Body and Soul

“So? Now she won’t be able to live without me,” Erin said, leaning into me, her jaw jutting out stubbornly.

It couldn’t be that simple, could it? Like swapping out one battery for another? Either way, I didn’t want to find out like this.

I tugged at her arm, trying to pull her out, but she wouldn’t budge, and I could feel myself slipping aside. No, being shoved aside.

My breath caught in panic, but I shook my head. No freaking way was I giving up this easily.

“Get off of me,” I said, tugging at her arm even harder.

But Erin just laughed. “You’ve had your turn.”

Bitch.

Since I couldn’t pull her away, I did my best to keep her from moving closer. If I refused to retreat, she couldn’t take over, right? I tried to calm my thoughts and focus on my breathing, imagining the seamless bond holding Lily and me together. Her hands were my hands, her arms were my arms, her lungs were my—

There was a sudden lurch, and my vision—our vision?—skewed, went blurry.

Not like this, please, I begged whoever might be listening.

“Stop,” I panted, out of breath from the struggle. And only then did I realize I could feel my chest moving separately within Lily’s. We were coming apart.

“Oh, my God!” Misty stood in the doorway, her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. “Are you okay?”

Of course she couldn’t see Erin; only my…Lily’s body on the floor, jerking back and forth as the two of us fought for control. I tried to answer, to tell her to call for help, but no words would come out.

No, please!

Erin grimaced and forced herself forward, leaning down, and there was an odd slipping feeling followed by a claustrophobic moment of blackness.

And then I was standing over Lily’s body on the ground with Misty kneeling next to her, shouting for Lea

A horrible chill rushed over me, my whole body quaking with it, and I couldn’t breathe. I had just enough time to look down and see a transparent version of myself in the white shirt and red gym shorts I’d wondered if I’d ever see again. Then darkness flickered at the edges of my vision before swelling up to consume everything in sight. And I was gone.

The outside of Misty’s house looked the same as it had an hour before. The yard and plants thriving almost to the point of being overgrown, Misty’s Jeep in the driveway, the house itself quiet and still.

For whatever reason, the tightness in my chest eased slightly at the sight, which was dumb because it wasn’t like there would be flames shooting through the roof or anything as a sign of a problem. Any trouble here was going to be on the inside. Deep on the inside.

I pulled into the driveway and parked. If Misty’s parents wanted to question me about being here, Alona’s presence would be enough of an excuse. I was her ride home, or I could be, in theory.

I left the car and jogged to the front door to knock. Standing there on the porch, waiting, waiting, and waiting for someone to answer, I could feel the tension creeping into my shoulders and up my neck as each precious second ticked away.

Misty yanked open the door just as I raised my hand to knock again.

She looked startled and then frowned. “It’s you.”

“Yeah, it’s me. Ally here?” I started forward without waiting for an answer, as though I were sure she was going to let me in.

And she did, stepping out of the way and gesturing down the hall. “Kitchen,” she said, her expression still troubled. She drew in a breath like she was about to say more, but then she just shook her head.

I wanted to ask her about it, could almost feel her wanting to say something else, but I couldn’t ignore the sense of urgency propelling me forward.

“Thanks.” I hurried past her, then stopped at the sound of a familiar voice laughing and talking. Ally’s voice.

She was okay. I let out a slow breath of relief. Maybe Erin hadn’t even been here. If she’d managed to figure out who and what Ally was, there was no way she could have forced her way into Lily’s body and recovered so quickly. Even as strong as Alona was, it had taken her hours just to be able to speak.

I started forward once more, feeling Misty’s frown at my back.

The kitchen was oversized with a huge eat-in area and a big granite island in the middle of it. Sitting at stools behind it, their feet dangling off the rungs, and giggling over something, Ally and Lea

I stopped again, startled. The last time I’d checked, Alona hadn’t been Lea

A whisper came from behind me, and I turned, almost involuntarily, to see Misty a step or two behind me, frowning at the two of them.

“Oh, my God.” Lea

Ally looked up from the bowl, and a variety of unreadable expressions passed over her face when she saw me. “He’s here for me,” she said simply. “Right?”

I nodded slowly. She didn’t seemangry anymore. “I’m her ride home,” I said.

“Except I’m not ready to go yet,” Ally said, looking away from me and scooping up another bite of ice cream. “You can leave, and I’ll find my own way home.”

I bristled at the arrogance in her tone. All right, so she was definitely still angry. Fair enough, so was I. And clearly she was fine, so I didn’t need to stick around. “Whatever.” I turned and started back toward the hall.

“Nice,” Lea

Misty, who’d been standing in the doorway behind me, waited until I passed and then followed me out.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to steal anything,” I said over my shoulder, not bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.

She made an exasperated noise. “It’s not that,” she said.

“Yeah, right.” I kept going.

“Hey.” She caught my sleeve, and I turned, surprised.

Misty glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen before facing me with a worried expression. “Something happened,” she whispered quickly. “She’s pretending everything’s fine, but it was like a seizure or something.”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

She gave an impatient huff. “I mean, I left her upstairs to deal with, you know, the ghost.”

I nodded, waving my hand for her to hurry up and get to the point.

“And when I came back to see how it was going, she was on the floor,” she finished, her blue eyes wide in the dimly lit hall.

I relaxed a little. “Ally still has trouble with walking sometimes. The accident—”

“Dude, no. This wasn’t just a fall. She was…I don’t know, writhing on the floor or something.” Misty wrung her hands together, obviously upset.

I considered what it must have taken to convince her to come after me and try to tell me something was wrong, and dread seeped into my gut.

“Was she, uh, talking to someone before? I mean, someone you couldn’t see?”

She nodded rapidly. “She sent me out of the room, so I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I definitely heard her talking.”

So unless Alona had decided to put on a show for Misty’s benefit, there had been a ghost here. What were the odds it had been anyone other than Erin?

Not good.

And she’d done what? Attacked Alona? It wouldn’t have been impossible—Alona was definitely capable of provoking someone to the point of violence, particularly someone like Erin, who already seemed a little unhinged. But then where had Erin gone? Why wasn’t she still here pestering us? And why hadn’t Alona mentioned it?