The Hidden

“The attic,” Cyn said slowly as we walked up. “Watch out for bats.”

Automatically I ducked my head, and she laughed.

“I’m teasing. There haven’t been any bats up here for a couple of weeks. Well, live ones, anyway. I found a skeleton in one corner, but I left it. Maybe we’ll be able to contact its former owner tonight. Do you speak batanese?”

I wished that I could have reached back for Caspian’s hand and held on to it. I didn’t want to see any bats, living or dead. Then I felt that buzzing sensation on the back of my leg, and I glanced at him. He smiled at me and whispered, “I’m here. I won’t let the bats get you.”

I smiled back. November first, November first, November first.

I took one final step up from the last stair, and the room opened into a wide space. A few chairs had been set in a semicircle, but almost everybody was sitting on the floor, spread out along a Persian rug with a black cast- iron pot in the middle of it.

Ben, of course, already had his shoes off.

“Hey, girl,” Beth called. She was sitting next to a boy I didn’t recognize, but he looked a little bit younger than us. Grant?

“Hey, Beth. Ben.” I waved to both of them.

Cyn pointed to a girl I didn’t know, sitting beside Ben. “That’s Sara-from my art class-and Mark.” Her hand went to a boy slumped in a giant leather chair. He put up one finger, then let it drift back down again.

“And Grant,” Beth chimed in. “From computer class.” She gave me a look, and I smiled knowingly.

“Hey, Grant,” I said. He was kind of cute in a geeky techboy kind of way.

“Hey, Abbey,” he replied.

Suddenly Ben did something that resembled a magic trick and made a candle “disappear,” and the girl he was next to, Sara, encouraged his every move. He went to make it come back again and knocked over the lid of the black pot sitting in the middle of the rug. It fell heavily to the floor, and everyone laughed.

“Where do you want me to sit?” I asked Cyn, hoping that Caspian would be able to find a spot close by me.

“Wherever.”

I realized that they were already sitting in an almost closed circle, with an opening on the other side of Sara. I gave her a small smile as I went to sit down beside her. My back was to a supporting post, but there was enough room for Caspian to sit behind me, which he did.

“What should I do?” he asked softly as soon as we were settled in. “Make stuff move? Levitate?”

I gave him a brief shrug. I didn’t know what else he could do. And I really didn’t know what Cyn had already planned.

“Maybe I’ll just make the curtains move or something.”

I glanced over at the diaphanous white curtains hanging from a nearby window. Then I gave him an almost imperceptible nod. That was a good trick. I didn’t want anybody freaking out too much.

Be honest. You don’t know what he can or can’t do, and you don’t want to find out here in front of everyone. What if he tries to move something and can’t touch it? Do you really want to see that and not be able to react?

Ruthlessly I squashed that thought down and pasted a smile on my face. I didn’t want to think about that right now. “Are we ready to get started?” I asked loudly, with a note of forced cheer. “Let’s get this seance going!”

Ben hooted and drummed his hands against the floor. “Yeah!” he said. “Let’s see some ghosts!”

Cyn went over to a small cupboard and took out some candles and matches. Then she came back to us and held them up. “We’re using red, green, and black candles tonight,” she said. “Red for love, because we want the spirits to know that we come with love in our hearts. Black for the veil, because they will have to pass through it to reach us. And green for protection. We don’t want anyone here who isn’t welcome.”

The candles were passed from one hand to another, and I ended up with a red one. Cyn lit the first one and then got up to turn out the lights. Flames wavered and wax dripped as we lit our candles off of one another.

When Cyn returned, she sat at the opposite side of the circle and drew her feet up in front of her. They were bare. At her side was a potted plant.

She stuck a hand into the pot and withdrew some of the dirt, muttering something to herself and rubbing the dirt between her fingers. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, she tossed the dirt into the black pot on the rug. “Everyone ready?” she said.

I nodded.

It was then she noticed that I had a red candle.

“Abbey …” She trailed off and frowned, looking like she was concentrating hard. “Black,” she said suddenly. “You need a black candle.”

Okay. I shared a look with the Sara. Her face was eager.

“You.” Cyn pointed at her. “Switch candles.”

Sara obediently handed me her black candle, and I handed her my red one.

“That’s better.” Cyn nodded. “Okay, Ben, will you light the candles in the pot?”

He leaned over and lit them.

“We have one of each candle in the sacred vessel,” Cyn intoned. “Black for the veil, red for love, green for protection. There is also a ring of earth.” She stopped and whispered, “A.k.a. dirt,” and a low giggle escaped from Sara. Cyn continued, “To bind the candles together and act as a grounding force. We came from earth, and thus we shall return to it.”

I could feel the slight tilt of my lips as I watched her. I bet Cyn doesn’t even believe any of what she’s saying. She probably got this from The Vampire Diaries or something. But I had to hand it to her. She definitely fit the role of an ancient pagan priestess.

“Now, everyone just close their eyes and concentrate,” she said. “Think of someone you’d like to speak to and repeat their name over and over in your mind. I shall begin the incantation now.”

My eyes flew to Ben as soon as she said that, and his eyes met mine. Don’t think Kristen, don’t think Kristen, don’t think Kristen, I mentally pleaded with him. As much as I desperately wanted to see her, or hear from her, I didn’t want it like this.

Not like this.

His gaze skittered away, and I couldn’t decipher what he was thinking.

It’s just pretend, I told myself. She won’t really come through. This is just a stupid thing that stupid teenagers do. Relax, Abbey. Just relax.

I almost had myself convinced when Cyn started talking again.

“Lift the veil, come forth,” she said urgently. “Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth. I beg of you. Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth!”

The last time she said it, her voice turned to a scream and my back went ramrod straight. I sat up and inhaled sharply. Every hair on my arms lifted, and a cold sensation slithered down my spine.

Chapter Eighteen. A MESSAGE

But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded.

– “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

“Is anyone coming through?” Ben asked Cyn, leaning over to her. “Helllooooo. Are you with us?”