Deeper Read online

  “Nicky! Come play!” Missy had shown up, sans Ryan, and was already pulling Nick toward the other side of the room, where a group of boys and girls sat in a small circle. “Truth or Dare, c’mon!”

  “C’mon.” Nick grabbed Bess’s hand and pulled her along, too.

  They all sat down, the circle widening to fit them. By now the edges of Bess’s vision were pleasantly blurred, but the warmth in the pit of her stomach came from Nick’s fingers linked with hers more than the booze. He didn’t let go of her hand even when they sat and someone handed him a plastic cup of beer. Then he squeezed her fingers once, twice, and let go, but they were sitting hip to hip and thigh to thigh, which was almost as good as him holding her hand. The game was already in progress when they sat. Someone had put an empty bottle in the center of the circle.

  “It’s Spin the Truth or Dare,” Nick leaned in to say into her ear. “If the bottle lands on you, you get to pick one or the other.”

  Bess nodded, half disappointed it wasn’t simply Spin the Bottle. When it was her turn, she picked truth and had to tell everyone how old she was when she lost her virginity. Eighteen, an easy answer. When she spun, it landed on Missy, who picked dare. Figuring it was a no-brainer, Bess dared Missy to flash her boobs, which she did before Bess even finished the question. The game got rowdier and rowdier as it went on, as those sorts of things usually did. Someone dared a girl named Jenny to kiss Bess on the mouth, which they did to the accompaniment of hoots and shouts.

  Bess, laughing, excused herself when they’d finished. She needed to use the bathroom and get another drink, though she planned to have straight soda this time. She wasn’t drunk and didn’t want to be. Even so, giddiness swept over her as she washed her hands at the bathroom sink.

  Why had she been so worried about coming to Nick’s party? It was fun, that was all. Just fun. Andy went out and had fun. Lots of fun. Why shouldn’t she go out, too? It was summer fuhgodsakes. Didn’t she deserve a little—

  “Fun,” Bess said to her reflection.

  She was a little drunker than she thought. Sort of. The thought made her laugh.

  When she came out of the bathroom, the people fucking with the spirit world had abandoned the Ouija board and joined the other circle. Bess stood in the doorway for a minute, watching, but instead of going back, took a seat by the abandoned board.

  “Have you tried it?” a girl with long black hair tied in a high ponytail asked from her spot on the couch. “The Ouija?”

  “No. You?”

  The girl shook her head. “No.”

  “Hey, Alicia.” Nick waved a hand at the girl, who waved back at him as he sat at the coffee table. “Do it with me, Bess.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” But she was already sitting, so she put her drink to one side and placed her hands on the plastic planchette.

  Their fingertips touched. Bess licked her lower lip at the imagined tingle she got from touching him. It was imagined, wasn’t it? People didn’t tingle in real life. Did they?

  “Do you know how to do this?” she asked Nick.

  “Nope.” He grinned at her and leaned forward a little to look down at the board. “Is anyone here?”

  “Don’t you have to have a quiet place, or light a candle or something?” The girl he’d called Alicia leaned forward, too.

  “People were doing it before.” Bess blinked and lifted her fingers for a second before putting them down again. Definitely a tingle.

  “You ask it something.” Nick lifted his chin to her. “Make it work.”

  “Is anyone there?” Bess asked.

  The planchette slid to YES.

  “Holy shit, that’s freaky.” Alicia scooted back and put her feet up on the couch, as if something might reach out from underneath and grab her.

  Nick didn’t seem perturbed. He grinned. “Ask it something else.”

  “What’s your name?” The alcohol was beginning to wear off, leaving Bess owl-eyed and sensitive to sound.

  The planchette moved without hesitation. “C-A-R-E. Care?”

  YES

  “Is that your name?”

  YES

  “Where are you, Care?” Bess glanced at Nick, who stared at the Ouija board.

  I AM A GHOST

  “Shit,” cried Alicia. “Seriously, that’s freaking me out! Are you pushing it?”

  “Not me.” Nick looked at Bess.

  “Not me, either.”

  I AM A GHOST

  I AM A GHOST

  I AM A GHOST

  The planchette moved faster now, sliding easily from one letter to the next without stopping, a cycle of words. Then it stopped in the center of the board. Bess noticed she was breathing hard. Nick, too.

  “Are you a good ghost?” The line from The Wizard of Oz rose in Bess’s mind, but this wasn’t Glinda talking to Dorothy.

  The pointer spun slowly, twisting their hands with it.

  YES

  “He didn’t seem so sure.” Nick looked at Bess. “Maybe he’s a bad boy.”

  The planchette moved so quickly Bess’s fingertips nearly slipped off.

  NICK

  “What about him?” Bess asked.

  BAD BOY

  Nick laughed. After a minute, so did Bess, though ruefully. “You’re doing it, Nick. You’re moving it.”

  NO

  I AM A GHOST She knew before the pointer stopped moving what it had said. “And Nick’s a bad boy?”

  YES

  BUT U LIKE IT

  Nick laughed again, and so did Alicia, but Bess only smiled self-consciously. “How much does Bess like me?”

  ALL

  “All what?” Bess asked, before she could stop herself.

  ALLOT

  “He might be a good ghost, but he’s not a good speller.” Alicia still watched the proceedings avidly, though she hadn’t put down her feet.

  BAD BOY

  “You’re a bad boy?” Bess watched Nick watch the pointer move.

  WAS

  “He’s a ghost, now,” Nick pointed out in a low voice.

  YES

  They all laughed.

  “How’d you die, dude?” Nick asked.

  The pointer didn’t move. A small vibration rumbled through it, as though it were trying to skid across the board, but it stayed still. After the way it had fairly flown along the curved alphabet to spell out its answers before, this was the same as silence.

  “Awkward,” Nick said.

  “Maybe that was a rude question.” Bess looked at him.

  YES

  She gazed at the board. “Do you have anything to say to us, Care?”

  MISTAKE

  Nothing more. “You made a mistake?”

  NO

  “One of us made a mistake?”

  WILL MAKE

  Bess looked at Nick. He looked at her. She had to swallow slowly before she asked the next question. “Which one of us?”

  The pointer spun to her, then immediately to Nick.

  “Okay, this is just too freaking weird.” Alicia got off the couch. “Later, guys.”

  A burst of laughter rumbled up from the group still playing with the bottle. The thump of the music reverberated. Bess and Nick stared at each other.

  BAD BOY

  MISTAKE

  I AM A GHOST

  “Yes,” Bess murmured when the planchette stopped. “We know.”

  “Does Bess want to be with me?” Nick asked.

  Bess held her breath.

  YES

  Nick smiled. “Is that her mistake?”

  NO

  It was a stupid, silly parlor game, and she’d been drinking, but the sight of those two letters seemed more important than logic or anything else. “Should Bess break up with her sort of boyfriend?”

  MISTAKE

  “It’s a mistake for her to break up with him?” Nick didn’t look away from Bess’s eyes. “Or to stay with him?”

  Bess took her hands off the planchette. “This is silly.”

  Nick h