The minute the pointer moved over the W my palms broke out in sweat. I pulled my hand back to wipe it on my pants and the pointer followed me, b.u.mping into my knee. I noticed Rhiannon"s fingers were not on it.
She sucked in a breath. "I"ve never seen it do that before. It"s like he knows your every move."
I swiftly returned my fingers.
"Wesley," Rhiannon asked. "Can you see us?"
Y-E-S.
"What am I wearing?" she asked.
R-E-D.
Looking at Rhiannon"s red tank top, I shivered.
"Where are you? Can you show us?"
Panicked, I threw her a desperate look. This was getting scary. My dream came back to me and I envisioned a large creature emerging from the board. The candle closest to me went out. Plumes of smoke rose from it, circling in the air. I froze.
Rhiannon nodded to me. "Wesley, last time you came you said you had a message for Kenzie but you weren"t able to give it. Can you do that now?"
D-A-V-I-D.
My hands trembled violently. "What can you tell me about my dad?"
J-O-S-I-E.
I paused. What did Mom have to do with this?
"Does my mom know where my dad is?"
Y-E-S.
Blood pulsed through my head making it hard to hear. I felt dizzy, hot. What did this mean? All this time I thought my dad didn"t want anything to do with me, but maybe it was my mom"s fault.
"Did my dad leave because he didn"t want me?"
N-O.
"Then why?"
J-O-S-I-E.
There it was again. The truth written out, clear as day.
"How do you know my dad?"
The pointer stilled.
"Wesley!"
Nothing. He was gone.
"Can we get him back? Can we summon him?"
"Kenzie, you need to relax."
My body was shaking. I knew I looked manic, but I didn"t care. I needed more answers.
"I can"t believe my mom"s been lying to me all this time."
"Look, Kenzie. I don"t want you to get all crazy about this, okay? It may not even be true."
"What do you mean? He was really here. You saw. He blew out the candle."
"I"m not saying there wasn"t really a spirit here. But sometimes the spirits lie. They make up things. They cause trouble. They"re not all good."
"But how could he know all those things?"
"I"m not saying that he doesn"t have knowledge of your family, but he may not have all the facts straight. I mean, you"ve never seen your dad, right?"
I shook my head.
"And your mom raised you, right?"
I nodded.
"Then looking at this objectively, it seems like your dad bailed."
"But Wesley said--"
"Forget about what Wesley said. Look at the facts. If your dad wanted to see you he"s had seventeen years to do that. Look, it"s fun to talk with spirits but you never know if you"re talking with a good one or a bad one. You have to take everything they say with a grain of salt."
"Do you think Wesley is my dad? Like, maybe he"s been dead all these years and trying to find me."
"I don"t know. I suppose it"s a possibility. But then again, last time he said that your dad wasn"t dead."
"Yeah, but you said sometimes they lie."
"That"s true." She stood, stretching her legs. "You want something to eat. I"m hungry."
"Yeah, sure." I actually wasn"t hungry at all, but I followed her into the kitchen anyway. Rhiannon opened up the fridge and stuck her head inside.
"You know, sometimes I feel like there"s a presence around me, like an invisible person or force guiding me. Does that make sense?"
Rhiannon poked her head out. "Totally. That"s what first drew me to you. It was obvious that you were spiritually sensitive. I could tell right away."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh. What sounds good? I can make sandwiches."
"That"s fine."
"Ham and cheese?"
"Yeah."
"Here." She handed me a diet soda.
"Thanks." I popped the top and poured the dark liquid into my mouth. After swallowing I said, "Do you think that presence could"ve been Wesley?"
"It"s possible." Rhiannon spread mayonnaise on four slices of bread. "But let me ask you this. If you"re so sure this spirit is your dad why is his name Wesley, not David?"
"Maybe he was afraid I wouldn"t want to talk to him if I knew he were my dad. Or maybe Wesley"s his last name."
She put ham over the mayo. "You don"t know your dad"s last name?"
"No. I don"t know anything about him." I sighed.
