Luminosity (Gravity Series #3) (The Gravity Series) (20 page)

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his palm lingering against my face. I leaned into his touch.

It began to get dark, the sun disappearing through the black tree trunks, a faint yellow sparkle hovering above the ground.

Henry scanned the trees suspiciously. “Do you see any of those shadows around here?”

I sat up and looked around us, but none of the shadows had any noticeable shape, and I couldn’t feel the cold chill that signaled their presence.

“No. We’re alone. I’ve seen them a little since that night, but not at the same intensity. They’re not as fully formed or solid as they were then.” I gazed up at him through my eyelashes. “I’m really glad you’re so accepting of my secrets. It kind of blew my mind.”

Henry shrugged. “I trust your judgment. You know what you’re talking about. And you know, I figured since you spilled your deep dark secrets, I should spill mine.”

I tensed up beside him, and he rubbed my shoulder. “You know, I have wondered sometimes if you left a life of crime behind when you came back to Hell,” I said.

It was a joke, but his face immediately became somber. He bit his bottom lip and darted his eyes away from me.

“You could say that. Most of my secrets are dead and in the past. But back before I moved here, when I was about thirteen, I ran with a pretty bad crowd. We hot-wired a couple of cars, stole stuff from the party shop. Obviously I didn’t need to, but I did. I drank a lot back then, which I’m sure my liver didn’t appreciate.”

“What made you stop?”

“You mean who,” Henry corrected. “My dad, of course. I was doing it to rebel against him. He’d always been a hard-ass, but that’s when he started to knock the sense into me. The last time we stole some beer from the liquor store, my friend dropped his wallet on the way out. They got security footage of us. My dad got me out of trouble, legally at least. And I felt like I had to prove myself to him. Believe it or not, part of me used to look up to the man.”

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“I wanted to be completely honest with you. About everything. I’ll do whatever I have to, to earn your trust.”

“Why, are you going to present me with another earth-shattering revelation?” I asked wearily, trying to mentally fit the pieces of him together.

“No, nothing like that. But it was a big part of my life, and why I shut myself down when things get serious. Do you trust me?”

“I think I do. I know one thing, though.” My heart fluttered, beating so fast it threatened to stop.

He tilted his head, peering at me curiously.

“I love you.”

His smile lit up his whole face, his eyes alight with happiness. “How could you not, with this killer physique? I’m able to lift small objects with a single huff.”

I rolled my eyes, smiling myself. “That’s it, you have me all figured out.”

“The last piece of the puzzle,” Henry said.

I tossed a handful of grass at his chest and he wrestled me until he was on top of me, kissing me until my lips were puffy and numb.

###

The paranoia continued the more I wore the necklace, but I didn’t want to take it off. I had to, though, to function—unless I wanted everyone to think I was a drug addict. Each time I kept it on for too long, I would get a splitting headache, which led to nausea and body aches that would intensify every minute I was too stubborn to take remove it.

One night when I was alone, Jenna and I stood together in the basement, looking out the French doors. The necklace lay warm on my chest, and I watched the humanoid shadows slinking around outside in the moonlight.

The fog was rolling in, moving fast like clouds in a stormy sky. Far off beyond the glass, I could hear the faint trill of children singing.

I felt so many emotions that had built up within me. Jenna was my friend, but she felt caught in the past, and I couldn’t talk much about my current life.

I had just gotten off the phone with Theo who had been complaining about Alex again. I missed being able to hang out with her, and I knew she felt bad that she’d been working so much. But it was hard for me to carry on a simple conversation without slipping into the paranormal.

I missed having parents that weren’t broken up and a mother that wasn’t part of a possibly evil organization that may or may not want me destroyed.

Staring outside, I started to cry, unable to hold back the urge. I cupped my hands over my eyes, sobbing softly.

“It’s going to be okay,” Jenna said softly.

“You’re just saying that,” I said, sniffling.

“Of course I am. Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

I looked up at her and tried to smile, but it didn’t work too well and more tears came spilling out.

Out of instinct, like she had hundreds of times before when I’d had scraped knees and bee stings, Jenna reached out to grasp my shoulder.

Her hand made contact, without electric shocks or me fainting cold.

I looked down at her hand in astonishment. It was solidly holding my shoulder for the first time since she died.

“How are we touching? And without horrible electrical awfulness?” I asked.

“It must be because of the necklace,” Jenna said. “I told you it felt powerful.”

Both of us laughed nervously at the same time. Tentatively, I turned to her and reached out for a hug. My arms wrapped around her. It felt the same as it had when she was alive, except for the fact that her body was room temperature. I pressed my cheek into her shoulder and squeezed her tightly. She squeezed me back.

The necklace was starting to send shooting pains up my neck to the base of my skull. “I’ve got to take this thing off soon,” I told her, shifting back begrudgingly. She nodded, her face serious and thoughtful.

“If I do, though…what if this is just a fluke and we can’t touch anymore?”

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Jenna said. “And even if it is, at least we got to hug one last time.” She reached out and squeezed my hand.

Then I heard Claire clomping down the stairs. I felt my breath catch in my throat. I stood frozen for a moment, and ducked the necklace back under the neckline of my shirt with my free hand. Jenna’s hand was still intertwined mine, like she’d forgotten we were attached.

Claire arrived at the bottom of the stairs. My heart hammered away inside my chest. Even though she couldn’t see Jenna, I still felt like she was about to catch me being deceitful.

“Ariel?” she called. She was looking right at me. She walked over to where I was, but gave no indication that she could see me, turning her head left and right. She called my name again.

“Claire, I’m right here,” I spoke up. Still no response. She turned and glided down the hall to my room.

