Betrayal

by Lee Nichols

  My eyes snapped open and I caught a glimpse of someone standing at the top of the attic stairs. It was Simon, peering inside.

  “Simon!” Bennett and I sprang apart. “Go away!”

  “Emma …,” he said. And there was something weird in his tone, something more than just I’ve caught you with your drug-addled boyfriend who shouldn’t be living here.

  “What?” I asked. “What’s happened?”

  Before he answered, two people stepped into the room. Well-dressed, familiar, and completely unamused.

  And Bennett said, “Mom … Dad?”

  I’ve always had moments when I wished I could yell “Freeze!” and the world would stop, giving me a chance to think of a great comeback line, retake a test, or cancel the inane grin I just flashed the guy I was crushing on. This was the queen of all those moments.

  What were they doing here? Well, yes, it was their house, but did they have to show up this very minute? Why not an hour from now when I’d be done with Bennett? Okay, I’d never be done with Bennett, but at least I might’ve been fully dressed. Instead I was wearing a lacy white tank top, which no parent would deem modest.

  As I struggled to put on a sweater, my hand brushed against Emma’s ring on its chain around my neck. I considered whipping it on and disappearing in a cloud of ghostly embarrassment. On the plus side, it would end this terrifying encounter; on the minus side, I’d be deserting Bennett, which seemed really cowardly. And maybe turning into a ghost wasn’t the best way to impress his parents. I mean, as much as I could impress them, given the whole making-out-with-their-son thing.

  “I want you to meet Emma,” he told them, as though there were nothing awkward happening. “You’ve probably heard a lot about her.”

  “Hi,” I squeaked.

  “It’s all true,” he said, with an easy grin.

  His parents didn’t smile back. They just stood there, radiating disapproval, which gave me ample time to discover that Bennett got his looks from his mom, who was dark-haired and beautiful. She had on a long asymmetrical burgundy sweater over black fitted pants and low boots and wore her long hair slicked back in a ponytail. Carefully made up, her pursed lips caused the only apparent wrinkles. Bennett’s eyes, though, came from his dad, who, aside from the blue marbles of brilliance under his furrowed brow, was almost completely gray, from his hair to his dress shirt and pants.

  “The Sterns just got back from Europe,” Simon said into the silence. “They arrived late last night.”

  Mr. Stern took a step toward Bennett. “What have you done to yourself?”

  Mrs. Stern’s gaze flicked from Bennett to me and back again. “This is worse than I thought. Much worse.”

  “So your flight was good?” Bennett said.

  “You look like a”—his mother made a choking sound—“a ghost.”

  “A junkie,” his father said.

  “And these are my parents,” Bennett told me. “John and Alexandra. They’re very pleased to meet you.”

  Simon took pity on me. He motioned me toward him and said, “Emma, let’s give the Sterns a few minutes alone.”

  Bennett squeezed my hand tightly before letting me go. I crossed the room and Simon slipped me a twenty and said, “Go into town and get yourself a chai.”

  I turned back toward Bennett, unsure whether I should leave him. But he wouldn’t look at me. His body was rigid with anger and I decided I wasn’t helping things by being there. I took the twenty and fled.

  The walk back to the museum from the café was freezing, despite the half hour I spent warming up with the fire and the hot chai. Maybe I was just anticipating the inevitable cold front from Bennett’s parents. I stomped through the pockets of ice on the museum drive, wondering why they had suddenly returned.

  Because they knew Bennett was hooked on Asarum? Because I was living in their house? If they kicked me out, where would I go? Would Natalie come with me?

  Inside, I shed my coat and went straight up to Bennett’s attic room. “It’s me,” I called, climbing the steps.

  He met me at the top and took my hand. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. I mean, I’m slightly embarrassed, but …” I stopped at the look in his eyes. “What? What happened?”

  He dropped my hand and turned away, and I took in the state of the room. His drawers were ajar and a suitcase lay open on the bed. I recognized the pale blues and grays of his wardrobe, messily folded and stuffed in his bag.

  “No,” I said. “No. You can’t go.”

  He sat on the edge of the bed. “C’mere.”

  I crossed the room and stood between his legs, looking down at him. I still felt a nervous shiver just being close to him, like the first time a guy you like kisses you. Maybe I’d never get over that feeling with Bennett.

  He traced a finger down my arm. “It’s hard to think when you’re this close.”

  “Then stop thinking.”

  “We need to talk.”

  “No, we don’t,” I said, and kissed him. I just wanted to go back to before his parents interrupted us, before he’d started packing. I didn’t care that we might get caught again, I needed to recapture the feeling that we could be together. That everything would be all right.

  I kissed him and he pulled me onto the bed, shoving his suitcase to the floor, running his hands over my body. He made me feel beautiful, he made me feel like I was the only thing he ever dreamed about. But I couldn’t stop thinking about that suitcase, and I pulled away.

