Sisters of Blood and Spirit

  They were free.

  “Is that it?” Sarah asked, wide-eyed. “Is it over?”

  “Not yet,” I told her as I caught a glimpse of headlights coming toward us. “We’ve got to get out of here. Now.”

  We raced to the paddy wagon and tore out of there like the hounds of hell were snapping at our heels. We were a mile away before I realized I was all alone on one side of the van. I looked up to find the others watching me.

  And I knew they were afraid. Of me.

  WREN

  I was sitting on Bent’s chest, the fingers of my right hand buried in his right eye socket when he burst into flames. I barely managed to jump off him and avoid being engulfed.

  “Do you smell something?” Roxi asked Gage. She wrinkled her nose. “Smells like burned hamburger.”

  He frowned. “Yeah, I do.” Then he looked down at his arms. He ran his hands over his bandaged forearms. “I feel better.”

  She put her hand to her neck. “Me, too. Do you think this means they did it?”

  He didn’t say anything. He just took her face in his hands and kissed her. That was my cue to leave.

  I went to the Shadow Lands before going to Lark, to the little space I’d made for myself and called my home in that realm. There I found the ornate box in which I kept my treasures and opened it. I put Bent’s eyeball on the red velvet—right next to the other trophies I’d collected. Then I closed the lid and cleaned myself up before going to look for my sister.

  I found her sitting on Nan’s front step. I supposed it was our front step, too. She was bloody and wild-looking. Fierce. There was something different about her...

  “So, you did it.” I sat down beside her.

  She nodded. “We did.”

  “Where is everyone?”

  She laughed, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “As far away from me as they can get, I imagine.”

  “What happened?”

  “I’m not sure.” She turned her face toward me. Despite all the blood, she looked fine. “I had the crap pounded out of me tonight, and then that white-haired chick showed up and told me it wasn’t my time. I believed her. I’ve never fought like that before, Wren.”

  “You think they’re afraid of you because of how you fought?”

  “I guess so,” she said with a shrug. “They didn’t really say much about it. No one spoke to me at all, really. Not even Ben.” Her voice cracked.

  I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Her arm went around my waist. Tonight had been terrifying. A test of my will. I’d both failed and triumphed. We both had. We’d defeated Bent, but there was a price to be paid.

  I was beginning to think there was always a price. And then I thought about my trophy. I smiled.

  “You look creepy,” Lark murmured.

  I adjusted my expression. “Who is this white-haired woman?” I wondered out loud. “And why is she helping us?”

  “I don’t know, but we should find out.”

  We sat in quiet for a few minutes. Then I asked. “When you burned Bent, did the wounds he inflicted heal?”

  “They started to, yeah. By the time Mace dropped me off, Sarah’s wounds looked like old scars.”

  “It’s really over then.”

  “Yeah,” she said softly. “I think it is.”

  I wasn’t the smartest when it came to understanding the living, but even I understood what my sister didn’t say. For a few days she’d had friends, a boy who liked her. Now she was certain it was all gone. Lark liked to talk tough, and pretend she didn’t care, but she cared too much. It was her one big flaw, and I loved her for it.

  Her obvious hurt made me want to hunt down everyone responsible and turn them inside out. “Bent tried to control me tonight,” I confessed. “He tried to make me do dark things.”

  “And?”

  I smiled, remembering the shock on his face when I went for his eye. “I kicked his ass.”

  Lark laughed. “I bet that felt good.”

  “Oh, it did. Come on, let’s go inside. You look exhausted, and you have a test tomorrow.”

  We stood up. Lark unlocked the door and went inside. I followed after her rather than phase through the wall. Nan was in bed, of course, but she’d left a note on the kitchen table saying that our father had called. Lark crumpled it in her fist and tossed it in the garbage.

  “You have to talk to them sometime,” I said to her.

  “No,” she replied tightly. “I really don’t.”

  I didn’t push it. Our parents were a touchy subject.

  Upstairs, Lark washed the blood off her face and hands. As I suspected she looked perfectly fine underneath. Something very strange had happened to her tonight, because she didn’t have a mark on her, and she felt different to me. She was still my Lark, but she had changed. She was...more. That was the only way I could explain it. I wondered if I felt changed to her.

  There was a box on the desk in our room, with a note on top. As Lark picked up the paper, I recognized Nan’s handwriting.

  “‘Dear, girls, I finally found the box of my grandmother’s belongings in the attic. Hopefully something in here will be of use to you. Love, Nan.’”

  Lark opened the box. Inside it smelled of powder and age. There were journals, photo albums, a pair of gloves, a powder box, a small jewelry box and a few other personal items, along with a birth certificate for Emily and a death certificate for her twin, Alys.

  “Twins,” I whispered. Nan had mentioned it before, but seeing stillborn on that piece of paper really drove it home. Dead Born, like me.

  “Like us,” Lark added.

  At the bottom of the box was a spirit-board—an old one. It looked to have been carved and painted by hand. It was beautiful and a little scary at the same time, because it also had twins on it—one on either side of the board. One had red hair and one had white.

  My sister and I exchanged glances. This was getting stranger and stranger.

