Exorcize This, Julie Steimle [best books to read in life txt] 📗

was at our house the same way she had demanded from our mother why she was meeting with those missionaries. But I glanced at her cooking pot, asking without voicing “Do you have permission from Mom to cook?”

“Yes, I have permission,” she said, knowing all my looks.

I put away the juice carton and took my glass with me to the living room. As I set it down, my mind went back to the email I had sent Rick. I decided to send him another one.

Opening the inbox, I found he had replied. Apparently he was not in bed yet.

 

Eve,

Is there someone over there that says they can see ghosts?

Ok, to answer your question, like I told you earlier, it always gets cold whenever JJ had ghosts around him. He would also stare off into space as he spoke to or listened to ghosts. And for me, to be honest, my ears seemed to itch a little, like I could almost hear them but it was out of my hearing range. You might be same, since my friend Tom Brown got the same feeling, and as you know, he is also half imp.

I hope this helps.

BTW, what are you doing for Christmas? I was thinking it would be really cool if you came eastward and we all have this big ski holiday. My family owns a ski lodge in Vermont, and if I can convince my dad to send the jet for you, you can all come.

Rick

 

He was way too nice.

And that offer was way too tempting. My imps did not chime in over it either, so I knew such a trip might not be trouble for us. And he offered first. I hadn’t asked. And Dawn would like that. And Dad might approve. This wasn’t accepting charity. It was accepting an invitation to hang out with friends.

I typed back that Dawn and I were in the Rose Parade that New Years, but our family had no real Christmas plans yet. If his dad really agreed, I’d try to work on my dad for us to come.

And I pressed SEND.

Was it bad that I hoped Rick could convince his father to let us all have a ski holiday together? I sounded fun. I liked skiing. It was almost as fun as surfing. But I also knew that I should not mention it to my family just yet. I did not want to get their hopes up.

The Favor

 

At school the next day, Deidre walked right up to me in our second hour class and said, “I figured something out. The way you can help me.”

Everyone nearby listened in, but Deidre did not seem to care. It was like she was used to being ostracized and had long accepted that she was a freak. It kind of made me respect her more.

I nodded to encourage her.

She said, “The ghosts need closure.”

People around us drew in breath. They listened more intently now. I glanced at them, as I would have to live with them after all this… even after Deidre moved out of town to exorcize other ghosts or something.

“So I was thinking, if the vampires killed them, then what they need is a proper burial,” she said.

I took in a breath and slowly nodded. That made sense.

“You mean ghosts of vampire victims live in the Bale’s house?” Dennis Clearly exclaimed loudly.

My classmates murmured over it. Sarah MacDonald’s eyes widened. So did the eyes of everyone in the room, including Mr. Bates. He dropped into his chair, staring at us.

I closed my eyes, shaking my head. Why couldn’t Deidre be more discrete? But I said, “So what are you asking me?”

Looking around, realizing now it had been a mistake to talk to me in class, Deidre grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the hallway. Everyone stared after us, as no one on earth besides Jane and my family would have dared pull me around like that since the day they realized I was not human. Not even Mr. McDillan had done such a thing.

Deidre hissed in a low voice as people peeked through the open doorway to watch, “I need you to go into the mountains and bring their bones out so we can give them a proper burial.”

I stared at her.

Go into the mountains? Nobody with a brain went into the mountains.

“Why me?” I breathed out.

Snatching off my sunglasses, Deidre looked me straight in the eye and said, “Because you can.”

I still stared at her, thinking she was insane. Me? Go into the mountains? The ones infested with vampires?

“You are not a vampire,” she said, handing me my glasses. “You are more powerful than a vampire. And that’s why the ghosts blame you. You can do something about those vampires, when no one else can.”

I paled. Was that true? Honestly, I had always avoided that aspect of myself—that dangerous, savage, monstrous part that was born to kill. I was too afraid I would start down that bloody path and then discover that I loved it. Only twice had I been caught up in the monstrous part of the curse of being a vimp and lost control of my bloody urges; once when my family was attacked on a camping trip, and the other time when Massachusetts witches had kidnapped me and had forced me to drink the blood of those I was born to kill. I didn’t want to go down that road again. I hated that part of me.

“I’m not hunting down the vampires,” I said thinly.

She leaned back, stared at me, but then nodded. “Ok. I’m not asking that. I am just asking you to find the bones of the ghosts who were killed by the vampires.”

