Page 5 of Haunting the Deep

I blink at her. “ ’Scuse me?”

“It’s just you’realwayswith him,” she says, like it’s a bad thing. “I figured you would know.”

I honestly have no idea how to respond to her. Is she asking me to not hang out with my best friend so she can flirt with him or something? I decide to shift the focus back to her. “What about you and Matt?”

“Over it.” Niki twirls a gold bracelet around her wrist. “So if you could just—”

“Piss off, Niki,” Alice says from behind me. “Sam isn’t going to do jack for you.”

Niki narrows her eyes.

Alice grabs my arm and pulls me into the field. The chilly breeze carries the scent of freshly cut grass and the promise of spring.

I look at Alice as we walk. “So you and Niki are close, huh?”

Alice shrugs. “Yeah, we have that thing going where we spend so much time together that we’ve started to look alike.”

I laugh.

Susannah and Mary stand behind the bleachers, black gothic silhouettes against the tree line. Susannah smiles, and her delicate face lights up.

“So what’s all the mystery about?” I ask as we approach them. My words sound disjointed. The only times we’ve spoken, we’ve had the type of conversation where one person starts to talk, then realizes they don’t know what to say, and the whole conversation dissolves.

For a second everyone is still; even the breeze stops blowing.

Mary breaks the silence. “We need you to talk to thedead.”

I frown.

“Mary!” Susannah says, and Alice gives Mary the stinkeye. “We’re not asking you to come see if our attic is haunted. Mary spoke too soon. The thing is, Alice read her bones yesterday for the first time since V—”

I put my hand up before she can finish Vivian’s name. “Don’t. You said you wouldn’t. And truthfully, I just want to forget all about magic.”

“Well, tough,” Alice says. “Because you were in my reading, and so you’re part of the message I got, whether you like it or not. Chin up, chest out. It’s time.”

Is she criticizing me for not bouncing back fast enough from almost beinghangedby my stepmother? “It’s not time. I’m absolutely fine living the rest of my life never being in a situation like that again.” I back away from them by two steps.

“So you’re saying you won’t listen to what we have to say, even if we need you to help prevent something bad from happening?” Alice asks.

I hesitate for a half second and then shake my head.

“Wait, Samantha,” Susannah says. “We know this is hard for you, but none of us are having an easy time recovering from what your stepmother did. We were right there with you through that whole awful thing, and we almost died, too.”

There it is. The truth. “You said we weren’t going to talk about V…” Her name sticks in my throat.

Mary tugs at her curls. “Guys, she’s not ready yet.”

“Seriously, Mare?” Alice says, like she can’t believe Mary is still talking.

Susannah closes the space between us with a few graceful steps, blocking my view of Mary and Alice. She’s so gentle and confident that it makes it impossible to brush her off without feeling guilty.

Susannah looks at me now like she just wants me to understand her. “There isn’t a morning I wake up and look in the mirror that I don’t still see the faint red mark from the rope on my neck. We all think about it. Weallhave nightmares.” Her voice is calm. “We don’t need to talk about that night specifically. But we need to talk to you about this because it’s important. You trusted me once; trust me again.”

I want to walk away, but I can’t seem to break eye contact with her. I exhale audibly.Please don’t let me regret this.“Okay, Alice. I’m listening.”

Alice gestures toward the woods. “After you.”

We walk through the trees until we’re hidden from any stragglers hanging out in the back fields. Mary pulls out a black wool blanket and spreads it on the ground.