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“Pick up your bracelet and you’ll see.”
How did she expect me to pick anything up? It wasn’t like I had real hands any longer, only the illusion. Thinking I would show Maxie how stupid her suggestion was, I scooped my fingers into the open drawer—and felt the silver and coral, wonderfully solid. I brought the bracelet up and stared at the hazy reflection in the glass window of the microwave: a shimmering blue light in which a bracelet dangled, apparently suspended in midair. I was too amazed to say a word.
Maxie tossed her blond hair with a smirk. “Told ya.”
“How is this even possible?”
“Material objects that we bonded to strongly before we died—like the door of your house, maybe, or a diary or in your case some jewelry you cared about a whole lot—connect us to the real world. You’re lucky, too, because that’s coral. Coral is one of the most powerful materials for us, because we’ve got something in common. Can you guess what it is?”
“We were both once alive.” I touched the red coral and imagined its life beneath the sea, so long ago.
Maxie didn’t look thrilled that I’d guessed correctly and stolen her thunder. “Well. All of us can use things and places like that. Since you’re a born wraith, one of the pure ones, I guess you’ll be pretty good at it. With a lot of practice, you might be able to do something with that bracelet. See why I told you not to let Lucas bury it with you?”
“Thanks.” For the first time my gratitude was completely sincere. Instead of lording that over me, Maxie dropped her eyes, almost bashful. “What do you mean, ‘do something?’”
“I’ve heard that wraiths like you—well, you might be able to get a physical body back, at least for a little while. Supposedly it takes a lot of practice—though….”
Maxie’s voice trailed off as I concentrated hard on the bracelet in my grip. I remembered Lucas giving it to me, the love between us on that day, and that made the stones seem even more real. First I willed all my strength into the hand holding the bracelet and—to my amazement—the hand appeared in the reflection. The solidity swept through me, like a warm sort of shudder, and then I stood there, my reflection identical to the way it had been a few days ago when I lived, albeit a little paler. A smile spread across my face as I knocked against the wall and heard it thump, then tossed the covers on the bed and watched them obediently flip back.
“Well, that was quick,” Maxie said crossly.
“I have a body.” I laughed, and it felt like a laugh. No, it wasn’t being alive; there was no joy or warmth in this body, and I knew it wasn’t my home. But at least I had substance again. If Lucas were here, I could hug him, even kiss him; we could talk like normal people. “This is incredible.”
“You won’t be able to have a body all the time. Even Christopher can’t do that.” Maxie seemed to enjoy diminishing my pleasure, although it was beyond her power to ruin it. “And it won’t really fix anything. But at least you can get some stuff done this way.”
I sighed. “This is definitely the best thing to happen to me since I died.”
Then I wondered who this Christopher person was, but I didn’t have time to ask her about him. A car’s tires crunched on the gravel driveway, and excitement made me leap toward the door—which I now had to open instead of floating through. I believed it would be Balthazar and Lucas returning home. Surely Balthazar had thought better of taking Lucas on a hunt tonight. Instead, I saw a sunshine yellow convertible pulling up; inside rode Vic and Ranulf.
“What are they doing back?” I muttered. Maxie peeked over my shoulder. “Oh, wait—Lucas said he wrote Vic and told him I was sick. He must have convinced his parents to let him leave Tuscany so he could come back to look in on me.”
“Then he’s running a bit late,” Maxie pointed out.
Ignoring her, I turned and ran toward the driveway. She shouted, “What are you doing?”
“Saying hello to my friends!”
“You can’t just go out there—Bianca, you’re dead!”
I wondered if that meant some invisible force field or something would stop me, but it didn’t. When I bounded out into the yard, Vic’s face lit up in a grin, and Ranulf gave me a quick wave.
“Hey there, Binks,” Vic called. “Looks like you’re on the mend!”
“Vic!” I hugged him tightly, and I’d never been so glad simply to be able to hug another person. He smelled like cologne, which I usually found stinky, but it was the first thing I’d really smelled since I died. Who knew men’s cologne could smell so fantastic? “Oh, I missed you.”
“Likewise,” he said. “Sorry I woke you up. Or are you still recuperating?”
Vic was talking about the pajamas I still wore. Apparently the coral bracelet couldn’t do anything about them. “It’s kind of a long story. Also a weird story.”
“Come on.” Vic straightened his trucker cap on his head, like he was getting ready for serious business. “How much weirder could our story get?”
“You’d be surprised,” I said weakly.
Ranulf straightened, and his gaze shifted from friendliness to wariness. “Vic,” he said, “something is very different about Bianca.”
“Huh?” Vic looked between me and Ranulf, not getting it.
“She feels a little clammy, but that’s about it.”
