Free 2 Empath by Edie Claire Page B

sleeves, a high neck, and a gargantuan yellow daisy at the waist.
    “Really?” my mom asked, her face pained.
    I laughed out loud. “No. I hate it. But maybe this one over here—”
    My phone made a sound. It was the sound I heard in my dreams all night long.
    Zane’s ringtone. And it was ringing.
    I pulled the phone out so fast my butt cheek got friction burn. “Hello?”
    “Hey, Kali! What’s up?”
    My heart started beating like a jackhammer. The voice on the other end of the line was not the hoarse, thin croak I had heard back in Nebraska. It was the beautiful, smooth baritone that had warmed my days in Oahu like sunshine, and hearing it now took me back like a whirlwind to sandy beaches, blue water, swaying palms, and a brisk ocean wind.
    “H-hey,” I stammered back. “I’m just out, looking at… stuff. What’s up with you?” My mom stood four feet away, pretending to be focused on the clothing racks. I grabbed up two random gowns and headed for the dressing rooms.
    “Oh, same old, same old,” he answered cheerfully. “All physical therapy, all the time. I know you’ve been thinking about running your car head-on into a concrete overpass too, but I really wouldn’t recommend it. It’s not nearly as much fun as it sounds.”
    I grinned broadly. “But you know how I idolize you.”
    “Yeah,” he returned. “I know. But maybe you can imitate some of my surf moves instead.”
    “I should probably learn how not to drown, first.”
    “Chicken.”
    I laughed as I swung into a dressing room, closed the door, hung the gowns on a hook, and settled onto the wooden bench in the corner.
    “Seriously, are you feeling better?” I asked.
    “I am,” he answered. “Just bored out of my mind.”
    “Aren’t you studying for the GED?”
    “Oh, I passed that already.”
    My eyes rolled. He would pass the test after studying about two seconds. For all his efforts to act chill, he was obviously wicked smart.
    Call me crazy, but I liked that in a guy.
    “I’m applying to the University of Hawaii for fall term,” he added.
    I smiled. I would be spending my senior year of high school in Honolulu. Perfect.
    “Look, Kali,” he began, his tone suddenly becoming more serious. “We may get interrupted in a minute, but there’s something I wanted to… ask you about.”
    I tensed. “What’s that?”
    He was silent for a moment. I pictured him running a strong, tanned hand through his mane of curls. I knew he wouldn’t be tanned, but I couldn’t help myself.
    “Well, you said you see weird stuff,” he said finally. “You saw me when I wasn’t really there, right?”
    “A part of you was really there,” I corrected, feeling a fierce desire to defend… something. I wanted to make clear that I knew the real him. Whether he remembered it or not. “But yeah, I see weird stuff. Stuff most other people can’t see. Why?”
    A cold surge of dread crept along my veins. He’d had no trouble accepting my supernatural side when we first met… but of course, he’d been a wraith himself then. After he woke up in the hospital, he still seemed to accept my nutball story. But what if, after further reflection, he decided that everything about me was just a little too weird?
    I couldn’t stand it.
    “I was hoping maybe you could explain—” he broke off awkwardly.
    My blood was giving me frostbite. “Just say it,” I encouraged.
    Another pause.
    “I think I saw a ghost,” he blurted finally.
    My limbs flooded with warmth again. “Holy crap,” I murmured to myself more than to him, nearly weak with relief. “Is that all?”
    “Is that all?” he repeated, sounding insulted. “It was kind of a big thing for me.”
    I laughed out loud. “Zane,” I teased, “you being freaked out about seeing a ghost is just too rich.”
    After a moment, he chuckled too. “Yeah, I see your point. But it was pretty intense.”
    My mind went back to my conversation with Kylee and her grandmother. “You’ve never seen