Cmon, Wren.
Then I sensed itthe subtle shift that might have been just in my head but felt like it was outside of me. My sister was there, and everything clicked into its rightful place.
About freaking time, I told her.
The others are coming, she replied, coming to stand beside me. Wren and I were identical except for two thingsmy superior fashion sense, and the fact that my hair was almost snow-white while hers was a comic-book shade of red.
She had her hair in pigtails and was wearing a blood-soaked pinafore and blouse, tights and Mary Janes. She looked like a demented rag doll.
Daria looked impressedor as impressed as someone with only part of a head and drunk out of her mind could look. Dead Born.
My sister frowned at her. I dont like that name.
The two of them watched each other with the same amount of hostile wariness. Wrens anger wavered around her like heat off pavement. She wasnt immune to the approach of Halloween either, and that made me wonder, just what the hell did I intend to do if both of them manifested?
Did you find whats keeping her here? I asked.
Wren glanced at me. Yes, but its not what I expected.
Daria chose that momentwhen Wrens attention was distractedto attack. She hit my sister square in the chest. Wren barely moved. Darias surprise would have been funny in any other situation.
You are so stupid, I said. Now shed gone and pissed off Wren. If I made it out of the locker room unsuspended and alive, it was going to be a miracle.
My sister is usually a gentle soul, but shes a ghost and ghosts have notoriously short fuses. Wrens eyes had already gone black, and I could feel her spectral energy reverberating in my bones along with the new song playing in the gym.
I put my hand on her arm. Dont.
Her head whipped around. My heart jumped into my throat. There was nothing so terrifying as Death wearing your face. I held her gaze and her arm, watching as the darkness slowly left her eyes.
The door to the locker room openedthe music from the dance increased in volume for a few seconds, then faded back to its muted thumping.
Three familiar faces came into viewmy friends, Roxi and Sarah. Well, I wasnt completely sure if Sarah was a friend or not, but whatever. They had the history teacher, Mr. Fisher, with them.
Fan-freaking-tastic. Busted.
Thats why shes still here, Wren whispered.
Him? I looked at Mr. Fisher. He wasnt a bad-looking guy. Fairly young.
She nodded.
Mr. Fisher turned to me. Who are you talking to?
Her. I pointed at Roxi. Did you tell him?
Roxis big brown eyes widened. That he was needed in the girls locker room.
Thats it? I demanded. She nodded. Great.
Whats going on here? Mr. Fisher demanded.
Daria stood up and walked toward him with a stupefied look on her face. Danny?
Your names Daniel, right? I asked.
He nodded. One of you girls had better tell me whats going on. Why did you bring me here?
You wouldnt happen to know a girl named Daria, would you? Smashed into a tree a few years back on the night of the Halloween dance?
He went white. What do you know about Daria?
I could try to liemake it sound less crazy than what it wasbut I was pissed off at having to be doing this instead of having fun with my friends. You believe in ghosts, Mr. F.?
He looked at mesaw the salt dust on my clothesand the lines of salt on the floor. He looked at Roxi and Sarah, both of whom shrugged. A lot of help they were.
Hes gotten so old, Daria remarked, walking around him.
Mr. Fisher shuddered. Its cold in here, he said. You girls are in a lot of trouble.
I glanced at the ghost. The way she looked at him froze my blood. She reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. Frowning, he turned around.
Daria shoved her hand into his chest.
He looked so surprised. He looked down at his chest, then up again. Dee? His voice was little more than a gasp.
Youre the reason Im dead, she snarled. Its all your fault.
She was so close to taking form I was terrified I was going to end up with a dead teacher to explain. Never mind suspension; theyd lock me up and throw away the key.
There was no doubt that Mr. Fisher could hear her. I tried to stop you, he protested, as his dead girlfriend held his heart in her icy fingers. You ran away.
Daria actually growled. Because I found you screwing my best friend!
Wren? I glanced at my sister. Little help? This was going to hell fast.
Daria turned her attention to me. This is between me and him. One step and Ill crush his heart.
Isnt that what you plan to do regardless? I asked.
