“ghostbusting” skills. All the extra attention Becka had been drawing didn’t hurt their group’s reputation one bit. It did bug her that sometimes Becka seemed to be a supernatural know-it-all, but that was a small price to pay for the fame they all were enjoying. Fame that had continued to grow as Krissi spread word about Becka’s performance at the mansion Friday night.
The politics droned on. Krissi yawned loudly. Maybe they’d get the hint. Then again, they might consider the source and ignore her.
They did.
Soon her mind drifted to last summer … then to the beach
… then to the mall … until her head dropped forward and she started awake.
Mr. Lowry, the class sponsor, was reading the final tally and writing the winning names on the board. Krissi looked at them.
It was pretty much as she suspected. Still, she was pleased to see that Ryan had won their class’s nomination and would be running for president.
She glanced to her watch — 2:27. Three minutes to go. Her eyes drifted to the paper in front of her. It was mostly filled with doodles. But toward the bottom, the doodles had gradually turned to writing. And the writing had turned to names
… names Krissi’s hand had written, all by itself, while she was half-asleep, daydreaming.
Krissi looked back to the board as Mr. Lowry finished writing the last couple of winning nominees. She looked back down to the paper. A cold chill of excitement swept through her body.
Excitement mixed with fear.
Her eyes shot back to the board.
The names on her paper were exactly the same as those Mr.
Lowry was writing on the board.
Chapter 3
Mom scraped the remaining macaroni off a plate and into Muttly’s bowl. As usual, the puppy inhaled the leftovers without bothering to chew.
Becka stood at the sink, rinsing the dishes and putting them into the dishwasher. It had not been a good day. First, she still couldn’t shake her dreams or her worries about Julie. Then there was Krissi, who, in a single day, had managed to spread word of the mansion showdown throughout the entire school. All day she could feel kids gawking at her, she could hear their whispers or — worse yet — the silence that fell over them as she passed.
Becka knew some people would think all this reaction was cool, but she hated being the center of attention. She still remembered that time in eighth grade when she spent the entire evening before an oral book report shouting into her pillow, trying to work up a good case of laryngitis.
At dinner Becka hadn’t said much. She didn’t have to. Scott could rattle on about anything forever, and he usually did. But she knew her mother sensed something. It was simply a matter of time.
Sure enough, as they did the dishes, the question finally rolled around. “Becka, are you all right?” Rebecca took a deep breath and quietly let it out. She didn’t want to get into it. She wasn’t ready to get into it.
But her mom wasn’t going to let it go. “Beck, what’s wrong?” Fortunately, Scott exploded into the room. As usual he was a flurry of ego and energy. And, as usual, he expected the earth to come to a complete stop over his slightest problem. “Are there any chips?” he asked, throwing open the cupboard and searching. “Hey, who ate all the chips?”
“Scotty,” Mom reminded him, “you had dinner twenty minutes ago.”
“Exactly,” he replied.
Mom and Becka exchanged looks. You can’t beat that kind of logic.
Scott settled for a bag of pretzels, which he promptly crammed into his sweatshirt pocket as he started for the door.
“Where are you going?” Mom asked.
“To see Darryl’s cousin, Hubert. He’s got this cool computer game.”
“You’ll be back before ten?”
“Or eleven,” he said.
“Ten or you won’t be going at all.”
“Ten-thirty?”
“Of course, you
could
stay and help your sister with the dishes.”
“Okay, okay. Ten o’clock.” He threw open the door, let it slam, and — just like that — the human hurricane was gone.
Now it was just the two women and the silence, except for the scraping and banging of dishes.
“So … ,” Mom finally said, “where were we?” Becka still didn’t feel like answering, but she recognized the tone in her mother’s voice, the one that said, “We’ll-stand-here-all-night-if-you-want-to-but-you’re-still-going-to-tell-mewhat’seating-you.”
Becka took another breath. “I think … I think there’s more going on with Julie than just the accident.”
“Really? Like what?”
“I don’t know.”
Her mother came to a stop and waited for more. There was none. She persisted. “Beck? What’s up, honey?”
