“Smart boy.” Mrs. King pats his cheek like she knows him, and I guess she thinks she does. “By understanding past-life mistakes, you can see your current hurtful soul-patterns and break them.” She taps the card in my hand again with one long painted fingernail. “Go to Catalina. She will help you.”
“Thank you,” I say since I don’t know what else is appropriate. “How much do I owe you, Mrs. King?”
She waves a hand as I unzip my purse in search of my wallet. “Put your money away, child. For Mercy and Nate, I would do anything. You can’t put a price on correcting soul-patterns, my dear.”
“Can I at least give you a donation?” I hold my wallet in my hands, ready for her to name her price.
“Just promise me you won’t forget me or this day and that you’ll break the patterns of the past. That’s all the payment that I need.”
“We promise,” Nathan and I say together.
His hand snakes down to grasp mine, squeezing tight, and I feel the same little electric shock shoot through me like I did at the gas station. I squeeze back, taking courage from the gesture of support and solidarity. We came looking for answers today, but I know this is only the beginning. I glance down at the business card in my hand again. Open Closed Doors. My breath catches in my throat when I notice the address.
“Oh no.”
“What?” Nathan is on alert. “What is it?”
“Catalina’s office is next to the graveyard in Haunting.”
“I believe the graveyard is in a lovely location, miss.” Abigail putters around my room, straightening things that don’t need straightening. No matter how many times I tell her not to do it, old habits die hard. Almost a whole week has passed, and I still haven’t got up the courage to call Catalina or go into the shop to book an appointment. “Why are you so afraid to go to a shop right next door? Especially if you’re bound to find your answers there.”
“It’s not so much the graveyard itself, but who hangs out there,” I say. “It’s probably the only place in town fuller of restless ghosts than the school.”
Abigail shrugs. “Is that such a bad thing? Maybe they need your help.”
“I can only handle one project at a time.” I stuff some books and notebooks into my backpack. I need to meet Nathan and Ritzi in the library to work on our Colorado History project. Local ghost stories and séance practices are our go-to topics right now. At least it’s a good topic if we need an excuse for why we’re hanging around near the graveyard once I do get up the courage to go Open Closed Doors. That’s convenient.
“Maybe another time,” Abigail says.
“Maybe.” I don’t want to commit to being some go-to-the-light crusader. I’d rather just keep my head down, do my school work, and act as normal as possible. I already feel like I’m living a double life as it is with the possible past-life memories. Do I want to add helping ghosts into the mix?
I walk alone to the library. I expected Ritzi to knock on the door and get me, but she’s been acting a little weird in class. She’s been peppy and sociable. She’s always been friendly, but it’s almost like she’s hiding something behind this new persona. She might just be trying to get Nathan’s attention by being the fun, vibrant, center-of-attention girl she thinks he wants, but I’m not buying it. There’s something Ritzi is not telling us. I just don’t know what it is.
If she’s just trying to get Nathan to notice her, that bit is working. He’s been talking to Ritzi more and me less in class this last week. Part of me is happy he’s taking an interest in someone other than me, while a big part of me that has no right to be jealous is just that—completely envious. I hate it, but white-hot anger flares in my stomach every time he smiles at Ritzi or compliments one of her project ideas. I’m annoyed when she leans over and whispers to me how cute Nathan is or how she plans to ask him out after class. The jealousy eases up when I’m positive he lets her down with some excuse, but that doesn’t stop it from circling back around whenever she turns up the charm all over again. What if she wears Nathan down? What if he decides I’m not worth hanging around for and goes after a girl that’s available and very into him? What if, what if, what if? I can’t stand it. I’ll drive myself crazy if I keep thinking in circles.
Nathan waves me over to the table when I enter the library. Ritzi is already there. She smiles but doesn’t look one hundred percent pleased that I’ve interrupted her alone time with Nathan.
“Hey, what did I miss?” I try to be bright and cheerful, just in case that really is the kind of girl Nathan is looking for. Ugh. What am I thinking? I have a boyfriend. Even if he is sometimes an insecure ass, he is still my boyfriend.
“Ritzi found a book with a great rundown on a Victorian séance,” Nathan says. “She thinks it will be a great visual for our project.”
“We’ll show the class what a séance looked like back in the day.” Ritzi blushes a little, looking pleased that Nathan is giving her credit for the suggestion. “Most were fake anyway. They just piggybacked on the whole occult craze. We’ll show off the props used and how the medium would make the people think they were really taking to the dead. I think having the visual will be really amazing.”
I frown. “As long as you don’t call up any real spirits. If you’re into the metaphysical, you know how crowded this town is with restless energy.”
“Oh, I know.” Ritzi dismisses my concern as if I’d said, “Hey, read chapter two before the test tomorrow.” She even waves her hand a little. “Trust me,” she continues. “I’ll be careful.”
“You better be,” I say. “The alternative is not an option.”
Nathan looks over at me and raises both eyebrows. I shake my head and mouth “later.” The less he knows the destruction that can happen by calling malevolent spirits, the better.
“Hey, Meredith, why don’t you help me put some of these books back?” Nathan stands and loads me down with books. I know it’s an excuse to get me alone so we can talk about going to Open Closed Doors. I play along by following him deep into the book stacks.
“So, I have a plan.” Nathan shelves books to make our cover story believable. “Our goal is to find answers to the past by going to Catalina at Open Closed Doors but without Jay and his downer of an attitude tagging along, right?”
“Right,” I agree. “I feel he’s part of this as much as we are—that picture of James Piper can’t be just a coincidence—but I want to feel like I have the freedom to discover Mercy and Nate’s story instead of feeling like I need to apologize to Jay for being interested in the past every two seconds.” I stick a book on the shelf. “Where are you going with this plan of yours?”
“So, neither of us have a car, the shop is too far to walk to, and I don’t want to be tied to the bus schedule, so that leaves borrowing a car.” Nathan grimaces. “I hate to even say it but, uh, what would you have to do in order borrow Jay’s car?”
“Are you on crack?” I shove a book into the shelf and knock three more out. I pick them up and try again. “That’s a horrible plan. No one just ‘borrows’ Jay’s car. That car is his baby. It means more to him than I do. It means maybe more to him than me and all his ski trophies combined. No one just borrows his car. Nothing I can say or do will change that.”