Discovering (Lily Dale #4)(15)

“You said you wanted my advice, right?”

“Right,”she tells Jacy in a small voice.

“Here it is: go home and eat dinner and get some sleep tonight and forget all this for right now.”He tilts to press his forehead against hers. “It’s too much for you to handle. You can figure it all out later, and I’ll be there to help you.”

“That,”Calla says gratefully, “might be the best advice I’ve ever heard.”

“Calla?”

Startled, she opens her eyes to find herself fully clothed on her bed in her lamplit room, an open textbook lying near her cheek. Rain is falling hard on the roof, pinging into the gutter outside her window.

Her grandmother is in the doorway, telephone in hand. “It’s not even nine o’clock yet. Are you sleeping already?”

“No, I . . . I mean, I guess I dozed off while I was studying.”

“It’s Lisa.”Odelia waves the receiver. “Do you want me to tell her to call you back tomorrow?”

Yes. She really does. She’s too drowsy to chat right now.

But Lisa can probably hear every word they’re saying. She’ll be hurt if Calla doesn’t take the call.

Reluctantly, she sits up. “It’s okay, I’ll talk to her.”

As she holds out her hand, the lights flicker a little.

Calla glances around, half expecting to see an apparition. Sometimes their energy interferes with the electricity.

The room is empty, and distant thunder tells her the weather is responsible this time.

Gammy looks at the window. “It’s really pouring out there. It’s not a good idea to talk on the phone during a storm. Make it quick, okay?”

“Okay.”Hiding a yawn, she takes the receiver.

“And get some sleep after you hang up,”Gammy tells her, planting a kiss on her forehead. “You need to rest.”

“I will.”She waits until her grandmother has left the room, closing the door behind her. “Lisa? Hi.”

“Hi,”Lisa drawls back. It comes out Ha–ah. “How were your flights this morning? Everything on time?”

“Pretty much. We had a great view of Manhattan when we landed there. The pilot described everything. I was sitting on the left side of the plane, like you said I should, so I got to see all the good stuff.”

“Did you see the Empire State Building?”

“And the Statue of Liberty and Rocke feller Center . . .”

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”She hesitates. “It was really good to spend time with you, Lis’—I mean, other than what happened.”

“You, too. I’m sorry I got so upset with you when you didn’t want to come to the senior class car wash with me Saturday morning.”

“It’s okay.”

“I just didn’t get why you’d want to go poking around your old house after everything you went through there. I had no idea something like that was going to happen to you or I would have gone with you in a heartbeat. You know that, right?”

“I know, Lis’. It’s really okay.”Calla paces across the rose-and-sage-colored braided rug, phone in hand, feeling groggy.

“I feel so bad.”

Calla can’t help but smile. Lisa really is a good friend. A good, and now guilt-ridden, friend.

“Listen,”she says, “if it makes you feel any better, if I had any idea what I was walking into there, I would have definitely gone to the senior car wash instead.”

Lisa laughs. “If you had, you would have seen Brittany Jensen in Daisy Dukes and the skimpiest bikini top ever, trying to win back Nick Rodriguez. But guess what? He called this afternoon and asked me out.”

“That’s great! You’ve been hoping for that.”

As Lisa recaps the conversation she had with Nick word for word, Calla leans her forehead against the window glass, looking out into the night. She can’t see much because of the glare—just tree branches swaying in the wet gusts.

“Oh, and Calla, you so have to check out Nick’s MySpace page when you get a chance. There’s this great picture of him surfing.”

“I wish I could see it.”

“I thought you were online again. You said you were bringing your mom’s laptop back with you!”

“Oh . . . right.”

Funny. There was actually a time when she wanted the laptop just so that she could stay plugged in to her old life.

“Check out Nick’s page. And then IM me and tell me what you think of the picture.”

“Okay, I—”

A flash of lightning illuminates the landscape.

For a fleeting moment, she can clearly see a male figure standing in the yard below, looking up at her.

Darrin Yates.

Heart pounding, Calla gasps and jumps back from the window.

“Calla? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was just . . . lightning. We’re having a storm.”She pulls the shade, knowing it won’t really keep him out if he wants to get to her. He’s been in this room before.

Back when she didn’t realize he was visiting from the other side.

“Lisa, I should get off the phone.”

“Okay. Make sure you check out Nick’s page, though.”

“I will,”she says absently, and lifts the edge of the shade to peer into the night, looking for Darrin.