“There are a lot of people who get screwed up but are worth saving.” A wistful look came into his eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about Bree, or about himself. “Sometimes it just takes a person who can see through the darkness.”
And now I had no doubt who he was talking about. I remembered the words of the psychic. “They’re in a place of darkness. . . . You can help them break free.” But I also wondered if, by loving Jackson, I was the one who was truly free.
JUSTICE
ON THURSDAY, I WENT BACK to school. The upside was I got to see my friends and catch up in my classes. The downside? I had to hear everyone cheering about Bree’s rescue from some horrible pimp.
If they only knew.
Adriana had rescheduled the zombie club meeting for today at lunch. The atmosphere in the basement chapel was suitably spooky, with the overcast day blotting out the sunlight from the windows. The chapel smelled funkier than usual, like a mix of mustard and mothballs. Or maybe it was whatever Rory was eating for lunch.
“Are you feeling better?” Adriana asked me.
“Oh yeah, it was just a cold. All gone now. I probably could’ve come back yesterday.”
They didn’t question anything, and as usual, I felt bad for lying. Telling my friends that I’d missed school due to a cold was a little lie. Telling them nothing about what really happened to me was the bigger lie.
On the outside, I probably looked normal. But inside, I was reeling. Sometimes, a sudden feeling of elation swept through me—I survived. Other times, I felt a shiver of terror at how close I’d come to being dead.
I’d spent yesterday with Jackson. Being in his presence was healing. There was nothing I couldn’t say in front of him. He’d let me rehash every detail of what had happened that night—details I would never be able to share with anyone else. Jackson had assured me that I would move forward from this, that the mark of that night, the fear I still carried, would fade with time.
“That was nice what you said about us on your show,” Caro said sweetly.
Rory put a hand to his chest. “I was touched. Thoroughly touched.” And Adriana made a face like she was glad she wasn’t the one who’d touched him.
“Well, it’s true,” I said. “You guys rock.” I’d forgotten all about having sung their praises on the show. But I was glad they hadn’t.
Sudden noises brought our heads up. Shouting filled the corridor outside the chapel. Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall.
We all jumped to our feet.
“What the hell?” Caro said, grabbing Alistair’s arm. “What’s happening?”
“The zombies are here!” Rory declared. He lifted the only weapon he had—a fork from his lunch bag. “Stay behind me, everyone. I’ll check it out.” He slowly headed toward the door.
“Open the damn door, hero,” Adriana said.
Rory turned to us. “Stay back, everyone. I’ll tell you if the threat is alive, or undead.” Lifting his fork, he opened the door and peered out. “Holy zombieballs!”
“What?” we asked.
“Liam Murray has officially screwed himself.”
We looked at one another, then pushed Rory aside to look out the door. There were four cops in navy jackets and bulletproof vests standing outside the boiler room. One of them was frisking Liam Murray.
“It’s not mine, I swear!” Liam shouted. “I don’t touch that shit!” Liam saw us, his eyes going huge. “There! I was meeting with my friends down here. Right, guys? You can back me up?”
We didn’t say a thing. As if we were going to help him out of this mess after what he’d done to Alistair!
The cops didn’t bother to look at us—they were focused on removing several backpacks from the boiler room. Backpacks full of Blings and cash, I’d bet.
“Calm down,” one of the cops warned him. “I’m going to cuff you now.”
Liam went ballistic. “Fuck you! Don’t touch me! I’m gonna sue!”
Unimpressed, the cop pinned Liam to the wall and snapped the handcuffs over his wrists.
“Stop! Ow, you’re hurting me! This is harassment!”
I glanced at Alistair, seeing the slight smile on his face. Did he have something to do with this?
Liam dragged his feet as one of the cops led him down the hallway. When they passed us, Alistair gave him a cheery wave. “Bye-bye, Liam.”
A week later, I walked into math class to find a surprise waiting for me.
Bree was back.
I did a double take.
Holy. Shit.
