Body & Soul полностью

I led her down the hall to the front door and out onto the porch, where she carefully made her way down the steps, clutching my arm with one hand and the railing with the other. She was definitely not moving as smoothly as Alona had been, so there were side effects of her taking over this body.

“I'm starving,” she announced, when we reached the bottom. “Hurry up.”

“You were just eating ice cream,” I said tightly. With raw cookie dough on top, seemingly without a care in the world about fat grams or any of the other stuff Alona usually complained about. That should have been my first clue, I realized. Not to mention the fact she'd been sharing a bowl without freaking out about Leanne's germs.

“But I didn't get to finish,” she noted with a pout, as I led her to the car and helped her in.

“We're going to get something right now,” I promised, with absolutely no intention of doing so.

“A cheeseburger with fries,” she said, still sulking. “And the beer, don't forget the beer.”

So, definitely not Alona. “Right, fine.” I slammed her door shut, the wheels turning in my brain. I'd gotten the impostor out of Misty's; step one complete. But now what?

I opened the driver's-side door and slid behind the wheel. My brain was buzzing with anxiety and too many questions. Was it better to confront her immediately or try to play along a little longer? She obviously wanted me to believe she was Alona. And where was Alona? Oh, God, if she was gone for good…

I dared a glance from the corner of my eye to find Ally — no, it was Erin, and I had to remember that — staring down at her hands in an admiring manner, as though pleased with the manicure… or, you know, just that she had a physical form that could have a manicure.

Shit. I had to play this carefully. She was possessing Lily's body, and I couldn't make her get out. It was like having a built-in hostage. She could theoretically hurt “herself ” (a.k.a. Lily) at any time or threaten to do so to keep me in line.

I started the car and backed out of the driveway, on to the street.

Okay, think. I can't keep her in the car forever. Taking her to the Turners' was out of the question. And I couldn't exactly lock her up at my house.

God, when had things gotten so complicated?

Edmund. Maybe Malachi/Edmund would have something to say about this. It was his freaking sister, after all.

“I screwed up, didn't I?” she asked, just as I realized the silence had dragged on for a few seconds too long. She turned to face me, her eyes glittering with a hardness that had never been there with Lily or Alona.

I shivered, seeing something alien behind such a familiar face.

“What was it, the fries or the beer?” she asked, still not sounding too concerned about her cover being blown.

No point in further pretending, I guess. “Both,” I said.

She gave an annoyed sigh. “I should have known. She was probably counting calories.”

And her mother was, until recently, a raging, out-of-control alcoholic, not that that was any of her business. “Erin, right?”

She nodded, pleased.

“Where is Alona?” I asked tightly.

She laughed. “Gone. Vanished,” she proclaimed, sounding way too self-satisfied.

I winced, even though I'd been expecting that. “Permanently?”

“How should I know?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

She heaved an exasperated sigh. “I don't see how it matters now.”

“It matters,” I said, trying to keep my voice level.

“Is this about the ceremony?” she asked with a frown.

The what? I stopped the words from coming out just in time. A ceremony? There was no ceremony. At least, none that Alona had mentioned to me. “How do you know about that?” I asked instead, trying to weasel more information out of her without giving anything away.

She shrugged. “Alona said something about needing you there for a ceremony, but I figured she was just trying to stall me, keep me out.”

Oh. My chest ached. That was exactly what Alona must have been trying to do. And even though I hadn't known what was going on, I still felt like I'd failed her.

“Like that's even fair,” Erin scoffed. “She had her turn.”

“So you ambushed her instead?” I muttered.

“What?” she asked.

I shook my head, feeling the tension creaking in the back of my neck. “Just tell me what happened.”

She shrugged again. “I tried to claim her at first, as my ghost-talker, but that didn't work any better with her than it did with you.” She rolled her eyes. “But once I figured out she was your spirit guide, it wasn't that hard to put it all together. Then when I grabbed her, this body sort of pulled me in and forced her out.”

Wait, Alona was still my spirit guide? That would explain why Erin hadn't been able to make the connection with either of us. We were still connected to each other. Or, at least, we had been up until an hour or so ago. And I'd just left her there.