Believing (Lily Dale #2)(9)

But it’s too late to find out whether Evangeline can also see the apparition.

Because Kaitlyn is no longer visible, even to Calla. The spot where she stood is empty, the chill gone, the air noticeably thinner.

“You were talking to who?” Evangeline wants to know.

“Um . . . to . . .” Belatedly, Calla remembers that her grandmother told her not to mention her ability to anyone. She said it the other night, after Elaine Riggs had left.

“Spirit?” Evangeline asks almost cheerfully, and snaps her gum.

Calla shrugs, numb.

Evangeline apparently takes that as a confirmation. “I knew it!”

“You knew what?”

“That you’ve got psychic awareness. I sensed it.”

She sensed it. Right. Because she, too, has the gift. The curse.

So it’s not like I told her, Calla argues mentally with her grandmother. She guessed.

Yeah, and Odelia should know there’s not a whole lot a person can get away with here in Lily Dale.

Evangeline’s next comment catches Calla off guard.

“You know, your grandmother used to think you might be destined for this. I heard her tell my aunt that once, a long time ago.”

“How long could it have been?” Calla asks, frowning. After all, she’s only been here a few weeks. But the way Evangeline said it, it sounded as if she meant . . .

“Oh, years ago.”

“Years? You mean . . . my grandmother thought I was a medium before she even knew me?”

“Of course she knew you. She just hadn’t seen you since you were really little.”

Wondering how much Evangeline—and her aunt, for that matter—have heard about the falling out between Mom and Odelia, Calla muses, almost to herself, “Why would she have thought that about me?”

Evangeline supplies the answer unexpectedly, and knowingly. “Because she was there when you were born, and she said there was a caul over your face. That’s a fetal membrane— in case you didn’t know.”

Calla didn’t know. About any of this. “What’s it for? The caul?”

“They say babies who are born with one will be sensitives. Odelia had a caul when she was born. So did Aunt Ramona.”

“How about you?”

Evangeline shrugs a little defensively. “I don’t know. I mean, I was born in some hospital. I bet no one was paying attention. I’m sure I had one. Anyway, your grandmother definitely saw that you had a caul, and she told my aunt that she never mentioned it to your mother because she didn’t want to upset her.”

“So Mom didn’t know?”

“I guess not. Maybe she was too out of it. Or, well, Odelia always said your mother wasn’t interested in . . .”

“Spiritualism?” Calla supplies when Evangeline trails off. “Psychic powers? Talking to ghosts? What?”

“Any of it, I guess. She didn’t believe in any of it. That bothered your grandmother. So anyway, even if your mother had known you had the caul, she probably wouldn’t have told you or done anything about it.”

“Like what? What could she have done?”

“Like brought you here, or taught you how to use your gift, or whatever.”

No, Calla thinks, she definitely wouldn’t have. Mom never mentioned that her hometown was a spiritualist community or that her mother was a medium. She obviously wanted to leave that life behind.

And now here I am, in the thick of it. What would Mom think about this?

“The thing is, Calla . . .” Evangeline seems hesitant.

“What?”

“You need to be careful. With what you can do, and with how you use it. That kind of power can be dangerous.”

“How?”

“So many ways. Registered spiritualist mediums go through years of training to learn how to use their abilities responsibly.”

This is the second time she’s been warned about this, and Calla can’t help but feel as though both Evangeline and her grandmother are being overly dramatic.

“I’m not sure I get what you’re saying,” she tells Evangeline, trying not to sound skeptical.

“I’m saying it’s important to use your gift for the greater good, and to learn how to protect yourself when you open yourself up to the Other Side. You have to remember, you’re being used by spirit energy as a medium. You’re conducting the energy . . . whatever kind you let come through. If you don’t learn to pray and protect yourself from the negative energy . . .” She trails off ominously.

Calla can’t help but shudder. “You’re scaring me, Evangeline.”

“I don’t mean to. But, look, why don’t you come to a beginning mediumship workshop with me? I mean, you’re in Lily Dale—what better place to educate yourself?”

“I don’t think I’m ready for something like that,” Calla tells her.

“It’s not that big a deal. It’s basically a message circle.”

“No, thanks.”

She knows that message circles are like seances. Some are open—meaning anyone can participate—and some are closed because, as her grandmother explained, an experienced group of mediums are working together regularly and using their collective energy to channel spirit guides and messages.