Free Playing with Fire by Phoebe Rivers

not from me. I would never tell someone’s secret.”
    My stylist twirled my chair, so I couldn’t see the mirror while she curled and pinned up my hair. I faced a large window overlooking the lake.
    â€œI want to tell Lily,” I confided. I explained how I’d tried and failed. “Do I just blurt it out? Or do I lead into it slowly and kind of sneak it into a conversation?”
    â€œBe like that sailboat out there.” Lily’s mom pointed to the white sail of a large boat gliding across the lake. “Read the wind.”
    â€œWhat wind?”
    â€œThe wind. Her emotions,” she explained. “Sailors steer by the way the wind blows. Some days they go full-force ahead. Other days they zigzag slowly. To reach a port, though, you must sail, not drift.”
    Lily texted at that moment. She’d gone back to our room after her facial ended.
    â€œThank you,” I told Mrs. Randazzo. I meant it more than I could even tell her right then. “I’m ready to sail!” I bolted out of the spa before I could change my mind and raced to our room.
    â€œLily!” I called, slipping my card key in and pushing open the door.
    â€œOh. My. God.” Lily opened her mouth, closed it,then burst out laughing. “Did you do that on purpose?”
    â€œDo what?”
    Lily led me to the mirror.
    My eyes bulged as I viewed my hair for the first time. “I look like a toddler pageant queen crossed with a crazy wedding cake!” My blond hair, which usually hung long and straight, had been curled into a mess of tight corkscrews and then piled superhigh on my head.
    â€œIt’s hysterical!” Lily cried. “America’s Funniest Hairstyles.”
    â€œMore like America’s Worst Hairstyles!” I laughed. “A new reality show, starring me!”
    â€œI so need to snap this.”
    â€œUse my phone.” I struck silly poses as Lily took pictures with my cell.
    â€œThese are the best.” Lily scrolled through the photos. “I’ve got to send them to Avery. Miranda, too.”
    â€œGo for it.” I dug through my shellacked updo, trying to pull out the pins. “This requires octopus arms. Can you get the ones in the back?”
    Lily peered intently at my phone. Her brows knit together. “Sara? What’s all this?”
    â€œAll what?”
    â€œYou and Mason. You’re texting about me. He keeps saying, ‘Did you tell Lily?’ and ‘Does Lily know yet?’” She held the screen to my face. “Know what ?” she demanded.
    Deep breath.
    â€œI’ve been trying to tell you for a long time. It’s really hard to say.”
    â€œI’m listening.”
    With my hair still piled ridiculously on my head, I finally spilled the whole story. I told her about my powers, how I came to Stellamar so Lady Azura could help me understand them, and how I could see the dead.
    â€œYou mean, like, really see them? Face, body, expressions? The whole thing?” Lily asked.
    â€œThe whole thing. Hear them too.”
    â€œFor real? Is this a joke? Are you filming me or something?”
    It wasn’t easy, but I convinced Lily that I wasn’t pranking her. She had lots of questions. What it felt like (I got that tingling in my leg and sometimes felt sick), if it scared me (all the time), when I first saw one(when I was on the playground in preschool, but back then, everyone thought I had an imaginary friend), and why I didn’t tell anyone (I didn’t want to be one of those kids on the cover of the trashy magazines in the supermarket checkout lines).
    â€œSo?” I held my breath.
    â€œSo I think that’s the most amazing, awesome thing ever!”
    â€œFor real?” I asked. “I’ve been so scared to tell you.”
    â€œWell, that was silly. I would never tell your secret. That’s what best friends do, right? Just you and me on this one.” She reached over and