Broken Spirits Read online

  “Hey,” she said in greeting.

  “Save me!”

  Luckily, Mary knew Rachel’s voice so well that she recognized an exaggerated plea for help, as opposed to a sincere one. “What’s your mom trying to get you to do?” she asked.

  “Clean the attic! It’s terrible. There are spiders and old stuff!”

  Mary laughed. “So what do you want me to do?”

  “Meet me at the park to study for a nonexistent English quiz?”

  “Should I bring anything?”

  “Snacks would be good. I’ll bring sodas.”

  “Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

  Mary left a quick note for Gran telling her where she’d gone and raided the kitchen. As she was closing a cupboard, her eyes went out the window to the crooked tree. She couldn’t see the fresh mound through the tall grass, but she knew exactly where it was. She worried the box might harm the tree. It had never been very healthy, but it had held on tenaciously all of Mary’s life. She hoped Mr. White didn’t manage to take something else from her.

  Mary got to the park in twenty minutes. Rachel was already there, sitting at a picnic table. She’d probably sprinted there as soon as she’d hung up the phone. She had two sodas sitting out sweating.

  “So what are we not studying?” Mary asked as she tossed a bag of cheese balls onto the table and sat down across from Rach.

  “Vocab. I made a list of words. Here.”

  Mary frowned as she took the sheet of paper. “You made a vocab list?”

  “Had to show the parental units something. Dad will likely quiz me when I get home.”

  “So you do have to study?” Mary asked, beginning to regret agreeing to Rachel’s scheme.

  “Well, I already know the words, but you might want to learn them.”

  “I have to study?” Mary was regretting even picking up the phone.

  “Only if you want me to stay out of trouble.”

  Mary frowned more as she began reading over the list. Rachel munched on cheese balls and played a game on her cell phone. Mary wasn’t too resentful of the surprise vocab lesson. It was a good distraction. She’d been dreading any questions her friend might have. Mary had told her Mr. White had died but not how. Considering he’d been old and recently in the hospital, Rachel hadn’t pressed for details. But she still thought the Shadowman was out there and that they should do something. Mary hadn’t planned on not telling her best friend any of it, but now she didn’t know how to even start. Or if she should tell her anything at all. It was over now. No need to rehash it. She wanted to forget all about it. Never mind the cursed box in her backyard.

  Rachel always seemed to know exactly what not to ask, though. “Are you sure the Shadowman’s gone?”

  Without lifting her head, because she worried her face might give something away, Mary answered, “He’s gone. Vicky even confirmed it.” The definition for caitiff jumped out of the list at her: a contemptible or cowardly person. Yeah, but she didn’t need to learn that word. She was embodying it.

  “Has the Hickey popped in on any more of your dreams?” Rachel asked.

  Mary finally looked up. “No, thank God. I think she was only able to do it because of the coma, but I can’t be sure. It’s not like I’m going to ask her.”

  “You know I’m beginning to feel left out. Everybody’s developing mutant powers but me.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I think of you as a mutant.”

  “Aw, aren’t you sweet.”

  The girls shared a smile.

  “Still wonder where the Shadowman went, though. And if it will come back,” Rachel said.

  Mary stared back down at her list of vocab words. She was trying to channel sanguine. She put on a calm, confident air, though cheerfulness was tough even when she wasn’t hiding something. “If it comes back, we’ll deal with it. Some good flashlights are all we need.” Lying to Rachel turned Mary’s stomach, but she couldn’t tell her the truth. She focused on the next word: crucible. Was this a severe test? Or was this a situation of concentrated forces that would develop her into a stronger person?

  Rachel snatched away the piece of paper. “Oh, forget that. I doubt Dad would quiz you anyway.” Mary wished she’d let her keep it. It had been a nice shield. “What I really want to know is where are you and Kyle going on your first date?”

  Mary almost choked on her tongue. She wanted the vocab shield back. NOW. “What?”

