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  All I could hear was the ticking of the old clock. But it was getting louder. I rubbed at my ears. It didn’t seem like Damon and Lara could hear it. Uh-oh. I checked my watch. The hand was almost on the hour. And then, a loud, metallic chime rang out through the walls, like we were in a giant bell tower. This time we all covered our ears, and Lara dashed back into the living room.

  “Right, we have to go ahead with our plans,” she said, as the chiming abated.

  “What plans?” I asked.

  Lara glanced at Damon, as if to check with him. He stepped closer to me. “EVP. Lara and I have been thinking of trying it, to see if we can find out for sure if there are any…well…you know. And see if we can find out why, and what they want.” His face was flushed, and his jaw tight. He fidgeted with his shirt.

  “What’s EVP?”

  “Electronic voice phenomena. A supposed way of using equipment to capture and play back auditory messages from the”—he cleared his throat and used his fingers to make quotation marks—“‘spirit world.’”

  Man, and I thought my family was weird. But this, this sounded intriguing. My curiosity swirled upward into a smokelike spiral in my mind, reaching for more. Answers. I wanted answers. If I couldn’t get them about my father, maybe I could get them about this. “Can I help?”

  A slow smile eased its way onto Damon’s lips. “You really want to?”

  I nodded.

  “It might not work. It might be a load of complete crap, but we kind of don’t know what else to do. There aren’t any ghostbusters in our area.” He chuckled, and I laugh-snorted. Oh God.

  “Serena the ghostbuster at your service.”

  “Let’s get everything organized by next week,” Damon said. “I’ll email you some of the information we’ve been reading. What’s your email address?”

  “I’ll text it to you.” I got out my phone and a moment later his beeped with my message. “I’ll read up on this EVP thing. And maybe…” I was about to say, “Maybe my sister Savannah could help too,” but stopped myself. It was one thing to share the fact that we’d heard the same otherworldly noises, another to tell him I could hear their voices. And, oh, by the way, that my sister could see ghosts, and my other sisters and I could, you know, sense the future and stuff. Surprise! We win at the weirdness game, Damon.

  “Maybe what?”

  “Maybe it’ll work.” I gave a single nod.

  “I hope so. We’ll have to be discreet. My dad doesn’t seem to be able to hear anything at all. Not that we’ve asked him, but when Lara and I have heard things around him, he doesn’t show any sign of having heard them too.”

  “I can be discreet.” It was becoming a necessary skill of mine.

  As I left their house, I wondered: this EVP thing could be helpful, but with my abilities, did we even need it? Maybe I was a human medium for capturing their messages and relaying them. If they cooperated and made sense for a change. But to do that I’d need to tell Damon and Lara about The Delta Girls. And I knew that wouldn’t go down well with my sisters.

  • • •

  “They can hear things too?” asked Savannah, when I got home and told my sisters about today’s session. “But how? Does this sort of thing only happen to twins and triplets or something?”

  I shrugged. “Who knows? But they can only hear some things, like thumps and stuff, not the voices.”

  “And you’re sure they don’t know about us?” Sasha asked.

  “Nope. I almost let something slip, but figured I’d better wait to talk to you guys.”

  “Well, don’t tell them. We can’t risk more people finding out. Need-to-know basis, remember?” Sasha crossed her arms, and I wondered if she was wearing padding in her bra, as her boobs seemed bigger.

  “Maybe this is a need-to-know basis,” I suggested. “Instead of using this EVP thing, we could all help them.”

  “So what do we do? Go there, meet the parents, and say, ‘Hi, we’re The Delta Girls, here to deal with your ghost issues. That’ll be one hundred bucks, thanks’?”

  I sighed. “We pretend we’re doing something for school, or that we’re all Lara’s friends and just hanging out.”

  “Too weird,” she said.

  “Serena, maybe you should just go ahead with the EVP for now. See what happens first. Who knows, it might help more than we could.” Talia stood from the bed and tucked a thick strand of hair behind her ear.

