by Rose Cooper
Millie was right: it wasn’t long before people moved on. Occasionally someone would say “Dude! Touch any dead people today?” Anna barely batted an eye.
But there was no ignoring the paper taped to her locker that morning.
Her heart sank faster than the Titanic.
It was a photocopied page from her crazy great-uncle Maxwell Maddsen’s journal.
One day this haunted old house will belong to my niece, Valerie Craven, and her daughter, Annabel.
I have a strange feeling they’ll be able to appreciate its ghostly past…and future.
Anna couldn’t have felt any worse if a boulder had crushed her flat as a pancake right there in the hallway.
Just then Johnny walked past. She hadn’t seen him much lately. “Hey,” he said.
“So now you know,” Anna said, taking the paper off her locker.
“Know?” he repeated, wrinkling his forehead.
She waved the crinkled paper in his face. “Hello! Haven’t you heard? I live in the Mad House. Maddsen is my great-uncle.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s old news.”
Anna looked at him in disbelief. “You knew?”
Johnny nodded. “You’re not the only one with secrets around here.”
“But why didn’t you say something? Tell me that you knew?”
“I figured you’d tell me when you wanted to.”
Anna’s locker slammed shut behind her, making her whirl around. She caught a shimmer of the air and the familiar scent of lemons. It was Lucy.
“So this was your plan?” Lucy shouted at Anna. “To steal my boyfriend?” She stabbed the air with her index finger, punctuating each word.
“What?” Anna blurted out before clamping a hand over her mouth. She swiveled around to see Johnny staring at her.
“What’s going on?” he asked her.
“Yeah, Annabel, why don’t you tell him? Since I know you haven’t really told him about me yet.”
“Um…” Anna’s eyes darted from Johnny to Lucy. And back to Johnny. If he hadn’t thought she was a freak before, he certainly did now.
Lucy grabbed a handful of papers littered on the ground and threw the stack at Anna. Johnny’s eyes widened as the papers magically seemed to hurl themselves through the air.
Gliding to Johnny’s side, Lucy grabbed for his hand. Instead, her ghostly fingers passed right through his.
He shivered.
Lucy placed her mouth right next to Johnny’s ear. “We can be together, John! Forever!” she cried.
“He’s alive, not deaf,” Anna said to Lucy, annoyed at her tantrum.
“What are you talking about?” Johnny looked as if he was getting angry. “Is this some sort of game you’re playing?”
“What? No! It’s Lucy—”
“Will you stop with the Lucy stuff?” He started to back away. “Because you know she’s dead, right? And whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not funny.”
“It’s not me, Johnny. She’s here right now. I didn’t know how to tell you before without making it sound like I was crazy….” Anna trailed off, realizing that was exactly how she sounded.
An echo of clanging metal sounded down the hallway as Lucy floated past each locker and, one by one, banged her fists against them.
“You’re right about that,” Johnny said, putting his palms face out. “I don’t know how you’re doing that, or why, but…maybe you are the freaky girl after all.” With that, he turned and walked around the corner, out of sight.
Anna bit her bottom lip, her eyes welling up with tears.
“How’s it feel now, boyfriend stealer?” Lucy reappeared in front of Anna with a Cheshire cat grin.
“Shut up, you stupid ghost!” Anna clenched her fists at her sides. “I swear I’ll call the freakin’ ghost hunters on your butt,” she muttered under her breath.
Lucy’s laughter echoed faintly down the hallway as she left.
Lucy eyeballed the Ashbury twins and their cookiecutter look-alikes at the Corner Café. The best way to get to Johnny and Eden would be to infiltrate their group. And by infiltrate, she meant snatch one of their bodies. Temporarily, of course.
“Eeny, meeny, miney, moe, who will the lucky girl be?” Lucy chanted, pointing her finger at each girl in the booth and finally settling on Nessa Bloom. Über-rich, she pretty much had money coming out her pores. Or she would have, if she had pores…but she had a porcelain complexion that any girl would die for.
