Remember Me by Christopher Pike Page B

looking at him. It was then I noticed that Beth had fallen asleep. She wasn't snoring or anything, but I could tell by the way she was breathing that she was out of it. Jeff had lowered his head and was thinking. Amanda was doing much the same, her expression lost behind a curtain of hair. Daniel shifted uneasily.

    "This is creepy," he said.

    Actually, that was an astute observation. The atmosphere in the room had definitely changed. It was no longer simply tense. It was distorted, as if the room we were in had somehow been overlapped with another room, a place almost the same but not quite. The room felt heavy.

    "Beth's gone to sleep," I said. "Let's call it a night."

    "No," Jo said suddenly, firmly. She shook Beth's feet.

    Beth opened her eyes.

    "I'm floating," she whispered.

    "We have to find out who we're talking to," Jo said.

    "Right, Jeff?"

    Was Jo trying to win Jeffs favor by giving him a last chat with his brother? The idea struck me as so perverse I almost screamed. But screaming's not supposed to be cool. There are times, though, when it can save your reputation. Oh, yes, indeed.

    Jeff touched Jo on the shoulder. I could practically see the thrill go through Jo's body. It has been said that nothing is as powerful an aphrodisiac as a brush with the supernatural.Well, maybe I'm the one who said it. But Jo was primed. She wasn't going to deny Jeff anything. Beth had closed her eyes again.

    "Did you bring your Ouija board?" he asked.

    "No," Jo said.

    "I need more than these yes-or-no answers," Jeff said, his hand still on her shoulder. "I want whole words."

    Spirits were fine, but this was real male flesh that had a hold of Jo. She nodded quickly.
    "We can do it without a board."

    "How?" he asked.

    She swallowed. "One of us can channel this entity."

    "Not me," Daniel said and giggled foolishly.

    "How?" Jeff asked.

    "I can put one of us in a hypnotic trance," Jo said.

    "Who?" Jeff asked.

    "Shari," Jo said.

    "No way," I said.

    "Why Shari?" Jeff asked.

    "It has to be someone I've known all my life."

    Now, Jo was Amanda's first cousin and had known Amanda all her life, but I didn't bring that up. I imagined Amanda would be too shy to invite an entity into her body.

    Also, I suddenly had a change of heart. I decided I wouldn't mind channeling.

    My reasoning was simple: it would put me in a perfect position to stop all the nonsense.
    Once Jo thought she had me hypnotized, I was going to say all us entities were exhausted and wanted to go home to sleep.

    "AH right," I said. "What do I do?"

    Before we could proceed, we had to wake Beth up once more—no small feat.

    We got her eyes open, but before she could climb into a vertical position, she passed out again.

    It was almost as if having the magnet testing at the back of her head had drained her.
    When she finally was sitting up, I noticed that her eyes looked glazed.

    Jo made me lie on my back on the floor in the spot Beth had just vacated.

    Surprisingly, the spot was not warm. Jo told Daniel to bring a blanket from the bedroom, and he covered me to my chin. Then Jo turned off all the lights and lit a red Christmas candle, which she set on the glass coffee table, off to my right. It was pretty dark, but I could still see everyone clearly enough to identify them. Jo positioned herself just behind my head and had the others kneel around me. Amanda was on my right near the candle, Daniel and Jeff were to my left, and Beth was hanging out near my feet. I thought the whole setup typically New Age.

    The candle flame caught my eye. I had always been fond of fires—those of the safe and sane variety—and I found the steadiness of the burning orange wick oddly comforting. I wished, though, without knowing why, that the candle had been any color but red.

    "We're going to start the same way as we did when we played that 'dead girl'

    game at Tricia's party," Jo said.

    "Does everyone remember? We'll pretend that Shari is lying here about to be