  I recalled what the psychic had said, how we needed to trust our intuition and our abilities. It seemed like Talia was losing confidence in them, while I was feeling stronger. But she was right. Why rock the boat? If Damon had looked into this voice phenomena thing and thought it was worth trying, then I would trust him.

  “I’ll do some research.” I lay on my stomach on my bed and opened the laptop.

  “You don’t want to connect?” asked Savannah.

  “Not now, it’s getting late and I need to look into this. Plus, I still have to do some math homework.”

  “Okay, I’m going to see if Riley wants to come over.” Savvy tapped at her phone. Sasha went out, probably to watch TV (was I the only one with homework?), and Talia followed. Tamara, surprisingly, sat on the edge of my bed and watched my screen.

  “I can’t think when you’re peering over my shoulder,” I said, my fingers hesitating over the Google home page.

  “Just pretend I’m not here. I want to have a peek at this EVP info.”

  “Fair enough. But you know I think better when I’m alone, right?” And then a thought struck me…am I ever truly alone? Was there always someone or something hanging around me, without my knowing? Ghosts or spirits or whatever, floating about like clouds, changing shape, merging effortlessly into the landscape of reality?

  “Serena, you think regardless of whether anyone is around.” She nudged me and chuckled.

  True. I just preferred to do it on my own. As though being around others would somehow make my thoughts less defined, less coherent, less right.

  I scanned the search results, a combination of general information and skeptic pages.

  “EVP—the great hoax.”

  “Thousands of messages recorded. Not a hoax!”

  “Skeptics laugh at staunch proponents of EVP. Hoax.”

  “I heard my deceased grandfather. No hoax!”

  Take your pick.

  I picked the second one.

  “Oh, have you seen that movie?” Tamara pointed to the screen.

  “Nope, but we should get it.” White Noise. Some movie about communicating with spirits using EVP. I made a mental note to tell Damon.

  “Well if it’s in the movies it must be real,” she joked.

  Actually, no time like the present. I got my phone and texted: Have you heard of the movie White Noise?

  He replied instantly: Yes. But haven’t seen it. I take it you’re researching EVP?

  I almost replied: You must be psychic, but caught myself just in time. No need to bring that up. Just started.

  Tamara went away and returned a few minutes later with two cups of hot chocolate. “Aw, thanks!” I sat up and repositioned my laptop on the bed, and sipped from my mug.

  Damon had texted before: I’m doing math homework.

  My phone pinged again with another text, as I read through some case studies on EVP: Found anything interesting?

  I replied: Stop texting and get back to work ;)

  But this is more interesting, he replied.

  I smiled. Tamara kept asking me what he was saying but I refused to show her. At least she didn’t tease me the way Savannah did—she would have grabbed the phone off me. And probably sent a text to Damon on my behalf telling him how much I loved him and wanted to marry him. Which I didn’t. But she wouldn’t worry about the technicalities.

  I giggled with an idea of how to reply. He could either think I was cute and funny and quirky, or completely nuts. Oh, what the hell.

  All our operators are busy right now but your call is very important to us.
Please hold. Our first available operator will be with you once she has finished her hot chocolate.

  “What are you giggling about?” asked Tamara, as she took over my laptop to scroll through the information.

  “Nothing.” I put the phone face down on the bed.

  “Oh look, this case study says a person was able to find a missing item thanks to the voice on the recording saying where it was.”

  “Sounds a bit farfetched.”

  Tamara shrugged. “Five sisters predicting the future through five fragmented senses sounds farfetched.”

  I chuckled. “You’re right. Okay, let’s have a read of how it actually works.”

  The article talked about using a handheld voice-activated recorder that flashes with a red light whenever it picks up a voice or sound. The people who had successfully used EVP showed how the light flashed even when the room was completely silent, and later when they connected it to a computer to play back the recording, sounds—and muffled voices—were heard that weren’t originally heard by the human ear. A bizarre image flashed through my mind: my own ears flashing red whenever I heard voices or sounds that no one else could. Like Rudolph the Red-Eared Reindeer. “Oh look!” people would say, “Serena’s ears are flashing red—she’s hearing ghosts again! Freak!”

