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I ’m walking out of French placement (turned out I was rusty. Surprise, surprise.) when my phone rings. It’s pretty much only Ellis who calls me, so I’m not surprised when I see her name on caller ID .

“Hey there gorgeous,” I say as I pick up the phone .

It’s not weird. During our senior year, Ellis and I and a few other friends had sworn off boys. We’d had enough drama. We would send each other flowers, call each other beautiful , stick notes in each other’s lockers, surprise each other with lavish birthday presents, and go to dances together. We had been way better fake boyfriends than any guy I’d dated…although there were some parts that had remained missing .

Ellis apparently has forgotten that pact, though. She’s all about the boys now .

“Hey,” Levi says cautiously .

Actually, it is weird after all .

“Why are you calling from my sister’s phone?” I ask, cheeks blazing. I don’t want him to think I’m… ugh…he’s like my brother now !

“We’re kind of in the middle of something,” he says. Behind him, in the distance, I hear what sounds like some kind of alarm .

“What are you guys doing?” My heart races just listening to whatever the racket is on the other end of the line. I wish I was there with them .

“We found a lead on another true psychic near you,” he says. “Her name is Nora Laurence. Just wanted to call and let you know so you can talk to her about your ghost if you don’t want our help .”

“It sounds like you need my help .”

“Everything’s fine,” Levi says, right before he rattles off an address .

I scrawl it on the back of my hand because I don’t have time to get a notebook out of my backpack. “Can I talk to my sister ?”

“Sure.” The sound of the background noise changes as Levi cups the phone with his hand, ever polite. “Nim! You’ve got company on the south side .”

“Which way is south?” Nim calls back, distant and grouchy .

“Your seven o’clock. Ellis, she wants to talk to you .”

Long seconds hang, and then Ellis grabs the phone. She’s breathing hard. “Are you all right ?”

“ Are you ?”

“I’m good,” she says cheerfully .

“Do you need me ?”

“No,” she says. There’s a sudden violent clash of metal-on-metal, near the phone. “How’s everything going with Jax ?”

“Uhh. I can’t talk about boys while it sounds like you’re in some kind of fight-to-the-death over there .”

“It’s all good,” she says. “We’re mopping up now .”

“I think I made things weird with Jax,” I confess in a rush. “He’s so sweet but…I’m so preoccupied with my ghost. It makes me awkward .”

“It’ll take time to let go of the past,” Ellis says sympathetically .

It takes me a second to figure out what she means. She thinks I’m haunted by the memories of the Far; I don’t seem to have any. I only have bad dreams and a sense of foreboding. “I mean my literal ghost, Ellis .”

I can imagine the face she pulls in the silence that follows, before she says, “Well, I’m not wrong .”

“I feel bad lying to him .”

“Just plan to tell him the truth when you know he’s trustworthy,” she says. “You don’t have to feel like you’re lying to him, you’re just waiting for him to prove himself .”

“I can’t ever do that.” My tone comes out scandalized. “The truth is crazy .”

“And so are you,” she says. “But that never stopped Jax before .”

I chew on my thumbnail, hoping she’s right. I don’t think I could ever have a future with someone who didn’t know about my past .

“Are you going to see Nora? Do you want me to come with ?”

“No,” I say quickly. “I’ve got another ride .”

“Call me later and tell me how visiting the medium goes,” she says .

After we hang up, I head toward my advisor meeting. But the memory of my ghost’s anguished face keeps nagging at me. The way she screamed, so full of fury and desperation, still rings in my ears .

If I can hear her scream, why can’t she talk to me ?

There’s no way I can sit through a serious discussion of electives and accounting right now, and I’ve already heard that lots of freshmen skip their advisor meetings, so I join the badly-behaved horde. I go back to my quiet dorm room—does my new roomie ever leave her boyfriend’s side?—and Google the address .

I need a car, but I don’t want my sister and her boyfriends to come along for the ride .

I make my way down the hall to Jax’s room. I don’t expect him to open it when I knock, but he does. He cracks the door open a little and leans into the hall, so that his tall, lean frame is silhouetted in the doorway. His face brightens when he sees me. Maybe I haven’t scared him off yet with my eight different kinds of crazy .

“Can I borrow your car?” I blurt out. Might as well test my luck .

“Wow, that is quite the way to say hello .”

“I’ll make it up to you .”

His eyebrows rise .

“Somehow,” I add .

“I’ve never asked you to make anything up to me before,” he says mildly. His tone is gentle, but his words still sting. They remind me of all those lattes, the car rides he gave me in high school, the way he was always there for me even though I knew I wasn’t going to return his feelings .

I’ve wanted to be the old Ashley again, but the old Ashley was kind of a jerk .

“Hi,” I say. “Can we start over? With hi ?”

“Hi, Ash.” His tone is mischievous. He holds the door open for me, his arm braced above my head. He’s tall enough that I barely have to duck to slide past him into his room .

“I need to talk to a psychic,” I say. “Which I know sounds crazy. But all that stuff that happened in my past? I think she might be able to shed some light on it .”

There’s a lie that isn’t a lie .

“And you need to do that right now?” he asks .

I nod. “I know it seems crazy .”

“Yep.” He scoops his car keys off his desk. “I’m not loaning you my car, Ashley Landon .”

My heart sinks .

“But I’ll drive you,” he says. “I’ll wait in the car if you need me to. I remember you rear-ending a parked school bus. You’re crazy if you think I’m handing you these keys .”

“It was in my blind spot .”

“It was bright yellow !”

Bickering comfortably, the two of us head out across the sunny quad to the freshmen parking lot .