Wendy came to the table, tracing the linen with a finger. “There’re bad feelings all over this house, and they were here way before I took those ghost pictures. We all seem to hate each other… except for me and Gavin. Mostly, it’s Farah and him who argue all the time. And me and Noah. And Farah couldn’t give a rat’s ass about me.” She chuffed. “They say that you have to love family, but we’re the things that make this house dark.”
Amanda Lee smiled sympathetically at the girl, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t just acting. “Families can be strange.”
“Mine takes the cake.”
Just as I thought Amanda Lee was about to casually investigate the subject by encouraging Wendy to go on, the girl took a deep breath and sat heavily in one of the chairs around the table as she exhaled. “You know what I’m thinking?”
“Let’s see… being a psychic, I have a good chance of guessing. Should I give it a shot?”
Wendy laughed, and it was nice to see her happy for once.
She glanced at the room’s entrance, toward the continued utterances of her brother and sister, then back to Amanda Lee. “I think I know who the ghost is.”
I freaked out a little, my energy zitzing. Amanda Lee raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t look at me.
“Who?” she asked.
Wendy’s brown eyes were wide. “My adoptive mom.”
Oh. God, this wasn’t where I’d wanted the haunting to go at all.
I could sense Amanda Lee’s relief that Wendy hadn’t guessed some strawberry blond stranger was haunting her house, but there was a bit of sadness in her, too. “Why would you say that?”
“Mom died when I was little,” Wendy said, “and this ghost has been nice to me. She wanted to comfort me. And I think Farah doesn’t want you to summon her tonight because she didn’t get along with Mom. I was young, and I barely remember how they acted with each other, but Farah gets real quiet whenever someone brings her up, and she always has a bitter look on her face before she changes the subject.”
Amanda Lee walked toward Wendy, and she looked like she always did when she was feeling sorry for someone… usually me. Or was she just now realizing that Wendy, the girl she’d wanted to pin a poltergeist on, was a real person, not just a pawn?
“I don’t know who this ghost is,” she said softly. “But we’ll find out soon enough.”
Wendy wasn’t done. “You know what else makes me think she’s Mom? Noah hasn’t had any contact with her, but it’s only because she decided to leave him alone. She knew he liked his independence—when he was little, he always played by himself in his room. She respected that.”
“So he hasn’t felt a presence here?”
“He hasn’t said anything about it. I’m not even sure Gavin showed him my pictures last night or this morning. Plus, Farah brought me home from art class just ten minutes ago, and I didn’t run into Noah before I came in here, so I didn’t see how he reacted to Gavin inviting you over.”
“And the rest of your family?” Amanda Lee said, her jaw tight. “What do they think?”
“When I showed Gavin those pictures, he wasn’t afraid.” She laughed. “Well, maybe he was kinda uncomfortable. I got the feeling a ghost wasn’t a surprise to him, though. That Mom had been around him, too, even if he wasn’t telling me about it.”
“Why wouldn’t he let you know if he’s felt a presence in the house?”
“Gavin? He doesn’t tell us anything. But that’s all right. He’s a good brother anyway. He’s what my friend Torrey calls a ‘man’s man.’”
Amanda Lee really looked at Wendy. “It bothers you that he shuts you out.”
“Yeah, but he tries his best with us.”
It looked like Amanda Lee was about to put a hand on Wendy’s shoulder—two misfits connecting—but then Gavin, Farah, and even Noah entered, and Amanda Lee straightened up.
She had that lemonade smile again, and I think I was the only one who saw her back slightly stiffen at the presence of her prime suspect.
“Are we ready?” she asked.
“No,” Farah said. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“Which part?” Amanda Lee asked in that lilt. “Contacting the spirit who’s joined your household or telling it to leave you alone?”
Gavin didn’t say anything as he walked to the table, taking a seat, sinking into it. His eyes were reddened, and I suspected he just wanted to get the badness out of the mansion so he could get some sleep.
“Let’s do this,” he said.
Farah was standing in front of Noah, who seemed interested in ghost night, even if his sister wasn’t.
“Why is this necessary?” she asked. “Wendy’s an artist, and this isn’t the first time she’s Photoshopped her pictures.”
Gavin must’ve shared them with Farah, probably on his smartphone, while they’d been arguing in the foyer.
It seemed Wendy was about to argue, but Farah sent her a nervous glance that quieted her.
Amanda Lee sat in the chair with the paper and pen in front of it. “Ghosts, Ms. Edgett, can escalate their behavior, and I think you might agree that it would be best to identify who this one is and if she’s trying to convey a message to someone in this house before you get to an unsettling point.”
“I don’t like this,” Farah whispered.
Noah pushed back that hank of dark hair that kept slumping over his forehead. “I didn’t even know there was a ghost around.”
That’s because I didn’t get to you yet, I thought.
I was near the ceiling, looking down on all this. Wendy kept glancing up, like she was scanning for me.
I wished I would have better news for her tonight, wished my identity would make her smile again.
Amanda Lee gestured toward the two open chairs at the table. “We’re going to initiate a low-key contact. It won’t be painful for anyone.”
Wendy was jogging her leg, excited. “Isn’t there a chance that we could be opening some kind of portal?”
“Something has already opened it. And something already came through.” Amanda Lee slyly gazed upward, and I knew she was sending me a nonverbal message.
This séance was only a show—a prelude to supposedly getting rid of me so that Gavin would let down that guard of his. She could sling around as much bullshit about portals as she wanted to because we were in control.
“Noah,” she said. “Would you please dim the lights and join us? Ms. Edgett, we have a seat waiting just for you.”
They both didn’t move.
Then Wendy sent puppy-dog eyes at them. “Come on. Please?”
Noah still seemed resistant, but maybe only because Farah was, because I could tell he was hooked. Maybe he did belong on the school newspaper, after all.
Wendy used her most compelling argument, aiming it at Noah. “I think the ghost could be Mom, and she’s trying to tell us something.”
“Really?” Noah asked. “How do you know?”
“Would I joke about Mom like this? The woman in the picture has the same blond hair…”
And that’s all it took for Noah. He made an I’m-strong-enough-to-give-this-a-try look and went to dim the lights by using a panel near the entrance.
As he arrived at the table, Farah watched him, then closed her eyes, gritted her jaw, and joined everyone.
Gavin was surveying his family closely, but I could guess what was probably running through his mind: if Wendy’s theory was right, then why would his mom would be so cruel to him with phone calls and phantom sounds from Elizabeth?
“I know this is nerve-racking,” Amanda Lee said. “But you’re all doing just fine. I’ll be summoning our guest now, and if I’m successful she might communicate verbally through me. If that fails, I have paper and pen for automatic writing.”