“Nessa it is!”
She silently glided to Nessa.
Olivia shivered. “It’s freezing in here,” she muttered. “Eden, go make sure the front door is shut.”
“I can see it from here,” she told her sister. “It is shut.”
“It must not be closed all the way.”
With a sigh, Eden dutifully walked over to the door.
“So what does the count look like for Fall Ball Queen, Nessa?” Olivia knew she was in the running, even though the dance wasn’t until the end of the month. She just wanted to hear the confirmation.
Lucy wasn’t exactly sure how this was done. Here goes nothing. She grabbed Nessa by the shoulders and tried to merge her ghostly glowing spirit into Nessa’s body. Nessa jerked back and forth like she was having a spasm.
“Are you okay?” Eden looked concerned. She touched Nessa’s arm. “Oh my God. You’re so cold!”
“Of course she’s okay. She thinks it’s cute to ignore me,” Olivia snapped.
“No, she really doesn’t look well,” a girl named Saffron said, clutching her purse, looking like she was ready to jet if Nessa threw up.
Lucy’s body flung violently from Nessa’s body, smacking right into Saffron. For whatever reason, Nessa’s body was rejecting her. She tried merging into Saffron, but that didn’t work either.
Olivia’s blond brows furrowed. “Saff, do you know something about the voting that I don’t? Because if you do and you’re not telling me—”
“No. I just…” Saffron was shivering. “I just think you’re right. It is really cold in here.”
Eden scooted into the booth with them. “Nope. The door is definitely shut.”
Lucy stared at Eden. Maybe she would be a little easier. Lucy floated straight into Eden, meshing with her body as one. Eden sputtered, shaking, coughing. Olivia rolled her eyes once more.
Taking Eden’s body was as easy as a warm knife slicing through butter. Lucy smiled over at Olivia.
Olivia snorted. “What are you so happy about?”
And Eden, with Lucy inside her, laughed. “Life.”
The stands were packed with students all fired up for the first big game of the season. Anna got a hot chocolate from the concession stand, then took a seat halfway up the bleachers. She hoped Millie and Spencer would decide to come.
Anna spotted Johnny’s jersey number on the field. They hadn’t spoken since Lucy went ghostal in the hallway. Whatever.
Just her luck: she saw Olivia down in front talking to the cheerleaders. Anna hoped Olivia didn’t notice her among all the other people at the game.
The teams ran back and forth, nobody scoring. Everyone in the stands was yelling, and for once Anna felt just like any other student, caught up in the school spirit.
Yo, Anna. Where are you?
It was Spencer.
Um, near a woman with a white pom-pom hat. 10th row up.
Anna felt like throwing her phone. The battery was almost drained. She had made sure it was fully charged before leaving for the game. Plus it was a new battery, so this shouldn’t be happening still!
Seconds later Spencer was jogging up the steps toward her. “Hey,” he said, grinning as he sat down next to her.
“Glad you made it,” Anna said, smiling.
“Me too,” Spencer said. “ ’Sup?”
“Not much.” She took a sip of her hot chocolate. “How are the hauntings going?” she asked in a low voice.
“It’s been kind of quiet lately.”
“Lucky
you.” Things had been with Anna lately too, but she knew it wouldn’t last. It was like the calm before the storm. The crowd around them cheered.
But then Anna saw something that made her heart stop.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Spencer looked over at her. “What’s wrong?”
Without answering, Anna texted Millie.
Guess who just showed up at the game? The creepy guy I saw in the cemetery on my first day!!!!! Don’t meet me here, I’m leaving.
As she pressed the send button, her phone died. She hoped Millie got it in time.
“You feel like leaving?” Anna blurted out, already standing up. The creepy guy was standing with a blond girl, watching the game near the fence, his back to them. Was that Olivia?
“Already?” Spencer gave her a strange look. “Sure, why not.”
They walked down the steps. Anna kept her head down. Please don’t see me, please don’t see me, she thought, nearly in a panic.