  “I’m going to miss that,” he said.

  “Then why are you leaving me again?”

  “They kicked me out, Em.”

  “Your parents?”

  A shadow of regret darkened his smile. “They told me to get off Asarum or leave.”

  “So get off it!” As beautiful as his smile was, it would’ve been so much better if he was off that herb that stained his fingers and killed his appetite. Plus, I wasn’t convinced he ever slept anymore.

  “I can’t. Not yet. Not until Neos is dead.”

  I sat up on the bed. There was nothing to say about that; we’d already had the argument a dozen times. “How much do your parents hate me?”

  His grin returned. “A lot.”

  “Then why are you smiling?”

  “Because they’re pissing me off. And I want them to be unhappy, at least for a while.”

  “Bennett, I don’t want them to hate me.”

  He rolled over. “They don’t know you, Emma. Once they do, they’ll fall in love—like I did.”

  “But until then?”

  He kissed me. “Just let me enjoy it.”

  We repacked his suitcase together. I never liked packing, but folding Bennett’s worn shirts and fraying khakis felt intimate, meaningful. I promised myself I’d never start wearing an apron with heels and packing his lunch, but I wanted to help—to stay with him as long as I could.

  “Where are you going?” I asked. “Back to your dorm?” I could live with that. His room at Harvard was only forty minutes away.

  “No, I’m still on leave. You know they want Simon in charge of the Knell? Well, he asked me to go along, to protect him.”

  “God knows he needs protecting.” Simon’s powers had never been strong, but what he lacked in strength, he made up for in knowledge. I couldn’t help thinking that Simon might persuade Bennett to kick the Asarum while they were both at the Knell—in fact, I wondered if that wasn’t part of his plan. I knew better than to mention it, though. “Who put Simon in charge?”

  “The few ghostkeepers who survived Neos’s massacre.”

  I paused, midfold. “How were all those deaths explained? Neos’s wraiths must have killed twenty people.”

  “There are ghostkeepers everywhere, Emma. The Knell’s been sending low-powered ghostkeepers into police departments and the FBI for generations. The official report says that a gas line exploded.”

  “They’ve got an answer for everything,” I said bitterly. “Maybe they should’
ve come up with a way to stop Neos before any of this happened.”

  I was devastated by the deaths of my aunt Rachel and all those other ghostkeepers, but I still wasn’t ready to forgive the way the Knell had treated me or my family. And it made me sick sometimes, how everyone who worked for them was so devoted. Including Bennett and Simon.

  Bennett tossed a pair of socks into his suitcase and watched me silently. He’d grown up with the Knell; he’d always be loyal to them. It was an old argument he clearly didn’t want to reopen.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Everything will change with Simon in charge. He deserves your protection. I’m glad it’s you.”

  I tucked the last T-shirt into his suitcase, and he flipped the lid closed, then rested one drug-stained hand on the back of my neck. “I don’t want to leave you,” he said.

  I kissed his gaunt, beautiful face, not liking that I was getting used to the way his looks and scent had changed since he started taking Asarum. “I know,” I said. “But it’s not forever.”

  “No,” he said, “it’s not forever.”

  And I repeated it to myself: he wouldn’t have to be like this forever. But with Simon’s warnings about Asarum ringing in my head, I just hoped I was right.

  Simon was waiting downstairs, his suitcase packed. He was dressed in the camel hair coat he’d first shown up in, and the sight of it made my heart break. I hadn’t known him long, but he’d been an amazing guardian. Like the nerdy but cool, young uncle you always wished you had. I couldn’t believe I was losing him along with Bennett. I threw myself at his chest, hugging him hard.

  “I’m going to miss you so much. And I don’t think I’ve ever said thank you.”

  “Bloody hell, Emma.” He grinned at me. “Stop before you make me cry.”

  Natalie stormed into the foyer. “Bloody hell is right. What the fu—”

  “Natalie!” I said, cutting her off. Not that I minded her swearing, but I knew the Sterns were around and didn’t want them thinking any worse of us.

  She strode to the front door and leaned against it, crossing her arms. “You can’t go. Neither of you. I won’t let you.”

  “Natalie—” Bennett started.

  “We’re a team,” she interrupted. “We need to stay together. You’re letting them break us up.”

  “I am them now,” Simon said. “I’m only doing—”

  “Emma needs you both,” she said. “You know Neos is coming back, and every time he comes back, he comes back stronger. I can’t protect her—I can’t even protect myself!—and I’ll be damned if she gets hurt because she’s worried about me, so no, you’re not leaving. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Come here, my little Fury,” Simon said.

  Natalie crossed the hall to him, a stubborn glint in her eyes, and he spoke quietly to her. I wanted to go comfort her, but Bennett stopped me. “Let them talk.”

  “She is kind of like one of the Furies,” I said; I knew from Latin classes they were goddesses of revenge.

