The Guidance

by Marley Gibson

  I squint over at Mom as she struggles through this; her face is flushed and pale at the same time.

  "I-I-I'm trying. I want to be happy for her, Dr. Kindberg, I do. I'm just so worried about her being scared and how I can help her through that." Mom's voice breaks on the last word.

  I slip my hand in hers. "I'm not scared of the spirits, Mom. I promise." Okay, that Union soldier guy skeeves me out a lot, but it's just because I haven't gotten a handle on what his glitch is yet. "If anything upsets me, I promise to tell you. You can read all of my case files and look at our Ghost Huntress website. You will know exactly what we're doing."

  Her eyes dance over my face. "I'd like that. I'd like to be involved as much as I can without hindering you in any way."

  "If you'll trust me with Loreen, like you've been doing, then she can help me hone my abilities. After all, she's already gone through this and wants to make things easier for me."

  Mom swallows hard but then nods her head. "All right, Kendall. Whatever is best for you."

  "I've got your blessing?"

  "Yes, sweetheart. Just be careful."

  As she and I hug tightly, I peer over her shoulder at Dr. Kindberg. He winks and smiles at me.

  Everything's going to be fine. Just like I knew.

  Mom dabs her eyes with her knuckle. We finish up with Dr. Kindberg and agree to check in with him regularly or whenever needed, and then we head out.

  In the elevator, Mom smiles and clutches my hand, swinging it back and forth in the space between us like we used to do when I was a little girl and we'd walk along the shore of Lake Michigan. This is a great Mom moment. You know ... one you'll remember in the years to come and feel the special love and connection with the woman who gave you life.

  "Do we have to go straight back to Radisson?" I ask.

  "No. Why?"

  I shift weight from one leg to the other. "Maybe we can go to dinner or something. The two of us. I can tell you all about our cases and the things I do during an investigation."

  "I'll go one better than that." She whips out her cell phone and speed-dials a number. "David, it's me. Yes, dear. Everything's okay. All of Kendall's tests came back normal. I'll tell you more later. Right now, Kendall and I are going to have some girl time. If it's okay with you, we're going to stay here and shop and see the city—"

  "Ooo, let's go to the Georgia Aquarium!"

  Mom waves at me and continues. "I'm going to use some of your Starwood Points and check us into the Westin in Buckhead. How's that? Okay, dear. We love you too.

  "How does that sound?" she asks with a vibrant smile.

  "Like total perfection."

  And it is. The next day, Mom and I shop together, have an amazing dinner at the Buckhead Diner, get pampered with a massage, manis, and pedis, and I get to see Nandi, the ginormous manta ray at the aquarium.

  During all of this, Emily silently disappears into the background to give Mom and me room. But not before she whispers:

  You're lucky to have Sarah Moorehead in your life ...

  Tell me something I don't know.

  "I missed you."

  "I missed you too," I say to Jason Saturday night at the football game. Mom and I got home from the ATL just in time for him to pick me up. I'm wearing my new Lip Service Teacher Hit Me with a Ruler plaid jacket and a black asymmetrical skirt that totally rocks. "Wait until you see all my new clothes. I got this sick Abbey Dawn by Avril Lavigne T-shirt and a Kill City striped hoodie. Oh, and we went to A and F for—"

  "Kendall, don'tcha think this is a conversation more suited for Taylor?"

  I laugh in spite of myself. I've never been a fashion bug, but I'll admit that shopping with Mom was amazing fun and I got carried away with all of the stores at our fingertips.

  "You're right, Jason. Sorry!"

  "No need." He chuckles and snuggles next to me on the bleacher seat. "I bet you'll look hot in all of 'em."

  I blush clear down to my Ed Hardy "Love Kills Slowly" slipon shoes. What? I'm not addicted to designer clothes. I'm not!

  "Jaaaason."

  "I'm your boyfriend. I'm allowed to tell you you're hot."

  "I think you're hot too," I confess, blushing even harder.

  Celia and Clay return from the concession stand with sodas and popcorn. She clears her throat at our bout of PDA and then sits next to me.