I glanced back at Jenna and then let go of her hand. I followed Claire footsteps. She was knocking on my door.

“Claire?” I asked timidly. What if she still didn’t see me?

“There you are,” she said, sounding exasperated. “Dinner’s ready. As you can see, I didn’t violate your privacy to tell you so.”

She stalked back off down the hall while I stared at her. Holding Jenna’s hand had a pretty interesting side effect. It made me invisible.

CHAPTER 18

TO TEST OUT
my new-found superpower, I wore the necklace the next day and sneaked out into the backyard while holding Jenna’s hand. She thought I was a bit nutty, but she went along with it.

Claire was tending to her garden, her yellow gloves covered in dirt. As she dug into the dirt with a trowel, I jogged in a circle around her. Her wide-brimmed straw hat never rose and she kept digging. I bent down, still attached to Jenna, and stuck my face a foot from Claire’s, waving my free hand in front of her nose. She still didn’t acknowledge me.

“That doesn’t necessarily prove this is foolproof,” Jenna said as I stood back up. “Maybe it’s just your mom.”

“My mom has eyes like a hawk,” I muttered. “Let’s keep moving.”

I peered into the window next door and saw Theo alone in the kitchen.

“Too bad I can’t knock on the door,” I complained.

A smile twitched at the corner of Jenna’s mouth. “You can go right through the wall. At least, if you can do the same things I can.”

I frowned at her in disbelief, then stepped across the bricks leading to the door. I shoved my hand out towards the white wood. My fingers slipped right through, the sensation like cotton surrounding my skin.

“That’s pretty nifty,” I said, grinning at Jenna. We passed through into Theo’s farm-themed kitchen.

“Hi, Theo,” I said loudly. She didn’t even stir. “Theeeeooooo.” No answer.

I almost wanted to do something to tease her, but she got scared easily. I didn’t want to freak her out too much. It was almost impossible to resist banging a pan on the way out, though.

When I was holding Jenna’s hand, I felt very light and could see the shadows and fog more clearly. Our world looked softer and less real, pale and bland. Jenna and I discussed what to do with this new discovery.

“Let’s try something first,” I suggested. “When we hold hands, maybe it actually pulls me into Limbo. I feel different, kind of weightless.”

“Okay. So….”

“So, let’s try another seance. We tried performing one before, but I know more now. More about what we’re up against.”

“That’s so crazy that it just might fail,” Jenna said, lying on my bed with her bare legs crossed. “I’m up for it. But who are you going to try to contact?”

“My grandmother, Eleanor. Maybe she can guide me.”

###

Hell only had one church within the township, The Church of the Holy Light, set almost to the city line. A sprawling graveyard had been planted around it, framed by shady trees and berry bushes.

One evening later that week, I parked my car in the empty church parking lot and opened the short little gate to the cemetery. People weren’t often buried within the stone walls anymore; most of the plots were full.

Jenna and I crept through the headstones. I wasn’t usually creeped out when I was in the graveyard; I felt more of a serene feeling. But this time, it felt much more desolate. The shadows were noticeably bloated and although we hadn’t seen any of the human-like figures, I knew it was only a matter of time. Thick fog wrapped around the trees and tombstones. Most of the bouquets of flowers were dried and dead. A stiff, chilly wind blew through, popping goosebumps along my forearms.

“Where am I buried?” Jenna asked randomly as we walked down the grave rows.

“Brighton Hills.”

“Oh. Is it nice?” She stopped at an ornate, two-foot-high cross. “What does my headstone look like?”

“This is a really odd conversation.”

Jenna looked sheepishly at me.

“Well, it’s just a stone,” I told her. “A plain stone, I think it’s made out of marble. Has a nice little saying on it.” I told her what it said.

“Oh, puke!” Jenna exclaimed. “ ‘Beloved daughter, cherished friend?’ How could you let them send me off with a Hallmark sentiment? How about, “‘Here lies Jenna, she kicked ass for the short period of time the universe allowed such awesomeness to exist in human form?’”

“The stone isn’t that big. Plus, I didn’t exactly have much say in your interment.”

She groused to herself, shoving her hands in her pockets.

I scoffed. “You want me to go back with a Sharpie?”

“Now that you mention it, I think it’s your duty as my best friend,” she said, smirking.

A few more steps and we reached my grandparents’ graves. The bigger plots were secluded on a short hill. Even though they had died in a car accident out of town, their bodies had been buried in Hell where they’d grown up, fallen in love, and gotten married.

I knelt beside my grandmother’s grave and Jenna sat down across from me. It was weird to think that Eleanor, the girl I wanted to contact, was the same as the elderly, gray-haired woman with an obsession for depression glass that I remembered.

“Okay, let’s get this undead party started,” I said.

“You have a terrible sense of humor,” Jenna said. “I feel okay saying that since you can’t kill me.” She looked around us, at all of the tombstones and dramatic statues of angels. “What if this backfires and an army of zombies rush out of their graves?”

“Well, I have my running shoes on,” I said, “and you were Miss Track Team. So, we’re good.”

I lit three candles on the ground in front of us and settled back on my haunches. The flames flickered in the light breeze, and the flame of the red candle kept shooting upwards. I reached out and grabbed Jenna’s hands. Instantly I felt the weightlessness come over me, as if my body was lifting off of the ground. A hazy gray veil settled over the graveyard around us.

I wasn’t feeling much from the graveyard. Not like the feelings I always got at Dexter—the stifling atmosphere, the faint beating of the demonic heart in the floor.

It just felt like a gloomy, empty place with dead bodies underfoot. Not that out of the ordinary.

I had no chant prepared, so I just started talking. “Hi Grandma. This is Ariel. I know it’s been a while since I’ve visited, sorry about that….”