A Quarrel Called: Stewards Of The Plane Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

the change of subject, I grinned. Standing, I held
out a hand to help her up and felt my insides flip flop when she grabbed it.
Apparently she felt it too, because she giggled and her fingers tightened on
mine.
    “I’ve been waiting hours for you to do that,” she smiled.

 

08. MELODY
    It felt like the get-together was winding down just as Tara
and G. came back in. They were both smiling, and I swear I saw them holding hands. Tara gave me a covert thumbs-up sign and
I felt glad for her. G. didn’t look unhappy either.
    “Hey, you guys, now that it’s dark out I thought maybe we’d
give the video games a break for a while. Anyone wanna try out my Spirit Board?” Tara pulled the box
out from one of the cupboards and put it out on the table.
    “I don’t know,” said Shelby. “Isn’t that devil worship
stuff?”
    “Nah, it’s for talking to spirits,” Tara said, unboxing the
board and planchette. “You know, like that guy on TV who talks to dead people.
Only with a Spirit Board, anyone can do it.”
    Everyone looked at me then, and I realized they were waiting
for me to say something. I shrugged, only a little uneasy. “I don’t believe in
that stuff,” I said. “I think that guy on TV is fake, too.”
    Brittney walked over and grabbed the information booklet
that came with the board. “Has anyone used one of these before? Do we need to
read the…like, rules?”
    Tara looked at me. “Mel, do you have any candles or
anything? You know, mood lighting?”
    I looked around and shrugged. “Not out here, but Gram
definitely has some back at the house. I’ll get a few.” Ignoring Brittney who
was now reading the ‘rules’ aloud to the rest of the group, I pushed through
the door and out into the night. It was beautiful out, the stars were crisp and
clear, and the moon was now setting behind the house.
    “Hey, I’ll come with you,” Sam said as he jogged up next to
me.
    “Thanks,” I said. I led him into the kitchen and motioned
for him to grab the matches off of the windowsill while I dug in the cavernous
pantry for the basket of candles. “You think we need anything else?”
    Sam cocked his head and grinned. “If we were on some TV
show, we’d have some sort of recording equipment. Like, at least a voice
recorder or a camera. Unless you have a spare EMF reader
around?”
    I laughed. Knowing my grandparents, anything was possible.
Before Gramps got sick, he was a notorious flea-market hound. The closets were
stuffed full of things he thought might be useful or worth money someday, not
to mention what he’d crammed in his workshop and the library. “Who knows?” I
said. “But doesn’t everyone already have a cell phone? Couldn’t we use those?”
I flicked the kitchen light off and made toward the back door.
    “Hey, I might even have an app for that,” he said, fishing
his phone out of his pocket and thumbing through the widget screens. “I do! Not
an EMF meter but better, an EVP recorder… I’m going to try it out.” He held the
light of his phone up under his face, illuminating it from below. “You never
know what we might find, muahahaha .”
    “Dork,” I said over my shoulder and walked back out into the
night. As I stood on the stoop waiting for him to catch up, there was a sudden
chill, despite the lack of breeze, and I shivered. Sam came up next to me.
    “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” he said, half-joking. But
when I looked into his dark, narrow eyes, I saw something else there; something
serious.
    “Your dream creeping you out again?” I asked, watching to see his reaction. Sam didn’t like to talk about his dreams,
so when he did, I actually paid attention, because sometimes they came true.
    He hesitated and then laughed it off. “It’s nothing. Let’s
just get this party started.” He strode off to the clubhouse. “You coming? Or you chicken? Buh- kah !”
    “ Shh , you’ll wake my grandparents
with that chicken cackle!” I said, but it made me grin.
    We