Connecting (Lily Dale #3)(4)

“Blue asked me to homecoming,” she tells Lisa, firmly shoving Kevin from her thoughts.

“Blue—is he the hot one?”

“Actually, they both are.” She smiles wistfully, thinking about quiet, enigmatic Jacy, who almost kissed her once.

But Blue Slayton is the one who did kiss her, and who asked her to the dance. And that’s what counts, right?

Right. And it’s really not that trivial. Calla has to have a normal life, right? Despite living in this crazy town surrounded by ghosts and people who can talk to them. Despite needing to know what really happened to Mom.

“So is Blue, like, the star quarterback on the football team for the homecoming game?” Lisa wants to know.

“I hate to burst your bubble, but no. He doesn’t play football. He’s one of the best players on the soccer team, though.”

And Jacy runs cross-country.

She doesn’t say that part out loud. They’re not talking about Jacy; they’re talking about Blue.

Funny, she’s actually been considering going to one of Jacy’s meets, but she hasn’t had a chance—or, okay, much motivation—to get herself to one of Blue’s soccer games.

They’re playing away this weekend, but there’s a home match the night before homecoming. She definitely needs to go.

Lisa asks a few more questions about Blue and the dance and what Calla’s going to wear.

“Who knows? I’m clueless. It’s not like I have a closet full of stuff to choose from, or a mall around the corner, or any cash if there were one.”

“Well, maybe your grandmother will take you shopping for a dress. Just don’t let her pick it out.” Having visited Lily Dale, Lisa’s met Odelia, with her red hair, cat’s-eye glasses, and preference for loud, mismatched wardrobe colors.

“Ramona said she’d take me to the mall in Buffalo,” Calla muses aloud, watching Gert curl up into a purring ball once again. The cat keeps one green eye open and focused on the spot where Aiyana appeared—and disappeared.

“Ramona?”

“Taggart. My next-door neighbor. My friend Evangeline’s aunt, who’s raising her and her brother—I think I told you about them, right?”

“Mmm . . . maybe.” Sounds like Lisa is losing interest. Or maybe she’s jealous.

“Ramona’s great, and she said she’d take me shopping, and she’s going to treat me to a haircut, too, if I want. God knows I really need one.” Calla shoves her thick, overgrown bangs back from her forehead and glances in the antique mirror above the chintz sofa.

Her long brown hair typically doesn’t require much care, but she’s definitely getting split ends from three months of neglect, and her streaks of gold highlights are fading fast here in generally overcast western New York State.

It’s not just her hair that needs help after a month in Lily Dale. There are deep shadows beneath her wide-set hazel eyes, thanks to a string of restless nights. Her face is pale; the faint freckles that used to dust her nose are gone, thank goodness, but so is the healthy glow cast by the Florida sun.

If she’s going to go to the homecoming dance with one of the most popular guys in the senior class, she’d better do something about the way she looks.

“So this woman you barely know is taking you shopping and for a haircut? That’s really nice of her, especially now that you don’t have . . .” Lisa trails off.

Your mom, she was going to say.

That hard lump is back in Calla’s throat, aching so that she can’t find the words to respond, even if just to tell Lisa that Ramona Taggart isn’t someone she “barely knows.”

For one thing, friendships form fast here in Lily Dale. For another, Ramona knew Calla’s mother well, having grown up right next door, just a few years younger than Stephanie. Calla has felt a connection to her from the moment they met—and to her orphaned niece, Evangeline.

Lisa changes the subject, sort of. “So, when can you come down here? Let’s make a plan so I’ll have something to look forward to.”

Again, Calla bristles, wanting to tell Lisa that this is no vacation.

Instead, she says only, “I guess maybe I can come the weekend after homecoming, even though that seems way too far away. I’ll check with my grandmother and my dad and let you know, okay?”

“Okay. But meanwhile, Calla . . . I feel like that place is really getting to you. Like you’re dwelling on too much of this dark stuff all of a sudden. Maybe you should just, you know . . . leave.”

Calla, who mere weeks ago wanted more than anything to get the heck out of Lily Dale, shoots back, “Leave? No way!”

Just the other night, she and her grandmother had that long conversation about why she needs to stay, and how Odelia is going to guide her, teach her how to handle this unwanted, obviously hereditary, so-called gift of hers.

She can’t tell Lisa about the terrifying events that led up to the conversation, though. She and her grandmother agreed never to discuss with anyone what happened last Saturday night. Especially Dad, who would yank her out of Lily Dale immediately if he knew. The police promised to keep it out of the newspapers, for safety’s sake.

So no one—other than Ramona, upon whose door Calla banged, hysterical, in the wee hours—had to know about the serial killer who decided to make Calla his next victim after she—with a little help from one of his victims on the Other Side—led the police to a teenage girl he’d left for dead.