“I don’t know,” Becka repeated, shoving a plate a little too hard into the dish rack. “It’s just … I’m really tired.” Mom hesitated a second, then resumed gathering the dishes off the table. The silence piled up on Becka until she had to answer. “When Dad died, when we moved up here from Brazil, I expected to have a halfway normal life. I knew it would be hard, but …” Her voice trailed off.
“But?”
“Scotty and I were barely here a month before we got sucked into a fight with the Society. Then there was that hypnotist jerk, then those satanists, then the mansion, and now …” She could feel her throat tighten, but she wasn’t sure why. “Who made us the experts, Mom? Why do we always have to be in the middle of the fight?”
Mom remained quiet.
Becka did her best to hold back, but the dam on her emotions was beginning to crack. Maybe it was the tension of nearly losing her best friend. Maybe it was the stares and whispers behind her back. Or maybe it was just everything.
“I’m sixteen!” she finally blurted. “What do I know about this junk!” Tears began burning Becka’s eyes. She didn’t know why, and that made her all the madder. “I didn’t ask for all this spiritual stuff! I just want to be normal, I want to be like everyone else. Is that too much to ask?”
Mom started to reach for her, but Becka pulled away. She gave an angry swipe at her eyes and leaned both hands on the counter for support.
“Beck, what’s — ”
“I don’t know!” she practically shouted. “How am I supposed to know? Everybody looks at me like I’m some sort of expert.
But I don’t know anything!”
Mom hesitated, then reached out to touch her daughter’s shoulder. That was all it took. Becka turned and allowed herself to be pulled into her mother’s embrace. Hot tears spilled onto her cheeks. “I didn’t ask for this! I didn’t ask to be the freak!
Why can’t I be like everybody else?”
Mom continued holding Becka as her tears flowed — tears that had been pent up for the past several days, the past weeks, ever since their first encounter with the Society.
Finally Mom spoke. Her own voice was a little thick with emotion. “Beck … sweetheart. When you gave your life to the Lord, did you just give him part of it?” Becka didn’t answer.
“When you gave him your life, you gave him all of it, didn’t you? You didn’t keep a part for yourself.”
“But I … I didn’t …”
“I know. You didn’t expect this. There are a lot of things we don’t expect. I didn’t expect your father to die. But isn’t that where faith comes in? Isn’t that where we have to trust that God knows best, even when we don’t see it?”
Becka took a ragged breath. “But it’s so hard.”
“I know, I know.”
“I just don’t think I’m cut out for all of this spiritual warfare stuff.”
Mom’s voice was soft and gentle, but also firm. “That’s not your decision, sweetheart. It’s not up to you.” She paused briefly, then continued. “And, Beck, if you don’t tell people, if you aren’t willing to help them … who will?”
Rebecca chewed on the answer, not sure if she really agreed.
And then the phone rang.
For a moment neither moved. Becka stirred. Part of her wanted to continue to be held, but part of her was embarrassed over the outburst. The embarrassment part won. She pulled away from her mother.
The phone continued ringing.
Without bothering to look at her mother’s eyes (she knew they’d be wet too), Becka crossed to the telephone on the wall.
She wiped her face, took a little sniff of composure, then picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Becka?”
The voice was a raspy whisper, but Rebecca recognized it instantly. “Julie? Julie, is that you?”
“Beck, it was so beautiful.”
“Julie, are you all right? How are you feeling?”
“You were right, Beck. There
is
a God … and a heaven. I saw them, Beck. I was there.”
“Are you out of ICU?”
“It was so incredible, Beck.”
“Hold on … I’ll be right over.”
“It was so beautiful.”
“Hold on.”
**********
“Wow!” Scott exclaimed as they entered Hubert’s cluttered living room. He’d visited Darryl’s cousin a couple of times before.
Once when they’d tried to track down their mysterious computer friend Z, and more recently when they’d pulled a trick on the Ascension Lady by reprogramming her computerized astrological charts.
By now he was used to the electronic parts piled in heaps and scattered over the floor like some Radio Shack after a 9.5 quake.
He was even used to the thousand and one empty pizza boxes that never quite made it to the garbage. What surprised him this time were the half dozen people gathered in a circle in front of computer screens. Some had laptops. Others had desktops with monitors. Whatever the setup, each person stared quietly and intently at his screen.
“What are they doing?” Scott whispered.
