Body and Soul

Scratch that. A lot unhealthy.

“Erin was always the one who decided everything. What clubs we should join, who we should take to the prom, where we should sit at lunch. It was just easier that way. She’s three minutes older than me. She always knew what we wanted. Or,” he said with heavy sigh, “what she wanted and what I’d go along with.”

He looked up at me. “It was my fault, too. She was pushy and controlling, but I let her. She was the one who faced the world, and all I had to do was follow along in her wake. I didn’t have to stand up for myself, didn’t have to fight.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. That sounded a little too familiar, maybe.

“I didn’t know what to do when she died,” he said. “It was like losing part of me, an arm or a leg or something.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know how to function without her. I needed her, so I wished for her to come back. Harder than I’ve ever wished for anything. I was desperate.”

I leaned forward in my chair, suddenly aware of where this story was headed.

He sighed heavily. “And then she just showed up…and started talking. Yelling, actually,” he amended. “Even after my parents got to the hospital, I was still the only one who could hear her. It freaked me out at first. I tried to ignore it—her—but she saw me, knew I was looking at her.” He shrugged helplessly. “After that, she never left. The doctors said it was grief or shock or depression. Then my parents got involved and tried to have me committed.”

Oh, I knew that feeling. I thought I’d had it hard, but to live an otherwise normal life for eighteen years and then to start seeing your dead sister everywhere…that was worse. What I could do was difficult, but at least it had the potential to be beneficial. What Malachi/Edmund had going on was torture.

Although I’d never heard of anyone developing ghost-talker abilities overnight like that. That was odd.

“Erin warned me about what my parents were pla

“What does she want?” I was ashamed to realize I hadn’t even bothered to ask her that myself, when she’d shown up at my house. Then again, she’d shown up at my house.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, ghosts usually have unresolved issues, unfinished business keeping them from moving into the light,” I said.

He stared at me blankly.

“You’ve never seen the light.” Of course not. If he could only see one ghost, and she was still here, he’d have had no opportunity to do so. “Well, look, it’s there. It works, trust me. There’s a system. All you have to do is figure out what she wants, what issues are holding her here and—”

He shook his head with a harsh laugh. “You’re not getting it. Her unresolved business? She wants to be alive again. Isn’t that what they all want?”

I didn’t know what to say. If that was the case, there wasn’t much hope for Erin. She must have been holding on to her in-between state with sheer strength.

“As long as she’s with me, someone can hear and see her,” Edmund said wearily. “She can have indirect contact with the living world. I’ve tried to leave, but she always finds me.”

Erin was using her brother as a lifeline. I was begi

“And from what your dad told me about his gift—and yours, too, I guess—with someone like you, she’d have the ability to touch stuff again, pick things up.” He sighed. “That’s one step closer.”

“That doesn’t happen with you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Your dad didn’t understand it either.”

I was begi

“Don’t worry. Now that she’s tried it with you once, and it didn’t work, she probably won’t try again,” he said, trying to be reassuring. “Besides, we need to be moving on anyway. We’ve stayed in one place for too long as it is.” He stood up and shoved his chair back in place at the table.

I shook my head. “If you stay, maybe we can find a way to—”

“Someone’s going to run the numbers soon, like the Order did when they sent your dad to investigate. Too many hauntings, too close together. It raises a red flag with the statistics they track, I guess. He covered for us last time, but it’ll happen again, and I’m betting we won’t be as lucky with whoever they send to investigate.”

Actually, given what I knew about the Order and the dwindling number of those qualified enough to be considered full members, he and Erin might be safer than they thought just from the Order’s sheer lack of manpower to investigate things like wonky statistics. But that wasn’t what caught my attention. “Too many hauntings? Why would you have any control over that?”

He looked uncomfortable. “I thought you understood. She’s the only one I can see.”

I still wasn’t getting it.

“I can’t go out and find business on my own,” he said with exaggerated patience. “She passes messages along from those she finds, but sometimes making a co

In other words, Erin didn’t feel like doing the work, and without her eyes and ears, he couldn’t do it for himself.

“So, sometimes we have to help things along,” he said, studying the carpet with more intensity than it deserved.

Wait.I sat up straight in my chair. “Are you saying she haunts people to drive business?”

“Only when we need the money,” he said defensively. “And it keeps her busy.”

Jesus.Pieces of this began to fall into place. Misty thinking Alona was haunting her. The letter/coupon that his testimonials had mentioned. “You send Erin out to haunt someone if they know someone who died recently?”

“Depends on what the newspaper says,” he mumbled.

And Misty had probably been featured prominently in the articles about Alona’s tragic, untimely death, as her distraught best friend.

“What, like, if they have money?” Misty didn’t have money, but it wouldn’t take much research to figure out her parents were probably doing okay.

He didn’t respond, just shifted his weight awkwardly.

“And then once you’ve scared them, you send them that stupid letter and coupon, bringing them right to your door.” It was brilliant. And utterly creepy.

“Do you think this is fun for me?” he demanded. “I’d have a regular job if I could, but she won’t let me! Besides, it’s not your problem anymore,” he said pointedly. “As soon as Erin gets back, we’re leaving, remember?”

So they could inflict this scam on i

He grimaced. “I couldn’t tell her we were leaving. It…it would upset her. She’s out visiting clients.”

“You mean, she’s haunting people.” I shook my head in disgust. “I can’t believe I was feeling sorry for you, and you’re—” I stopped, struck by a horrible, awful thought.

“Who is she ‘visiting’ today?” I asked, forcing the words out, caught in the inescapable conclusion that I could see barreling toward me.

He appeared taken aback by the intensity in my voice. “I…I don’t know.”