  Lark set the board aside and picked up one of the photo albums. There were only two—the old-fashioned kind that had paper pages that pictures had to be pasted onto. The first one had a red leather cover embossed with the name Emily Murray in gold foil.

  “Open it,” I said, anxious for a glimpse of our ancestor. But part of me dreaded it, as well.

  Lark opened the book and there she was. We both gasped, even though I think we both had our suspicions. I was surprised, but then...I wasn’t.

  Emily Murray had been very pretty. The photograph showed her in an old-fashioned gown, like from that movie about the huge boat that had sunk. And though the picture was black-and-white, there were two things we didn’t need color to know: Emily Murray had white hair just like Lark’s, and she was the woman who had appeared to both of us when we’d needed help.

  “It’s her,” Lark said.

  “I know.”

  We looked at each other, and I saw my own confusion in my sister’s eyes.

  “Why are we just seeing her now?” Lark asked, her voice raw. “Why didn’t she come to us before this?”

  I knew what she meant—why hadn’t Emily helped us when Lark was in Bell Hill? “I don’t know.” My jaw tightened. “But I’m going to find out.”

  My sister closed the book. “I’m too tired for this crap. I’m going to sleep.”

  Lark changed into some pajamas and got ready for bed. We talked about what had happened that night as she went through her nightly ritual. She told me about fighting the ghosts and how strong she’d felt. And I didn’t tell her how good it had felt to take Josiah Bent’s eyeball out of his skull. I wanted to, but I knew she wouldn’t understand.

  After she finished brushing her teeth, I tucked her in. Ever since we were children I had the ability to put her to sleep simply by whispering to her
. I hadn’t done it for a while, but tonight called for it. I wanted her to rest, and she wouldn’t if I didn’t help. She’d lie there all night and think about how she could have done things differently so the people she’d started to care for wouldn’t look at her like she was a freak.

  What she failed to realize was that we were all freaks—every last one of us, living or dead. It didn’t matter.

  Once I was sure she was asleep, I slipped away. Lark would tell me I was a fool, but I couldn’t help it. I had to go check on Kevin. I’d done well not to ask her about him. But I couldn’t pretend I didn’t care about him.

  I found him in his car outside Sarah’s house. Sarah was in the car with him.

  “Thanks for the drive,” she said. “The neighbors would freak if they saw the paddy wagon pull up. Not like Mace could have driven me home in it anyway.”

  Kevin chuckled. “I can imagine. Anyway, it was no problem.”

  She didn’t get out of the car. “That was crazy tonight, huh?”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  They stared at each other. I knew I should leave, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I needed to see what came next.

  They kissed. It was messy and desperate, and it broke my heart. I could sit there and tell myself it was because of what they’d just gone through, that it didn’t mean anything, but that didn’t change the fact that he was kissing someone else.

  That she was his best friend’s girlfriend.

  I started to leave, but before I left the car I leaned close to his ear so that he’d be sure to hear me and whispered, “Don’t you ever visit my grave again.”

  And I knew he heard me because his eyes flew open. He jerked back.

  “What?” Sarah asked.

  I didn’t wait to hear his reply. I returned to the house to find Lark still asleep and a girl sitting on her bed.

  “Who are you?” I demanded.

  The girl’s head whipped around. Her hair was an impossible shade of red. She took one startled look at me and disappeared. I stood there like an idiot and stared at the spot where she’d been.

  “Alys?”

  This night just kept getting stranger and stranger, and I for one couldn’t wait for it to be over. If only I slept. I could shut myself down for a bit—just let this world go, drift back to the Shadow Lands where things at least made sense to me. But first, I curled up with my sister and wrapped my arms around her as she slept. She was important. She was what mattered—not the dead, or the living, or whether or not either of us were freaks.

  In the end, all we had was each other.

  LARK

  I seriously contemplated pretending to be sick the next morning so I didn’t have to go to school. It was only the fact that I didn’t want anyone calling me a coward that made me get out of bed. I chose a fabulous outfit—and a fantastic pair of secondhand Prada pumps I’d gotten off eBay—to wear as armor. I was putting on eyeliner when Wren appeared behind me.

  “You look nice,” she said.

  “Thanks.”

  “So, something weird happened last night.”

  “Yeah,” I said, moving on to the other eye. “I was there.”

  “No, not that.” Suddenly, she appeared in the mirror, taking over my reflection. God, I hated when she did that. It was so freaking creepy. “I went out for a bit. When I came back, I swear there was a girl sitting on your bed. She had hair like me. I think it was Alys, Emily’s twin. She looked just like her.”

  I frowned at the mirror. “That’s impossible.”

  “Why? Because there’s only room for one ghost in this house?”

  “No, because it was a long time ago, and she... Don’t you think she would have moved on?”

  Wren shrugged in the glass. “Maybe she can’t. She disappeared the moment I spoke to her.”

  I shook my head. My reflection didn’t. “Why would she do that? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I don’t know,” Wren replied a little sharply. “I’m just telling you what I saw.”

