Betrayal by Lee Nichols Page B

food, and sleeping myself into oblivion.
    I lay in the overheated darkness until a knock sounded at my window. I peeked from under the covers and saw Coby hovering outside.
    When he saw me, he shimmered into existence beside my bed.
    You’re getting good at that , I said, sitting up in bed.
    I’ve got a lot of time on my hands , he said.
    I didn’t know what to say to that, so I started chewing on my thumbnail.
    I’ve been to my parents’ , he said. Y ou didn’t tell me they wouldn’t be able to see me.
    I — It hadn’t occurred to me that you’d think they would. They’re not ghostkeepers.
    Ghostkeepers, right. He sprawled on the chair. God, that’s so lame.
    Yeah.
    I saw Harry and Sara , he said.
    They hate me now.
    He didn’t seem to care. Harry’s drinking again.
    What?
    He starts first thing in the morning. It’s bad, Emma. Keeps a silver flask in his coat pocket.
    Damn , I said. What about Sara?
    An unreadable expression flicked across his narrow, pale face. Did you know she was in love with me?
    Yeah , I answered softly.
    You did ?
    She made me promise not to hurt you , I said. Instead, I got you killed.
    How could she not tell me? If I’d known — He shook his head. It doesn’t matter. You have to help them.
    They won’t even speak to me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
    Well, figure it out, or you’re going to have two more dead friends on your hands.
    With that parting shot, he dematerialized. Had he only come to make me feel guilty? If so, it had worked.
    I huddled under the covers again. I didn’t want to think about Harry and Sara or Coby’s parents. I didn’t want to think about anything except Bennett. I closed my eyes and returned to that moment when he was beside me, and everything had been perfect. I imagined his eyes and his hands and the little scar on his back that a ghast had left him. I remembered his voice and mouth and the things he said that made me thrill and blush at the same time.
    But he wasn’t there. He’d left me, just like everyone else. Maybe my mother was right, and I couldn’t trust him. I let the sadness wash over me and began to cry.
    And then I must’ve fallen back asleep, because I dreamed not of Bennett, but of a woman’s face. In her early twenties, she had short dark hair, wide-set eyes, and scarlet red lipstick. Her brown eyes were deep wells of warmth and comfort, and I fell into them, like a vat of hot chocolate. Her voice soothed me like a lullaby, or the refrain of a favorite song, sweet and familiar and rhythmic.
    â€œWho are you?” I asked in my dream.
    A sense of warmth and security spread through me as she continued to hum. I didn’t need ghostkeepers or my ring, or my powers. I didn’t need Bennett—
    I jerked in bed and woke, like being surprised by a dream of falling. That last part had startled my conscious mind, forcing me to wake. Because it wasn’t true. I needed him. And no crazy dream was going to change that. Now, if only I could trust him.
    I lay in bed until I heard footsteps in the hall, and Natalie burst into the room. “You’re not out of bed yet?”
    â€œYes, I am,” I said, from under the comforter.
    â€œIt’s time for school.”
    â€œI’m not going,” I mumbled.
    She stripped the covers from the bed. “Yes, you are.”
    â€œNatalie!” I tried to wrestle the covers back, but she pulled them out of reach.
    â€œEnough’s enough. Get in the shower. Right now, young lady.”
    I curled into a fetal position. “You’re mean.”
    â€œIt’s for your own good,” she said, tossing me my bathrobe. “I know you’re upset, but you’re not a wallower, Em.”
    â€œWhat am I, then?” I seriously didn’t know sometimes.
    â€œReally? I need to go into how you’ve killed wraiths and fought off Neos, the most powerful