I knew that she’d been planning to return to St. Anthony’s. Since her rescue, she’d been in touch with Ellie and Karina, and they’d spread the word around school that she’d be back. But I hadn’t expected her so soon.
I had to make a quick decision. Did I sit down beside her in my usual seat, or grab a free desk at the back of the class? If I didn’t sit beside her, people would think I was avoiding her because I felt awkward about her ordeal. It would only add to my heartless-bitch reputation. But really, what harm could a little more hate do?
Spotting a free seat, I made a beeline for the back of the class. Then I saw it—the challenge in Bree’s eyes. She was daring me to sit beside her.
No way would I let her think I was afraid of her. No way.
Circling around the last desk, I sat down in my usual seat.
“So you’re back,” I said. Since the whole class had their eyes on Bree, I tried to act upbeat.
My words seemed to cut some unseen tension in the room, because others started piping in.
“Glad you’re back, Bree.”
“You look great, really.”
“We all missed you.”
“Excellent to have you back, Bree,” Ms. Saikaley said, standing in front of the class. “Come on, everyone. Let’s welcome her back properly.” She started to clap, and the whole class joined in.
Bree smiled and her green eyes shimmered with tears, as if she was genuinely touched. Hell, maybe she was. Who knew?
When the clapping died down, Ms. Saikaley launched into the lesson.
On the surface, everything was strangely . . . back to normal. I copied the question on the board. Bree did too, along with the usual doodling in her notebook.
“So, are you passing the class?” Bree whispered to me.
I looked at her, astonished. Seriously? She was going to act like nothing had happened? Part of me wanted to laugh, and part of me wanted to smack that innocent look off her face. But in the end, it was best if I played along.
I finally said, “Heading into exams with a seventy-two.”
“See, I knew you’d be fine.” I shouldn’t have been surprised that Bree had come back to school so soon. She wouldn’t want to miss all the attention. I glanced down at the words Bordom is evil that she’d scratched into her desk back in September. That said it all, I realized. She’d wanted an exciting life—that was why she’d run off with Milo.
Now that the dream of Milo was over, her excitement would come from being the center of attention. I could see it now—Dateline NBC, maybe a guest appearance on The View with all the ladies nodding sympathetically. Not to mention a book deal. I could picture her face on a book cover, all sweet and serious. The title would be Survivor or some bullshit like that.
When class ended, everybody filed out except Bree, who stayed behind to talk to Ms. Saikaley.
Ellie and Karina were waiting for her in the hallway. As I walked by, Ellie said, “Hey, Gabby.”
I narrowed my eyes, waiting for the dig. But there wasn’t one.
“Your birthday’s coming up next week,” Ellie said, giving her face a quick scan with her compact. Spotting some freckles, she swiped at them. “We should do something, the four of us, like we used to. I bet Bree will be up for it.”
Karina nodded, her shiny black ponytail bobbing. “She’ll want to have as much fun as possible before she moves to Nowheresville.”
I frowned. “To where?”
“H
er mom’s sending her to live with her dad in Iowa. She’s leaving December thirtieth, right before New Year’s Eve. Can you believe that?”
“It’s the most boring place ever,” Ellie said. “I can’t believe they’d do that to her after everything she’s been through. It’s like they’re punishing her.”
Interesting. Was the move an effort to keep Bree safe, or to keep her out of trouble? Had her family figured out that she wasn’t the innocent victim—that she’d run off with Milo willingly?
Either way, the exciting life Bree had dreamed of was about to take a turn for the boring. How tragic.
“So are we doing a birthday thing or what?” Ellie asked me. “I say we do. Remember last year when we all went to that place for dinner? What was it called?”
“The Urban Bistro,” I answered. This was JC’s doing. He must have convinced them I wasn’t a snobby bitch after all. I wished he hadn’t bothered.
“Guess who called me this weekend?” Ellie asked, as if I hadn’t already guessed. “JC. Nobody’s heard from him in forever. Not even a thank-you for the gift basket and card we sent him. And then, out of the blue, he calls and asks how Bree’s doing.”