  “Your first date,” Rachel repeated.

  “You mean homecoming?”

  Rachel shook her head. “No, your first date. You two are like a couple now, right?”

  Mary felt like she was a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Couple? What couple? Her and Kyle? “We’re going to homecoming together.” It seemed to be all she could say.

  Rachel sighed disapprovingly. “That can’t be your first date. Homecoming is way too big to add first date stuff to it as well. Anyway, don’t you want to go on a regular date with him?”

  Mary heard a car horn on that dark mental road. The headlights were getting brighter. She had no idea if she wanted to go on a regular date. The whole Kyle thing was so new.

  “You should totally call him and ask him out! Take the initiative. It’ll make you appear super cool.”

  The car wasn’t swerving as it came at Bambi-form Mary. Her ask Kyle out? “Wait, I don’t know if he’s into me that much. I mean he asked me to homecoming, that’s it. Maybe that’s all he wants to do?”

  “Maybe, but you won’t know unless you ask him. Maybe he likes you more than you think.”

  Rachel was the one driving that car and she was not slowing down. Ask Kyle out? Ask him how much he liked her? Why not ask him how he felt about having kids while they were at it? She was bolting. No way was she becoming road kill. “No, there will be no asking of anything.”

  Rachel began giggling.

  Mary shot her a look. “Were you teasing me?”

  She nodded and kept giggling. “Your eyes kept getting bigger and bigger, and you actually started going pale.”

  “So you weren’t serious about any of that?”

  Rachel shrugged. “Well, some girls could do all that but obviously not you.”

  “Obviously not?” Rach was right, but it stung a little to hear her say it.

  “Oh come on, you’ve never had a boyfriend. You’ve been on one date and that was a total disaster. You have no relationship experience whatsoever.”

  “Oh, and you’re an expert?”

  “I’ve gone out more than you.”

  “Yeah, but all you and skater boy did was go to skate parks.

  “Still, those were dates.”

  “You’d go there together and then he’d start doing jumps, and you’d watch from the sidelines.”

  “I was being supportive.”

  “You were bored out of your mind.”

  “Fine. What are you and Kyle going to do on your date?”

  “We’re not going on a date.”

  “Then why’d he ask you to homecoming?”

  That made Mary freeze. Why had he asked her? He’d said he liked her, but how did he know? They’d never hung out. She knew next to nothing about him. She didn’t know what type of music he liked or what sorts of shows he watched. They barely knew each other. Why like her? And did she like him? Was the car circling back to make another go at her?

  “Mary?”

  “What if this is one big mistake? What if we totally hate each other?”

  “That’s positive thinking.”

  “I’m serious. He seems like a nice guy. Don’t get me wrong. It was sweet that he was worried about me during that stuff with Vicky, but we don’t know each other. What could we possibly have in common?”

  Rachel sighed. “You won’t know until you go out with him. Like I said, ask him to the movies.”

  Mary looked down at her fisted hands in her lap. She forced them open. She made herself take a few deep, even breaths. She couldn’t believe how ner
vous she’d gotten just from the idea of going out with Kyle. Rachel was right. If she planned to go to homecoming with him, she had to get more comfortable with him or the dance would be a complete disaster. “He’d probably want to see that Hollywood remake of that Japanese ghost movie.”

  “And you don’t? Just don’t heckle the screen too loudly and get kicked out again. You two will have a fun time.”

  “You were the one throwing popcorn.”

  “Who wears heels to an abandoned house? It’s just insulting.”

  “Yeah.”

  They fell silent. Rachel asked, “Do you want me to ask him for you?”

  “Oh, that’ll make me appear un-loserish in every way.”

  “Fine. Just don’t stress about it. Do it like a band-aid. Don’t pick at it and draw it out, just ask him in one go.”

  “What should I say?”

  “You should say, ‘Kyle, movie, me, tomorrow?’”

  Mary glared at her. “Why don’t I just hit him over the head with a club and drag him back to my cave?”

