The Hidden

“Who’s here?” Sara asked. “Is there anyone with us?”

Someone snickered. I think it was Beth.

“Can you ask my grandmother to come through?” Sara said, loudly and eagerly. “Rose White. From Boston, Massachusetts. Can you bring her through? Is she here?”

“Chill, girl,” Beth muttered. Then Grant whispered something low to her, and she turned to him, giggling.

“I am channeling … Michael Jackson,” Ben said suddenly. “Whoo! I’m feeling the urge … the urge … to dance!” He stood up and did something that resembled a moonwalk, singing “Billie Jean” the whole time. Beth clapped her hands for him just as he was about to grab his-

“You guys,” Sara interrupted. “This is serious.”

“Silence!”

We all looked at Cyn. Her eyes were closed, but she had a look of determination on her face. “Someone is at the door. Trying to come through.”

She lifted her head but kept her eyes closed. When she spoke again, there was something different about the texture of her voice, and she couldn’t seem to get out a complete thought. “… have to warn …,” she said. “Trouble. Coming. Trouble.”

We all watched, mesmerized, as her body started jerking. Then her head fell forward.

“Oh, shit,” Beth said, finally breaking our shocked silence. “Is she, like, having a seizure or something?”

I couldn’t tell if this was all part of the show, or if something really was wrong. Either way, though, it was too much. It had gone on for too long.

“Cyn?” I managed to get out. “Cyn, are you okay?” I went to put my candle down, and the instant it left my hands, Cyn’s head lifted up. Her eyes opened, and she screamed. A hoarse, terrible scream.

We all gasped.

Cyn started weeping. She covered her face with her hands, and then all of a sudden, she pointed at me. “You’re next! You’re next, and he’s coming, and you better be careful. He wants you and he means to have you. You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”

I was frozen. She was talking about him. Vincent. Was it Kristen trying to warn me away from her killer? Or was it Cyn just playing me?

“Whoa, okay,” said Ben. “I think this is enough, Cyn. You scared us all pretty good.” He tried to put a hand on her arm, but she shook him off.

“If you think what happened before was bad, just wait,” she said. “A little blood is nothing.” She sobbed again. “He will tear you to pieces! He will rip out your heart and soul just as surely as he did mine. Nothing will stand in his way!”

Cyn reached out to me, bumping the pot so that it was dangerously close to tipping over. Someone dropped their candle, and it rolled across the floor, away from the group. Several heads turned to watch it.

“Let’s go, Abbey,” Caspian said behind me, standing up. “I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s fucking crazy.”

I scuttled back a bit. Closer to him, yet helpless to move away any farther. I was desperate not to hear what she was saying, and at the same time I was desperate to hear more.

Cyn lunged. And then grabbed my face.

“Abbey, Abbey, can you hear me?” she asked.

“Kristen?” I whispered. Low enough so that no one else could hear me. “Kris, is it you?”

She put one hand up against my cheek, and up close I saw her eyes. I would have recognized those eyes anywhere. They weren’t Cyn’s eyes. They were Kristen’s. “I’m sorry,” she said urgently. “Sorry this happened to you. Sorry … because of me …” Her words faded.

“It’s okay, Kristen. It’s okay. Just stay. Please. Stay-” My voice broke.

She smiled again. “You were my best-”

“There’s so much I have to tell you,” I replied. “So much you don’t know. So much to talk about-” I found myself gripping her hands fiercely.

Her eyes widened. “Be careful, Abbey! Be careful!”

And then, as if on cue, all the candles went out.

Someone screamed, and a flare of sudden panic grabbed hold of the room. “Who just touched my ass?” Beth shrieked.

“Make it stop, make it stop,” Sara was saying in a small voice. Mark yelled for someone to find the damn light switch, and I held very still.

Cyn’s hands were cold, and she was completely quiet.

“I got it,” Ben said. The overhead lights flickered on a moment later. “Is everyone okay?”

I glanced at Cyn. She looked confused. But more importantly, she looked … like her. Her eyes were green again. Not brown.

“Why am I over here?” she asked. Then she saw our hands. “Did something happen?”

“What do you remember?” I asked her swiftly. Quietly. “Anything? Do you remember starting the seance?”

“No. Was it fun?”

I didn’t know how much to tell her. What had just happened here? So I settled for “Yup. It was fun.”

The rest of the room was buzzing with quiet conversation. No one was paying any attention to us, but I couldn’t stay. Couldn’t sit there and pretend that nothing had happened, when it felt like my insides were being turned upside down.

“I need to go,” I said. “I’m helping … helping my mom out tonight. With a project.”

“Are you okay?” Caspian asked me. “Love, are you okay?”

Getting to my feet, I quickly jerked my head at him. “So, yeah. I guess I’ll see you at school, then,” I said to Cyn. “Thanks for inviting me.”

I headed to the stairs before she could say anything else, calling a quick good-bye to Beth and Ben and leaving them behind as fast as I could. It felt like all of my nerve endings were jangling together and crashing under my skin-like I’d touched a live wire and couldn’t shake the sensation.

Caspian followed me through the house. When we made it out the front door, he finally spoke. “What the hell was that all about?”

“I don’t know. I think …” I gestured inarticulately. “I think it was Kristen.”

“Abbey.” He stopped walking. “It wasn’t her.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s not here. She’s dead.”

I crossed my arms. “You’re dead. And I can still see you.”

“That’s different.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You know that’s different.”

“But it was her, Caspian. I know it! Cyn’s eyes changed and everything. She was channeling Kristen or something, and Kristen was trying to warn me. About Vincent. Why don’t you believe me?”

He sighed. “I just don’t think it was her. Can we agree to disagree? All I’m worried about is whether or not you’re really okay.” He moved closer and put out a hand near my cheek. The faint hum where his hand would have touched my skin was a welcome distraction.

“I’m okay,” I said softly. “I am. I’m okay.”

He looked down at me, green eyes intent. “Then let’s go home?”

I nodded. I didn’t know if that meant this conversation was over, or if it meant we’d discuss it more once we got there, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was the safety of my own bed. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

As soon as I stepped through the front door, Mom pounced. “Where were you?” she asked.

“At a friend’s house,” I said wearily. “Why?”

“Because I didn’t know where you were, and I was worried about you.”

“I was fine, Mom.” I crossed to the fridge to grab an apple.

“You can’t just-”