Body and Soul

Lea

Lea

I struggled to keep the hurt and anger from showing on my face, knowing it would only make things worse.

When I’d been alive, the three of us had mostly gotten along fine, all on the varsity squad together. But Misty and I had been a pair, with Lea

I knew Will would have lumped the old me in with her, but I never saw Lea

That same trait made Lea

Then again, Misty had never been a great judge of character. That had been my job in our friendship.

“Lea

See what I mean? She’d let a virtual stranger into her house. Not that I was complaining, in this particular instance, as it benefited me. “Ally Turner,” I said.

Misty nodded, rubbing her eyes like she wasn’t quite awake yet or hadn’t gotten enough sleep. “Right. Ally.” The dark circles beneath her eyes looked even more pronounced than they had yesterday.

Lea

Crap.I held my breath. This would go a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with whatever impressions they might already have of Pre-Coma Lily. Misty hadn’t recognized this body, of course. I’dbarely remembered Lily’s existence. There was no way Misty would have. But Lea

Her eyes narrowed, and an evil grin spread across her freckled face. “I know you.” She slammed the fridge door shut with the bottom of her foot, sending the magnets holding the twins’ artwork to the floor, and pointed her spoon at me. “You’re that girl who lost her shit in front of everyone at one of Ben’s parties last year.”

Damn it.

“What?” Misty frowned at Lea

“Yeah, yeah,” Lea

“Hello, standing right here?” I muttered.

Lea

“I was in a coma,” I said tightly.

Misty turned to me. “That was you?” she asked, sounding worried for the first time that maybe she’d let someone who was less than stable into her home.

Thanks a lot, Lily.I could feel my face burning even though I’d had nothing to do with any of that Ben Rogers stuff. I wished, for once, that I could remember this giant confrontation between Lily and Ben. I’d been at the party, but either I’d missed seeing it, or it hadn’t registered as anything out of the ordinary. And given the way Ben was, it might very well have been the latter. Girls were always either fawning over him or yelling at him, postfawning. Still, while I was wearing Lily’s face, it would be helpful to know if that scene had been as bad as Lea

“That was a long time ago, and not why I’m here,” I said, shooting a death glare at Lea

“She was at the psychic’s yesterday,” Misty said to Lea

Lea

“You’ve been there before?” I asked incredulously.

She shrugged. “He said it would probably take a few times before he could cleanse my aura.”

Such a scammer. “Please,” I said at the same time as Lea

Whatever. She didn’t ownthe word.

“But he didn’t come back yesterday, like, not at all,” Misty said to me. “He missed the rest of his appointments.”

“Sweetie, I told you, he’s only after your money,” Lea

Wow. So Lea

“No.” Misty shook her head vigorously. “I’m telling you he’s for real. He knew stuff about me and about her.” Her voice took on a hushed urgency. “Stuff he couldn’t have known.”

Lea

Misty turned to me. “You know,” she said defiantly. “You saw them. The ghosts in his office. The ones he says are his guides.”

Interesting that Malachi was apparently aware of his spirit companions. Maybe he wasn’t the fake he seemed to be. Or maybe he was really good at being that fake. Having spirit guides wasn’t an uncommon fact about mediums/ psychics. He’d probably just done his research.

“She was with that creepy dude from school, Will something. Remember him?” she asked Lea

I winced on Will’s behalf, and Lea

“They were both seeing something that wasn’t there. It was the weirdest thing.” She gave a shudder and then turned back to me. “Ghosts, right?”

I hesitated before responding. I needed Misty to believe me if I was going to figure out what was really going on here. But if I spoke up now, I’d be cementing Ally’s reputation as a freak, which I might have to live with for a while.

What to do?

Finally, I nodded. Figuring out who was pretending to be me was more of a priority at the moment. Besides, I’d be out of this body before too long…probably.

Lea

“Then why did you insist on sleeping in the guest room last night instead of my room?” Misty demanded.

Lea

Misty looked to me. “She’s here again. Alona, I mean.” She twisted her fingers together nervously. “Since last night.”

My ears pricked up. “She’s here now? How do you know?” I tried for a discreet look around the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary, no blurry spots.

Misty shook her head. “I just feel it sometimes. Like there’s someone watching me.” She smiled sadly. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m not crazy. I know it’s her.”

“Do you want to show me where that feeling is strongest?” I forced myself not to sound too eager. “Maybe I can take a look?”