I felt a tickling in the back of my brain that said I could do that. It was only right. “Ok.”

A group gasp came from the doorway.

Both Deidre and I turned to look.

Everyone jumped out of the doorway with a clamber of feet and tripping over desks. It was such a great loud noise. Sometimes people were just so ridiculous.

With nothing more to say, Deidre and I went back into class, her taking her seat on the opposite side of the room, while I went back to mine. Mr. Bates seemed unsettled during the entire lesson while our classmates shot surreptitious looks at me and Deidre. When the bell rang, I was glad to get out of that room.

The next hour when I met up with Jane, I hardly said a word about it, though gossip followed Deidre and myself into that classroom. Near the end of the lesson, someone had told Jane what I had promised.

“Are you crazy?” Jane hissed in my ear as Mr. Caoilfhionn was writing up our vocabulary terms to copy. “She is asking you to tread into vampire territory.”

“I can do it in the daylight,” I muttered. “When they are asleep.”

“Do you even know where to find those bones?” Jane asked.

I shrugged as I thought about it. “I bet the ghosts know. They would know where they died. I think Deidre can get the information from them.”

“Do you really believe that she can see ghosts?”

“Yes. I emailed my friend Rick, and he said he knows a guy whose name is also Johnson, by the way—and he described all the signs which Deidre matches. She’s not a faker.”

Jane glanced over at Deidre, staring. “So the Bale’s house really is haunted. I had always just thought it was just a story. You know, because that house always seems dark and junky. People make up stories, you know.”

I nodded. There were plenty of stories about stuff like that. It was what people did.

“So… after school, I think I’ll follow her home,” I said.

Cringing, Jane nodded. “Ok. Just be careful.”

Only Jane would say something like that. Then again, she had seen the vampires too. She knew what kind of danger they were.

“Eat a good spaghetti dinner tonight,” I said with a shrug back.

She nodded. “Yeah… maybe everybody should.”

She knew what I meant. I was about to step into vampire territory, which would upset them. Everyone needed to get out the garlic. 

Prejudices

 

A couple hours later, Jane and Sarah came to lunch together as usual. But when they walked up to our regular table, Sarah sat down with Jane and beckoned Brigitte and Tiffany to join her. Both girls stared for a moment (as did I, to be honest), but then they brought their lunches and sat down. I wondered if I ought to get up and find another spot.

“Can I sit here?” Sarah asked me.

Nodding faintly, I glanced to Jane. My sunglasses were off, sitting next to my lunch bag. I hated eating with my sunglasses on. And when Jane’s gaze met my eyes, she gave me short smile to say it was ok.

Tiffany and Brigitte looked awkward, peeking to Sarah. Sarah said to me finally, “Is it true?”

I blinked at her. “What?”

Heaving a sigh and looking around, Sarah hunched nearer to me to whisper but at a safe distance still. “That your father is a vampire.”

I glanced to Jane who nodded. She had told them. I sighed. Then I nodded. “Yes. My birthfather is.”

All three girls stared at me wide-eyed.

“You’re saying there really are vampires?” Brigitte breathed out, entirely shocked.

Tiffany shot her a side look, but said, “How is that possible? I thought that was all fiction. You know, Twilight romance novel stuff.”

I rolled my eyes. “Vampires are not like that.”

Jane smothered a chuckle.

“I was thinking more like Anne Rice,” Brigitte said.

I glanced to her, pointing. “They are more like that, what she writes.”

Brigitte stared.

Tiffany looked confused. Apparently her parents did not let her read real vampire novels.

“For all I know, she met some,” I added. “But for the record I don’t know a whole lot about vampires as I don’t hang out with them or anything.”

“So there really are vampires in the mountains?” Sarah asked.

I nodded frankly. “Yeah.”

All three gals stared at me.

“Can Deidre really see ghosts?” Sarah whispered to me.

Sighing, I then searched the room for Deidre. I spotted her sitting alone, her jacket wrapped well around her to keep warm. I nodded slowly. “So she says. But I don’t doubt it. A friend of mine who knows more about this kind of thing says ghosts are real, and he knows a guy who can see them. So I’ll take his word for it.”

“A friend of yours?” Tiffany echoed as if the possibility of me having any friends outside of Jane and my family seemed preposterous,