  “Looks like it’s pretty easy to do,” said Tamara. “Do we have a recorder?”

  “Not that I know of. Do you think we should tell Mom about all this? She does have experience dealing with ghosts.”

  “No. Remember, we need to keep it secret for now. This, and Dad’s letter.”

  I nodded. I guess I was just used to asking for help and having someone stronger than me to lean on so I didn’t feel so anxious. But if Mom got anxious about all this, it would rub off on me. I had to stick to the plan of dealing with this ourselves, and trusting in our own abilities.

  “If it doesn’t work,” said Tamara, “you could always bring the Ouija board over and try that.” She smiled.

  “I think I’m becoming a human Ouija board,” I chuckled. “But what if the EVP does work and we—they—can all hear the voices?”

  “Then maybe you’ll be able to help them move on and stop haunting the place.”

  “But it’s kinda scary.”

  Tamara looked at me. “You can already hear them. It can’t get much scarier than that. And if Damon and Lara are able to hear them on the recording, then it just goes to show how strong your ability is.” She nudged me. “And proves that you’re not crazy.”

  “Gee, thanks. Nice to know I need to find proof of that.”

  “Kidding.”

  “I know.”

  I was about to click play on a video of an EVP session when my phone pinged. I turned it over and looked at Damon’s reply.

  LOL. It must be the best hot chocolate in the world to distract you from my riveting text messages. Is the first available operator available on Saturday? Meet at Coffee Corner at 2 pm? I can’t guarantee it will be the best hot chocolate in the world but you never know.

  My hand warmed as it held onto the phone, and so did my face as I looked at Tamara, whose suggestive grin clearly revealed she had seen the text message. “I do believe you have just been asked out on a date, Miss Serena Delcarta,” she said.

  I gulped, and my finger trembled a little as I typed in my reply: I’m willing to take the risk. See you then. :)

  Chapter 12

  The lyrics to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” played in my mind as I slipped on my ballet flats on Saturday afternoon. I checked my reflection and faked a smile, trying to imagine how I’d look when I met Damon at the café. I sure didn’t feel like Juliet about to meet her Romeo. I tried a different smile, but still it looked silly, like I was either too eager or too indifferent. I couldn’t get the balance right.

  Oh for God’s sake, Serena, just smile like a normal person! Practicing was no use. Unless I was in the actual situation it would look too fake. I grabbed my phone and slipped it into my back pocket. Then, before heading out of the bedroom, I stopped by Sasha’s bedside table. I leaned back and peered sideways through the door, then turned back to the table and opened the drawer quietly. An overwhelming array of cosmetics, jewelry, and knickknacks overflowed in colorful chaos. It looked like there’d been a catastrophic glitter-bomb explosion. I retrieved a cylinder called Fresh Fruity Blast and popped off the lid, bringing the nozzle to my nose. It was okay. Just reminded me of Sasha. I shrugged, then sprayed the perfume on my neck. The cold blast left a wet, sticky sensation on my skin and I scrunched up my nose as the fruity fragrance overtook the room.

  “I thought for a minute my wish for a clone had been fulfilled.”

  I jumped a little as Sasha walked in. Should have known she’d smell it a mile away.

  “Sorry, not snooping, just wanted to freshen up with something.” I scratched my neck as the perfume tickled my skin. Oh, great, now it’s transferred to my fingers. And then if Damon shakes my hand it’ll transfer to him, and then his friends will make fun of him and then he’ll hate me because I made him smell like a girl!

  “Freshen up?” Sasha smirked. “You just want to smell sexy for your date.” She grinned.

  “I do not, I just thought maybe I should try something different for once, and it just so happened to be today. So there.” I crossed my arms, transferring the scent to my arm.

  “You sure put a lot on. You only need a quick spritz, you know, it’s not like bug spray.” She picked up something from her drawer. “Want me to do your eye makeup?”