It seemed like a reasonable thing to do, since they were Bree’s closest friends, but Ellie and Karina weren’t impressed.
“JC still won’t return Liam’s calls, his best friend,” Karina said, disgusted. “Liam’s devastated. He’s in so much trouble right now with the charges.”
Even more good news. Liam was finally getting his. “I wouldn’t be too hard on JC,” I said. “He’s focused on staying clean. He can’t manage his own problems and Liam’s right now.”
Ellie scoffed at that. “I’m surprised you’re so sympathetic considering what he put you through. He told me that all the smack he talked about you was a pack of lies.”
Karina nodded. “JC had everybody believing him. You didn’t deserve it, Gabby.”
“Yeah, you totally didn’t,” Ellie said.
Was that supposed to be an apology? Sorry we believed JC and treated you like dirt; let’s be friends again?
I started to walk away, but Ellie called after me. “We’ll see you at lunch, Gabby?”
I said over my shoulder, “Thanks, but I’m good.”
SURPRISE
“PACK FOR A SLEEPOVER. WE’RE picking you up at six thirty. And don’t eat dinner.”
That was all Adriana would tell me.
My birthday plan was to spend Friday night celebrating with my friends, Saturday night with Jackson, and Sunday (my actual birthday) with my family.
From the passenger seat of Alistair’s parents’ SUV, I asked for the second time, “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. We have to pick up one more person,” Alistair said, making a left turn.
The SUV already contained Rory, Adriana, and Caro. I didn’t know who else Alistair could be picking up. That is, until we reached Maria’s street.
She was waiting on her doorstep in a bright pink dress, her hair freshly bleached blond. “Birthday girl!” She came running, stumbling in her high heels, then threw open the door of the SUV. Perfume flooded in.
“Hey!” I blew her a kiss from the front seat.
Maria slid in next to the Paranormal Twins, who’d dressed as if we were going to a funeral. She looked momentarily puzzled, then shrugged.
I’d never gotten them together as a group before, since I knew Maria was freaked out by anything paranormal. But for my birthday, why not? There was no need to ask how my friends had tracked her down; they’d probably seen her comments on my Instagram.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I asked Maria over my shoulder, hoping she’d give me a hint.
“Sorry, hon. I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
After twenty minutes of stop-start traffic on the expressway, we arrived in North Miami. Alistair pulled into the underground parking lot of the Redmond Hotel. Soon after, we were entering the lobby.
We settled onto some yellow couches. “We have a room here?” I mouthed to Maria, looking over the glitzy lobby.
She made a sign indicating her lips were zipped.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Alistair walked away.
Five minutes later, he came back, holding an electronic room key. “Ready?”
Buzzing with excitement, we got into an elevator, where Alistair pressed the button for the fourteenth floor. A businessman came in after us. As he reached for the button, he saw that we were also on the fourteenth floor. He glanced upward, as if praying that we didn’t have the room next to his.
Lucky for him, when we got out of the elevator, we went in opposite directions.
“Here we are,” Alistair said, opening up a room for us.
It was a posh suite with a comfy living room and a bedroom with two queen beds. We dumped all of our stuff in a corner of the bedroom.
Rory looked at Maria, his brows winking up. “This could be ours.” He bounced his butt on one of the beds.
Maria’s mouth opened in horror.
Alistair cut in quickly. “Rory, you’re on the pull-out in the living room. I’ve got a foam mattress with me. We’re good.”
Rory heaved a sigh and brought his duffel bag to the living room.
“Guys, this is so sweet,” I said. “I don’t know how much you paid, but I’m chipping in.”
Everybody shook their heads.
“It wasn’t that much,” Alistair said. “We got a discount through my dad’s corporate membership. Now, who’s hungry? We have a reservation across the street.”
