Body & Soul полностью

“Yeah, yeah,” Leanne said, waving her spoon around in excitement. “Ben was being his douchey self.” She rolled her eyes. “He showed up with his hands all over that freshman. Henley? Hanley?” She scrunched her forehead in concentration, trying to remember. “You know which one I mean. And this chick freaked.” She sounded delighted.

“Hello, standing right here?” I muttered.

Leanne ignored me. “Anyway, there was this huge scene. And then she drove off and crashed her car.” She paused to give me a skeptical look. “I thought you died.”

“I was in a coma,” I said tightly.

Misty turned to me. “That was you?” she asked, sounding worried for the first time that maybe she'd let someone who was less than stable into her home.

Thanks a lot, Lily. I could feel my face burning even though I'd had nothing to do with any of that Ben Rogers stuff. I wished, for once, that I could remember this giant confrontation between Lily and Ben. I'd been at the party, but either I'd missed seeing it, or it hadn't registered as anything out of the ordinary. And given the way Ben was, it might very well have been the latter. Girls were always either fawning over him or yelling at him, postfawning. Still, while I was wearing Lily's face, it would be helpful to know if that scene had been as bad as Leanne was implying, or whether she was amplifying it for her own entertainment and my discomfort. I supposed I could have played the memory-loss card and had someone tell me exactly what had gone on, but finding a trustworthy eyewitness — in other words, not Leanne — was the trick. So I'd have to roll with it.

“That was a long time ago, and not why I'm here,” I said, shooting a death glare at Leanne, who grinned in response. “I came to make sure you were okay,” I said to Misty, which was kind of true. “You seemed really upset yesterday, and I wasn't sure if Malachi was able to help you.…” Gag. Like Malachi was helping anyone but himself.

“She was at the psychic's yesterday,” Misty said to Leanne, wrapping the end of her ponytail around her fingers, another nervous habit. “The one who's been trying to help me?”

Leanne made a sour face that could have been in response to the fact either that I'd been somewhere with Misty or that Misty was going to a psychic. Apparently more than once, I realized, as her words clicked through.

“You've been there before?” I asked incredulously.

She shrugged. “He said it would probably take a few times before he could cleanse my aura.”

Such a scammer. “Please,” I said at the same time as Leanne, who gave me a disgusted look.

Whatever. She didn't own the word.

“But he didn't come back yesterday, like, not at all,” Misty said to me. “He missed the rest of his appointments.”

“Sweetie, I told you, he's only after your money,” Leanne said with a condescending smile. “Someone was probably on to him, and he bailed.”

Wow. So Leanne and I actually agreed on something. Though she'd obviously let Misty go to Malachi in the first place, which I would not have allowed.

“No.” Misty shook her head vigorously. “I'm telling you he's for real. He knew stuff about me and about her.” Her voice took on a hushed urgency. “Stuff he couldn't have known.”

Leanne rolled her eyes and spooned another bite of cookie dough into her big fat mouth.

Misty turned to me. “You know,” she said defiantly. “You saw them. The ghosts in his office. The ones he says are his guides.”

Interesting that Malachi was apparently aware of his spirit companions. Maybe he wasn't the fake he seemed to be. Or maybe he was really good at being that fake. Having spirit guides wasn't an uncommon fact about mediums/ psychics. He'd probably just done his research.

“She was with that creepy dude from school, Will something. Remember him?” she asked Leanne.

I winced on Will's behalf, and Leanne gave a noncommittal grunt.

“They were both seeing something that wasn't there. It was the weirdest thing.” She gave a shudder and then turned back to me. “Ghosts, right?”

I hesitated before responding. I needed Misty to believe me if I was going to figure out what was really going on here. But if I spoke up now, I'd be cementing Ally's reputation as a freak, which I might have to live with for a while.

What to do?

Finally, I nodded. Figuring out who was pretending to be me was more of a priority at the moment. Besides, I'd be out of this body before too long… probably.

Leanne snorted, and I hoped she'd choke on a chocolate chip. “Ghosts don't exist, Misty. I told you.”

“Then why did you insist on sleeping in the guest room last night instead of my room?” Misty demanded.

Leanne focused on digging out another bite of dough. “Whatever,” she muttered. “It was warmer in there.”

Misty looked to me. “She's here again. Alona, I mean.” She twisted her fingers together nervously. “Since last night.”

My ears pricked up. “She's here now? How do you know?” I tried for a discreet look around the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary, no blurry spots.