  I pushed her hand down. “No way. My eyes are perfectly fine the way nature intended, thank you.”

  Sasha just smiled, like I was her naïve baby sister. I kind of was, though she was only three and a half minutes older than me. But naïve, no. Just different from her, and that didn’t make me naïve. “Why do you need a clone anyway?” I asked.

  “Huh?”

  “You said you thought your wish for a clone had been fulfilled.”

  “Oh yeah, completely forgot I said that.” She waved her hand. “I need one to do the boring stuff for me so I can do the fun stuff.”

  “Like stalk Taylor Petrenko?” I matched her grin from before. And then Taylor Swift’s song popped into my head again, only this time Taylor Petrenko was singing it in his deep, masculine voice, while wearing a white ball gown. I rubbed my ears and shook my head, trying not to laugh.

  “You okay? Hearing things?”

  “Sort of. You don’t wanna know.” I’d never be able to look at Sasha’s crush again the same way. He’d be forever dressed in drag to me.

  Sasha glanced warily around the room.

  “Don’t worry, no ghosts here.”

  She exhaled in relief.

  Savannah walked in. “I’m going to see my man at work. Wanna come? The store is closing down soon; they’re selling all their stock really cheap this weekend.”

  Video Village. Movies. White Noise.

  “Yes!” I headed for the door. “If we go now I’ll have time to look around before I meet Damon.”

  “I might as well come too. Wonder if Taylor will be there,” Sasha said. “Ooh, that could be a perfect way to break the ice! ‘Hi Taylor, I see you’re buying one of my favorite movies,’ I could say. ‘It’s my favorite too, want to come over and watch it with me?’ he’d ask.” She smiled.

  I wondered if Sasha had a whole repertoire of fantasies stored in that overactive imagination of hers. Okay, so my imagination was overactive too, but not in her idealistic way. I was realistic, and just being prepared for anything. She was writing some warped idea of a fairy tale.

  Ten minutes later we entered the video store, and Savannah leaned on tiptoes over the counter to kiss her boyfriend.

  “Do you treat all your customers like that?” asked some old guy.

  “Only the gorgeous ones,” Riley replied.

  “What time do you finish?” Savannah asked.

  “Eight o’clock. Unless all the stock magically gets sold befo
re then.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” Savannah waved her hands around.

  I turned my attention to the shelves, scanning the W section. White Noise, White Noise. I was about to ask Riley if they had it when it caught my eye.

  “You beat me to it,” said a voice behind me. Thankfully, a real voice, from a real person, who was really here, and who was also really hot in his buttoned-up gray shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

  “Damon, hi.” I flashed a smile that probably looked like the “too eager” one I’d practiced. Brilliant. I wasn’t expecting to meet him for another half hour.

  “Great minds think alike. I was going to see if they had it too.” He gestured to the DVD.

  “Oh, well, if you want it, you can have it, it’s no big deal.” I held out the DVD.

  “No, you found it first.” He pushed it back gently toward me.

  Out of the corner of my eye I caught Savannah giving me some strange facial expression, like she was trying to dislodge a bug from her ear canal by jerking her head to the side. Her eyes were wide and her lips taut. What on earth was she doing?

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll just, um,” I gestured to the counter.

  Savannah’s lips tightened even further, like she was trying to say something without being seen. “Oh, we should watch that tonight!” She pointed to the DVD in my hand. “All of us. Riley, you in?” He nodded. “And Damon, we can’t let Riley be the only guy, you should come over too. Bring Lara. We’ll have a movie night!”

  Oh, how could I be so naïve? It didn’t occur to me to suggest that we watch it together. I really did need to learn more about the big wide world of boys.

  Damon glanced at me, and I shrugged as if to say, “Why not?”

  “It’s okay with your mom, eight teenagers in the house?” he asked.

  “I don’t see why not. There’s normally five or six, what’s a few more?” said Savannah. “She’s going to a workmate’s birthday party tonight anyway.” She scribbled down our address on a piece of paper and handed it to Damon.