We headed across the street to Yolanda’s, a loud, boisterous restaurant with cute waiters. According to Alistair, the place had the most authentic Mexican food in Miami. Trust Alistair to have done his research.
Wow. A fabulous restaurant and hotel room—my friends had gone all out for my birthday. For the Paranormal Twins, it was all very . . . normal. I’d half expected we’d be spending my birthday at a cemetery or a UFO convention.
We ordered, we ate, we laughed. I was forced to stand up on a chair wearing a sombrero and holding sparklers as my friends and the waitstaff sang “Happy Birthday.” Maria ogled the waiters, which was a good sign. She was back in her moving on phase. I hoped it would last.
When we finally returned to the hotel, we were happily stuffed. I figured we’d find a movie on TV and watch it until we conked out. But when we got back to the room, Adriana dimmed the lights.
“It’s time, everyone,” she said.
I looked around. What was this about?
Everyone sat down in the living room.
“There’s something we haven’t told you, Gabby,” Caro said with barely contained excitement. “This isn’t some ordinary hotel.”
Alistair was sitting next to her, holding her hand. “It’s known as the most haunted hotel in Miami. The Redmond has been on this land for more than a hundred years. Before that, it was a sanatorium.”
“A what?” Maria gripped my arm.
“Sanatorium,” Alistair explained. “It’s where they locked away patients with tuberculosis. Those poor people never saw the outside world again.”
“There have been dozens of reports of ghostly patients walking the thirteenth floor late at night,” Caro said.
Maria’s hold on my arm relaxed a bit. “Let’s hope they don’t make it up to the fourteenth floor.”
Caro and Alistair glanced at each other. “Actually, we’re on the thirteenth floor,” Alistair said. “Some hotels call the thirteenth floor the fourteenth because so many of their guests are superstitious. In this case, they have reason to be. Didn’t you notice that there was no thirteen button in the elevator?”
“No.” Maria turned to me. “Being attacked by a ghost is not on my bucket list.”
“I can tell us if a ghost is present.” Alistair picked up his backpack, and took out a handheld device that looked like the meter the gas guy used. “This is an EVP reader. It detects changes in the electromagnetic field.” There
was a small click as he switched it on.
“That is so cool,” Rory said. “Where’d you get it?”
“eBay.” Alistair moved the EVP meter around the room. “The reading is completely normal. Should we attempt to make contact?”
“Yes!” said everyone but Maria.
Adriana and Caro closed their eyes and started to hum.
“Loving God and all-powerful angels, please protect us with the white light of your love as we seek to communicate with the spirits,” Adriana prayed. “Everybody, visualize white light around us.”
Maria whispered to me, “I’m having trouble visualizing it.”
“It’s okay, I’ll visualize it around both of us,” I said.
Caro cleared her throat. “Are there any spirits who would like to communicate with us? Only spirits who mean us no harm are welcome.”
Alistair lifted his eyes. “The meter spiked. There must be something in the room with us.”
Maria shivered.
“Now, somebody ask the spirit a question,” Alistair said. “Let’s see if we can get the meter to spike again.”
Rory asked, “Did you suffer a slow and heinous death?”
“No change,” Alistair said.
“Is your soul trapped between here and the light?” Adriana asked.
Alistair’s eyes went big. “It moved. Keep talking.”
“Don’t be afraid of the light, whoever you are,” Adriana said. “You’ll find happiness and peace there.”
Rory huffed. “Hey, don’t tell it to go the light yet! We gotta ask it more questions first.”
“It obviously wants to move on, Rory,” Adriana said. “We should be thinking about the spirit’s well-being, not our own entertainment.”
“But—”
“Quiet,” Adriana snapped. “Spirit, is there something holding you back from the light? Something you’ve done that you can’t forget?”
Alistair nodded, looking down at the reader. “Major response to that one.”
“This is freaking me out,” Maria whispered, holding my arm too tight.
It freaked me out a little too, but I didn’t want to admit it. “Adriana and Caro do this stuff all the time. It’s not a big deal.”