Ally looked up from the bowl, and a variety of unreadable expressions passed over her face when she saw me. “He’s here for me,” she said simply. “Right?”
I nodded slowly. She didn’t seemangry anymore. “I’m her ride home,” I said.
“Except I’m not ready to go yet,” Ally said, looking away from me and scooping up another bite of ice cream. “You can leave, and I’ll find my own way home.”
I bristled at the arrogance in her tone. All right, so she was definitely still angry. Fair enough, so was I. And clearly she was fine, so I didn’t need to stick around. “Whatever.” I turned and started back toward the hall.
“Nice,” Leanne said, presumably to Ally, with an all-too-familiar cackle, a sound that sent me back to my most miserable days of high school.
Misty, who’d been standing in the doorway behind me, waited until I passed and then followed me out.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to steal anything,” I said over my shoulder, not bothering to hide the disgust in my voice.
She made an exasperated noise. “It’s not that,” she said.
“Yeah, right.” I kept going.
“Hey.” She caught my sleeve, and I turned, surprised.
Misty glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen before facing me with a worried expression. “Something happened,” she whispered quickly. “She’s pretending everything’s fine, but it was like a seizure or something.”
I froze. “What do you mean?”
She gave an impatient huff. “I mean, I left her upstairs to deal with, you know, the ghost.”
I nodded, waving my hand for her to hurry up and get to the point.
“And when I came back to see how it was going, she was on the floor,” she finished, her blue eyes wide in the dimly lit hall.
I relaxed a little. “Ally still has trouble with walking sometimes. The accident—”
“Dude, no. This wasn’t just a fall. She was…I don’t know, writhing on the floor or something.” Misty wrung her hands together, obviously upset.
I considered what it must have taken to convince her to come after me and try to tell me something was wrong, and dread seeped into my gut.
“Was she, uh, talking to someone before? I mean, someone you couldn’t see?”
She nodded rapidly. “She sent me out of the room, so I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I definitely heard her talking.”
So unless Alona had decided to put on a show for Misty’s benefit, there had been a ghost here. What were the odds it had been anyone other than Erin?
Not good.
And she’d done what? Attacked Alona? It wouldn’t have been impossible—Alona was definitely capable of provoking someone to the point of violence, particularly someone like Erin, who already seemed a little unhinged. But then where had Erin gone? Why wasn’t she still here pestering us? And why hadn’t Alona mentioned it?
Unless, of course, she couldn’t. I felt sick suddenly. If Erin had taken over Lily’s body and kicked Alona out, that would account for Misty’s seeing what had appeared to be a seizure—two spirits fighting over one body.
But if Erin had won that battle, how could she have recovered so quickly? That would have taken serious power, beyond what even Alona had demonstrated. Then again, I already knew Erin was no slouch in the power department—she could change her appearance on a whim. None of the other ghosts I’d ever met could do that, not even Mrs. Ruiz, who’d very thoroughly kicked my ass.
Plus, it occurred to me now, I had no idea how much Lily’s comatose state might have slowed Alona down when she took over. But Erin wouldn’t have had that issue.
So…was it possible she’d taken Lily’s body with fewer side effects? I definitely couldn’t rule it out. Ice coated my insides at the idea.
“All right, let’s keep this between us,” I said to Misty. “I’m going to try to get her to go home with me.” I had to know for sure who was occupying Lily’s body, and this was not the place for that conversation.
She nodded.
“She might not like that, but it’s important,” I added. The last thing I needed was Misty calling the police because I was trying to bodily remove someone from her home who did not want to go.
“Okay,” she said hesitantly.
I wished she sounded more confident, but I didn’t have time to convince her further.
I strode back into the kitchen with Misty at my heels.
Leanne groaned. “You again.”
I ignored her. “You know, I should just leave you here,” I said to Ally. “But I promised your mom I’d bring you home.” That was a big lie. Mrs. Turner wouldn’t even speak to me, let alone take promises from me. And Alona would know that and would call me on it…maybe.
I waited, holding my breath for her response.
But Ally didn’t even look up. “I said I’m fine.”
Which couldmean it wasn’t Alona…or just that Alona was still mad at me and more concerned about what her friends thought than about what Mrs. Turner thought. It was in line with who she’d been when she was alive, the identity she might be attempting to reclaim in part now with her makeover.
I needed a litmus test, something that would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who I was dealing with. The only test I could think of would draw on the secret of Alona’s messed-up home life and really piss her off, but I had to know.
“Come on, I’ll take you to get a burger on the way. And Sam was over last night. He left a couple beers in the fridge we could probably snag, if we stop by my house.” I kept my tone as light and normal-sounding as possible, which wasn’t very. Every word sounded clunky to my ears, like it screamed, “Lie!” But that didn’t matter because it wasn’t my reaction that I was looking for.
The real Alona would have glared at me with her lip curling in disgust at the suggestion. But this one…she perked up and looked at me with interest for the first time. “Beer?”
My heart sank. Erin. It had to be. No way was that Alona, not with her alcoholic mother. That was one thing Alona had never compromised on, no matter who was watching or listening. She did not drink.
But dead party girl Erin (her Señor Frog’s T-shirt was a big clue) wouldn’t have known that. And a beer probably did sound good to her after so many months or years of (dead) sobriety.
So, if Erin was occupying Lily’s body, where was Alona? Gone for good? I swallowed hard, pushing that thought away. I had to find out what had happened.
“Dude, why are you still here?” Leanne asked with a huff. “She said no.”
“Leanne,” Misty murmured from behind me. “Stay out of it.”
But it was too late. The damage was done. “No, thanks, I’m good here.” Erin returned her attention to the ice cream.
Panic surged in me, and I fought to keep my expression blank. The urge to cross the room and shake Erin for answers was overwhelming. But I had to keep calm. Freaking out on her was not an option, nor was leaving her here. She might take off for parts unknown, and then I’d never know what had happened.
Think, think.I forced myself to look at things from Erin’s perspective. She had to be worried about people figuring out she wasn’t who she claimed to be, much as Alona had been. It was probably the main reason she didn’t want to leave with me. I could use that. “Okay, then call your mom and make sure it’s cool if you stay,” I said.
Erin shrugged and kept eating her ice cream. She knew that the more people who were involved, the greater the chance she’d mess up.
“What is he, your babysitter?” Leanne snorted.
“Fine, I’ll call her and tell her to come get you.” I pulled my phone out, and that got Erin’s attention. She glared at me.
“I’m just looking out for you.” I forced myself to project something resembling sincerity.
“All right. Let’s go.” She heaved a sigh and set her spoon down on the counter. “But a burger and beer first. You promised.” Easy to see where Erin’s priorities were. Not to mention, if she was at all worried about encountering Lily’s mom, making stops along the way would give her an opportunity to slip away from me before I could get her home.