“Thomas…” My voice caught in my throat. “Porsche was…”
“Don’t,” he cut me off. “Just don’t, Liam. We have tried every way we can to not soil her memory. But there’s nothing I can do to fix who her friends were.”
I swallowed hard and tried to change the subject.
“Can you Shields do anything about ghosts?”
“Excuse me?”
“Ghosts. I think I have a ghost in my theater. Any chance you can help me out?”
Thomas was silent a moment, thinking.
“It depends. If the ghost is a residual energy from the other side, then we cannot do anything. But if it’s a soul, trapped there, then we have the same effect on it as we do on other supernatural creatures. Ghosts are powerful creatures with a lot of knowledge, because they see and hear things others do not. If you have a ghost, it might be able to assist you.”
I nearly dropped the phone in surprise. “You can make it human?”
“If it’s a soul trapped in this world, then we can make it more solid, yes. We can’t make it human, Liam, because we can’t raise the dead. If we could…”
“Can Sarah do it?” I asked quickly, my heart pounding. “Would she be strong enough to do it?”
“Doubtful. Those Shields were always weak, while De Ritter Shields leave residual energy after they die, they are so powerful,” Thomas almost boaster. “Who’s the ghost?”
“Amy’s mother,” I blurted out. “At least… we think it is.”
“Ah.” There was silence and then I heard Thomas sigh. “Your O’Malley Shield wouldn’t be strong enough, no. But if I have your word of honor, I’ll send you the Cameron’s active Shield, Larissa. But if anything happens to her, Liam, so much as a scratch…”
“Nothing will happen to her,” I replied. “Nothing, I promise.”
“It’ll be to your disadvantage as much as ours, for your allies will be weakened. She’ll be by your office in the morning.”
“Thank you,” I said hurriedly, and we said our goodbyes.
I hung up the phone and left my office door open as I bolted down the hallway, phone to my ear, with Amy’s number ringing.
Hi, you’ve reached Amy. I’m unable to come to the phone right now…
Of course you are, I thought bitterly. She probably saw my caller ID and threw her phone against the wall. Annoyed, I rounded the corner to the cafeteria and found Sarah, who had recently rejoined the world of the living, first by piling her plate high with cafeteria food.
“Need you,” I said.
She raised an eyebrow, giving me a look of annoyance. “After I eat.”
“Can’t wait.” I was practically hopping from one foot to the other.
Annoyed, Sarah left her full plate and followed me to the theater.
“Everyone out!” I called to the dance rehearsal that was happening in there.
They gave me a startled look, but I was in no mood for games as I waved them out and promised them extra rehearsal time later. Once they were gone, I dimmed the lights.
“What the hell is happening?” Sarah asked, her arms crossed. “Because Amy’s not talking to you right now, so I’m not supposed to either.”
“If Amy jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” I asked, pulling her to the spot where Porsche had died.
I remembered Thomas’s boast echoing in my head. De Ritter Shields are so powerful they leave residual energy, even after they die. If residual energy worked the way I hoped it did, then Sarah could combine whatever power she had with whatever Porsche had left me. And knowing my ballerina, if she had any control over it, she would make it work.
I turned off the last bank of lights, making sure Sarah was standing in the right spot.
“Alright. Now concentrate.”
“On what?” she asked, her voice sharp.
“On… whatever it is Shields do to make themselves more powerful. I don’t know, Porsche never did anything.”
“And I don’t know how to do anything!” she protested.
I hushed her and looked around, checking out every corner of the rafters, every fold in the curtain.
For a while, nothing happened. And then, slowly, I felt the theater go colder.
It started around my feet, a white mist swirling, almost as if someone had turned on our fog machine. It crawled up my ankles, and then disappeared. I glanced at Sarah.
“Concentrate harder!”
She rolled her eyes, but did whatever it is she needed to do. The mist started again, crawling up my ankles and then rising, surrounding me before floating a few feet away. Slowly, it began to take the shape of a person, a woman, with shoulder-length hair, of average height, who bore the same features that I knew so well. They could be sisters, in the wrong light. And those eyes, those eyes that had often saved me, bore into me as it solidified.
“Hello, Liam,” said Amy’s mother. “I have been looking forward to meeting you.”
Chapter 19: Amy
“Amy! Amy! Amy! Amy!”
I had never been so annoyed in my life then when Sarah began pounding on my door at 8 am. For the last week, I hadn’t done much except stay in my room. I didn’t know whether it was a placebo effect or an actual effect of the disease, but I had been feeling lousy all week. And no one, not even my best friend, questioned the girl who now had AIDS. If I wanted to stay in bed most of the time then I could.
But apparently, Sarah had enough.
I dragged myself out of bed and opened the door. My head hurt, likely from lying down for twelve hours, and I winced as the light hit me.
“What the hell?” If she was here to tell me yet another thing about how sweet Connor was, I was going to kill her.
Grudgingly, I realized I was starting to sound like Liam. We had certainly spent too much time together.
“Get dressed.” She was super excited. “I have to show you something I found last week.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You found something last week and you are just telling me now?”
“Well, we had to make it… better first.”
“We?” I narrowed my eyes. “Who’s we?”
“Me…. myself and I,” she replied in a way that told me Liam was involved.
I shook my head and almost closed the door on her face, but she reached through the gap and grabbed my arm.
“No, Amy, please. You’ll like it.”
“Sarah…” I turned to meet her eyes, but she didn’t have a hint of humor in them. She was serious.