She smiled. Yeah, but if you make me do it quickly I wont enjoy it as much. The smile faded, morphing into something that was going to wake me up at night for weeks to come. Now, back off, bitch.
Everything happened in a blink. One moment my sister was beside me, and the next she was on Daria, shoving the teacher aside as she threw herself onto the other ghost.
Sarah gasped. Roxi stared. Mr. Fisher made a small mewling sound in the back of his throat as he sank to the floor, clutching his chest. I ran to him.
What do you have of hers? I demanded. When he gave me a blank look, I added, Of Darias! Who else could I possibly mean?
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring. There was an aged brass D hanging from it. D for Daria, not Daniel.
I fumbled with the keys, trying to pull the large letter off the ring. Freaking hell! Who invented key rings, anyway? Couldnt they have thought of a more user-friendly setup?
Wren and Daria smashed into the row of shower stalls, buckling the metal frames.
Finally, the letter came free. I pulled a plastic baggy partially filled with salt from my pocket and opened the seal, dropping the letter charm inside.
A few sparks, but other than that, nothing. Shit. If it wasnt the letter anchoring Daria to the world of the living, then what was it?
Anger. Vengeance. I didnt know how to break that, and Mr. Fisher wasnt going to fit into a sandwich bag of salt. If I didnt do something fast, Daria and my sister were going to wreck the locker room.
Mr. Fisher, Roxi and Sarah were on the floor near the wall of lockers, huddled together. They looked terrified, and I didnt blame them. I dropped to my knees in front of them as Daria flew toward me, crashing into the lockers above my head.
Get out, I ordered. Get out now!
I didnt have to tell them twice. They scrabbled across the floor, keeping low until it was safe to stagger to their feet and run for the door. Mr. Fisher paused and looked back at me.
Dee, no! he shouted.
My brain froze, but my body didnt. I dropped to the floor, twisting so that I landed on my back. Daria leaped onto me like a cat on a mouse, all darkness and stink and sharp teeth.
Hold her! I cried.
Wren seized her, fingers like talons as they restrained Darias arms. I tried not to look at her. I didnt want to see my sister looking like something out of a horror movie. I ripped open the bag of salt and shoved my hand inside, scooping up the sharp grains and the charm. I looked up into the ghosts fathomless eyes; there was no shred of humanity left.
Hold her! I cried.
Wren seized her, fingers like talons as they restrained Darias arms. I tried not to look at her. I didnt want to see my sister looking like something out of a horror movie. I ripped open the bag of salt and shoved my hand inside, scooping up the sharp grains and the charm. I looked up into the ghosts fathomless eyes; there was no shred of humanity left.
Do it, my sister growled. Her voice was like the drag of a shovel across a gravestone, and it was all the encouragement I needed to end this shit storm fast.
I bolted upright, slamming my fist into the gaping side of Darias skull, burrowing my hand deep into the ectoplasm of her brain. I gagged.
Its not really her brain. Shes dead. A ghostshe has no brain, not physically. Telling myself that was the only thing that got me to open my fingers and release the salt and charm inside her. She reared up, screaming.
I fell back on the floor, hands over my ears. It felt like my head was going to explode. I gasped for breath as tears streamed down my cheeks.
And then, it was quiet. No other sound but the muffled music from the dance, reverberating through the floor.
Daria was gone, and my sister sat beside me, her back to me, legs splayed and shoulders slumped.
Wren? My voice sounded small.
She held up her handit still looked like claws. I knew not to say another word. Instead, I sat up and took that hand in my own. Once we made contact it didnt take long for it to morph back into its usual state. I didnt understand my effect on my sister any more than I understood any part of our existence, but it didnt matter. I was the one thing that could bring her back from a manifestation.
You okay? I asked.
She nodded. Yes. You?
Im covered in salt and ghost-goo, but, yeah, Im okay. I was sore, but that would be gone by morninganother side effect of this whacked-out life.
This rooms a mess.
I glanced around at the damage. It was too much for me to undo. We need to get out of here. Is she gone?
Wren nodded. Shes gone. How did that even work?
I shrugged. Dont know. Dont care.
We need to start figuring these things out.
