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to rise. This was all getting really bizarre.
    “You don’t understand, miss, there’s no way it could have been Sylvia. She died a few years ago.” Steve sounded totally spooked.
    “Wh-what? She’s dead?” It came out as a whisper. Okay, I had to be logical about this. “Well, maybe someone was just using an old sign or something,” I said uncertainly.
    There was no way I’d seen a…a ghost right? I mean, I was sixteen years old, not six. I was too old to believe in monsters under the bed, although I had been known to check under there before going to sleep. Plus, what kind of ghost made jewelry?
    I let out a nervous little laugh. “I’m sure this is just some sort of misunderstanding,” I told Steve, who at this point seemed afraid of me. “Listen, thanks for your help. I think I’ll just go home and check out Google or something.” I backed out of the store, sure that Steve was thrilled to see me go.
    When I reached my car, I realized I still had the necklace in my hand. Proof that I met Sylvia…or someone! I held it close to my face to examine the stone. It really was beautiful. When I held it in my hand, the quartz felt warm and heavy; it was somehow comforting to feel it against my fingers.
    Maybe I was meant to have it.
    I arrived home and managed to shower, throw on my sweats and plunk myself in front of my television before my mom got home from work. There was nothing good on, so I grabbed my laptop to look up some stuff about the mugwort or whatever it was. Before I could get into it, Bear interrupted me by nosing through the door and jumping on my bed. I paused when I reached out to pet her, distracted by my glistening palm. At least now I didn’t have to worry about my mom seeing it, since it seemed that the affliction was much more obvious to me.
    And…Jaren Wilder. What does that mean?
    My mom banged through the door about an hour later and insisted I eat a bowl of soup when she saw the nurse’s note. After dinner, I feigned several sniffles and a yawn, and told her I was going to bed early. Instead, I was up for hours, engrossed in my online research. What did people do before the Internet anyway? I had no idea that there were so many mystical properties associated with common everyday plants. Artemis Vulgaris was supposed to enhance one’s psychic abilities.
    Enhance. I guess that meant that you had to already have some sort of sixth sense or something. I wasn’t sure that I had any sort of sense, let alone anything extraordinary. Absently, I crossed my legs and winced. I had developed a large purplish-black bruise where I had hit myself on the car door. If I had any sense at all, why was I such a freaking klutz?
    I studied my hand. Thankfully, it seemed like the whitish sheen had dissipated a little. I yawned, exhausted. It had been a long, bizarre day for sure. I headed to my bed, where my jeans lay crumpled on my patterned sheets. I tossed them off and they hit the floor with a soft thud. The pendant fell out of the pocket and the crystal caught the light, sending shards of luminescence into an unexpected rainbow.
    I rubbed my thumb against the pendant’s smooth surface. A warm, comforting hum rippled through my finger as I touched it, the urge to throw the chain over my neck becoming more like an undeniable compulsion. I fiddled with the clasp, recalling that it had seemed to be broken when it fell into my hands. The clasp worked fine, now. Maybe I would put it on. What was the worst that could happen? Will Sylvia appear to haunt me? I giggled because the notion was just so ridiculous.
    I hooked the pendant around my neck and took a breath. At first, it seemed that the night had gone silent. I waited expectantly, vaguely aware that I was holding my breath. Then outside, I heard the faint sound of the old tomcat next door caterwauling. I shrugged at myself in the mirror. For a moment, I had actually believed that something crazy would happen if I put the necklace on. I watched my