“Thanks for leaving with me,” she said breathlessly as they walked past the concession stand.
“No big deal,” Spencer said. “There’ll be other games.”
“Anna!” Millie waved as they reached the entrance. She fell into step beside them. “Just got your text. Where are you going?”
Anna looked over at Spencer. “Corner Café okay with you?”
“Yep,” Spencer said, watching other students as they passed.
“Can I go with you guys?” Millie asked.
“Sure,” Anna said, glancing at Spencer, hoping he was okay with it, but he wasn’t even paying attention. Obviously he couldn’t mind too much.
“Cool!” Millie chirped.
Anna glanced over her shoulder as they walked through the parking lot. The creepy guy was nowhere to be seen.
But just in case, she quickened her step.
Lucy-as-Eden ran her hands down her perfectly fitting dress. Life couldn’t get much better than this. She watched John play out on the football field. As the game ended, Lucy decided to make her move.
She gracefully walked down to the field in her high red heels.
“John,” she whispered, bending down to his level.
He whipped his head around, then up, staring into her eyes. His eyes went wide as he saw how tall she suddenly was. Obviously Eden doesn’t wear these shoes often enough, Lucy thought.
“Oh. Hey, Eden.” He appeared to be less enthusiastic than she’d expected. But she had to remember, he didn’t know it was actually her.
Lucy bit back the urge to hug him. “I need to talk to you for a second.”
“Uh, okay. I guess.” Johnny looked behind him and nodded at his friends heading to the locker room. One of them swatted him on the butt. “Johnny, you’re the man!”
He shivered as Lucy grabbed his arm and led him away from the crowds before stopping near the unoccupied bottom bleachers.
“Man, it’s cold. So, uh, what’s up?” he asked.
“It’s me, John!” She could barely keep the excitement out of her voice.
He frowned at her. “Huh?” He tilted his chin over at a group of guys who were headed out. “Dude!”
“No!” she whispered, more impatiently this time. “It’s me, Lucy.”
He stared at her, then stepped back. “What did you say?”
“Look into my eyes,” Lucy begged, moving toward him. “They’re the windows to my soul.”
He looked scared. He backed away farther.
“Johhhhn,” she whined. “Remember when you gave me your phone number and picked me to be on your team for the class project? And—”
She placed a hand on his shoulder to help calm him, but it only made things worse.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Seriously, John. Don’t make me keep haunting you every night. Now’s your chance to talk to me. It can be like old times.”
Awareness flickered over his face, as if he knew exactly what she was talking about. But it disappeared just as quickly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He broke into a jog toward his friends.
Furious, Lucy watched him go. “You don’t want me to be your girlfriend anymore? Fine,” she called after him.
If he wanted to pretend he didn’t care, well…
She stomped her high heel on the concrete. “I wouldn’t be your girlfriend ever again. You think you can hurt me? Over my dead body!” she yelled.
And she meant it.
Spencer and Anna walked into the Corner Café, the bell jingling as they opened the door. It was completely dead inside, with just two employees gossiping by the front counter.
As they sat down, Anna found herself thinking about the last time she had been here, with Johnny. She hoped they could be friends again. And then she thought back to the night of the Ashburys’ party. Olivia had disappeared for a while, and Eden had been looking for her. Was it possible that Olivia had been gone long enough to get to the cemetery and back?
“I’m not really hungry, so go ahead and order something without me,” Millie said as she stood up, heading back toward the restrooms.
Anna turned to Spencer. “I know this is really random, but I was thinking about something and wanted to see what you thought.”
The server came to their table, and Anna ordered a Coke, her stomach too twisted in knots for food. Spencer did the same.
“What?” Spencer asked.
“Do you think it’s possible that Olivia got Lucy to go to the cemetery that night?” Anna asked. “The night Lucy…died?”
“I don’t know,” Spencer said. “Why would she do that?”
“Maybe she was jealous?” Anna shrugged. “Or just wanted to play a mean prank.”
