The Hidden (24 page)

I smiled back.
November first, November first, November first.

I took one final step up from the last stair, and the room opened into a wide space. A few chairs had been set in a semicircle, but almost everybody was sitting on the floor, spread out along a Persian rug with a black cast-iron pot in the middle of it.

Ben, of course, already had his shoes off.

“Hey, girl,” Beth called. She was sitting next to a boy I didn’t recognize, but he looked a little bit younger than us.
Grant?

“Hey, Beth. Ben.” I waved to both of them.

Cyn pointed to a girl I didn’t know, sitting beside Ben. “That’s Sara—from my art class—and Mark.” Her hand went to a boy slumped in a giant leather chair. He put up one finger, then let it drift back down again.

“And Grant,” Beth chimed in. “From computer class.” She gave me a look, and I smiled knowingly.

“Hey, Grant,” I said. He was kind of cute in a geeky techboy kind of way.

“Hey, Abbey,” he replied.

Suddenly Ben did something that resembled a magic trick and made a candle “disappear,” and the girl he was next to,
Sara
, encouraged his every move. He went to make it come back again and knocked over the lid of the black pot sitting in the middle of the rug. It fell heavily to the floor, and everyone laughed.

“Where do you want me to sit?” I asked Cyn, hoping that Caspian would be able to find a spot close by me.

“Wherever.”

I realized that they were already sitting in an almost closed circle, with an opening on the other side of Sara. I gave her a small smile as I went to sit down beside her. My back was to a
supporting post, but there was enough room for Caspian to sit behind me, which he did.

“What should I do?” he asked softly as soon as we were settled in. “Make stuff move? Levitate?”

I gave him a brief shrug. I didn’t know what else he could do. And I
really
didn’t know what Cyn had already planned.

“Maybe I’ll just make the curtains move or something.”

I glanced over at the diaphanous white curtains hanging from a nearby window. Then I gave him an almost imperceptible nod. That was a good trick. I didn’t want anybody freaking out
too
much.

Be honest. You don’t know what he can or can’t do, and you don’t want to find out here in front of everyone. What if he tries to move something and can’t touch it? Do you really want to see that and not be able to react?

Ruthlessly I squashed that thought down and pasted a smile on my face. I didn’t want to think about that right now. “Are we ready to get started?” I asked loudly, with a note of forced cheer. “Let’s get this séance going!”

Ben hooted and drummed his hands against the floor. “Yeah!” he said. “Let’s see some ghosts!”

Cyn went over to a small cupboard and took out some candles and matches. Then she came back to us and held them up.
“We’re using red, green, and black candles tonight,” she said. “Red for love, because we want the spirits to know that we come with love in our hearts. Black for the veil, because they will have to pass through it to reach us. And green for protection. We don’t want anyone here who isn’t welcome.”

The candles were passed from one hand to another, and I ended up with a red one. Cyn lit the first one and then got up to turn out the lights. Flames wavered and wax dripped as we lit our candles off of one another.

When Cyn returned, she sat at the opposite side of the circle and drew her feet up in front of her. They were bare. At her side was a potted plant.

She stuck a hand into the pot and withdrew some of the dirt, muttering something to herself and rubbing the dirt between her fingers. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, she tossed the dirt into the black pot on the rug. “Everyone ready?” she said.

I nodded.

It was then she noticed that I had a red candle.

“Abbey …” She trailed off and frowned, looking like she was concentrating hard. “Black,” she said suddenly. “You need a black candle.”

Okay.
I shared a look with the Sara. Her face was eager.

“You.” Cyn pointed at her. “Switch candles.”

Sara obediently handed me her black candle, and I handed her my red one.

“That’s better.” Cyn nodded. “Okay, Ben, will you light the candles in the pot?”

He leaned over and lit them.

“We have one of each candle in the sacred vessel,” Cyn intoned. “Black for the veil, red for love, green for protection. There is also a ring of earth.” She stopped and whispered, “A.k.a. dirt,” and a low giggle escaped from Sara. Cyn continued, “To bind the candles together and act as a grounding force. We came from earth, and thus we shall return to it.”

I could feel the slight tilt of my lips as I watched her.
I bet Cyn doesn’t even believe any of what she’s saying. She probably got this from
The Vampire Diaries
or something.
But I had to hand it to her. She definitely fit the role of an ancient pagan priestess.

“Now, everyone just close their eyes and concentrate,” she said. “Think of someone you’d like to speak to and repeat their name over and over in your mind. I shall begin the incantation
now
.”

My eyes flew to Ben as soon as she said that, and his eyes met mine.
Don’t think Kristen, don’t think Kristen, don’t think Kristen,
I mentally pleaded with him. As much as I desperately
wanted to see her, or hear from her, I didn’t want it like this.

Not like this.

His gaze skittered away, and I couldn’t decipher what he was thinking.

It’s just pretend,
I told myself.
She won’t really come through. This is just a stupid thing that stupid teenagers do. Relax, Abbey. Just relax.

I almost had myself convinced when Cyn started talking again.

“Lift the veil, come forth,” she said urgently. “Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth. I beg of you. Lift the veil, come forth. Lift the veil, come forth.
Lift the veil, come forth!
”

The last time she said it, her voice turned to a scream and my back went ramrod straight. I sat up and inhaled sharply. Every hair on my arms lifted, and a cold sensation slithered down my spine.

But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded.

—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

“
I
s anyone coming through?” Ben asked Cyn, leaning over to her. “Helllooooo. Are you with us?”

“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 séance?”

“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.”