Free Everlasting by Elizabeth Chandler Page A

Dhanya? Kelsey?” Ivy guessed aloud.
    Footsteps, which Ivy recognized as Beth’s, stopped at the entrance to the kitchen. Ivy saw the cat’s tail switchand his pupils grow into round black mirrors. She turned toward Beth but could not see what had drawn such a wary reaction. Ella had been aware of Tristan when he was an angel. Could Dusty sense Gregory?
    “I was just going to make some popcorn,” Ivy said, hoping to lure Beth into a conversation. “Sit down—save me from eating it all.”
    “I’m not hungry.”
    “Well, then just keep me company,” Ivy suggested lightly.
    Beth continued toward the stairs.
    “Beth!” Ivy stood up and caught her friend by the arm. “You’re not yourself. You don’t speak or act like yourself. Do you understand?” She tried to look in her eyes, but Beth turned her head away. “Something has happened to you. Gregory is haunting you.”
    “That’s ridiculous,” Beth replied. “It’s you he wants. Gregory is haunting you .” She pulled away from Ivy and hurried up the steps.
    Ivy gazed after her for a moment, then returned to the kitchen table, feeling uneasy. Dusty stood at the edge of the table, the thick fur along his spine bristling. “What do you see?” Ivy asked softly. “Has he grown strong enough for you to see him now?”
    She hunched in front of her laptop, not knowing how she could stop Gregory, wondering what would satisfyhis desire for revenge. Lacey had been right—he wanted revenge—and he was already getting it, bit by bit, destroying someone Ivy loved.
    She feared that Beth would have to do something extreme before Will would recognize what they were dealing with. Would Beth be too far gone by then? There must be a way to get through to her. “Angels, help me. Guide me. Show me!”
    Ivy stared at the list of e-mails on her screen—Philip, Mom, Andrew, Philip again, Suzanne.
    Suzanne . Two weeks earlier she had written to Beth saying that she was having dreams of Gregory. Ivy clicked on the new message:
    IVY, I MISS U. WISH U WERE HERE .
     
    Wish you were with me, Ivy thought.
     
    IS BETH OK? YESTERDAY GOT A STRANGE MSG FROM HER ABOUT
    A DREAM SHE HAD. SCARED ME.
    Ivy glanced at the clock—12:28 p.m. In Italy, 6:28 a.m.
    WHAT WAS THE DREAM? she typed, sending the message as an IM. Then she rose, fixed herself a glass of ice water, and paced the kitchen. Dusty sat on the stones at the edge of the hearth, looking up the cottage’s steep stairway.
    Wake up, Suzanne. Wake up , Ivy thought.
    A soft beep drew her back to her screen.
    DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS HERE?!?! GIRL WITH SNAKE
    COILED AROUND HER NECK, CHOKING HER .
    Ivy frowned, then, sitting down again, typed: PROBLY ABT PROVIDENCE GIRL STRANGLED BY EX. EX WAS HIDING ON CAPE.
    Ivy didn’t know how much Suzanne knew about the Luke story and was debating what to add when a low growl from Dusty caught her attention. Ivy sent the message as it was, then crept to the steps, listening intently for movement above.
    Soft steps, lighter than Beth’s usual tread, crossed the floor to Kelsey and Dhanya’s side. Ivy thought she heard a bureau drawer slide open and closed. She sniffed for the scent of burning candles and wished she had thrown out all of them as well as Dhanya’s Ouija board. The first week they were on the Cape, when Kelsey and Dhanya had wanted to play with the board, Beth had objected to the use of cranberry candles, saying they needed white ones to attract only good spirits. Now Beth kept one dark red votive on the night table between her and Ivy’s beds.
    Hearing Beth return to the side of the room they shared, Ivy tiptoed up several steps and inhaled a sulfurous smell; Beth had lit a match.
    “Beth?”
    Ivy climbed the remaining steps and, reaching the landing, saw Beth lying back in bed, eyes closed, the candle flickering inside its crimson glass. Ivy’s angel statue, pushed to the edge of the night table, looked ghostly in the wavering light.
    Although Beth didn’t move, Ivy