Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell #1)(101)

“Not to mention the walk back up,” Lon added. “Inside. Now.” He loosely gripped the back of my neck and prodded me forward. “You too.”

Jupe looked at me. “Will you come up and watch TV in my room?” He shivered once, wrapping his arms around his chest.

“Ye-e-e-s,” I drawled, “for Pete’s sake, I already told you I would five minutes ago.”

“Just checking,” he mumbled, grinning sheepishly.

I winked at him.

“Make sure the dog door is unlatched so Foxglove can get back in,” Lon said.

As we climbed the stairs toward the house, I took one last look down at Mermaid Point, straining my eyes across the beach to the sea stack. Maybe it was just a trick of the moonlight or maybe Jupe was right, but I could’ve sworn I saw something. For a split second, I considered using my new ability to be sure; if there really was something out there, surely I’d be able to see it better in the black void that my power conjured up. Then I changed my mind—not because I was afraid that if I started using it I’d turn into my parents. But if I used my ability and discovered that there wasn’t any-thing there, then Jupe would lose his ghost, and I didn’t want to take that away from him.

Besides, maybe he wasn’t wrong. God knows I’d run into plenty of strange things that most people wouldn’t believe existed. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there.