Free Spirits of Ash and Foam by Greg Weisman Page A

spotted him.”
    Rain waved off the concern. “She wouldn’t have been able to see him.”
    â€œOkay, fine. But she nearly spotted the zemi floating down the hall. Same difference.”
    This sank in, and Rain turned to ’Bastian, saying, “We do need to be careful. If someone sees it, they’ll take it away. I can’t risk losing it or you. ”
    â€™Bastian started to speak, then realized he’d simply be talking to himself. He took off the band and handed it back to Rain, who was about to put it back on.
    Then Charlie said, “Can I try it?”
    Rain shook off the idea. “What good would that do?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Charlie said. “Maybe nothing. I know I’m not the Searcher, but the zemi ’s like an upgrade. You could see the ghosts without it, but you need it to hear them. So maybe if I put it on, I’ll be able to smell ’em or something.”
    Rain chuckled, but she was still somewhat reluctant to hand it over. On the other hand, she couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason not to, so she held it out to Charlie.
    He took it from her gingerly, as if expecting an electric shock, but the charm was static-free. His father’s oversized watch loosely occupied his left wrist, so he slowly placed the zemi on his right. He thought about sliding it up to wear on his biceps as Rain did—and in truth, his arm was just skinny enough to make that feasible—but he recalled that ’Bastian always wore the charm on his wrist and left it alone. Then slowly he raised his eyes to look at Rain and ’Bastian.
    â€œWow,” he whispered.
    â€œWhat?!” Rain and ’Bastian asked in unison.
    â€œTotally nothing. I still can’t see him. Can’t even smell him. Tell him to say something.”
    â€™Bastian said, “Now you want me to bark on command? I am a trained seal.”
    Rain saw his lips moving and sent an inquiring look Charlie’s way.
    â€œNothing,” Charlie said. He took off the zemi and handed it to Rain.
    She could see he was pretty disappointed. “Maybe you’ve got to be part of the family,” she offered.
    â€œYeah, I suppose…” Then, a little excited, “But that would mean your mom…”
    Rain shook her head. “She’s the same as you. She hasn’t been able to see him.”
    â€œI know, but maybe she could with the zemi . And if she can…”
    Now Rain was getting excited. “If she can, I can tell her. About me being the Searcher. All of it.”
    Charlie screwed up his face. “Well, maybe not all of it…”
    Rain thought about that and agreed. “Yeah. Like not the stowing-away-on-Callahan’s-boat part…”
    â€œOr the riding-on-the-haunted-plane-that-nearly-crashed part.”
    â€œYeah, we’d be grounded till we were ghosts.”
    â€œBut you could tell her the rest,”’Bastian said quietly. “Or I could. I could talk to my daughter.”
    Rain looked at her Papa and made a decision.
    Racing down the back stairs, they found Iris in the laundry room off the kitchen. They stopped in front of her and stood there, rather stupidly. Iris folded towels and waited for Rain or Charlie to speak. When neither did—as the two of them and ’Bastian were all trying to formulate some kind of plan to initiate this latest experiment—Iris finally said, “Yes?”
    Rain looked from Charlie to ’Bastian, but both stared hopefully at her. So, with no good ideas or excuses coming to mind, Rain simply took off the armband and said, “Try this on.”
    She held the charm out to her mother. Iris placed the folded towel in a white plastic laundry basket and shook her head. “No, baby, Dad wanted you to have it.”
    â€œI know,” Rain said, irritated. “I’m not giving it to you.”
    â€œOh.” Iris—to her surprise—felt a little let