The Reckoning Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t answer right away, he said, “No?” Disappointment dragged down his voice before he propped it up with a forced smile. “That’s cool. You’re tired—”
    “It’s not that. It’s just…we need to ID that kid I saw and figure out if he has a connection to this house.”
    “What kid?” Tori asked.
    I explained about the ghost, then said, “I know Derek said we shouldn’t do too much tonight, but…”
    “But, apparently, that warning only applies to us, because he’s off right now, hunting for clues about that kid. He doesn’t want us pitching in. He says it’ll look suspicious if we’re all poking around.”
    So Derek was searching without me? I felt a pang of…I don’t know, disappointment, I guess. Then I thought about earlier, in the hall. Had he been trying to invite me along? The disappointment grew.
    “How about those self-defense lessons?” Tori said.
    “Sure, I guess…” Simon said. “Better than nothing.”
    “Actually, there’s something else I should do,” I said. “You guys go on.”
    They looked at me like I’d suggested they swim withsharks. Not a bad analogy, really. Simon and Tori doing self-defense together was bound to result in bloodshed.
    “What did you have in mind?” Simon asked.
    “Just…Well, my aunt…What I saw last night…I’d like to…”
    “Try summoning her,” Tori finished for me. “See if she’s dead, right?”
    Simon shot her a look for being so blunt, but I nodded. “Right. And Liz. I want to try contacting Liz. She’d come in handy searching for clues. The problem is that, if I summon, I might call up that other guy.”
    “Which is why you shouldn’t do it alone,” Simon said. “I’ll stay.”
    “Me, too,” Tori said. “If you do summon the demon kid, maybe I can get him to talk.”
    She put out her hand. A ball of energy started to swirl.
    “All right,” I said.

Seven
    S UMMONINGS AREN’T NEARLY AS cool as they look in the movies. Basically, it’s the reverse of how I banish a spirit. I close my eyes and picture pulling a ghost out instead of shoving him back in.
    Ideally, I’d have something that belonged to the deceased. I’d been using a hoodie of Liz’s before Tori’s mom confiscated it. I didn’t have anything of my aunt’s. So the only way this would work was if they were hovering around, waiting to make contact.
    I suspected one spirit was hovering around—the jerk from this morning. While I was tempted to question him further, a voice in my head—which sounded suspiciously like Derek’s—warned me against it. He hadn’t been forthcoming before, and I’d pissed him off by banishing him. So as I sat on the floor in our room, I was careful to keep very clear picturesof my aunt and Liz in my head, alternating between them.
    While I hoped I wouldn’t see my aunt, I really did want to contact Liz, my former roommate at Lyle House. She had been killed the night I arrived. It’d taken time for her to believe she was dead, but once she did, she refused to go to the other side. She’d stayed and helped.
    Not only was a ghost the perfect spy, but Liz was the same type of half-demon as that kid from this morning—telekinetic, meaning she was a poltergeist. So, yes, Liz would be very useful right now; but, more than that, I just wanted to see her, make sure she was okay.
    “That necklace is supposed to prevent you from seeing ghosts, right?” Tori asked after a few moments of unsuccessful summoning.
    Simon opened his mouth to tell her off for interrupting, but I cut him short.
    “Obviously I still see them,” I said. “Either it doesn’t work or things would be a lot worse without it, something I’m sure I’ll test eventually. I want to talk to Margaret about it.”
    “Okay, but if it keeps ghosts away, maybe that’s why Liz isn’t coming.”
    She had a point. And yet…I fingered the necklace. If it did work, what else was it keeping at bay? Something worse than that telekinetic half-demon kid?
    “Why