Page 325 of Under Her Skin

Dragging the other red bag that’s also full of presents behind me, I follow Blaine as he goes down the hallway to the first room on the right. Tammy’sroom.

Here’s where we’ll see if we’re pulling things off. If any of his four favorites can tell it’s us, then we shouldn’t try to go into Meagan’s room. I’m interested to see if her mother, Patsy, is able to tell it’s us aswell.

Tammy has her long, blonde wig on as we come inside her room. Her mother is videoing us as Blaine says, “Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas,Tammy!”

I made sure to give every child’s name to all the Santas so they could amaze the kids further. I think it was genius on mypart!

“Santa, you are real?” she shouts, then gets off her bed and runs to hug him. “I was afraid you’d just be a man in asuit.”

“Nonsense, little Tammy,” Blaine says with a resounding, deep, thumping voice. “Now, let me see what I have for you. Excuse me, my little elf helper. I do believe you have her present in yourbag.”

I open the bag, find the gift with her name on it, and hand it to him. Then I make an attempt at talking very high and elf-like, “Here you go,Santa.”

Tammy giggles and looks at me. “Your voice sounds like you’ve been sucking on a heliumballoon.”

I giggle with the same high tone to my voice. “Thank you,Tammy!”

If we didn’t have to go into Meagan’s room, I’d actually love this.But we do, so I’m still more nervous than I’ve ever been in mylife!

Chapter7

BLAINE

With the majority of the kids behind us, we come to Meagan’s door. Her mother’s the only one at it as she smiles at us, then pushes the door open. “Won’t you come in, Santa? I have a little girl here who is so excited to seeyou.”

I smile and nod. “Is Meagan ready to see Santa?” We head into the dimly-lit room. Mrs. Sanders closes the door behind us and stays on the other side to make sure we aren’t interrupted byanyone.

“Santa?” Meagan asks with a weak voice. “Is that reallyyou?”

We get close to her, and I run my hand over her head. A red bow has been taped to her hairless scalp, and I see a mere shell of the little girl I visited not that longago.

“Yes, it’s Santa, Meagan. I brought you a gift from the North Pole,” I tell her. “Can you get Meagan’s gift,elf?”

Delaney shuffles through the bag, taking her time like I asked her to, in order to give the little girl time to see if anything comes through. Meagan’s eyes have dark circles under them and she looks so tired. “Santa, can you tell mesomething?”

“Anything, Meagan,” I say and watch her reaching out for myhand.

“Can you take off your glove and hold my hand?” she asksme.

With a nod, I pull the glove off and hold my hand out to her. “Santa, can you tell me if you know a man namedBlaine?”

Delaney stops digging through the bag and looks at us. I can tell she’s freaking out that Meagan has recognized me somehow. Her mind must be sputtering with what to donow.

“I do know a man named Blaine,” I tell her as she peers up atme.

“Good. Crystal’s telling me that I can tell you what she has to say. She told me you will let him know. You will let him know, right, Santa?” she asks, then looks just over my rightshoulder.

I get a cold chill and feel my back going colder than I ever recall feeling before. “I will deliver whatever message you have for him. Who isCrystal?”

“She’s this very pretty angel who’s staying with me most of the time. She has little freckles across her nose. Her eyes are shiny and green. She’s nice and she promises me there’s nothing to be afraid of if I have to make the transition. If my body doesn’t getbetter.”

I feel a trickle of adrenaline move through me as cold air stirs near my right ear. “Is she here with younow?”

“Listen closely, and you might hear her. She’s trying to talk to you. You should close your eyes and listen as hard as you can,” she tells me, and I do as she’s said to and concentrate harder than I’ve ever donebefore.

I can’t hear a thing, but my ear is growing numb with the freezing air that’s hitting it. The sound of a picture being taken makes me open my eyes, and I see Delaney has out her cell phone and is taking pictures ofme.

She isn’t saying a word, then she puts the phone down. With that mask on, I have no idea what her expression is and no idea why she took pictures ofme.