  “Because he’s too big to drag. Just call him up and say, ‘Kyle would you like to go see a movie with me?’”

  “That’s it?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “Yes, that’s it.”

  “I’m still gonna screw this up. You know that, right?”

  “Seriously, do you want me to ask him for you?”

  Mary was ashamed to admit that she wanted to say yes.

  “No, I’ll do it.”

  “Atta girl. Just remember to breathe.”

  “I gotta breathe, too? I’m no good at multitasking.”

  “Promise me you’ll ask him.”

  “Really? I have to?”

  “Yes.”

  “How’d I get into this mess?”

  “By going through a little thing called puberty.”

  “Puberty sucks.”

  “I don’t think anyone would disagree with you.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Say What Now?

  When Mary got home from the park, she remembered that Gran was scheduled to meet with the Connors. Neil and Gladys had been meeting with Gran on Saturdays while Marvin and Nina met with her on Mondays. Gran had also become good friends with Nina and Neil. The three of them would get together to have dinner without the ghosts. Mary was glad Gran had them to talk to. Neil and Gladys were with Gran in her office. Mary slipped up to the beaded curtain to hear what they were discussing today. She’d take anything to distract her from her little obsession with the boyfriend that she might or might not have.

  “If you think for one moment that I’m going to let you give Sophia my mother’s silverware, you obviously haven’t been paying attention for the past thirty years.”

  “Did Gladys not get along with her sister?”

  “Oh for Pete’s sake, she’s your sister, and it would make her very happy to have the silverware. I’m not doing anything with it, and Carrie Anne has my mother’s silverware.”

  “I don’t care. She’s not getting it. Could Nina use it?”

  Okay, she wasn’t that desperate for distraction. Mary backed away quietly. The Beadleys and the Connors were making glacially slow progress. Neither deceased spouse was ready to move on, but they were at least acknowledging the fact that their widow and widower were together. But they were squabbling over small things. Mary was still conflicted about the whole-ghosts-hanging-around-to-haunt-their-spouses situation. She understood that their love hadn’t died with their deaths, but Mrs. Beadley and Mr. Connor were clearly ready to move on. But neither ghost was. On the other hand, moving on for a ghost was a very different thing.

  She went to the living room and turned on the TV. There wasn’t anything on she wanted to watch, but she was bored and a little antsy. Her conversation with Rachel came back to her. Should she ask Kyle out? Going to the movies wasn’t a big deal. They wouldn’t have to talk to each other. She looked at the phone. Don’t think about it, she told herself, just do it like a band aid.

  She picked up the phone and dialed Kyle’s house. When it began ringing, she realized that the only reason she knew the number was because Cy had given it to her. Going out with one brother after being rejected by the other seemed so wrong, but she was honestly interested in going out with Kyle. She just wished he wasn’t related to the last boy she liked, and oh God, what if Cy answered the phone? She didn’t know if she were brave enough to ask him to get Kyle for her. Someone answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  Mary started breathing again when she realized it wasn’t Cy. She’d begun holding it when the thought that he might answer had occurred to her, but the person on the other end was a woman.

  “Hi, may I speak to Kyle?”

  “May I say who’s calling?”

  “This is Mary.”

  “Okay, let me go find him.”

  “Thanks.”

  She waited silently as the woman she presumed was Mrs. Asher called for Kyle. She wondered if Cy were there, and if he wondered why Mary was calling his brother.

  She heard Kyle’s muffled voice say “thanks” to his mom and then he was there. “Hey, Mary. What’s up?”

  Then the panic set in. “Kyle! Hey. I was just calling …” She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t ask him out. Was she insane? Her ask out a guy?

  “Mary?”

  She was back on her dark mental road, and this time a huge Mack truck was coming straight at her. She stood frozen on the center line. Its horn blared, and all she could do was stare.

  The silence stretched out to an uncomfortable length. She had to say something. Anything to break the silence. “How are you?” she blurted out and winced. She was an idiot.

