Page 41 of Paper Ghosts

Mim dropped her hands. Then she moved her knee and Bailey’s hand fell away. She took a moment to compose herself, and then she said, “Leave, Bailey.”

“But what were you going to tell me?”

“I swore I wouldn’t make the mistakes my grandmother made. But I already have, and I almost did again. So I can’t tell you. And I can’t allow you to live in this house any longer, the way my grandmother allowed me to. I want you to leave.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do.”

She waited for her to say more, but Mim simply stared straight ahead, all her raw emotion gone. Bailey still couldn’t get her mind around it. “You can’t just kick me out.”

Mim took a deep breath and let the air out through her mouth. “I’ll tell your father exactly what happened tonight if you don’t go.”

Bailey’s body gave a start.

“We both know him well enough to know he’ll blame himself,” Mim continued. It sounded practiced, as if she had sized up Bailey long ago and calculated the most effective way to control this particular outcome. “He’ll think it was because he came back. He won’t recover this time. You have no idea what it took for him to ask to return here after your mother died. He almost didn’t survive. After this graduation trip with him, you can suddenly decide you want to go to college after all. It doesn’t matter what you do, just make it convincing.”

Bailey stared her, her stomach knotting. She saw it so clearly now, the thing Mim never talked about, the thing she’d always kept hidden from Bailey. And it had nothing to do with a secret love. It was what being a Wester really was. It was deliberately finding soft spots and exploiting them to get what you wanted, no matter who you hurt. It was this calculated knowing. It was the legacy of Mim’s own grandmother, the original Witch of Wester House. Mim had sequestered herself away from everyone, trying to make it seem like she wasn’t as hideous. But she was, and Bailey would never be able to imitate it.

For the first time in her life, she was glad.

“It was one mistake,” she whispered as the house of cards finally collapsed.

Mim only shook her head.

Bailey finally got up and went to the shelf where the Andy Smooth and the Silks album was. She took it and shook the photograph out. “What about this?” she said, tossing the photo in Mim’s lap. “You broke your own rules once. And I bet he didn’t try to kill you.”

Mim stared at the photo before picking it up slowly. A muscle in her cheek twitched, but she didn’t respond.

“Did you ever love me? Do you even know how?” Bailey could feel her throat grow thick with tears. This was it. No more Mim. No more Wester House. “Just tell me that.”

“We both love you,” she said softly.

Bailey didn’t believe her. No matter what you’re capable of, you don’t hurt people you care about. And this was not a normal response to someone you love being in pain. She walked away before she broke down completely. “I know Daddy does. He would never do this.”

“I wasn’t referring to your father,” Mim said as the door closed.

PART THREEPlay

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Willamena woke up and snapped on the light in her bedroom, illuminating Jack sitting on the tufted chaise longue in the corner. Years shifted back and forth, and for a moment she couldn’t settle on what time line she was in, because he always looked the same. The same soulful eyes. The same mustache and dark hair. The same bell bottoms and shirt. Even the same yellow rose.

I’m talking about ghosts, Willamena, she heard her grandmother say, somewhere in time.

But when? she wondered, disoriented. When did she say that?

It was that night. That crackling, rainy night when Jack came to her and told her he loved her. She was going to run away with him. But she didn’t, did she?

No. He fell down the staircase.

So why was he here?

I’m talking about ghosts, Willamena.

After the fall, when Willamena woke the next morning, she remembered turning to see her grandmother waiting. Jack was standing behind her.

She called out his name and reached for him, relieved that he was okay, but her grandmother immediately said, No, that’s not him. He’s in the basement. This is what we can do, Willamena. We can see them. None of them stay forever, but when you discover who they are, when you really concentrate, you can talk to them and they will tell you things they’ve seen and heard. It will serve you well in this town. No one will ever cross you again.