She looked startled and then frowned. “It's you.”
“Yeah, it's me. Ally here?” I started forward without waiting for an answer, as though I were sure she was going to let me in.
And she did, stepping out of the way and gesturing down the hall. “Kitchen,” she said, her expression still troubled. She drew in a breath like she was about to say more, but then she just shook her head.
I wanted to ask her about it, could almost feel her wanting to say something else, but I couldn't ignore the sense of urgency propelling me forward.
“Thanks.” I hurried past her, then stopped at the sound of a familiar voice laughing and talking. Ally's voice.
She was okay. I let out a slow breath of relief. Maybe Erin hadn't even been here. If she'd managed to figure out who and what Ally was, there was no way she could have forced her way into Lily's body and recovered so quickly. Even as strong as Alona was, it had taken her hours just to be able to speak.
I started forward once more, feeling Misty's frown at my back.
The kitchen was oversized with a huge eat-in area and a big granite island in the middle of it. Sitting at stools behind it, their feet dangling off the rungs, and giggling over something, Ally and Leanne Whitaker had their heads together over a bowl of what appeared to be ice cream with chunks of cookie dough on top.
I stopped again, startled. The last time I'd checked, Alona hadn't been Leanne's biggest fan.
A whisper came from behind me, and I turned, almost involuntarily, to see Misty a step or two behind me, frowning at the two of them.
“Oh, my God.” Leanne's sneering voice was unmistakable. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, and I turned in time to see her drop her spoon into the bowl with a gooey clank.
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 seem angry 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 could mean 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.