  “I’m fine. Everything okay with you?” He sounded like he expected the answer to be a big fat no, and he’d be correct.

  “Oh, um,” and she laughed nervously. She had to get it together. “Listen, I was wondering if you’d …” Geez, she was actually sweating. Thank goodness she was on the phone and not asking him in person.

  “Mary?”

  She’d stopped talking again and hadn’t finished her question. Ask him to the movies, dingbat! “Would you like to go see a movie with Rachel and me?” Wait, where’d Rachel come from? She was going to totally mock Mary for this. Probably all through the movie or until the usher escorted them out.

  “Okay, tomorrow?”

  Tomorrow? That was so soon! “You’re not busy?” She hoped he would remember something important that he had to do like solve world peace, cure cancer, change the oil in his truck, maybe brush his teeth. Dental hygiene was very important.

  “Nope. Do you wanna go see Wireless?” Mary had been right. That was the current Japanese horror movie remake.

  “Yeah, that’ll be fun.”

  “Cool. How about the eight o’clock showing at the Cinema Six?”

  “Okay. Eight o’clock. See you there.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  “Bye.”

  She turned off the phone and hit herself on the head with it a few times. What was her problem? She’d successfully faced down homicidal ghosts, Shadowmen, and tenth grade P.E, but she couldn’t ask a boy out without including her friend. She was a wuss. Definitely not scary. She used to be scary. She missed those days. She turned the phone back on and dialed Rachel.

  “Hello, Mary.”

  Mary silently gulped and straightened in her seat. What was it with parents answering the phone today? “Hi, Mr. Pillar. May I speak to Rachel?”

  “One moment.”

  She willed herself to relax but just knowing Mr. Pillar was holding the phone put her on edge. Rachel’s dad wasn’t mean, and Rach and he seemed to get along pretty good, but Mary had never gotten used to him. He was very upright, if that was the best way to put it. He had a really dry sense of humor which usually flew completely over Mary’s head, and it seemed like he was always judging her and finding her wanting. He’d never said anything like that, and Rachel said he thought she was a good frie
nd, but he still made Mary nervous.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  Relieved to finally have Rach on the phone and not her dad, Mary sank back into the recliner. “We’re going to the movies tomorrow.”

  “We are?”

  “Yeah, Wireless. We’ll meet Kyle there and—“

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m chaperoning you and Kyle?” Mary knew it was too much to hope that she could slide that past Rachel.

  “Who said chaperoning?”

  “Then why am I invited on your date?”

  “It’s not a date. It’s just a get-together with some friends.”

  “Then who else is coming?”

  “Fine. I totally freaked and included you without thinking.”

  “I knew I should’ve been the one to ask,” Rachel muttered.

  “Please come,” Mary begged.

  “Your first date should not include me.”

  Mary’s hold tightened on the phone. Rachel had to say yes. She had to. “I know I’m a dork, but please come with us. Please?”

  Rachel sighed. “Fine, but you’re buying me Goobers, and I’m not sitting between you two.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  “Stop. Hey, do you wanna go shopping beforehand? I could use some new clothes.”

  Relieved that Rachel had said yes, Mary happily agreed. “That’s fine. What time are you coming by?”

  “Six o’clock?”

  “Sounds good. See you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, bye.”

  Mary turned off the phone and cuddled it. She had a date! She’d asked a boy out! Yes, Rachel would be there, but it was still good. It would be easier to talk to him with Rachel there, and Mary needed to hang out with Kyle more anyway to see if they really liked each other. And if they did, she’d have a boyfriend. It was hard to believe.

  The phone was still nestled under her check when it began ringing. She fumbled it in her surprise. She glanced at the caller ID, but it was blank. With Gran running her business out of the house, a lot of calls came in from numbers they didn’t know, so it was a bad idea not to pick up. If it was a survey or charity calling, she’d just say sorry and hang up.