Millie had returned. “I think that’s possible,” she said. “But who cares? It can’t change what happened.”
“Sorry,” Anna said, twisting her napkin as the server brought over their drinks. “I just wanted to see what you thought….I’ll shut up now.”
Millie laughed.
“Don’t worry about it.” Spencer took a sip of his soda.
The front entrance jingled, a cold blast of air flooding the room.
“Hey, Anna,” Nessa said, smirking in her cheer uniform as she walked past their table. She ignored Spencer and Millie.
Anna’s stomach dipped. She couldn’t remember ever seeing Nessa without the clones around. She seriously hoped that didn’t mean Olivia was on her way.
The café was slowly filling up with students. The game must have ended.
“Should we go?” Anna asked.
Spencer looked around. “Yeah, maybe…”
“Anna! You’re here.” Johnny was suddenly at their table, still in his football uniform. “I need to talk to you.”
Anna sighed, scooting her chair back, the metal legs screeching along the tile. “Be right back.” She followed Johnny to the back of the room.
“Lucy was at the game tonight,” Johnny muttered under his breath.
“What?” Anna asked. “How?”
Johnny took a step closer to Anna. “Look, I believe you,” he whispered. “Let’s go back to your house. Together. I—I don’t want to be alone in case she, uh, comes back.”
Anna opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself. She needed to find Lucy and see what was going on.
She turned to Spencer and Millie. “Sorry, guys. I gotta go.”
• • •
Johnny and Anna walked to her house in silence. She had borrowed Johnny’s phone and sent several texts to Lucy.
Hi, it’s Anna. Please meet me at my house. I’m with Johnny. We want to talk to you.
The Manor was dark. Her mom was probably working at the funeral home again tonight. There were so many dead people around here.
Anna glanced over at Johnny as she unlocked the front door. She hoped he’d be able to deal with seeing Lucy.
Maybe tonight they’d all get the resolution they needed.
The house was silent. Anna was about to shut the d
oor behind them when, to her surprise, Eden stuck her foot in the door. Shocked, Anna let go of the doorknob, and she walked right in.
“Eden? What are you doing here?” Anna asked, staring at the girl. She looked angry. Anna felt fear course through her veins. Something was definitely wrong here.
“So it’s true,” Eden said, walking toward Anna without shutting the door.
“What are you talking about?”
Eden glared at her. “Look, Anna. I know you’re trying to turn John against me.”
“Eden? What’s wrong? This isn’t like you,” Anna said. Her eyes darted nervously to Johnny.
Johnny grabbed Eden’s arm. “Hey—”
Eden flung Johnny’s arm off hard enough to throw him off balance. He fell backward and crashed through the glass coffee table behind him, shattering it and landing unconscious on the floor.
Anna screamed.
Eden whirled on Anna. “I swear I didn’t mean for that to happen! I didn’t know I still had so much power even being stuck in this body!” she cried.
Anna gasped. “Lucy? Is that you?” She stared at her. “What did you do with Eden? You didn’t…” Her voice trailed off.
“I didn’t hurt Eden, I was just using her. And now look what I did.” She let out a strangled half sob.
Anna looked down at Johnny, waiting for him to get up. But he didn’t move.
Anna shook her head. “No, it was an accident. You…he…”
Tears were streaming down Eden’s cheeks. “It’s all my fault.” She knelt down beside Johnny. “Wake up!”
“Is he—” Anna couldn’t bring herself to ask the question. If Johnny was…gone, then she’d see his spirit. She was sure of it.
Eden suddenly jumped up. “He’s breathing! He’s okay! He’s—”
Thump.
Anna steadied herself against the counter as there was a crack and Eden fell to the floor, unconscious. Millie was in the doorway, holding the remains of a now-broken vase.
“Millie!” Anna exclaimed, running to hug her friend. It had been brave of Millie to knock Eden out when she thought she was going to hurt Anna, but what about poor Eden? And was Lucy still inside?