A Curious Tale of the In-Between (20 page)

“Oh!” Pram said. “I think I found it. ‘Pierce comma
J
.’”

They roamed the aisle until they found it, and Clarence stood on tiptoes to retrieve the thick book with the green spine. “‘
The Third Bell
,’” he read aloud, and flipped through it. “It’s over five hundred pages.”

Pram looked over his shoulder and turned to the front pages. “It was published forty-three years ago,” she said.

“So Adelaide had been haunting that place for all those years,” Clarence said. “Wow.”

“Time is different in the spirit world,” Pram said. “It’s like it doesn’t pass at all. The sky changes colors as the hours go on, but you hardly even notice. And you can just forget anything you don’t want to hold on to.”

She knew what Clarence was thinking. “Your mother will remember you,” she told him. “Just like you can let unpleasant things go, you hold on that much tighter to the things you love.”

“You think so?” he asked.

“
I really do,” Pram said. “While Lady Savant held me captive, and I was beginning to forget the important things, thinking of you always reminded me who I was.”

His cheeks burned pink.

“It’s scary to think that she was powerful enough to steal memories like that,” he said.

“She wanted me to get stronger before she tried to take my soul,” Pram said. “I wonder if I would have been anywhere near as powerful as she was.”

“It wouldn’t matter if you were,” Clarence said. “You could grow up to be ten times more powerful than she was, and you still wouldn’t go around stealing memories, or tricking anyone into telling you their secrets.”

“What happened to her was terrible,” Pram said. “It could have happened to me.”

“I would never let it,” Clarence said. “Neither would your aunts. And besides, if you feel like you’re forgetting who you are, I’ll be sure to remind you.”

“Even twenty years from now?” Pram asked.

“Even fifty years from now,” Clarence said. He could swear he heard Felix’s voice telling him, “You’d better.” His cheeks were turning pink again. He cleared his throat. “Do you want to check out this book?”

Pram took the book from him and read a bit from some pages, considering.

“
No,” she said. “It seems like something I’ll understand better when I’m older.” Pram suspected there were a great many things she would understand better when she was older. “Let’s come back for it in a few years.”

AC
KNOWLEDGMENTS

A couple of years back, after Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I sat on the kitchen floor with my nine-year-old cousin, drawing silly pictures. She asked me if I was writing anything new. At the time, I was dragging my feet with an early draft of this story, but my own uncertainty kept it on the back burner. I had never attempted to write for younger readers and wasn’t sure I could pull it off. Seeing this as an opportunity to test the waters, I told her, “I do have a story about a girl whose best friend is a ghost.”

As I told my story, she began to draw the things I described. From then on, she asked me about Pram and her ghost whenever we spoke. It was her enthusiasm that made me believe this story might have a place in the
hearts
of younger readers, which gave me the courage to finish it. For that, I owe a huge thank-you to my cousin Riley Victoria Fallon. Her insights and knowledge are vastly beyond her years, and someday the literary community and the world will know her name.

As always, a huge thank-you goes to my parents and my huge extended family, for indulging me with their support and love.

Thank you to the greatest support system in the world: Beth Revis, Laura Bickle, and Aimée Carter for encouraging me. And to Tahereh Mafi, who sent all those caps lock–addled e-mails that were so fun to receive as she read an early draft of this story. And a special thank-you to Aprilynne Pike and her daughter Audrey for offering their insights. You guys are truly the best.

Thanks, as always, to my agent, Barbara Poelle, whose love for this story got me through the dark patches of writing it. And to my brilliant editor, Cat Onder, for believing in Pram’s journey and offering such fantastic insights. Huge thank-you to Donna Mark, Amanda Bartlett, and Kevin Keele for creating a cover that captures Pram’s spirit and her friendship with Felix better than I could have imagined. Thank you to the entire team at Blooms-bury for allowing me to be a part of the process, from the cover to the title and all the pages therein. What a rare and wonderful journey this story has been.

Text
copyright © 2015 by Lauren DeStefano

Illustrations © 2015 by Kevin Keele

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published in the United States of America in September 2015

by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

E-book edition published in September 2015

www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury Children’s Books,
1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018

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

DeStefano, Lauren.

A curious tale of the in-between / by Lauren DeStefano.

pages
cm

Summary: Bright, imaginative eleven-year-old Pram lives with two aunts who run a retirement home, hiding the fact that she can talk with ghosts—but not the spirit of her mother—and after befriending Clarence, who also lost his mother, she decides to find her father in hopes he can answer her questions.

ISBN 978-1-61963-600-2 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-61963-601-9 (e-book)

[1. Loss (Psychology)—Fiction. 2. Psychic ability—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Ghosts—Fiction. 5. Orphans—Fiction. 6. Aunts—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.D47Cur 2015
[Fic]—dc23
2014035767

ISBN 978-1-61963-601-9 (e-book)