  “You should try to find Emily in the Shadow Lands. Maybe she knows something.” It had to be a mistake, right? Residual energy, maybe? But this house had been in the family for a long, long time. Maybe Alys was bound to it in some way. Maybe she had shitty timing just like her sister.

  I managed to eat a little breakfast and downed a quick coffee. Wren walked with me, even though I couldn’t really talk to her—people might see or hear. She talked to me, though. Mostly she sang silly songs, or talked about something she’d read in a magazine. It was an obvious distraction tactic and I didn’t care—hearing her talk about sex articles was hilarious. I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep from laughing.

  I made it through first period, and second. Third period I normally had with Roxi but it was the one I had a test in, so I didn’t have to even look at her. I just concentrated on my paper until the end of class.

  By lunchtime I felt better—a little more confident in my ability to navigate high school with some degree of success. No one called me a freak or mocked me to my face. No one talked to me at all. Whatever. It didn’t matter. I was okay. I would always be okay. I didn’t have a choice.

  I found a seat by myself in the cafeteria and sat down. I had a reading assignment for English that I’d decided to get started on and was deep into the book when Wren said, “You’ve got company.”

  I looked up. Mace, Sarah, Roxi, Gage and Ben all sat down at my table. I didn’t know they’d even let Gage out of the hospital. Sarah was the only one who didn’t meet my gaze. She was staring at the wall.

  “Can we talk to you?” Mace asked, already sitting down. The rest followed him. Ben came and sat next to me.

  I marked my place and set the book aside. “Sure.” I sounded so calm and composed. Like I couldn’t care less, but I was very aware of Ben beside me, and how every muscle in my body was stiff as a board.

  Mace leaned his forearms on the table. “So, first of all, we want to thank you for what you did for us.”

  “And Wren,” Roxi interjected. “For what she did for us, too.”

  “You’re welcome,” Wren chirped, even though they couldn’t hear her.

  My gaze locked with Mace’s. I couldn’t quite make myself look at Ben. “But?”

  He frowned. “No but. Thank you. You saved our lives and we appreciate it.”

  “Yeah,” Gage added. “Like, more than you’ll ever know.”

  “And we’re sorry for bringing you into this—and for being weird afterward.” That came from Sarah, which surprised me most of all.

  “Not so freaked out that you couldn’t suck face, you oversexed witch.”

  I blinked and glanced at my sister. What the hell was that all about? If looks could kill Sarah would be a ghost now, too. Sucking face? Oversexed? Oh, no. Had something happened between Sarah and Kevin? Was that where Wren had gone when she’d “slipped out” the night before? No. Sarah was with Mace. She wouldn’t... Would she?

  “Don’t worry about it,” I told her. I didn’t tell her that what she needed to worry about was a jealous teenage ghost.

  “No,” Ben said. “Let us explain.”

  I looked at him. It hurt. “You don’t have to explain. I wigged you out. I get it. You saw what a freak I am and it scared you.”

  They all stared at me—even Sarah.

  “Scared us?” Roxi echoed.

  “Yeah, it was a little scary,” Ben allowed, “but you were hot.” He blushed when Gage laughed and nudged him in the ribs.

  “You were amazing,” Mace informed me. “You moved so fast. Kevin said you moved like them—like the ghosts. We could only see them sometimes.”

  Wren sat up straight, suddenly interested. She gave me a strange look. “That is fast.”

  “It was pretty cool,” Sarah add
ed, making my eyebrows jump. A compliment? Really?

  “Anyway,” Roxi said, “we just wanted to say thanks.” She handed me an envelope.

  Gage grinned. He was so adorable. “It’s from all of us.”

  I took the envelope, watching them warily as I opened it. Inside was a card with a picture of a tabby dressed as Wonder Woman. I opened it up. Inside it simply said, “Thank you!” and everyone had signed it. There was also a Fluevog gift certificate inside. It was enough for a pair of shoes from the new fall line.

  “You guys...” I was speechless. I was touched. I had never been so glad to be so wrong in all my life. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “Why?” Gage asked. “Because you’re a ghost-fightin’ freak?”

  Ben smiled at me. “You’re our ghost-fightin’ freak.”

  “We’d like to be your freaky friends,” Roxi informed me. “Your Scooby Gang.”

  “Oh, God,” Wren groaned. The magic of Scooby-Doo was lost on her.

  I laughed. “Let’s think of something else—I’d rather keep you all away from creepy old amusement parks and haunted mansions.”

  “Speaking of creepy amusement parks,” Gage enthused, “there’s that old one up 84 that shut down a few years ago.”

  Roxi perked up even more—if that was possible. “And there’s an old abandoned house across town that everyone says is haunted.”

  “Tell me you’re joking,” I demanded, gaping at them. “You’re not serious?”

  They all started laughing, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. For once, I didn’t mind being the butt of the joke.

  Underneath the table Ben took my hand in his. Around us the others were tossing out different haunted locations all over the state and talking about which ones we should visit first. Their laughter made me smile. Even Wren was laughing.

  “You know,” Ben said, his voice low, “my house isn’t haunted at all. I know for a fact that my room is a ghost-free zone. Maybe you’d like to come over later?”