Discovering (Lily Dale #4)(35)

7:54 a.m.

“So . . . he knows,”Calla tells Evangeline as soon as they round the bend in Dale Drive on the way to school beneath a steely gray sky.

There’s a pause as Evangeline— who, before Calla interrupted, was wondering aloud what to wear when she and Russell go to the movies together on Friday night—digests this information.

“He does?”she asks, wide-eyed.

The cool thing about Evangeline is that she can shift gears pretty easily.

Another cool thing is that she’s tuned in to Calla well enough to know exactly what she’s talking about without having to have it spelled out for her.

“You told him?”

“No. He figured it out.”

“Wow. I’ve been so careful not to say anything, and my aunt has, too.”

Calla doesn’t bother to tell her Ramona’s uncharacteristic silence on the topic of her work might be what tipped off her father.

No need for anyone to feel guilty about the cat being let out of the bag. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

And Calla has realized, in the last twelve hours or so, that sooner is better than later.

Last night, while she and Dad were going over her math problems, she was a lot more comfortable than she has been in a long time. It’s easier to spend time with him when there’s nothing left to hide.

Well, there are a couple of things. . . .

Like the fact that Calla herself has supernatural abilities.

And the fact that Mom had another child.

But even Evangeline doesn’t know about that.

And Calla doesn’t want to think about it now. Not with last night’s strange dream still lingering, still oddly clear, almost as if . . .

No.

She doesn’t have a sister.

Maybe she did once.

But she’s dead, along with both her parents.

“Wow . . . how much did your dad figure out?”Evangeline glances at the sky, then holds out her hand to see if drops are starting to fall.

“Everything. About your aunt and my grandmother being mediums . . . along with pretty much everyone else in town.”

“Including you.”

“No. Not including me.”Calla feels a raindrop land on her hand and flips up the hood on the fleece jacket she pulled on this morning. The temperature must have dropped at least thirty degrees overnight. So much for Indian summer.

“I thought you said he knew everything,”Evangeline reminds her, flipping up her own hood.

“Yeah, but not that.”

Not about Mom, either. But it’s only a matter of time.

“Why didn’t you just tell him about yourself?”

“Because I’m afraid to,”she says simply. “I mean, he’s surprisingly okay with the two of us living here with all of this stuff he doesn’t understand going on around us. But I think he’d be a lot less okay if he realized that I’m directly involved.”

“I think you’re right.”

“The other thing is, he’s decided he’s taking me away this weekend to go looking at colleges—including Cornell.”

“Doesn’t your ex-boyfriend go there?”

“You got it,”she says grimly. “I just saw him in Florida, and he kind of wanted to get back together.”

“You told him no?”

“Of course. He broke my heart. No way am I putting it out there again with him, especially now that . . .”

“Now that you have Jacy. It’s okay. You can say it.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

Evangeline shrugs. “If he had to fall in love with one of us— and it couldn’t be me— then I’m glad it’s you.”

Calla can’t help but grin at that, even as she protests, “He’s not in love with me.”

“Oh, yeah, he is. I saw you guys walking together the other day, and it was totally obvious. I’ve never seen him look that comfortable ever, anywhere, unless he was running.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But listen, about Cornell—just because your old boyfriend is there doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go look at it.”

“True.”

“Or that you shouldn’t go there, if you want to. I mean, it’s a huge school.”

Also true. But . . .

Hearing tires crunching on the road behind them, she turns to see Blue Slayton in his BMW.

“Want a ride?”he calls out the window.

“Definitely!”Evangeline answers for both of them. “It’s going to start pouring any second.”

Then, with a belated glance at Calla, she asks in a low voice, “You don’t mind, right? I left my umbrella at school the other day. Unless you have one?”

“No. It’s okay, we can ride with Blue.”She hasn’t seen much of him since they mutually, and without discussing it, concluded they’re better off as friends.

He leans over and opens the passenger-side door. A pair of crutches are propped in the backseat. Evangeline scrambles in beside them, leaving Calla to sit in front with Blue.

“How’s your leg?”she asks, thinking she probably should have called to ask him about it when she got back to town.

He was injured a few weeks ago in a soccer game, the night before she was supposed to go to the homecoming dance with him.