thing.”
Daisy rolled her eyes, and Ben, who’d been quiet all this time, said, “Okay, you guys. I’ve gone with the flow so far. But I have to ask. What’s a Kirlianometer?”
I laughed at the surreality of Phin explaining paraphysics, or whatever she was calling it now, to Ben McCulloch. Maybe I was a little hysterical. I was definitely sort of sleep deprived.
So when that sudden, deep whump grabbed at my insides, for a moment I thought I’d imagined it. But the others all jumped, too. Ben looked at me, startled, and asked, “Is that the sound that—”
He didn’t finish the question. Over the hills came a low groan, an unearthly moan that rose to a squeal of protest, sharp enough to arrow to heaven, soft enough to float there. The hills carried the sound and transformed it to an eerie chorus of sighs and whispers, until they trailed into silence.
Mark grabbed Ben’s arm as he turned his head, trying to echolocate. “Which way … ?”
“That direction,” said Ben. He pointed toward the granite outcropping that had loomed over me the night before. “Let’s take the truck.”
And with exactly that much discussion, they ran for transportation—Ben, the same person who’d yelled at me for running through the pasture chasing mysterious noises. But I understood completely that desperation of trying to find something concrete to hold on to in a sea of frustration and mystery.
“Guys!” I yelled, and sprinted after them. Like hell they were leaving me behind.
I was so caught up in the moment, I didn’t notice the cold until I was already through it. I dismissed the gleam that wasn’t moonlight. But I couldn’t ignore the command that barked across the night.
“¡Alto! ¡Cuidado! No vayan ustedes.”
The only thing more shocking than the order was the voice. I spun to stare at Daisy, who stood like a marble statue bathed in moonlight, suffused by the unearthly glow and a chill that reached between us into my bones. Her eyes were hollow and unseeing as she lifted a heavy hand toward me.
“Escuchame, niña. Escuchame o tu puedes morir.”
Listen to me, little girl. Listen to me or you will die.
32
ben’s curse broke the silence in the wake of Daisy’s voice. “What is wrong with you? What are you playing at?”
Mark spoke low, a warning. “Dude. It’s not a game. Look at her.”
She wasn’t completely still after all. She shivered, her lips blue with the cold, as her breath fogged in the air around her. It was strange seeing it from the outside, but what was happening to Daisy seemed different from what happened to me when the specter appeared.
The ghost wasn’t struggling against the barrier between the plane of the living and the world of the spirit. It had found a door in Daisy.
Phin recovered first. “Ask it what it wants,” she told me.
I made a wordless sound of protest—was this the time for Twenty Questions?—but swallowed it. How would I know if I didn’t ask?
“¿Que quiere usted?” I asked, forcing my cold lips to move and my brain to find the words. Daisy’s voice said, “Búscame.”
“Look for you where?” My breath fogged the summer night air, and when I looked at my hands, they were like Daisy, mottled with cold. “¿Dónde?”
“Puedes encontrarme. Búscame.”
My brain stumbled over that one. Mark, moving closer to me, supplied the translation. “You can find me. Look for me.”
“Where?” I repeated.
“La mina. Búscame. La mina.”
“The San Sabá mine?” Mark ventured, making the same leap I did, but voicing it before I could.
“Puedes encontrarme, niña. Búscame. Búscame.… ”
“Amy,” said Ben. I could feel his growing horror even through the ice that seemed to encase me. “Do something.”
“I don’t know what!” I said through chattering teeth.
“You do,” said Phin. “You’ve got this. Don’t let it be the boss.”
I was so cold, moving felt like cracking ice in my joints. But I pushed forward and threw up a hand, just like the ghost addressed me. “¡Alto!” I said. Stop. “Leave her alone.”
“Déjala,” whispered Mark.
“¡Déjala!” I shouted, putting everything into the command. All my air, all my strength, all my love for my family and for Daisy and her squabbles with Phin. I reached down through the layer of ice and found something Goodnight in me after all.
The glow snuffed out, and I felt the sting of warmth returning to my fingers. Daisy’s arm dropped and she staggered. Ben, of all of us, was the quickest to react, and he jumped forward to catch her. His flashlight dropped to the ground and