Chapter 11. Tessa #2
“Give us all the gory details on how you died,” says Kevin.
“What is with that guy?” Reed shakes his head.
“He’s being super cringe,” I confirm.
“It has to be a yes or no question,” Jenny scolds.
“Did you die upstairs?” Kevin tries again.
“Ich krieg gleich die Panik. Ze candles flickered twice.” Yannick can barely control his excitement.
“That’s a yes, right?” Kevin’s legs bounce a mile a minute.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.” Brandon drops Kira and Tilly’s hands, breaking the circle.
“Why?” asks Kira.
“I didn’t come here to talk about their deaths. I hear about it enough at home.”
My arm naturally reaches to comfort him, then I remember I can’t. Old habits. Reed bristles beside me.
“What does that mean?” asks Jenny.
“Nothing. Never mind.” Brandon stands, stepping out of the pool of light.
“You know something.” Jenny leans forward.
“No, not really.” Brandon shrugs.
“Oh, you definitely know something.” Now she’s standing, too. “You’re acting super shady right now. Did you see something that night?”
Reed and I lock eyes.
“What? No, nothing like that. I just have an aunt who works in the county coroner’s office. So I’ve heard a little about the investigation, but I’m not allowed to say anything.”
“You can’t drop a bomb like that and walk away,” Kevin demands.
“What the hell? What are you saying?” asks Santiago.
Reed snaps his fingers, pointing at Brandon. “He’s hiding something. You should do that trick where you walk through him and find out.”
I felt awful doing that before. I was completely adrift, like I’d lost all sense of who I was. “I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone. Besides, you heard Brandon, he doesn’t know anything. No one’s telling him top-secret information.”
“Are you sure about that? His aunt’s been investigating our deaths.” Reed’s voice has jumped octaves, but I’m the only one who can hear it. Lucky me.
Kira and Tilly stand to check on Brandon, while the others whisper among themselves.
“I know him better than anyone, Reed. He’s clearly uncomfortable and wants an excuse to end the séance. That’s all.”
“I’ll do it if you won’t.” He begins to cross the room, but I grab his arm.
“No. It was a horrifying experience. You saw how shaken that cop was, too. I don’t want that to happen to either of you. You’re going to cause a lot of harm for no good reason.”
“No good reason? If there was ever a good reason, Tessa, this is it.” He pulls out of my grasp.
“What is it with you and Brandon?” I snap.
That stops him.
“You’ve always had it out for him. What did he ever do to you?” A rush of memories come back to me from years past. It wasn’t just me. Reed’s had a million little digs for Brandon, too, usually said in my presence, to get under my skin.
“This isn’t about …” Reed lets out a frustrated groan. “I mean … he’s not the guy you should have been with, but I don’t have anything against him.”
“What does that mean?”
He bites his bottom lip, like he’s trying to hold back an avalanche of secrets.
“Why do you care?” I press, stepping closer, my pulse quickening.
He leans forward, his face inches from mine. Candlelight dances in his eyes. “Why do you think?”
I hold my breath and my ground.
What’s he implying? That it should have been him? Then why push at my every last nerve if all this time he’s wanted to … to what …?
My eyes narrow, daring him to tell me the truth.
In return, he arches a single brow, daring me back. Admit it, his eyes challenge. Admit you have feelings, too.
Neither of us budges.
When he inches forward—so close now—I don’t know where to look. His dark eyes? His full lips? Panic. Panic. For a wild moment I’m sure he’s about to kiss me, but instead he seethes, “Are you going to walk through him, or should I?”
“Don’t,” I plead.
But it’s too late. He turns and charges toward Brandon.
Before I can hold him back, he’s taken the plunge.
Is this how it looked when Reed witnessed me with that cop before?
His body, once solid, takes on the shimmering quality of a desert mirage.
There’s a moment almost too vast for my mind to behold as Reed and Brandon overlap, occupying the same space, across two separate dimensions.
The candles flare up. A window shutter flies back, smacking the siding of the house.
Everyone jumps. Then Brandon drops to the floor, retching and shaking.
Kira screams as she and Tilly dive down to help him. Everyone else is up on their feet. It’s chaos with them all talking at once, but my eyes are on Reed.
He’s balled up in the corner, teeth chattering, shivering uncontrollably. I kneel beside him.
“What’s happening?” Tilly whispers behind me, her voice tinged with fear.
“You’ve spooked our guests,” I scold.
Reed shakes his head back and forth, face pained, eyes closed tight.
“What happened? What did you learn?” I lean forward, my unease mounting.
The shutters bang explosively against the siding again, like a thunderclap, startling all of us, before a draft blows the candles out. The room is plunged into darkness.
“Holy fuck.” Kevin trips over his feet, crashing into Santiago. “Let’s get out of here.”
Tilly and Kira hoist Brandon up as Jenny grabs Yannick’s hand. They head for the door, stumbling over one another.
Once again, we’re left behind, with only moonlight and dust for company.
And questions.
So many questions.
“It wasn’t … alcohol poisoning.” Reed’s panting and shivering, barely able to get the words out.
“What?”
“It’s being investigated”—he takes another gulp of air—“as homicide.”
“How is that possible?”
Reed raises his haunted eyes to mine. “Tessa, someone killed us.”