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The room went silent. Allie could hear the wind rustling over the building and the occasional sound of a car engine in the distance. She tried her hardest to focus like Madame Gloria urged.
Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do this? Tom’s silky voice whispered in her ear. Allie’s eyes flew open. No one had spoken. It was just her imagination. She tried to swat the memory of last night from her mind the way she’d do with some pesky fly. Concentrate, Allie. Think of…the warm smell. Only that made her think of Jean Nate, which led her back to Buela.
“Maybe if you ask the ghost a question, he’ll answer,” Phoebe said.
“Who’s the medium here?” Madame Gloria demanded.
Phoebe looked as if she’d just been struck. “Why, you of course.”
“Then kindly allow me to direct this séance in the proper fashion. Which means no talking.”
Phoebe lowered her eyes and nodded.
Allie almost felt sorry for Phoebe, except wasn’t she the one who had bragged how Madame Gloria was the best medium in the business?
A few more minutes went by. No one dared utter a peep.
“I’m getting something,” Madame Gloria said. “It’s coming back. The same feeling I had before. Great emotion. In this very spot.”
Allie tried to ignore everything else and concentrate as hard as she could. Lemons. Could she smell them? She inhaled deeply. No. No lemons. No Jean Nate. No nothing.
A faint sound interrupted Allie’s thoughts. She recognized it instantly because she’d heard just a few nights ago. It was the sound of crunching gravel. Ghosts didn’t walk on gravel. Only something alive could make that noise.
More gravel crunching. Followed by what sounded suspiciously like giggling. Allie began to get a very bad vibe.
“I’m sensing conflict,” Madame Gloria announced, oblivious to the noise. “Conflict of a very dark nature.”
That’s when the music began. Softly at first. And then the melody rose and before Allie knew it, a full blown version of Jim Morrison and The Doors singing Light My Fire was blasting away in her ear drum.
Oh no. Not again. It had to be a hallucination. Like thinking just a few minutes ago that she’d heard Tom whisper in her ear.
She scanned the table. Madame Gloria had her eyes closed and was swaying slightly from side to side as if she were in a trance. Viola and Gus seemed fascinated by Gloria’s movements. Phoebe’s eyes were shut tight and Roger looked as if he’d won the lottery. Tom, on the other hand, was still staring at her. Only now he was frowning, as if he found something suddenly strange. Could he hear the music, too?
Do you hear that? She silently mouthed to him.
He paused long enough to make her wonder if she truly was going crazy. Hear what? He mouthed back. But there was a momentary flicker in his eyes that gave him away. Liar! He could hear it, too!
“You know what,” she said to Tom.
The rest of the table turned to look at her. Woops. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“Please, Ms. Grant!” Madame Gloria said. “You’re breaking my concentration. I am the only one allowed to speak here.”
Come on baby, light my—
“I know, and I’m sorry, but don’t you hear that?” Allie asked. She glanced around the table but all she saw was confusion on their faces. Except for Tom, who shook his head at her as if to tell her no. But no what? No he couldn’t hear that (although she knew perfectly well that he could) or no she shouldn’t say anything to anyone else about it?
“Hear what?” Gloria demanded. “The only thing I hear is you talking.”
“You don’t hear the music?”
“What music?” Phoebe asked.
“Sorry,” Allie muttered. Oh lord, the music was actually getting louder now.
Come on baby, light my fire.
“Now, where was I before this latest interruption? Oh my. I’m sensing two spiritual entities, not just one! Two entities in great conflict. A struggle, you might say. A struggle going back and forth, a great flow of energy going in and out, in and out, as if…hmmm…well, that can’t be right.” Madame Gloria cleared her throat.
