The Hidden

couldn’t pick it up. Couldn’t grab on to it.

I quickly told him that it was fine where it was, and I moved on to a funny song that I’d heard on the radio at the store today, but his eyes were worried even as he agreed.

Since I stayed up half the night talking to Caspian, I woke up the next morning feeling like a zombie. Cyn must have noticed me dragging through the day at school, because she kept asking if I was okay. After lunch she waited by my locker, resting the back of her head against it.

“So, I’m thinking about having a seance,” she said abruptly. “You want in?”

I turned to her. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Haven’t you ever been to one before?”

“Yeah, right. Sure.” I snorted with laughter. “Seances are common occurrences around here.”

“They’re not? This is Sleepy Hollow, right?” She looked surprised. “I would have thought in a town like this it would be a weekly occurrence.”

“Nope.” Then what she’d said dawned on me. “What do you mean, ‘a town like this’?”

She made a gesture with her hands. “You know. Historical. Haunted. The mascot of the whole damn town is a headless ghost on a horse. Don’t tell me you can’t feel it. There’s an undercurrent of … something here.” Her eyes glazed over and she stared off for a minute. Then she blinked. “So, do you want to come?”

“Where and when?”

“We need someplace spooky. Know any spooky places around here?”

There was the cemetery. But that wasn’t really spooky. At least not to me it wasn’t. And it didn’t feel right to think about holding a seance there. It felt sacrilegious. “Not really,” I said.

“We’ll have it at my house, then. It has an attic. I’m at 24 Main.”

“Are you sure that’s …?” I didn’t know how to word it, so I just looked at her, hoping that she got my meaning.

“What? Spooky enough?”

I nodded.

“Oh, yeah.” She laughed derisively. “It’s spooky enough. Trust me. The deaths of a thousand dreams reside there. I can feel it. Hell, I die a little each time I have to go back there.”

She looked so unhappy that it actually made me uncomfortable to see her that way. “So, yeah, okay,” I said hastily. “When do you want to have it?”

“Tonight.”

“Tonight? That’s … soon.”

“It feels right. I generally go with what feels right and don’t question it.” Cyn shifted away from the locker and turned to head down the hall. “Be there at nine o’clock.”

She was almost out of earshot before I realized what I wanted to ask her.

“Hey, why exactly are we having a seance?” I yelled.

“To summon up the dark spirits and confer with them, of course,” she yelled back. “Mwahahaha!”

I told Caspian about the seance when he came to pick me up, and we talked about it on the way home from school. I thought he’d be against it, but he surprised me by saying that it sounded like fun.

“You’re going to come?” I asked, astonished.

“All seances need a ghost,” he said with a smile. “Isn’t that the point?”

It was nice to see this playful side of him. I thought that the incident last night with the pillow had really shaken him up. I smiled back. “Will you put on a good show?”

“I aim to please. You know that.”

There was something more behind his words, and the look in his eyes had my heart beating faster. Suddenly all I could think about was the white dress in my closet and the fact that his death day was almost here.

When we got home, Sophie was there with Mom and they were both bent over the kitchen table. A bunch of papers were spread out between them.

“Hey, sweetie,” Mom said as I walked in.

Sophie said hi too, and tipped her head at Caspian when Mom wasn’t looking. I slid my book bag next to the chair and went to grab a bottle of water. “What are you guys doing?”

Mom looked up, all excited. “I’m studying for my real estate license. Sophie is walking me through the process.”

“She is?” I paused with the water bottle halfway to my mouth. “Why?” I directed my question to Sophie.

She smiled at me. “Since I’ve been spending so much time here lately, I thought it would be something fun for us to do together.”

So much time. Right. Hanging around in case Vincent stops by again. I nodded at her and chugged the rest of my water. “Have fun.” Turning my back, I walked up to my bedroom with Caspian. And found Cacey there.

Waiting for us.

She was messing around with the perfume supplies on my desk and didn’t even bother to act guilty that I’d found her pawing my stuff.

“Seriously, what is up with everyone wanting my perfume?” I said.

She glanced up. “Oh, hey, Abbey.”

“Cacey.” I lifted an eyebrow at her.

No Sorry I was looking through your personal belongings when you weren’t here, or Whoops, you caught me!

She just smiled sweetly at Caspian. “How are you, dead boy?”

“I’d be a lot better if you weren’t pissing off Abbey right now.” He crossed his arms and scowled at her, but Cacey just threw her head back and laughed.

“Trained him right up,” she said with a wink at me. “Isn’t he just the cutest little guard dog ever?”

Her voice had a syrupy-sweet quality to it that grated on my nerves, and I almost found myself wishing for the burning smell and creepy crawly spider sensation that she used to bring. “Did you need something, Acacia?” I asked. “Even you have to be bored of hanging around this place for so long. Anything new?”

“Ooooh, someone’s been talking to Uri. He spilled the beans about my name, huh?” She shook her head and then sat down at the desk chair and swung her foot.

“He spilled the beans about a lot,” I said.

“Oh, Uri,” she sighed. “Between the two of us, he’s the nicer one. If you haven’t gotten that yet,” she said in an exaggerated whisper.

I rolled my eyes at her.

“As far as what we have on Vincent? Nothing. That is why I’m here. And you are so right, by the way. I’m ready to move on.”

“Do you guys have any idea where he is?” I prodded. “Or what he’s doing?”

“Nada. Zip. Zilch. We’ve got nothing.”

I let out a frustrated breath and paced over to the bed. “So, what’s next? Can I please have some idea? What are we waiting for?” I didn’t want to say it, but I was almost ready for them to just take me and get it done with already.

I glanced over at Caspian. Well, maybe not ready yet …

“Can’t you guys just use your mind mojo to find him?” I asked. “You can communicate telepathically with each other, right?”

“Only with our partners,” she replied. “Which means that I can only communicate with Uri, Sophie can only communicate with Kame … You get the picture.”

“But what about the mind-bendy thing? The feel-good mojo? That affects others. Can’t you tap into that?”

Cacey shook her head. “It only works with humans. Sure, there’s the persuasion bit. A very little bit, but it’s mostly just memory reading.”