“Next time? Not me.” I shook my head adamantly. “I’m looking forward to finishing school, planning college and hanging out with my family and friends. Now that I sort of have a boyfriend, I may even go to prom. There are so many things I can’t wait to do. I’m glad you think I did a good job, but I need to live my own life now. Besides, having me hospitalized has been really hard on my family. No more comas or strangers sleeping in my body.”
“I understand,” she said, with a sigh that seemed to form in a cloudy puff and linger in the air for a moment before vanishing. “It’s just that I thought you’d want to help your friend.”
“What friend?” I asked cautiously.
“Alyce.”
“No way!” I felt my eyes would pop out, I was so shocked.
Then my grandmother began to explain that Alyce was in crisis mode and needed a time-out from life. Grammy wouldn’t reveal what the problem was due to confidentiality rules, but she hinted that it was traumatic and a Temp Lifer would be assigned right away.
“Too bad you’re not interested,” she said with a shrug. “I’ll find someone else to take the job.”
“But you can’t just put a stranger inside Alyce,” I argued. “She’s my best friend. I know her better than anyone.”
She arched a brow. “You already told me you weren’t interested, and I respect that. I wouldn’t expect you to leave your body again … although I could make this exchange without interfering with your life. No coma or hospital.”
“You could do that?”
“I can do many things,” she said mysteriously. “And when you returned to your body, your friendship with Alyce would be better, too.”
“Alyce will be okay?”
“With your help,” Grammy said.
“She’s my very best friend in the world. I’d do anything to help her.”
“Are you accepting this mission?”
“Can you promise me that my body won’t be stuck in a hospital again and that I won’t miss any more school?”
“It’s a promise. While you’re absent from your body, I’ll arrange a temporary occupant.”
“Occupant!” Horrified, I stared at her. “But I don’t want a Temp Lifer in my body! That’s just too creepy.”
“Not a Temp Lifer. It’ll be someone you can trust and who loves you more than is humanly possible.”
“Who?” I asked warily.
Grammy pointed to herself. “Me.”
26
I slipped from my cloudy conversation with Grammy into a calm, floating sensation so peaceful that all my fears faded away. Grammy said the change would be immediate, so I imagined my soul like a flame of energy, shooting from the other side down to the quiet street where Alyce and her mother lived in a brown, L-shaped corner house.
This switch wouldn’t be a shock like it was with Leah Montgomery, or confusing like it was with Sharayah. This time I knew exactly who I would be, and except for Alyce’s recent issues, we shared all our secrets. Sometimes I felt that we were so close we were like twins, although we looked completely different. I was freckled with curly brown hair, and Alyce had exotic long black hair and golden-brown skin. I knew all her favorite things, her school schedule, her teachers, her friends and enemies. Once I found out what her problem was, I’d solve it and our friendship would be better than ever. It would be strange to see myself with Grammy’s soul living my life, but cool, too.
Being Alyce for a few days would be the easiest Temp Lifer assignment ever.
So I sailed free and gave myself whole-heartedly into my mission.
I imagined her bedroom at the back of their house, where an oak tree brushed up against the window, creaking eerily in strong winds and offering climbing branches for when Alyce needed to sneak out at night, or for when I wanted to visit without her mother knowing. I could almost feel the force of movement as dreams and reality blended and I neared my destination.
Then everything slowed. I had a sense of weight, as if I were a heavy stone and falling, falling until a jolt rocked me and I felt substance again. There was a gradual awareness of arms, hands, legs and Alyce’s silky black hair. I was lying on my back on silky fabric with my arms pressed against my sides.
I willed my eyes open … then realized they were open. Only I was encased in total darkness.
I knew Alyce’s house almost as well as I knew my own, and realized with growing alarm that while I seemed to be in Alyce’s body, I was not in her bedroom. The air was stuffy, with an overwhelming fragrance of woodsy pines and flowers. Not the natural outdoors, either, but artificial, like the spray from an aerosol can.
And when I moved my borrowed arms and legs, I banged into a hard solid surface. Lifting my head, I bumped it against a low ceiling. No, not a ceiling, I realized, as I ran Alyce’s fingers over a smooth, rounded surface. I was trapped somewhere dark and confining.
As my eyes started to adjust, I noticed tiny pricks of light at the edges around me. A growing horror was building inside me and I shivered. The silky fabric, smooth wood sides and artificial floral smells all added up to a terrifying possibility.
I wasn’t in Alyce’s bedroom.
I was in her coffin.