a less vulnerable luiseach. But I’m not a luiseach anymore. It’s been four months since I stopped being a super-guardian angel with superpowers… since I’ve seen any spirits, light or dark.
Now I’m a mere mortal like everyone else.
However, I no longer have difficult, sometimes impossible luiseach duties that fill up my days and nights and tear at my emotions and yank me in two different directions 24/7. I actually have time—normal time, like normal people. Since April I’ve finished junior year with straight A’s. I’ve reread all my Jane Austen books. I’ve dusted off my Nikon F5 and taken a bunch of photos downtown and in the state park. I’ve texted, spoken to, or Skyped with Ashley almost every day. I’ve had weekly pizza and movie nights with Mom.
And last but not least, I’ve gotten to spend time with my boyfriend. For real. Aidan finally lifted the spell, although he said I had basically outgrown it anyway—rendered it moot. Which explains why Nolan and I were able to touch so much without me getting queasy.
Since the official spell-lifting Nolan and I have—how to put it in Jane Austen terms?—exchanged much affection. (Translation: kissed, hugged, held hands nonstop.)
Still, I kind of miss being a luiseach.
But I guess I’m stuck with normal for the next how many ever years I have left in my human life span.
“Sunshine? It’s time to open more presents!” Mom calls up the stairs.
“Coming, Mom!”
I rise out of bed and smooth my frizzball, which has grown out to a respectable frizzball length. Things aren’t so bad, though, all things considered. In fact, my life is one big, huge birthday present. I have Mom. And Aidan. And Nolan. And Ashley. And Lucio.
And even Helena, who’s gone back to Peru with the rest of the council. Aidan joins them from time to time to help reorganize the new, united luiseach community.
The last time he was there, he reported back that Aura has finally started participating in council activities again. Just barely, but it’s something.
I reach into my pocket and finger Zalea’s small gray rock. I always carry it with me now for luck. My luiseach knife is locked away in a safe in my bedroom closet. These days it’s more of a museum artifact than a weapon. Maybe I should consider giving it to Aidan to give to one of the other luiseach.
As I start to leave the room I glance back at Dr. Hoo, who’s resumed his usual place on the shelf next to my glass unicorn collection. Next to him is Anna’s white stuffed owl.
Anna did ask me to take care of him, after all.
Just then I think I see Dr. Hoo wink at me.
I must be seeing things. I stare at him for a moment.
He winks again.
I smile. Maybe Aidan wasn’t telling me the whole truth after all. Typical.
I wink back at Dr. Hoo and head back to my party.
Also by Paige McKenzie (with Alyssa Sheinmel)
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
The Awakening of Sunshine Girl
Praise for the Sunshine Girl series
“I was on the edge of my seat from the very first page.”
—R. L. Stine, author of Goosebumps
“The plot moves along smoothly and rapidly, and the writing is graceful and wonderfully polished… It’s hard not to finish The Haunting of Sunshine Girl.”
—Time Magazine
“McKenzie’s skill telling the story of a young girl who inadvertently moves into a haunted house with her clueless mother is a thing that slips up behind and puts a cold white hand right down your spine and just won’t let go.”
—Wes Craven, filmmaker
“For a truly ‘adorkable’ heroine and a lot of mischief and Monopoly-playing ghosts, pick this up!”
—USA Today
“Teens who loved Goosebumps will be spooked and satisfied by the adventures of Sunshine.”
—New York Daily News
“For Harry Potter and Twilight fans, get ready for The Haunting of Sunshine Girl.”
—Yahoo!
“Enthralling! Shivers of anticipation creep up and terrifying, ancient revelations come thick and fast. Sunshine Girl is a winner for fans of teen horror!”
—Anya Allyn, author of The Dark Carousel series
“Suspenseful, exciting and endlessly entertaining.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie is based on the YouTube web series phenomena and will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to school and community library YA fiction collections.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Sunshine’s powers are unique. She doesn’t just help humans transition to the afterlife; her empathy allows her to feel connections to their whole lived experience, a power that proves both dangerous and useful… Sunshine continues to be a likable protagonist who strives to grow into herself and her unusual role in life. A cliff-hanger ending will have fans clamoring for the third installment.”
—Booklist
“Read if you dare!”
—Seventeen Magazine
“Fans ready to graduate from R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps (Scholastic) or those looking for a mix of Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew and DC Comic’s Scooby Doo will find just what they need in this paranormal series. Verdict: Teens who enjoyed the previous volume or the author’s YouTube channel will dive into this latest entry of ghost mischief.”
—School Library Review
The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl Page 25