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PROLOGUE
Lorelei raced across the playground; her cheeks ached from smiling. Today was a good day. She’d traded lunches with a tall girl in braids, who didn’t seem to mind sitting with the new kid and had even asked her name. Now she was competing in a race against four boys in her grade. Lorelei knew she could beat them, and it pained her to hold back, but she’d promised Pops. He’d warned her not to show off, that some boys might get a bug up their butt about a girl beating them. Lorelei knew it didn’t matter whether they were boys or girls though. She wouldn’t have been allowed to win regardless. She’d make sure to come in second, a stride behind the winner. It was the kind of compromise she’d made many times before.
Halfway across the blacktop, Lorelei skidded to a halt and collided with the boy currently eating her dust.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted, giving her back a shove.
Lorelei barely registered his aggression; she was too busy staring at the woman behind Logan Dunkirk, who’d been cheering on his friends from the sidelines. Logan would’ve been running, too, except for the cast on his arm. Lorelei only knew that he’d been in a car accident last week. Teachers had shared the details with each other in hushed tones. Logan hadn’t said a word about the incident, other than to describe the smashed state of their car to his captivated friends. Lorelei had listened and tried not to think about her own parents.
The woman looked like Logan; they shared the same shade of light brown hair and gently sloping nose. Her eyes were so sad that Lorelei nearly burst into tears herself.
“What are you staring at?” Logan demanded.
“Your mother,” she blurted.
The other children laughed. They thought she was telling him off.
Logan’s cheeks burned red. “Are you looking for a fight, Clay?”
“No,” she said, because Lorelei knew it wouldn’t be a fair one. Logan Dunkirk had no clue what she was capable of, and she hoped to keep it that way in the presence of Logan’s mother. Her sense of obligation to the dead, however, exceeded her desire to fit in.
“I love you, Logan,” the woman said. Incorporeal arms attempted to wrap the boy in a tight embrace, but they slid right through him.
“He can’t hear you,” Lorelei told her.
“Who are you talking to?” Logan asked.
“Your mother,” Lorelei said again. “She said she loves you.”
This time nobody laughed.
“That isn’t funny,” someone whispered. Lorelei realized it was the boy who’d pushed her in the back. “His mom’s still in the hospital.”
The building was less than a mile away, which explained the woman’s ability to reach the playground. When Lorelei first arrived at the school, she’d asked her grandfather whether the hospital’s proximity would create a problem for her.
“Only if you let it,” he’d replied, as though Lorelei had complete control over her abilities. There was still so much to learn and no one to teach her.
The woman seemed uncertain what to do next. The way she was looking at her son, Lorelei worried that she’d try to take him with her. It wasn’t possible, of course, but it would create more of a mess if she tried—because then Lorelei would have to intervene.
“You have to go now,” Lorelei said. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Logan shot back, oblivious to the real recipient of Lorelei’s request.
Gossamer arms withdrew from the boy but still the woman remained.
The arrival of the principal silenced the playground. She cut through the crowd, her head swiveling until her gaze landed on Logan. Lorelei had seen that look before and knew exactly what it meant.
“You can go now,” Lorelei told his mother. “He’s strong. He’ll be okay.” Lorelei had nearly said, “you’llbe okay,” but she had enough experience at this point to know that the woman wasn’t concerned for herself.
“Stop talking, you freak.” Logan’s voice trembled. He was trying so hard not to cry. She hoped he had the kind of father who encouraged Logan to express his feelings. There would be a lot of them in the days to come.
The spirit dissolved, leaving traces of white light in its wake.
“I’m sorry, Logan,” Lorelei said, her voice small. He would never like her now. Nobody liked the harbinger of doom.
The principal tried to take Logan’s hand. He bolted for the school doors, going out of his way to elbow Lorelei as he passed her. Although the other students didn’t understand what had just happened, they knew enough to recognize that Logan Dunkirk had called the new girl a freak. The principal hurried after Logan. One by one, the other children backed away from Lorelei and drifted into whispering huddles.
Lorelei sought refuge behind the shed until the end of recess. She dreaded telling Pops and witnessing his look of disappointment. This time would be different, she’d promised herself the week before, when everything was fresh and new, and the possibilities had seemed infinite.
