Betrayal - By Lee Nichols Page 0,56

clock on the wall. 3:12 a.m. “What took you so long?”

“The ghosts were a bitch,” Natalie said.

“What ghosts? Were you attacked? Have you been gone this whole time?”

“Yeah,” Natalie said, “Maine is …”

“Freaky,” Lukas finished. “The guy we went to see had, like, no powers.”

I pushed my hair behind my ear with a bandaged hand. “Because someone stole them?”

Natalie shook her head. “Even before that, he was a total low-level. You would’ve scoffed.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” I said. “I don’t think less of people because they’re not mega-ghostkeepers.”

“Okay,” she admitted, “I would’ve scoffed.”

“Anyway,” Lukas said. “It didn’t matter. His house was totally infested with ghosts.”

Simon explained that the man was in his sixties, and despite his limited communicating abilities, there was something magnetic about him. He’d collected dozens of ghosts over the decades—and they were distraught when he lost his ghostkeeping powers. He’d been living with them like roommates for such a long time, and suddenly he couldn’t even see them anymore.

“The question is, who took the guy’s powers?” Natalie said. “We could’ve used you, Em. Without a communicator, it was like a bad game of charades. The ghosts miming, us guessing—”

“Don’t forget the old man wailing in the background.” Lukas mimicked a terrible keening noise.

“What’d you find out?”

Natalie held up four fingers.

“Four words …”

She nodded. Then held a finger to her ear.

“Sounds like …”

“Oh, stop it,” Simon said. “It was another ghostkeeper. As far as we could tell, some dark ghostkeeper snuck in, middle of the night, worked some serious magic I’ve never heard of, and when he woke in the morning his powers were gone.”

“Neos?” I asked.

“That’s what I thought,” Simon said. “Except he wouldn’t have left witnesses.”

“Good point. And if he knew about Abby, he’d be using her against me.”

I told them about how she lost her powers to some “cute guy.” Then the nurse came with a wheelchair and rolled me to the door, even though I felt fine except for my bandaged hands.

We got into the Yaris, and I said, “Simon, how does that drug work? The herb you talked about, Asarum?”

“What’s that?” Lukas asked.

Simon filled him in and then asked me, “You think Neos is using Asarum again? He can’t—it’s only for the living.”

“No, but … what if someone else is? Would that explain the dark ghostkeeper? Like Neos, but without the grisly murders?”

A look crossed Simon’s face, like it was possible.

“Who’d do that?” Lukas asked.

“Maybe Neos has a henchman,” Natalie said. “Or it was that psycho siren who tried to drown me.”

“Or my parents,” I said.

“What?!”

I explained about my mom and dad. “But what if it isn’t that? Maybe Neos just possessed a ghostkeeper to steal that Maine guy’s powers. We still need the amulet, and we still need to know where Neos’s body is.”

Simon ran a hand through his hair. “We’re no closer to finding his corpse. Maybe getting this amulet isn’t a bad idea.”

“Where is it?” Lukas asked.

“Embedded in Neos’s tongue.” I started fiddling with my bandages. “I’m not sure how I’m going to get that out.”

“The dagger?” Lukas suggested.

“Ew,” Natalie groaned. “Can I call in sick that day?”

“We need to find him first,” I said.

Simon made a noise in his throat. “Or wait until he finds us.”

16

Say what you will about Simon as a guardian, he got us to school the next day. I wasn’t sure why he bothered, with the threat of Neos hanging over us—but I suspected that he felt that the illusion of normalcy strengthened us.

I answered a thousand questions about my bandaged fingers, which felt better already—achy but not awful. I looked forward to hearing Harry’s outlandish explanation of the injury, but he didn’t show for Latin. Which was good news. Meant he was probably at rehab.

I stumbled through the rest of the morning and barely greeted Edmund in Trig. He’d arrived looking peeved and severe. Your friend is spending too long in the Beyond. Have you considered he might be leading you on?

Coby? I said. Leading me on? It’s not like he asked me to wait for him to come home from the Beyond. We’re just friends.

He’s delving into unwholesome things.

I still don’t know what you mean.

But he refused to answer. Which indicated it had something to do with Neos. Edmund was terrified of him. Because Edmund wasn’t an idiot.

Finally he said, I’ll tell you if you dispel me.

Coby wants me to dispel him, too.

I asked you first!

I know, but I didn’t create you. I’m the one who brought Coby back. He wouldn’t be a ghost