The Battle of Darcy Lane Read Online Free PDF

know. “Praying to dead people is one thing, because you’re not expecting them to talk back, but expecting an answer seems wrong.”
    â€œOh my god,” Alyssa said. “You pray ?”
    It was pretty funny that she’d said Oh my god while asking me that question.
    So what if I did?
    That was one thing. This was another.
    I said, “I seriously doubt that dead people are waitingaround for their relatives to pull out a Ouija board so they can talk.”
    Taylor was sitting cross-legged across from Alyssa. She turned and said, “So leave,” with a shrug.
    These two could really shrug.
    I sat down and let my fingers rest lightly on the gliding piece alongside theirs and felt a surge of anger, like I suddenly had too much blood in my body and it was trying to get out any which way, pressing on me from the inside out.
    Alyssa took a deep breath and exhaled. “Okay, everybody close your eyes.”
    She did, and then Taylor did. So I did, too.
    â€œWe are here today,” Alyssa said, all serious, “to try to talk to my grandmother, Camille. Will you let us know if you are in the room with us, Grandma?”
    Beneath my fingers I felt the piece jitter. It slid across the board a bit and then more and then stopped. When I opened my eyes, the window with the needle in it was pointing to the word YES .
    â€œHoly cow,” Taylor said. “I just got chills.”
    But I wasn’t buying it.
    Alyssa said, “Grandma? I want you to tell me, if you can, where the money is. I know you had cash that you packed. Can you tell me where it is?”
    The piece started to move under my fingers, hittingletters one by one. The answer, when complete, spelled out TOWELS .
    â€œWhat does it mean?” Taylor’s eyes got big.
    â€œThere.” Alyssa got up and walked across the room to some boxes. “This one,” she said. Sure enough the box was labeled TOWELS .
    She ripped the top open. Taylor rushed to her side, and I did, too, and then there was Alyssa, holding an envelope full of cash.
    I seriously thought I might faint or something. “Now I just got chills.”
    Because it had actually worked !
    Alyssa and Taylor busted out laughing.
    Alyssa stopped long enough to say, “You are so gullible.”
    â€œWe totally got you!” Taylor squealed.
    â€œYeah.” I just waited a second for the inside-out pressure to stop again. “You really got me good.”
    â€œCome here.” Alyssa got up. “I want to show you something.”
    She went to the window that faced the back of the house—there were no drapes or blinds—and pointed toward the house behind hers. “See that window there with the red curtains?”
    â€œYeah?” Taylor said.
    â€œThere’s a couple that lives there, and sometimes they walk around naked.”
    â€œNo way!” Taylor laughed.
    I wanted to head for the stairs and pretend I’d never come here with them.
    â€œThe guy’s pretty hairy and gross,” Alyssa said. “The girl’s all right, but she needs a boob job.”
    Taylor shook her head. “You are too much.”
    I might have imagined it or it might have actually been true, but I heard Mom’s voice calling me home, so I said, “I think my mom’s calling me.”
    â€œWell, go on home to Mommy then.” Alyssa shooed me with her hand.
    I turned to Taylor. “I left my purse on your porch.”
    â€œThat’s yours?” Alyssa was back at the Ouija board. She said, “Is Julia’s new purse nice?” And she pushed the sliding piece over to the word NO .
    â€œJust go get it, Julia.” Taylor really seemed to want me gone. “You know where it is.”

7 .
    â€œWhere’s Taylor?” Mom asked . She and Dad were sitting side by side at the kitchen table looking at something on Mom’s laptop. No one had been calling for me at all.
    â€œOh,” I said. “She’s