Arise (10 page)

But there was one conspicuous absence on the curb tonight: Ruth. Not that I was complaining.

“Josh,” Trish called across the crowd. “Most of the kids are in the drawing room. Why don’t you go say hey before you put your stuff up? I think Annabel’s got something planned for you all.”

“What is it this time?” he asked. “Movie night? Ritual sacrifice?”

Trish chuckled, letting go of Jeremiah to extend another hug to Rebecca. “She’s saving that last one for Christmas morning, actually.”

When Joshua laughed loudly, she gave him one final smile before turning away to talk to his parents. Joshua waited until everyone’s attention was otherwise occupied and then looked fully at me. He tilted his head toward the open front door and mouthed,
Inside
?

I felt a sudden twang of nerves. But I nodded and held out my arm, pointing to the town house.

“Lead the way.”

With a last, fiery brush of his fingers against the back of my hand, he walked past me toward the front door. I took a deep breath, told myself that not every Mayhew house held a nasty surprise for me, and then followed him.

Normal
, I reminded myself.
These are your last moments to feel normal. So take advantage
.

But as I passed by the gas lamps at the entrance of the town house, their flames sputtered, plunging the nearby sidewalk into darkness. From behind me a chorus of voices cried out in protest. After that I could swear I heard a rush of whispers from somewhere close—maybe from Joshua’s family … maybe not.

I stopped, one foot on the cobblestones and one foot hovering in the doorstep. Then, unthinkingly, I let that foot drop onto the welcome mat inside the house. The moment I did, I heard two soft pops, and the gas lamps brightened again.

I gritted my teeth and shook my head, hard.
That doesn’t mean anything. Those lamps are probably a century old
—
I’m sure they go out all the time
.

“Amelia?” Joshua whispered from inside the house. “You coming in?”

“Yes,” I whispered back, like I was one who needed to worry about my volume. Then I laughed softly.

You know
, I told myself,
for a ghost, you get spooked way too easily
. So I straightened my back and stepped fully across the threshold.

There, in the tiny foyer, the light was almost as dim as it had been outside. The only illumination came from an electric-lit pendant hung above a winding staircase down the hall and from the rooms leading off of the foyer. Through the archway to our right, I could see a tiny dining table, still half covered with the remains of tonight’s meal. To our left, a set of young voices filtered through the opening between two French doors.

Joshua angled his head toward the doors. “Sounds like Annabel and Drew are in there. Want to ‘meet’ the rest of my family?”

I blew out one sharp breath and said, “Okay. Sure.”

He paused for a second to study my face. Then his expression softened. “You know I’m really glad you’re here, don’t you?”

The little ache in my heart uncurled itself ever so slightly, and I had to clench one hand to my side to keep from pressing it to my chest. “Thanks,” I said, managing a smile. “Me too.”

He gave me that boyish grin, all dimples and full lips and inevitable heartbreak, and then pulled open one door. I heard a girl cry out a greeting, so I ducked behind him, feeling oddly shy as we entered the room together.

Once inside, however, Joshua moved aside too quickly for me to hide. At that moment I had a full view of the room. All over the walls, from the tops of the antique furniture to the base of the crown molding, were hundreds of framed photographs. I could just make out Joshua’s smile in a few that hung near the fireplace. But aside from some current family photos, most looked ancient, clustered together in groups of black-and-white or sepia-toned portraits. Generations of Angeline Seers, all staring eerily out at us.

On the other side of the room, two teenagers sat together, draped over each other on a red velvet couch. The boy looked up briefly at Joshua and made a gesture with his head that was either a nod of acknowledgment or just an attempt to get his floppy dark hair out of his eyes. Almost immediately he turned back to his companion, a pretty blonde with a chic bob who’d snuggled suffocation-close to his side.

Across from us, another couple huddled together in a pair of overstuffed armchairs near the fireplace. The couple leaned so close to each other, I thought they were kissing. But when their heads turned toward Joshua, I could see they’d just been talking, heads together in intense conversation.

The girl broke away first, leaning back in her chair and flashing Joshua a wide grin. She brushed back her hair—jet-black like his, but cut ultrashort on one side and longish on the other. The long side flopped back, but not before I saw that she shared Joshua’s midnight blue eyes.

As Joshua had promised, the girl didn’t seem to see me. But when we came close, her friend abruptly sat up like someone had pinched him. He rested both his hands on his knees and then slowly turned his upper body toward us.

For a full minute he stared at Joshua. As he did so, an awkward silence fell over the room. I looked around and realized that everyone else—the black-haired girl, the two lovebirds on the couch—watched him, as if waiting for some kind of signal.

Aside from being creepy, their behavior also didn’t make a lot of sense. After all, this boy didn’t seem like someone this small crew would follow. First of all, he was significantly older—at least twenty-two. Then, the others wore artfully messy clothes and up-to-the-minute hairstyles. But the boy in the armchair appeared more like a young politician, in his white dress shirt and crisp gray suit. His light-brown hair was so short, I’d be hard-pressed to call it anything but a buzz cut, and I could barely see his eyes through the glint off his wire-rimmed glasses.

When he turned his head slightly to the right, however, the gleam off his lenses disappeared and I had a clearer view. His eyes were a cold gray—steely, almost. And unless I was imagining things, they moved from Joshua … to me.

