Gage tilted his head. “What does Wren think?”
“I haven’t seen her to tell her,” I confessed.
He looked confused. “But I thought she was always with you.”
Hmm. That made my stomach clench. I set my fries aside. “She’s got a boyfriend at Haven Crest.”
My friends exchanged surprised glances. “The guy she brought to the party?” Roxi asked. “Maybe he’s heard something.”
That was a good point. A very good point. If ghosts around town had heard about something terrible coming to Haven Crest, why hadn’t Noah mentioned it to Wren? Surely he’d know. And if there was all this doom and gloom lurking about the place, wouldn’t Wren have felt it?
“I’ll ask.” Hell, yes, I was going to ask. Why the hell hadn’t I asked before this? I wanted to slap myself in the head for being so lax.
Roxi pulled her phone out of her bag. “Speaking of that, I got a picture of Wren and her guy at the party, I think.” She swiped her finger across the screen a couple of times. “There.” She turned and held the screen toward me.
It was definitely Wren and Noah—their costumes were hard to miss. Wren didn’t look as wild as she had in the photos of the dance, but she was still pretty frightening. It was Noah who bothered me. There was something ghoulish about his expression when he looked at Wren in one photo. There was a darkness around his eyes and mouth like smeared makeup, but it was black.
Ben peered over my shoulder. “He kinda looks like Kevin, only creepy.”
Yeah, not going to go there—not when Kevin didn’t know. “He’s old,” I said. I don’t know if I was trying to assure him or myself. “Manifestations get scarier the older a ghost is.” He probably couldn’t help looking like he did.
God, I sounded lame even to my own ears. I had to get over this distrust of Noah. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt and stick with it for longer than a few hours. I just had to—for Wren.
“Wow,” Gage enthused. “If that’s true, I don’t want to think about what Wren’s going to look like in a few years.”
I stared at him, a little surprised. My sister didn’t look scary to me. She just looked like Wren. I mean, sometimes she got a little wrong, but she was still my twin.
Roxi nudged her boyfriend in the ribs. He frowned at her before taking the hint. He turned back to me. “I meant that as a compliment. I mean, she’s awesome.”
I smiled. “I’m not offended.” I handed Roxi her phone. I resisted the urge to delete the photo. “But I hate going up against something I don’t know how to fight.”
Mace jabbed a fry in my direction. “We know there will be a lot of ghosts, so we’ll make sure we’re prepared for that. Back to supplies. How do we sneak them in?”
“I don’t know. Wren, maybe. She’s brought things out of the Shadow Lands, so maybe she can take items through there to Haven Crest.”
“Will she tell her boyfriend?” Mace asked. “Do we know if we can trust this guy? He is at Haven Crest, after all.”
I looked at him, and I knew he realized I’d been wondering the same thing. I trusted Wren with my soul, but Noah was another story. My vow to try trusting the guy hadn’t even lasted five minutes. “We’ll need to sneak it in by ourselves, then.”
“I can do it,” Roxi piped up. “Or, I think I can. My mom works at one of the renovated buildings. Her company just moved in last week.”
Well, that was freaking convenient.
“Has she noticed any activity?” I asked.
She made a face. “My mom wouldn’t notice if a ghost bit her on the ass. And if she did see one, she’d tell it to get the hell out of her space and keep going.”
I laughed. “Okay, but we can’t hide stuff in her building, because it will be locked up. Is there someplace outside where you can leave it?”
“I’ll find one. If you can get the supplies to me tonight, I’ll put the bag in the trunk of her car and pop by after school to hide it.”
I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. “Rox, I could kiss you.”
Gage grinned. “I’m totally okay with that.”
Everyone laughed. It was something I really needed—a light moment. One-Shade-Of-Gray had scared me, and I didn’t like being scared. What did he mean that I had to protect Wren? From the ghosts? Would they come for her like Bent had? There had been moments when I thought he might take her. How could I protect her against that many ghosts without somehow locking her in the Shadow Lands?
I didn’t like not knowing what I was up against. And I really didn’t like dragging my friends into a situation that might mean I couldn’t keep them safe.
I would never forgive myself if I got one of them killed.
WREN
I’d never felt so powerful in my entire existence as I did scaring those kids. When they ran—and they ran screaming—I felt so vibrant, so complete.
So alive.
It was as though I found my reason for being, even though rationally, I knew my reason for being was something different. As a ghost, I was elated.