  Jason lets out a holler as the football team runs onto the field. Taylor squeals when she sees Ryan. She has her camera and her video recorder with her tonight so she can capture his feats on the field. "Come on, beat Hillside like they're rented mules!" she screams.

  I laugh so hard that I almost choke. "Why do people want to beat rented mules? Are they different from regular mules?"

  "You're so literal-minded sometimes, Kendall," Jason says.

  "Sorry, it's the Midwesterner in me."

  We watch our team run Hillside up one side of the field and down the other. Halftime comes and goes with the band and a dance routine. We all make silly faces and huggy poses for Taylor's video. It's so much fun to have a gang to hang out with like this. I actually feel normal.

  That is, until toward the end of the game, when I begin to sense spirit energy around us. I can feel it weaving among the people, as if it's seeking out someone in particular.

  Jason interrupts my thoughts by knocking me on the arm and then pointing down at the cheerleaders. "Courtney looks like she's doing a striptease at the fifty-yard line."

  I sit up. "Seriously?"

  "Yeah, man. I don't know what kind of Kool-Aid she's been drinking. Check her out."

  The team has just gotten a first down, and the cheerleaders are going crazy. Taylor moves toward the fence to get a better camera shot of Ryan. When several people in the crowd start mumbling and laughing, I see her spin the camera around on Courtney.

  " What is she doing?" Clay asks.

  I glance down at her. Instead of leading the cheer of "First and ten, do it again, go, go, go," she's looking down at her body, and—no, she did'unt!—she's feeling herself up! She's rubbing her own boobs like she's never felt them before.

  "This is totally rental porn," I hear from some guy behind me.

  And it just gets better. Next thing we know, she goes over to her bag and pulls out chewing tobacco. She begins to chaw away on it, spitting on the ground.

  "Did she just grab herself between the legs like she's ... adjusting herself?" Celia asks with shock on her face.

  Jason seems embarrassed for her. "It's like she's playing pocket hockey."

  "Oh my God." She's lost her mind. I smack Jason on the leg. "Stop watching her!"

  "Kendall, everyone is watching her."

  It's true. I peer out onto the field, and even the safety for Hillside is so distracted by the sideline show that he totally misses Ryan when he sprints by him and into the end zone.

  While the crowd erupts into cheers, I watch as Courtney takes her sweater off. Thank heavens the cheerleader sponsor is out on the field with a letter jacket and covers her up. What in the world would possess Courtney to do that? Then I stop my own thoughts at the word possess. My skin itches. Something's not right in suburbia.

  "Kendall, are you all right?" Jason asks.

  "We've got to gather the team and look at the video that Taylor's shooting."

  He groans. "Not another investigation. Come on, Kendall."

  "We have to, Jase."

  The ghost huntresses have work to do.

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Roll it back, Taylor," I say Sunday afternoon, glued to the television set. We're all at Casa Nichols, spread out in Celia's room watching the video from the football game last night. Even Seamus, her bulldog, seems engrossed. "Watch what she does right there."

  Sure enough, Courtney Langdon grabs her crotch in front of the several hundred people who have turned out to see RHS play Hillside.

  "Why is she doing that?" Taylor asks. "Bless her heart."

  Celia turns her eyes on Taylor. "Bless her noth
ing. She's a bitch."

  Taylor's mouth falls open. "She's still a person, and she's making a fool out of herself."

  I watch closer as Courtney keeps scanning around her, like she's seeing something in her peripheral vision. Then you can see her pompoms moving next to her; her head jerks quickly to see what's going on. She's definitely aware that something is around her.

  Celia leans forward. "This is the best part. Watch this."

  Riveted, we all stare glassy-eyed as Courtney throws down her pompoms and lets out what can only be described as a war cry and charges the field. Coaches nearby drop their clipboards as they dash off after the wayward cheerleader.

  My mouth drops open. "What the hell?"

  Taylor points. "Absolument incroyable! Absolutely unbelievable!"

  This was the most bizarre occurrence of the night. As the players are shaking hands after the game, Courtney barrels into the crowd and completely tackles one of the visiting team's players. She starts pounding him with both of her fists until one of the RHS guys pulls her off him, her legs still flailing about.

