overwhelming instincts. I have the unshakable urge to be helpful, which I usually end up regretting. I only hoped I wouldn’t this time.
Before we left, Andrew gave Margaret a bunch of tips about touring with a half-million-dollar runaway. It was clear he didn’t want us to go out at all, but Margaret insisted. I wasa long way from Buffalo, she said, and with my black hair, I didn’t look like the girl in the poster. Besides, what kidnap victim would be driving around with a woman who could pass for her grandmother?
So we left. Margaret’s car was some fancy European model, like the kind my dad always leased, which made me think about him. Dad and I had never been real close. I was Mom’s baby, and after she died, well again, it was that instinct thing. Some people have the instinct to be parents and some don’t, and Dad didn’t, though he tried his best.
He traveled a lot, which didn’t help. He did care about me, though. More than I realized. After my breakdown he flew from Berlin to stay at my bedside until I went to Lyle House. He only went back when he had to, and he thought I was safe in Aunt Lauren’s care.
“So this necromancer stuff,” Tori said from the backseat. “Chloe doesn’t know a lot about it.”
She motioned for me to start asking questions. I’d fantasized about meeting another necromancer, and here I had one and hadn’t asked a single thing. Worrying about Dad wasn’t going to help me any.
I started by asking Margaret about the ghostly reenactments I’d seen. Residuals, she called them, but she didn’t tell me anything else I hadn’t already figured out. They were leftover energy from a traumatic event that played over and over again, like a film loop. Harmless images, not ghosts. As for how to block them…
“You won’t need to worry about that for a few years. Concentrate on ghosts for now. Deal with residuals when you’re old enough to see them.”
“But I am seeing them.”
She shook her head. “I suspect what you’re seeing is a ghost reverting to his death form—how he appeared at the moment of his death. Ghosts can do that, unfortunately, and some like to do so to intimidate necromancers.”
“I don’t think that’s what this was.” I told her about residuals I’d seen—a man jumping into a saw in a factory and a girl being murdered at a truck stop.
“My God,” Tori said. “That’s…” When I glanced at her, she’d gone pale. “You saw that?”
“I’ve heard you like movies, Chloe,” Margaret cut in. “I suspect you have a very good imagination.”
“Okay, so can you tell me how to block them when I do start seeing them?”
I must have let a little sarcasm sneak into my tone, because Margaret looked over sharply. I fixed her with my best wide-blue-eyes look and said, “It helps if I know what’s coming. So I’ll feel ready to handle it.”
She nodded. “That’s a good attitude to take, Chloe. All right then. I’ll let you in on the trade secret. When you see a residual, there’s a surefire way to deal with them. Walk away.”
“Can I block them?”
“No, but you don’t need to. Simply walk away. They aren’tghosts, so they can’t follow.”
I could have figured that out by myself. The problem was: “How do I know it’s a residual? If it looks real, how do you know it isn’t ? Before you see…the dying part.”
“One sign is that residuals don’t make any noise.”
I knew that.
“Another is that you can’t interact with them.”
Knew that, too.
So if I noticed a guy about to jump into an industrial saw, I should stop and listen for any noise? Yell at him and see if he answered? By then, if he was a residual, he’d have already jumped, and I’d see exactly what I’d been trying to avoid. And if he was real, I could let him die while trying to spare myself an ugly sight.
If I could tell it was just a ghost—residual or not—I’d know the person wasn’t in danger and I could get out of there. So, while she
Before we left, Andrew gave Margaret a bunch of tips about touring with a half-million-dollar runaway. It was clear he didn’t want us to go out at all, but Margaret insisted. I wasa long way from Buffalo, she said, and with my black hair, I didn’t look like the girl in the poster. Besides, what kidnap victim would be driving around with a woman who could pass for her grandmother?
So we left. Margaret’s car was some fancy European model, like the kind my dad always leased, which made me think about him. Dad and I had never been real close. I was Mom’s baby, and after she died, well again, it was that instinct thing. Some people have the instinct to be parents and some don’t, and Dad didn’t, though he tried his best.
He traveled a lot, which didn’t help. He did care about me, though. More than I realized. After my breakdown he flew from Berlin to stay at my bedside until I went to Lyle House. He only went back when he had to, and he thought I was safe in Aunt Lauren’s care.
“So this necromancer stuff,” Tori said from the backseat. “Chloe doesn’t know a lot about it.”
She motioned for me to start asking questions. I’d fantasized about meeting another necromancer, and here I had one and hadn’t asked a single thing. Worrying about Dad wasn’t going to help me any.
I started by asking Margaret about the ghostly reenactments I’d seen. Residuals, she called them, but she didn’t tell me anything else I hadn’t already figured out. They were leftover energy from a traumatic event that played over and over again, like a film loop. Harmless images, not ghosts. As for how to block them…
“You won’t need to worry about that for a few years. Concentrate on ghosts for now. Deal with residuals when you’re old enough to see them.”
“But I am seeing them.”
She shook her head. “I suspect what you’re seeing is a ghost reverting to his death form—how he appeared at the moment of his death. Ghosts can do that, unfortunately, and some like to do so to intimidate necromancers.”
“I don’t think that’s what this was.” I told her about residuals I’d seen—a man jumping into a saw in a factory and a girl being murdered at a truck stop.
“My God,” Tori said. “That’s…” When I glanced at her, she’d gone pale. “You saw that?”
“I’ve heard you like movies, Chloe,” Margaret cut in. “I suspect you have a very good imagination.”
“Okay, so can you tell me how to block them when I do start seeing them?”
I must have let a little sarcasm sneak into my tone, because Margaret looked over sharply. I fixed her with my best wide-blue-eyes look and said, “It helps if I know what’s coming. So I’ll feel ready to handle it.”
She nodded. “That’s a good attitude to take, Chloe. All right then. I’ll let you in on the trade secret. When you see a residual, there’s a surefire way to deal with them. Walk away.”
“Can I block them?”
“No, but you don’t need to. Simply walk away. They aren’tghosts, so they can’t follow.”
I could have figured that out by myself. The problem was: “How do I know it’s a residual? If it looks real, how do you know it isn’t ? Before you see…the dying part.”
“One sign is that residuals don’t make any noise.”
I knew that.
“Another is that you can’t interact with them.”
Knew that, too.
So if I noticed a guy about to jump into an industrial saw, I should stop and listen for any noise? Yell at him and see if he answered? By then, if he was a residual, he’d have already jumped, and I’d see exactly what I’d been trying to avoid. And if he was real, I could let him die while trying to spare myself an ugly sight.
If I could tell it was just a ghost—residual or not—I’d know the person wasn’t in danger and I could get out of there. So, while she
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