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The sudden chill in the air made Skye’s skin prickle, and she wrapped her arms more tightly around herself as the cold became almost painful. Her lamp flickered, the electricity failing, but the light didn’t die out. Instead it changed into an eerie blue-green color that seemed to shimmer, almost as if they were underwater.
She remembered one of Dakota’s last photos from Australia, a scene from an underwater cave, and she wondered if this was what he’d seen before he died. Terror and sorrow seized her at the same time, paralyzing her.
At least, until the ceiling started to move.
“Oh, my God.” Skye backed toward Balthazar; she didn’t know what was happening, but knew she wanted him close. “What’s going on?”
“We just got a lot safer.”
Startled, she looked up at him. Balthazar’s face was alight, like he’d just been given the most marvelous gift in the world.
The rippling on the ceiling broke free, came forward, took shape. First it was a swirling, glittering shape, like a cyclone of snowflakes, but then it acquired the form of a young woman with flowing red hair and wide, gentle eyes—but not just any woman. Balthazar said her name first: “Bianca.”
“I like your room,” Bianca said. “It reminds me a little of the one I had back in my hometown.”
Skye, still not sure she was able to speak, nodded. Bianca seemed to understand her shyness; at any rate, she didn’t press Skye for more, just turned back to Balthazar, who hadn’t stopped grinning at her. He said, “I’m glad you could make it. I didn’t really have a plan B.”
“You usually come up with something,” she said, folding herself up on the window seat beside Balthazar. Bianca seemed more at ease in her pajamas than Skye was in hers—and more comfortable with Balthazar, too.
Dim memories of Evernight Academy gossip floated back to her, stuff she hadn’t paid much attention to at the time. Skye had known that Balthazar was dating someone during her second year at Evernight. She was still in love with Craig at the time, so Balthazar was just a hot guy for her to get a thrill out of walking past in the hallways. It hadn’t mattered which girl he was with. But now, as she watched them together, Skye was pretty sure Balthazar had been with Bianca.
As in Bianca, girlfriend of Lucas, the single best guy friend Skye had ever had.
As in Bianca, the ghost Skye had saved at Evernight.
How was it possible for her day to get even weirder?
Skye asked the first question that came to mind: “Where’s Lucas?”
Though Bianca had already been smiling, her expression took on a greater light, a greater tenderness, than before. Any doubts Skye had about Bianca’s loyalty toward Lucas faded in that instant. “He’s up in Maine with some friends. We’re lying low for a while. Taking some time to just be together. These past few months were hard.” A shadow seemed to dim Bianca’s unearthly translucence, but only for a moment. “Lucas says he doesn’t care about the cold or the snow or anything. He’s enjoying being alive. And I’m enjoying being with him.”
“That’s good,” Skye said. Lucas had been so angry and wounded last year; it was a relief to hear that he’d found peace.
“He says hi, by the way,” Bianca added. “And he’s sorry he couldn’t get here himself. I travel faster than most people.”
“Yeah, looks like it.” Which was as close to a joke as Skye could manage. Growing up with a ghost in her house had been one thing; sitting around in her room calmly chatting with one was another. Plus there was a vampire on her window seat. Her whole definition of weird was changing fast.
Bianca’s face shifted into delighted surprise, and she disappeared from Balthazar’s side—only to reappear across the room. “You have one of Raquel’s collages!”
“Oh, yeah. Right! I saw her making this in one of the arts rooms at Evernight our first year there, and I raved about it so much she ended up giving it to me. Mostly to shut me up, I think.” Talking to a ghost was feeling more natural all the time. Skye joined Bianca by the collage, which showed several guys making dramatic gestures or big faces, with a ticked-off girl in the center. “Raquel titled this Save Your Drama for Your Girlfriend.”
“I love her stuff,” Bianca said. More quietly—not hiding her words from Balthazar, but making it clear that she was speaking only to Skye now—she added, “Lucas told me about the visions you’ve been having.”
“Do you know what it is? How to stop it?”
Bianca shook her head. “You’re unique, so far as any of us know—which isn’t that far.”
Skye hadn’t really expected any other reply, but the disappointment hit her harder than she would’ve thought. Maybe it was only that so many bizarre, frightening issues were piling up on her at once; she would have been so relieved to get an answer to any one of them.
“You probably had some innate ability to begin with,” Bianca continued, “but when your mind was opened to the world of the dead for so long, when I possessed you—something profound changed inside you.”
“Something profoundly awful,” Skye muttered.
Gently, Bianca added, “What I do know is that this happened to you because you saved me at Evernight. I know that’s not a risk you meant to take. I just wanted to say… I don’t even know what to say. That I’m sorry, I guess. And that I’m more grateful than you can ever know.”
“I knew it was a risk. I took my chances. We all got out of there, so it worked.” Somehow, putting it like this made Skye feel better. It was better to consider the death-sight as the natural result of something brave she’d done, instead of scary visions from out of nowhere. She decided to always try thinking of it that way from now on.
“It’s getting late,” Balthazar said. His attention was fixed outside the window now. Had he seen something? “After midnight. Sometimes that’s when Redgrave likes to strike.”
