Read Online A Perfect Storm by Phoebe Rivers and Erin McGuire - Free Book Online

invite the old Duggan this time—”
    She shook her head. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way.”
    â€œBut how do you know?” I pressed. “I mean, can’t we try at least?”
    â€œSara, please believe me that I know what I am talking about here. I have a lot of experience with this. As I said, my late husband, Richard, comes to me in various forms. Believe me when I tell you I have tried to send back the very young Richard when he appears, and trade him in, so to speak, for my favorite Richard, in his midfifties. But I cannot do so. And in the process I have managed to really confuse the spirit who is with me.”
    I believed her, of course. And I could imagine that it would be pretty confusing for a spirit, who maybe didn’t even grasp that he was a spirit in the first place, to be asked to leave and come back as himself thirtyyears later. I swallowed my bitter disappointment and decided to head over to Lily’s.
    I told her everything, of course.
    We were up in her room, packing boxes full of shoes that Lily and her mother had collected from the basement for a clothing drive. Buddy, the Randazzo family dog, lay sprawled on the floor among all the shoes, sound asleep and snoring contentedly. Lily sat on the floor next to him, one hand on his head, the other holding a pink sneaker in her hand. She looked at it thoughtfully. “I have an idea,” she said.
    I looked up from my box and sat back on my heels. From the tone of her voice, it sounded like it might be a big idea. I waited expectantly.
    â€œWhy don’t you and I try to conjure him with my spirit board?” she suggested.
    I grimaced. “I don’t know. The last two times I’ve tried to conjure spirits have been pretty disastrous.” I realized that in all the excitement of the storm, I hadn’t yet told her about the crowd of spirits that had shown up after the session we’d had together with Lady Azura. So I filled her in on what had happened.
    Lily wouldn’t be dissuaded. “Well, this time itwouldn’t be just for the fun of it. We’d be very specifically calling to one spirit. Anyway, it’s an idea. Think it over.”
    I promised I would.
    We spent the rest of our time home from school keeping busy with post-storm cleanup. I helped Lily’s parents get their yard back in shape. There was a lot of un-prepping to do around Lily’s house: We picked up all the sticks and branches that had blown down in the yard and packed up more boxes for the clothing drive. Lily and my dad and I also helped our neighbors pick up sticks and stuff in their yards. And I took more pictures.
    I was actually happy when school resumed on Thursday morning.

Chapter 9
    Thursday morning Principal Bowman called an all-school assembly to introduce the new kids from Harbor Isle. All twenty of them stood on the stage in a clump, and Mrs. Bowman introduced them one by one.
    Mason was not among them.
    â€œI don’t see Calvin,” whispered Lily, who was sitting beside me. “I guess he’s not going to be here.”
    â€œSorry, Lil,” I said.
    Jody Jenner was there, though. The girl I’d met the week before at Scoops. There was a smattering of applause as Mrs. Bowman called out Jody’s name, and she waved to the crowd like she was the president, a big smile on her pretty face.
    Beside me, I could hear Lily grumbling under her breath.
    â€œWhat’s up?” I whispered to her.
    â€œNothing,” she whispered back. “I just don’t trust her. Something tells me she’s not as nice as everyone thinks she is.”
    I shrugged. “Well, you’ve known her longer than I have. I’ll—”
    â€œCalvin Kennedy,” called Mrs. Bowman.
    I felt Lily start. I grinned. Gave her a little elbow in the arm.
    Calvin emerged from where he’d been standing in the back of the clump. I had to admit, he really was nice-looking. I could