  "Holy shit. She's gone," Celia notes. "Is that your professional opinion?"

  "She's off the chain. What's happened to her? Is she possessed?"

  I think for a mo' and then say, "Not according to Loreen. Spin that back,Taylor." After the tape resets to where Courtney's looking around her like something's there, I explain. "See how she seems to be spotting something out of the corner of her eye? Well, that's more of a sign of an oppression than an actual possession. If she were possessed, she wouldn't be so aware of what's going on around her. Here, she's sensing something's not right and may even be seeing the spirit in her peripherals."

  "I don't get it," Taylor says.

  "Well, Loreen tells me there's a fine line between spirit oppression and possession ... being that possession is nine-tenths of the law." I try to laugh, but the joke falls flat. "I mean, if she were possessed, she wouldn't really have any control of her body at all. Thing is, we see her cheering one minute like there's nothing wrong and then, all of a sudden, she's aware of a shift in energy around her and she starts acting like a weirdo. Here, where she's touching herself, it's like it's not her at all. There's a faraway look in her eyes, like she's taken a step back and let someone else take control."

  "You ask me," Jason says, "the girl has lost her facilities. Gone-zo!"

  I shift my gaze between Taylor and Celia. "How did she explain this to everyone? To the coaches, her cheerleader sponsor ... her parents? Does anyone know?"

  Taylor waves her hand in the air dismissively. "I talked to Stephanie this morning, and she said that Courtney claimed that time of the month and blamed it on popping too much Pamprin."

  "And people bought it?"

  Celia scowls. "What else are folks going to believe? That Courtney Langdon is so threatened by you that she invited an evil spirit to dock inside of her?"

  "I see what you mean."

  All this while, Becca has had her headphones on, listening to the sound from the video on her laptop. "Hey, y'all, check this out. There are EVPs here."

  "You can hear them through all of the stadium noise?" Jason asks.

  Becca says, "Yeah, the spirits appear to be manipulating the energy created by the crowd's buzz. Listen to this."

  We transfer the DVD to Celia's monstrous computer and turn on the speakers. We all circle around Celia as she clicks where Becca tells her to. There's definitely a garbled sound when Courtney's rushing the field. Then again, it's a football game, so there's going to be a lot of background noise.

  "This sound is different than your standard crowd noise," Becca says. "Lemme sit, Nichols."

  Celia shoves out of the chair so Becca can sit. She clicks on the video, copying and pasting here and there and doing all sorts of computery things that I just don't get. She opens the editing software, pastes a portion in, then amplifies, cleans up the background noise, and takes out the distortions. Man, look at her go! She hits Play and Rewind several times, listening intently, until she's pleased with the results.

  Becca says, "I think I got it this time. Listen. There are two EVPs here."

  She cues up the first one.

  "Reeeeeeeeeeebels ev'rywhere."

  "Rebels everywhere?" Taylor repeats.

  Jason snaps his head up. "Hillside High is the Rebels. I don't get why you would get an EVP about the football game."

  I think I do.

  "It has more to do with the Civil War, I think," Celia says. "What about you, Kendall?"

  I gulp down the dry lump that's formed in my esophagus. "I'd like to hear the other one."

  "You got it, chief," Becca says, fast-forwarding to where we see Courtney up close. "Here we go." Becca hits Play.

  You can hear the camera rattling as Taylor rushes to catch up with Courtney while she's being escorted away. She asks Courtney if she's okay, and then the EVP.

  "Geeeeeeet ... me out ... of ... daaahkness..."

  "Again, please," Celia asks.

  "Geeeeeeet ... me out ... of ... daaahkness..."

  Celia looks to me. "'Get me out of the darkness'?"

  "That's what it sounds like to me," I confirm. The EVP is clear as day.

  "Man, that's one helluva class A EVP, don't you think?" Becca says proudly.

  "It's proof that something paranormal is going on with Courtney," Taylor says. "The girl is totally not in her right mind. The question is, What's doing it?"

  "No, Taylor," I say. "That's not it at all. The question is, Will Courtney let us help her?"