Yeah, but not tonight. I pushed myself to my feet. She followedmuch more gracefully, of course. Theres one thing we need to do before we go home.
Whats that?
I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. Lets dance.
WREN
There really wasnt any reason for me to stay at the dance once Daria moved on, but I knew it bothered Lark sometimes when I manifested, and that had been happening a fair bit lately. I couldnt help itHalloween was coming, and my ties to the world of the living were already abnormally strong. I knew Lark was having a difficult time with the number of ghosts she had to deal with, but I dont think she realized how hard it was for me to try to remain hidden when All Hallows Eve demanded I come out and show myself.
Anyway, I stayed at the dance so that Lark and I could have a little fun togethernot that she paid that much attention to me. She had her boyfriend, Ben. And now that she had real, loyal friends, she didnt need me so much. I was happy for her, and I knew I could hang out with her group anytime I wanted. But being in a room with people who couldnt see or hear you seemed more like punishment than fun.
I danced a little with Lark and our friendsshe insisted they were mine, tooto a few faster songs. Even though Lark and Kevinwho I was trying to avoidwere the only ones who could actually see me, I still enjoyed myselflaughing as they took silly selfies and made what Sarah called duck lips.
Oh, my God, Roxi said, as she looked at the screen of her phone. Theres Wren!
Everyone crowded around to look. I drifted between Sarah and Kevin, knowing theyd feel the chill of my presence. Kevin looked right at me. I ignored him. Hed hurt my feelings and proven that he wasnt the person I thought he was. I was having a hard time forgiving him for it.
Thats so weird, Gage, Roxis boyfriend, remarked. She looks so real.
I glanced at him at the same time Lark said, She is real.
He rolled his dark eyes. Realer, then.
Roxi kissed his cheek. I think you mean tangible.
Gage shrugged. Whatever. Its just cool to see her, thats all.
Everyone else agreed, and I smiled. Lark smiled, too.
But then everyone broke into couples for the slow dance, and Kevin looked at me. It is good to see you, he said. No one else would ever hear him above the music, his voice was so low, but I could hear it, and he knew it. It took all my strength not to stick my tongue out at himor rip his eyes out.
I left instead. I couldnt trust myself to be around him, not when that dark and angry part of myself was so close to the surface. I might hurt him, and I didnt want to do that, no matter how much hed hurt me.
I let myself drift through town, wandering aimlessly along the dark streets. My kind were everywherestrolling along the sidewalks, peeking in windows, sitting on benches. Tomorrow there would be even more of them as even the weaker ones gathered strength.
Halloween was still days away, but that time of year has always been hard for me. This year it seemed even rougher. The veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead grows thinner as the calendar counts down to the end of October. Its our holidaywhen we can cross between dimensions and interact with the living if we wish. We can be our true selves. Those who have become violent or despondent remember who they were, and decide if they want to try moving on, or give themselves over to the darkness.
A lot give up, but there are an equal number who move on.
But not me. I stayed exactly where I was. I dont think I had a choice.
Halloweens approach had to be hard on Kevin, as well. He was a medium, and his abilities had only gotten stronger since our encounter with the ghost of madman Josiah Bent at Haven Crest Hospital.
I liked Kevin, and I thought he liked me, but then he told me we shouldnt spend so much time together since we could never really have a relationship. Then I caught him kissing SarahMaces girlfriend. Mace, his best friend. That had stung, but the disappointment Id felt was worse.
I kept drifting. The town of New Devon wasnt very big, and there wasnt much more for a ghost to do there than there was for a living sixteen-year-old. I didnt feel like going home, but I wasnt going back to that dance.
I suppose I shouldnt have been surprised to find myself at Haven Crest. The abandoned asylum was incredibly haunted from years of treating those who were considered insane or were locked up by their families. The graveyard on the property contained hundreds of cremated remainsand those were just the ones the families hadnt claimed.
Haven Crest was full of, as Lark would put it, her people. Though, unlike Lark, most of the residents really were insane. If they hadnt been when they went in, they had been by the time they died. It made for a lot of spectral energy in one spot, and like any ghost, I was drawn to it, because no one lived at Haven Crest anymorethey were all ghosts, and that made them my people.