“Well,” the boy said, “nice to see the two of you made it safely.”

I froze. From the corner of my eye, I saw Joshua arch an eyebrow. “Uh … the ‘two of you’?” he asked.

“Yes,” the boy said. “The two of you.”

“Who—,” Joshua began, but the boy cut him off midsyllable.

“You, and the ghost next to you,” he said matter-of-factly. Then he locked his eyes directly—unmistakably—onto mine.

Chapter

NINE

I
stayed frozen near the entrance of the drawing room even when the boy in the suit began to smile. The smile seemed genuine enough, its warmth spreading to his gray eyes until they lost their steely edge. But the moment he pushed himself out of the chair and into a standing position, I jerked backward, taking two quick steps into the foyer.

The boy, however, reacted much faster than I did. Almost as if he anticipated my fear. With two broad strides of his own, he stood right in front of us, hand extended like he wanted me—not Joshua—to shake it.

“Welcome to New Orleans, Amelia.”

My jaw dropped.

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected when I’d walked into the room, but a formal welcome certainly wasn’t it. I peeked at Joshua, who stood motionless beside me. Judging by his expression—eyes wide, mouth slightly gaping like mine—Joshua had no idea who this boy was, either.

The boy in the suit could see me, obviously, which meant he was a Seer—one who’d already had his triggering event. But how did he already know my name? The only person who could have told him about me had to be … Ruth? That didn’t make any sense, since he greeted me like one might an old friend, not some supernatural enemy.

Suddenly, I felt my defenses rise. I didn’t take too well to strangers who knew more about me than I knew about them. Blame it on past experience with a certain blond ghost.

I was just about to tell him to back off when Jillian strolled into the room, flopped unceremoniously into the chair the boy had just vacated, and then glanced up at him with an arch sort of smile.

“See, Alex?” She addressed him directly. “I told you she was annoying.”

I blinked back, stunned.
Jillian
had been the one to tell this boy—Alex—who I was? Not only who I was, but
how
I was?

Even though she’d just entered it, Jillian didn’t look the least bit surprised by this strange scene. She sprawled across the wingback chair, legs swung over an armrest and face turned up expectantly to the boy in front of me.

And … was I crazy, or did she look rapturous, too? Flirtatious, even? Like she desperately wanted this boy to pay attention to her.

Whatever Jillian may have wanted, the boy’s eyes stayed locked onto mine. Waiting for me to react to his greeting. When I didn’t, he waited for one more second, hand still hanging in the air, before he swung his body toward Joshua and offered him the introductory handshake instead.

“Sorry if I was being rude earlier,” he said. “I guess I just feel like I know you already. I’m Alexander Etienne—a friend of Annabel’s. We’re freshmen at Tulane together, and she invited me to spend Christmas break with your family.” He twitched his head sideways, acknowledging the black-haired girl in the other wingback chair. Then he extended his hand a tiny bit closer to Joshua. “Please—call me Alex.”

Joshua looked at Alex’s outstretched hand for another beat before reluctantly reaching out to shake it.

I thought he would say something defensive to this Alex person. Make some kind of denial on my behalf. Instead, he eyed the rest of room and then asked, “Okay—how many of you can see her?”

“Joshua!” I cried, taken aback by his sudden frankness.

Across the room, the brown-haired boy laughed. “Oh my God, I can totally hear her!”

“Me too!” the blonde chimed in, clapping her hands together like I’d just performed a circus trick.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at them. Neither of the lovebirds looked directly at me, however. They both continued to stare at Joshua, wearing a matching set of self-satisfied smiles.

The only one who didn’t seem annoyingly entertained was Annabel. Slowly, calmly, she pushed herself out of her chair and strolled over to us. She flipped back her swoosh of bangs, slipped her hands into the back pockets of her skinny-jeans, and grinned at me.

Well, she didn’t grin
at
me, exactly; it was more like she grinned at the place where she
thought
I stood. She narrowed her eyes, peering in my direction like Jillian used to do before she could see me. But unlike Jillian, Annabel looked neither pissed off nor unnerved.

Annabel tilted her head to one side, still peering. “I bet we’re freaking you out, aren’t we?”

“Yes.” Joshua and I answered simultaneously.

Annabel barked out a pleasantly dry, throaty laugh and then focused on a spot somewhere above my left shoulder. “Sorry. But we’ve been waiting for this for a while.”

“Waiting for what?” Joshua asked in disbelief.

“To meet Amelia.”

I balked. Again, another living being saying my name like an old friend. It felt surreal, and I struggled, with only moderate success, to keep my cool.

“So,” I said haltingly, “all of you can really … hear me?”

“Kind of,” said the guy with the floppy hair. “You sort of sound like you’re in another room. Or underground.” Then his hazel eyes brightened with an idea. “Like … maybe you’re buried?”

“Shut it, Drew,” Annabel snapped. At that moment she reminded me of Ruth—sharply angled face, hawklike eyes, and in obvious command of those around her. And just like Ruth’s old followers, Drew promptly shut it.

His girlfriend, however, pushed her mouth into a pretty pout. Under her breath she muttered, “I don’t see why we have to do what your cousin says.”

Annabel shot her a quick, cold smile. “You don’t have to do what I say, Hayley. You have to do what Alex says.”