  "We won!"

  Monday afternoon, Kaitlin bursts through the back door into the kitchen and drops her lacrosse gear next to the refrigerator while she digs out a Vitaminwater. Celia and I look up from our homework to take in my sister's appearance. Her blue, white, and yellow uniform is covered in grass stains and red Georgia dirt. A tuft of grass is caked on her right shoulder. Her left knee is scraped up, and her ponytail has seen better days.

  "God, you're a mess. What does the other team look like?" I joke.

  "We kicked their ass!" Kaitlin proclaims.

  "Watch the mouth, kiddo." I don't remember being allowed to say ass when I was thirteen. I probably shouldn't even say it now, come to think of it.

  "Why? Are you going to tell Mom?"

  "Tell me what?" Mom asks as she walks into the kitchen laden with grocery bags from Super BI-LO. She holds some out toward me. "Here, Kendall." I jump up.

  "Can I help, Miss Sarah?" Celia asks.

  Mom relinquishes several bags to both Celia and me. "Thanks, girls."

  The clock reads only 4:30. "You're home early," I say.

  "Needed to get something for dinner. I think all we have in the fridge is butter, Diet Coke, and three-day-old baked chicken." She turns to Kaitlin. "And what are you going to tell me? That you've been wallowing in a pigsty?"

  Kaitlin snorts Vitaminwater out her nose. "No! Umm, nothing other than we won today. You should have seen me. I was awesome! Totally kicked—" She stops and connects her gaze with mine. "—Butt. Totally kicked butt."

  Good save, brat.

  "That's wonderful, sweetie." Mom picks the grass off of my sister's shoulder and tsk-tsks at her.

  "Strip out of those nasty clothes and go take a shower, Kaitin," I tell her.

  "Duh, I was just going to." She sticks her tongue out at me, and I roll my eyes.

  "What was that all about?" Mom asks. She takes a big hunk of meat out of the bag and places it on the counter.

  "Kaitlin said a wirty dord."

  We hear the shower start upstairs and Mom sighs. "I guess that's inevitable. I can't keep my girls little forever." She continues pulling out carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions. Mmm ... she's making Yankee pot roast, one of my faves. No one cooks like my mom. Celia knows this 'cause she has to suffer through re-heatable meals that their housekeeper, Alice, makes in advance for the busy family that never eats together. I guess that's why Cel's so damn skinny.

 
She and I help unload the groceries and then finish up our homework. I'm so tired of this pig-dissection project with Courtney. Fortunately, we only have another week and then we're done. Courtney was zombielike in class today, and I had to do pretty much all of the work to remove the pig's heart. Like...ick.

  Mom flits around the kitchen getting the pot roast going; the air is filled with the tang of seared meat and simmering vegetables. It's truly a comforting smell.

  "Are you girls working on a case?" Mom asks from the other side of the kitchen.

  Celia sits up. "You mean like a ghost investigation?"

  Mom stops wiping the counter. "Well ... yes. I'm interested to learn what it is that you do. I'm trying to be more open-minded and accepting of my psychic daughter."

  A warm rush of pride slides through me. I pull out the kitchen chair between Celia and me and invite Mom to sit down. Celia has a couple of files from closed-out cases that we're going to discuss. We're deciding what evidence we can put on our website. However, there's one file marked Active, which Mom zeros in on. I can read it in her mind as well as her eyes.

  I clear my throat. "We're helping a fellow student who's been seeing a spirit. He's sort of ... messing with her."

  Mom raises an eyebrow. "How so?"

  Celia laughs. "He makes her act out and do things that only a guy would do. It's actually quite fascinating."

  With a gasp, Mom says, "Isn't that dangerous? It could be something demonic."

  I scowl across the table at my friend. Mom's trying to participate in my life, and I don't want to scare her off immediately with talk of spirit possession and whatnot. I think Celia gets the message.

  Waving my hand, I say, "No, no, don't worry about this. We can show you something a lot more interesting. It's this new thing that Celia and I started doing."

  Mom seems slightly relieved. "Whatever you want to show me."