Free Cold as Ice by Jody Morse, Jayme Morse

thoughts. It’s not like she felt like she needed to hide anything from Justin, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself by thinking of something that was too private—or by thinking of something that could potentially upset him. Even as a ghost, he still had feelings for her, and she needed to do whatever she could to respect them, because she cared about him, too.
    “Anyway, I think I need to watch over you until you can get this Dan guy out of that book,” Justin replied. “That’s why I’m here. There’s something you need to know.”
    Lexi raised her eyebrows at him. What could he possibly know about the book and Dan that she didn’t already know herself? “What is it?”
    “The reason you can’t get in the book and Dan can’t get out is because Mary-Kate put a spell on it,” Justin explained. “She sealed the book shut so that no one else could get in—or out.”
    Was he right? What if she had been wandering around aimlessly trying to will Dan to come back when it was never possible because of Mary-Kate? It made complete and total sense, but . . . how did Mary-Kate put a spell on the book? She wasn’t a witch, too, was she?
    Justin shook his head, sitting down on the bed. “She’s not a witch, but she figured out how to do a spell. Witches have the power to do any spell at ease, but a human can also do a spell if they know the right words to say and if they put enough feeling into it.”
    “Since when did you become such an expert in witchcraft?” Lexi questioned, feeling unsure about the answer he’d given her. How did he know that was how it worked?
    “I know how everything works lately,” Justin replied, shrugging. “Try me. Ask me anything.”
    Lexi scanned her head for a question. She settled on a geography question, since it was one of Justin’s worst subjects in school. “What’s the capital of Ukraine?”
    “Kiev,” Justin replied. “That’s an easy one. Let’s try another.”
    She had to take his word for it, since even she didn’t know that answ er.
    “Who won the VMA for the best music video of the year?” Lexi asked, knowing that there was no way he would know the answer, since, well, he was dead. Even if he had been alive, he probably wouldn’t have known the answer, anyway, since he wasn’t into mainstream music; he chose to listen to Indie and acoustic bands only, claiming that the music that was normally played on the radios was garbage.
    “Rihanna,” Justin replied, flashing his toothy grin. “Believe me now?”
    “I guess I have no choice but to believe you,” Lexi admitted , still surprised that he even knew who Rihanna was . Stranger things had happened over the past year, after all. “So, what am I supposed to do about the spell on the book? Can I break it?”
    “That , you’re on your own with,” Justin told her. “I have no clue how the book can be fixed.”
    She slapped him across the shoulder playfully, the same way she normally would, but her hand went through his body. She shakily folded her hands in her lap, hoping that she hadn’t upset him. “Wow, you’re really useful! The one piece of information I could really use, and you have no clue.” She joked—mostly because there wasn’t much else she could do.
    “Sorry, Lexi,” Justin replied, shaking his head. “I can tell you who took the potion, though. Well, sort of. I can only give you a hint, or there’s no way I can ever come back if you need me again.”
    Lexi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know all about the rules from when my mom visits me. Quite frankly, I think they suck.”
    “I couldn’t agree more. I get to watch all of this stuff take place, and yet, I’m not allowed to say a word to anyone about it. It’s no fun to find out all of these secrets and have to keep them all to myself . ”
    “So, wait, my potion was definitely stolen then? It didn’t just disappear into thin air or something?” After the search of Rhonda’s room had produced nothing, Anna had suggested