“Leanne asked her to the party, just like she was talking about doing when I heard her, and Erin, in her quest to create her own personal version of Girls Gone Wild, said yes.” Alona shook her head. “There's no other way this could have gone down.” Though she sounded like maybe she wished there were.
Ben Rogers's back-to-school bash in the woods behind his McMansion was an annual tradition, a final good-bye for the seniors leaving for college, and this year, most likely, one last chance for skeevy Ben to hit on the vulnerable and naive underclassmen girls heading back to Groundsboro High. Yeah, he was
It was also, quite possibly, the worst place in the world for Erin/Lily to be, given everything that had transpired the last time Lily had been at one of Ben's parties. A humiliating and very public breakup with the king of the asshats, Rogers himself, followed by a horrible car accident. It was that accident that had sent her spirit on to the light but, in a quirk of fate, left her body damaged, though still functioning, and open to possession.
Of course, only Alona and I knew that. To the rest of the world, Lily had survived and had recently woken up unexpectedly from a nearly yearlong coma.
Which was exactly why Leanne Whitaker, gossip-monger and instigator galore, might want to engineer this particular disaster-waiting-to-happen. Everyone would be watching, if not openly mocking, the person they thought was Lily Turner, and God only knew what Erin would do in response or retaliation or by just not giving a damn about who she was supposed to be. She'd have no clue what she was walking into.
It might also be the worst conceivable place from which to rescue Lily and/or confront Erin. For Alona, it was okay. None of the partygoers would be able to see her, except for Erin. In fact, because Erin would likely be able see her — and probably deduce our plan from Alona's presence — it would be better if Alona stayed hidden until the last possible second.
But me… I'd be the one who'd have to march in there and try to find Erin/Lily and drag her out. Dealing with Ben and his crowd — Alona's former friends — at school was bad enough. Walking into one of their parties, though, struck me as potentially life threatening. We'd all graduated, yeah, but I wasn't stupid enough to think that the lines that had divided us and the labels that identified us had gone away overnight. In terms of social status (and cafeteria seating), this crowd was first-tier — or desperately aspiring second-tier people — and I was off the chart, and not in the good way.
Walking into an event to cause trouble, where I'd be outnumbered, oh, about fifty to one, was not something to take lightly. Especially when Ben and his ilk had shown no compunction in the past about proving their points with their fists.
The thought made me queasy.
“It's a leap, and not one I want to make unless we're sure.” In addition to my own desire to survive the ordeal with the least number of broken bones possible, I also didn't want to waste time unnecessarily in the search for Erin/Lily. Alona might not have it to spare.
“You don't know them like I know them,” Alona reminded me.
“Thank God for that,” I muttered.
She sighed loudly over Ed's drunken snoring in the back. “I can prove it.”
I snorted. “Right. How?”
She shrugged. “Call Misty.”
I laughed before realizing she was serious. “You want me to call your former best friend, the current commander in chief of the snob patrol, for help? Why would she want to help us on this?” Yeah, she'd tipped me off that something was wrong with “Ally” earlier, but I wasn't sure if her generosity would stretch this far, especially if her friends — well, Leanne, at least — were heading up this scheme.
Alona glared at me, probably for the snob-patrol comment. “Because, as far as she knows, you and your strange friend 'Ally' saved her ass from me, the big, bad, evil spirit haunting her, remember?” She lifted a shoulder. “And she's not that bad.”
A far cry from the evil incarnate she'd believed Misty to be only a few months ago.
“Trust me, she'll do it,” she said, holding her hand out for my phone.
“What is that, exactly?” I asked, not making a move to give my phone to her.
“She'll tell us for sure whether Erin will be there tonight,”she said impatiently.
I turned on to the highway, pointing us toward Decatur and Groundsboro. “And how is she going to do that? It's only eight thirty, and you said his parties don't get going until later.”
“Because if Leanne is up to something, she'll brag about it to Misty. That's just the way it works,” she said, in a tone that suggested I'd questioned the laws of gravity.
“Fine,” I muttered. I pulled my phone from my pocket and slapped it into her palm. At least, that was the plan. What happened, though, was it slipped through her faded and flickering hand to the seat below and then bounced to the floor.