"Here you go." She handed me a sandwich. I thanked her and then forced myself to take a bite even though my stomach was in knots.
That night I decided to call Mom and see if I could coax information out of her about Dad. An audible groan escaped through my lips when I reached her voice mail. I pictured her in a short miniskirt and high heels, hitting the town with Carol.
Maybe Haley would be home. I dialed her number and she picked up on the second ring.
The minute she said h.e.l.lo I could tell something was wrong. I rested my head on my pillow, holding the phone to my ear. "What"s the matter?"
"Oh, I don"t know." A heavy sigh filled the line. "Something"s going on with Derek. He"s been acting really strange lately."
"How?"
"He"s always busy. He never has time for me."
That didn"t sound good. Before I left those two were inseparable. I envisioned my best friend alone, and the picture tugged at my heart.
"I wish you were here," she said.
"I know. I miss you too, Hales."
"It"s so frustrating because he won"t tell me what"s wrong but it"s obvious that something is."
"Have you tried to talk to him about it?"
"Yeah, but he acts like everything"s fine."
"Well, maybe it is."
"Yeah, then why am I spending almost every night at home while he"s out?"
"I don"t know."
"Whatever. Enough about me. What"s up with you?"
"Nothing much."
"Really? Nothing new with the hot neighbor boy?"
"We"re not really seeing each other anymore."
"Why? What happened?"
"I found out he wasn"t who I thought he was."
"Sounds like both of our love lives are in the toilet."
"Yeah, I guess. Well, at least we have each other."
"Always," Haley said.
The house was pitch black and silent except for the sound of Grandma"s light snores that traveled down the hallway and slipped under my bedroom door. I tossed and turned, chasing sleep but never catching it. My mind was whirring. The events of the afternoon replayed themselves over and over in my head. I never believed in ghosts before and now suddenly I was speaking to one. I should"ve been terrified. I should"ve run away as fast as I could. Instead, I was intrigued.
In the past I never thought much about the supernatural world but now I could hardly think of anything else. I wondered where Wesley was right then. Were spirits all around us? Were they stuck in some kind of alternate universe? Were they watching us all the time?
The thought unnerved and yet excited me at the same time. Was it possible that Wesley was my dad and he"d been watching over me my whole life? All those times I thought he"d abandoned me and that he didn"t love me, he could"ve been trying to reach me from beyond the grave. For years I"d imagined he had another family, complete with a wife and two little children. I pictured him playing with them, going to their soccer games and back-to-school nights, while I went to all those things fatherless.
I distinctly remember the father-daughter dance I had to miss in junior high. All my friends talked for weeks about the dresses they purchased and the corsage their dad bought for them. They pa.s.sed out tickets at school that I promptly ripped into tiny pieces and threw into trash. In the weeks leading up to the dance I sulked around the house, snapping at Mom anytime she spoke to me. I blamed her for the fact that I didn"t have a dad. I was sure she had done something awful to make him go away.
Haley bought a floor-length gown. She hid it in her closet and didn"t mention a word about it, but one night when I was over I happened upon it. I read the pity on her face and it made me even angrier. I didn"t want to be pitied. I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to go to the dance with my dad.
The night of the dance arrived and my stomach hurt like I had the flu. Except I knew I wasn"t physically sick; just heart sick. Mom somehow found out about the dance and stayed home with me that night. She ordered in a sausage and pepperoni pizza because it was my favorite. She rented a movie and made popcorn and hot chocolate. When we sat together on the couch to watch the movie I started to cry. Mom put her arm around me. She never said a word, just held me.
That night I realized that even though Mom had her issues, she loved me. On what should"ve been the worst night of my life, she was there for me. I may not have had a dad but at least I had a mom who had stuck around.
Now there was the possibility that my dad hadn"t left me by choice. I knew I needed to find out the truth, no matter the cost.
Chapter Eight.
I couldn"t believe he came back. He sure was persistent.
"Hi Kenzie," Isaac stood in the doorway, running a hand over his hair. "I was hoping we could talk."