“Crypts and Wizards,” Darryl whispered back. He gave a loud sniff and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Scott looked at his friend for a moment. He’d gotten used to Darryl’s frequent sniffs, but he still couldn’t quite appreciate his friend’s version of a handkerchief. “Crypts and Wizards? What’s that?”
“It’s a role-playing game.”
“A what?”
“You pretend to be somebody, like a sorcerer or zombie or witch or something. Then you use your powers to try and find the treasure buried deep inside the crypt.” Scott looked at the players. Their faces were glued to their screens, almost trancelike. “They really get into it, don’t they?”
“Oh yeah. Sometimes the games go on for hours, days, even weeks. It’s like you really become the person. Come on. I asked Hubert to save a couple of places for us.” He gave another sniff and motioned for Scott to follow.
“Where is Hubert?” Scott asked. “I don’t see him.”
“He’s upstairs. He’s the Crypt Master. He’s the guy who drew up the crypt map with all of its traps and monsters and stuff.”
“Yeah?”
Darryl nodded. “He basically runs the game.” At last they arrived in front of two empty computer terminals. “Here we go.” Scott checked out the screen in front of him. It wasn’t too impressive. Just some graphs, the beginning of a maze, and some bizarre figures of people and creatures. “Doesn’t look like much,” he said as he took a seat behind the console.
Darryl threw him a grin. “Just wait.”
**********
“Are you sure it was your grandmother?” Ryan asked.
“Oh yeah.” Julie grinned. Her voice was weak and thin. Her hair was stringy in front and matted in the back, and she wore the lamest hospital gown they had ever seen — but inside, Julie bubbled with excitement. “It wasn’t just Grandma. My grandpa, my aunt … people I know are dead were there. It was so incredible. They were, like, all standing in this park with these cool trees and this superclear stream — and the water, it was like diamonds it was so clear.”
Rebecca sat on Julie’s bed listening to her friend chatter on. It was great having her back. But even as she listened, a tiny alarm started to sound in her head.
“Oh, Becka,” Julie beamed. “It was so cool. There was, like, this glowing city, all made of crystal and jewels and stuff. And the light, everywhere there was light. But it didn’t come from the sun or anything like that.”
“Where did it come from?”
Without blinking Julie answered her directly. “It was God, Beck. The light came from God.”
The alarm grew louder. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something didn’t fit.
“You saw God?” Ryan asked.
Julie shook her head. “Not exactly. But I was so close I could have, I know it.” Becka searched Julie’s eyes to see if she was teasing. There was nothing but sincerity in them. “Beck … he’s so cool. I mean, everywhere I went I felt this incredible love, this total … acceptance. He loves us so much, Becka. You can’t even imagine it.”
Becka tried to hold Julie’s gaze, but couldn’t. Her eyes faltered, then looked away.
“Beck, what’s wrong?”
Rebecca shook her head. “I don’t know … It’s just — I mean, are you sure it wasn’t just a dream? Dreams can seem pretty real.”
Julie smiled. “No, Beck, this was no dream.” Becka had her doubts. But this was her best friend. She’d almost been killed. This was not the time to argue. She looked away and spotted a chunk of crystalline rock on the nightstand.
It was about the size of her fist, and it was so clear it almost looked like ice. Grateful to change the subject, she turned back to Julie and asked, “What’s that?”
“Oh, the Ascension Lady came by earlier and dropped it off.” Julie reached over and scooped it into her hand. “It’s pretty neat.”
“Why’d she bring it over?” Ryan asked.
Julie chuckled. “You know Priscilla. I talked to her on the phone earlier. I told her all about my angel guide and everything, and she got — ”
“Your … angel?” Becka interrupted.
“Oh yeah, I had this angel with me the whole time. Anyway, Priscilla says my spirit has been ‘awakened,’ or something like that. She says that if I practice with this thing — ” she hefted the crystal in her hand and grinned mischievously — “I’ll be able to call up my guardian angel anytime I want. I’ll be able to evolve to a ‘higher level of consciousness.’ ”
“Good ol’ Priscilla,” Ryan chuckled. He threw a grin at Becka. “Some things never change.”
Becka didn’t smile back. The alarm in her head was much louder. She was sure Julie was wrong. That what she had seen couldn’t be real. But why? What was wrong?