  “If anyone’s a Fury, it’s you,” Bennett murmured back.

  Before I could respond, I noticed the Sterns in the hallway that led to Mr. Stern’s office. They stood disapprovingly, eyeing the scene Natalie was making. She was taking this harder than I expected, and I wished Lukas was here to make a joke and ease the tension. After Simon comforted Natalie for another minute, Mrs. Stern cleared her throat.

  Simon winced. “Ah, yes. One more thing.”

  “They’re kicking us out?” Natalie hiccupped.

  “No, no,” Simon said. “Quite the opposite. The Sterns have agreed to act as your guardians.”

  I glanced at them, thinking Simon should’ve added the word reluctantly somewhere in that sentence.

  Natalie snorted. “Another day, another guardian.”

  “I know.” Simon laid a hand on her shoulder. “You get tossed around a lot. And if it were anyone else, I’d worry. But you two will be okay.”

  Natalie sniffled some more, then pecked Simon on the cheek and crossed the room to fiercely hug Bennett. She gave the Sterns one last evil look, then ran upstairs in a burst of tears. Yikes. Not her most shining moment.

  “Well, she’s a bit high-strung,” Mr. Stern said, and I was surprised at how deep and warm his voice was.

  “How about this, Dad?” Bennett said. “You hold off judging Natalie until after you battle Neos a couple times, then we’ll see who’s high-strung. She doesn’t have half of Emma’s power—hell, she’s a summoner—and she’s faced down a vicious nightmare without flinching. You have no idea what we’ve been dealing with.”

  “Bennett,” his mother said warningly.

  “When Neos killed Olivia,” Bennett asked his father, “what did you do?”

  “Bennett!” his mother snapped.

  “I mourned,” his father said.

  “Well, right, yes,” Simon blurted. “We should be on our way. I’m sure Natalie will be just fine. She’s got Emma to look after her.”

  “But who’s going to look after Emma?” Bennett asked.

  I leaned into him, standing as close as I could without actually touching him. I hated that we had an audience for our final moments together. Especially when that audience was his parents and Simon. “Just come back to me safe,” I answered. “That’s how you can take care of me.”

  “I promise,” he said. Then he kissed me, a full-on everything-you’ve-got kiss, like he didn’t care that his parents were standing twelve feet away from us. And at that moment, neither did I.

  That night, I stood at my bedroom window, hoping I’d see Bennett’s Land Rover pull into the drive, knowing I wouldn’t. I waited anyway, thinking maybe Coby would come strolling through the maples. But he’d been spending more time with Harry and Sara now that they knew he was a ghost. They couldn’t see or talk to him, but the three of them found ways to communicate.

  I wanted someone to distract me, to help me forget about missing Bennett, and for a moment, I thought the figure drifting through the trees was Coby, granting my wish. I opened my window, a half-smile on my face—then realized it wasn’t him. It was another ghost, a woman wearing a long white nightgown. I didn’t know who she was, but for some reason the sight of her wandering through the trees reminded me of mad Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Like when she got closer, I’d see flowers woven through her hair and a crazy look in her eyes.

  Except as she shifted from the darkness of the maples into the moonlight, I recognized her. “Rachel?”

  I thought I saw her smile faintly before she turned, her attention suddenly on the distant tower of Thatcher, peeking over the museum’s walls.

  Aunt Rachel, I said, sputtering in surprise. What … what are you—how are you—

  She didn’t answer. She drifted in the direction of Thatcher, then faded into the Beyond before she hit the old stone wall.

  Rachel was dead. I saw her die. No, I did more than that: I killed the wraith inside of her, the only thing keeping her alive. And she was a ghostkeeper. Ghostkeepers didn’t become ghosts unless they killed themselves, like Neos had.

  My aunt Rachel couldn’t be a ghost. Except she was. Unless that wasn’t my aunt Rachel. In which case … who—or what—was it?

  The Haunting Emma series by Lee Nichols

  Deception

  Betrayal

  FootNotes

  1 I miss her.

  2 Me, too.

  3 Bottoms up!

  4 Just go away, beast.

  5 When did the buttholes make you their queen?

  Copyright © 2011 by Anna Myers

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  First published in the United States of America in February 2011

  by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

  E-book edition published in February 2011

  www.bloomsbury
kids.com

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to

  Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Myers, Anna.

  The grave robber’s secret / Anna Myers.

  p. cm.

  Summary: In Philadelphia in the 1800s, twelve-year-old Robbie is forced to help his father rob graves, then when he suspects his dad of murder, Robbie makes a life-changing decision.

  ISBN 978-0-8027-2183-9 (hardcover)

  [1. Grave robbing—Fiction. 2. Murder—Fiction. 3. Philadelphia (Pa.)—History—19th century—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.M9814Gq 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2010018097

  ISBN 978-1-59990-570-9 (e-book)