2 Empath by Edie Claire

watch her little brothers. Tara was the second oldest of six, and her parents’ hours in law enforcement were irregular. No one expected her older brother Damon to babysit, partly because he was just as likely as the younger ones to burn the house down, and partly because he was always at practice for some sport or other. But Tara was no willing victim of gender discrimination. At the age of thirteen she had sat her parents down and explained that she could, like her brothers, play soccer and basketball and run cross country, or they could fire the current after-school babysitter and hire her at a reasonable discount. The rest had been history. Over the years she had amassed a sizeable bank account, chortling all the while that she had never wanted to play organized sports anyway.
    “My dad’s off today,” she explained. “And I thought of something interesting we can do.”
    My eyebrows rose. Tara was definitely up to something. And when Tara got an “interesting” idea in her head, you could be pretty sure it was either going to be fantastically fun or positively horrifying. Her brain in action was like a registered weapon.
    “Like what?” I asked timidly.
    Tara made no response; we had reached Kylee’s car.
    Kylee stood waiting by the side of it, watching us curiously. “So what’s this all about?”
    Tara moved toward her and stretched out a hand. “Can I drive?”
    Kylee made a skeptical face, but allowed the keys to dangle from her fingers.
    Tara swooped them up and popped into the driver’s seat. “Come on!” she encouraged.
    Kylee and I exchanged a confused glance. Tara drove both our cars occasionally, since she had no wheels of her own, liked to drive, and could get anywhere in the county on sheer instinct. Her wanting to drive today was not surprising. What was weird was the cool determination that lurked beneath her obviously fake cheer. The girl was on a mission.
    Kylee turned and opened the passenger door, and I slipped into the back seat.
    “Where are we going?” Kylee asked.
    Tara switched on the ignition. She didn’t look at either of us, but kept her eyes trained straight ahead. “Ghost hunting,” she answered.
    ***
    I squirmed anxiously in the back seat as Tara turned the car onto a gravel road and drove away from the city. The skies had been blue this morning; now the horizon in every direction was studded with ominous gray clouds. The scene fit my mood perfectly.
    “Kali,” Tara said, her voice understanding. “You don’t even have to get out of the car if you don’t want to. I just thought it would be, well… interesting. Kylee’s wanted to go on one of those ghost tours ever since we were kids, but I never would — the thought of tromping around at night through graveyards and dingy basements always creeped me out, even if they weren’t really haunted.”
    “I did go on the Cheyenne ghost tour!” Kylee exclaimed. “I’ve been ghost hunting other times, too.” She smirked knowingly. “Makes for a great date.”
    “But why do you want to do this now?” I asked Tara. She couldn’t seriously expect me to believe this had nothing to do with my confession.
    Tara paused a moment. “Believe it or not, Kali,” she answered softly, “I’m trying to be open minded.”
    “Woohoo!” Kylee cheered sarcastically.
    “Shut up!” Tara responded. “I’m not saying I believe in the supernatural.” She threw a worried glance over her shoulder. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Kali, because I do. I swear I do. I’m just not convinced that what you’re seeing isn’t being generated internally, by brain chemicals or something, you know what I mean?”
    Kylee sighed dramatically. “Open-minded… Right.”
    I didn’t say anything, but I did get Tara’s meaning. I’d thought about it myself, but I knew it wasn’t possible. I could give her any number of examples where the shadows I’d seen revealed information I couldn’t possibly have known otherwise. But what