Free The Back Door of Midnight by Elizabeth Chandler Page B

the wall like that of a castle. Immediately, I found the door in the wall and went through it. The maze of paths was there, just as before, and the tall figures, blurred forms. I remembered that during my last dream experience, when I had complained to Aunt Iris about my vision, it had cleared a little.
    “Aunt Iris, I can’t see. I want to see what that is.”
    I found myself gazing at a rabbit. Tall as a person, its posture was almost human, like that of an animal character in a children’s book. I ventured closer, wanting to see what its rough surface was made of, when suddenly, I began to fall—Alice down the rabbit hole!
    When the falling stopped, I knew where I was: the burn site. I heard someone behind me and turned quickly. The scene swam in my head, the images colliding, wobbling, then settling.
    A girl had run past me. A guy was chasing her. Zack.
    He didn’t appear to see me, having eyes only for the girl he had just caught in his arms, the girl who was at Tea Leaves, the girl at his stepmother’s party.
    “Erika, stop! This is crazy!” He pulled her back against him.
    She slumped over the arm he had around her, and for a moment I thought she was hurt, then she straightened up and let him turn her so that she faced him, his big hands handling her gently. I thought she would see me as Aunt Iris had, but she didn’t.
    “I’m afraid,” she said to Zack, tears running down her face. “I’m really afraid.”
    “We’ll figure this out,” he replied, his voice soft and low.
    “Just being here gives me an eerie feeling.”
    “Then why do you keep coming back?” he asked.
    Good question, buddy.
Obviously, I didn’t buy the tears.
    “I’ve got to find my cell phone. I must have dropped it along the path.”
    “I told you, Erika, if any evidence was left behind, the police already have it.”
    “I feel like someone is watching us. I feel it, Zack.” She pressed her face into his shoulder.
    Why do guys fall for this stuff?
I thought.
    “You’re imagining things.” He stroked her hair as if he were soothing a child.
    I wanted to flap my arms like a ghost and howl at her. Actually, I did, but she hadn’t a clue I was standing there.
    “But what if there
is
something to this psychic thing?” Erika asked Zack. “What if the old lady knows?”
    “Iris is confused,” Zack replied. “I’ve heard people say she’s been crazy for years. Even if she does know something, nothing she says will be believed by the police.”
    “She scares me.”
    Zack shook his head. “I told you before—”
    “That you were here for me,” Erika said. “Are you still?”
    “I don’t turn my back on friends.”
    “Then I’m counting on you to keep her niece busy.”
    Zack was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
    “Date her.”
    “What?”
    “Hang out with her. Pretend you’re interested.” She laughed lightly. “Pretend you think she’s the most beautiful girl in the world.”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “Why not?” Erika asked. “You told me you don’t want to get hooked up with any one girl, not with college ahead. You don’t want commitments, and all that crap. Well, let the freckled little carrot be your bodyguard. Hang out with her.”
    “You’re assuming she’d want to hang out with me,” he said.
    “Oh, puh-lease! There isn’t a girl on this planet who wouldn’t, and you know it! Go ahead, give her a thrill, and help me out at the same time.”
    “There are better ways to get information,” Zack argued.
    “There is no better way to keep tabs on Iris,” she replied. “What’s the problem? Is Anna that bad? You can’t fake it with her?”
    “I can fake it with anyone.”
    “Then do it, okay? Please. For me? Zack, they could nail me with the old man’s death.”
    “That’s impossible.”
    “Then with arson. Arson doesn’t look good to a college admission board.”
    “I’ll think about it,” he said.
    You do that,
I