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distinctly heard the words “Is someone there?”
    As I watched in awed silence, the shadow’s face became clearer, more detailed—until I screamed.
    It was Celia.
    And this time it wasn’t a dream.

Whit
    “CELIA!” I CALLED OUT, but my throat felt raw and my voice seemed to get snatched away from me again, not to mention that my knees had begun to knock.
    Celia froze, looking all around, like she didn’t see me standing right there a few feet away from her.
    “Celia! It’s me, Whit. I can see you. I’m here.
Wherever this is.
”
    Suddenly her eyes locked on mine. She blinked. Blinked a second time. Then she stepped back in surprise.
    “It’s me. I’m really here. You said we’d meet again. For real.”
    On the other side, Wisty was still calling my name, yelling for me to come back. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Celia. Her skin seemed even paler than in my dreams. But her eyes still shone, spoke the truth to me, and she was as beautiful as ever, maybe even more beautiful. She had this inner light.
    “Whit?” She licked her lips—a familiar nervous habit of hers—and finally came closer. “Whit, I can see you now. How did you—where are you?”
    “Believe it or not, I’m in the bathroom of a cell in a mental hospital,” I said, my words spinning away from me. I felt like I had to reach out to her. Maybe I could pull Celia back with me. “But where are you?”
    Celia gave me the oddest look, and a cold hand grabbed at my heart.
    “Whit,” she whispered urgently, “you have to go right now. You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous!”
    “Why?!” I burst out.
    “I’m sorry,” Celia began, “but I have to tell you what really happened to me.” Then her voice broke, and she started to cry. “They murdered me. They said… it was because of you and your sister. It happened at the Hospital, Whit. The New Order and The One Who Is The One—he’s behind this. He’s so awful, so powerful.”
    I was crying now too. My body was shaking and numb at the extremities. “I see you. You said we’d meet. And you’re here with me.
You’re not dead, Celia.
”
    “Don’t come here again, Whit,” she warned. “This is the Shadowland. It’s a place for spirits. That’s what I am now. I’m a ghost.”

Whit
    “WHIT, COME BACK here this second!
Whitford!
”
    Suddenly I felt Wisty’s wiry arms loop really tight around my waist. “Wisty, no!” I tried to push her off, but she’d always been like a limpet, able to cling, and strong. I could feel her brace her feet against the wall, and then she pulled as hard as she could, even as I fought against her.
    Either I wasn’t as strong as I used to be, or Wisty was stronger than ever. She yanked me out of the wall, away from Celia, and we both flew across the room. We hit hard against the opposite wall.
    We got ourselves untangled, but I rushed back to the wall like somebody possessed.
    “Whit, no!” Wisty yelled.
“NO! No, Whit. Please.”
    “Celia!” I screamed, my lips pressed against the cool surface. “Come back!” I pushed at the wall. Pounded it. Tried to put my fist through it. I couldn’t get inside again. Finally I gave up and broke down.
    Wisty just stared at me, with both hands clasped on top of her head. She had every reason to believe that I’d gone over the edge for good.
    “Wisty, I saw Celia.”
    “What?”
She stared blankly. “In the
wall?
”
    I told her everything that I’d seen, everything Celia said. How she’d been killed because of us. How she was a ghost now.
    Wisty was speechless as she tried to process the next unbelievable twist in our lives:
I had seen and talked to a ghost.
    Then I heard the sound of the door to our cell being unlocked.

Wisty
    THE MATRON BARGED IN and informed us we were going back to see Judge Ezekiel Unger, of all people. Maybe there had been a mistake, and we weren’t the witch and wizard? Or our parents had interceded somehow? Whatever it was, something major had happened.