Chapter Four

THE AFTERNOON SUN peeks through the sheer curtains and tickles my face, warming me. I stretch like my cat Buckley does after his daily siesta on the front-porch swing at home; I reach out my arms, then follow with my legs. I lift myself off the bed and set about unpacking my things and putting them in the oak dresser. T-shirts and shorts, underwear and jammies. Jeans and nice shirts get hung up in the small armoire. In the bathroom, I line my bottles of Clinique on the counter like obedient little moisturizing soldiers.

Then I hear the familiar bleep-bleep-bleep of my BlackBerry.

>K! Check in!
>I'm here. U in Chi-town yet?

I tap my foot impatiently while I wait to hear back from Celia. Sure enough, she responds:

>This place rawks!
>Told u
>what up in CA?
>Getting settled
>The Fairmont?

I giggle and move my fingers along the keyboard.

>Not hardly. Cool, tho!!
>Any activity?
>I just got here, C!
>Cute guys?
>1, but he's 13
>LOL!

Celia sends another one before I can type more.

>Gotta bolt. Shower time.
>No prob. Say hey to Chi 4 me
>Hugs!!!
>Luv ya mean it!

I'm about to get all melancholy and shit about Celia being in my Chicago when I hear a rattling on the cabin door. I don't have to open it to know what's going on. Although the mountains are in the background, I can see the spirits gathering outside. People from another realm are lining up like they're here for U2 ticket presales. They must sense what's happening here this week—what happens here regularly—and know there are many like me who can connect with them. Again, I shut my eyes and try to block out the pleas for attention. I can't deal with this yet. I want to relax into my new environment, meet my fellow attendees and counselors before delving further into my paranormal explorations. I mean, I'm still fresh off the Sherry Biddison incident, my out-of-body experience, and finding out that I'm adopted. I need to focus on Kendall before I can help anyone else.

The door flies open, and I think for a moment that the ghosts have invaded my personal space. However, it's a very living person in the form of a perky, thin, cutesy blonde with a shaggy chin-level cut and dark, dark brown eyes.

"Oh my God! Is this place gorgy or what?" she says enthusiastically. A large duffle bag falls from her shoulder to the floor, and a mesh backpack hits the floor as well. She's wearing green fatigues cut off at the knee, flip-flops, and a Billabong long-sleeved T-shirt. My intuition, as well as the dark tan on her face and sun-bleached streaks in her golden hair, tells me she's a total surfer chick.

"Hey! I'm Jessica. Jess Spencer, that is. Jessica sounds so formal, you know?"

She stretches out her sun-kissed hand and I shake it. "Kendall Moorehead. I'm so jealous of your tan."

Jess laughs heartily. "Dude, I'm in the water twenty-four/seven. It's going to kill me to be here in the mountains for a week with no waves."

"Where do you live?" I ask with great curiosity as she begins tugging clothes out of her bag and stashing them haphazardly in the bottom dresser drawer.

"Capistrano Beach."

"Where's that?"

"Orange County."

"Ahhhhh." I used to watch The O.C. and Real Housewives of Orange County; I know it's a pretty chic and rich area.

Jess holds her hand up though. "Before you start judging me, my mom is a social worker and my dad is a public defender, so we're not your typical Orange County aristocrats."

I smile weakly. "I wasn't judging."

"Sure you were," she says with a wink. "That's okay."

"Well ... maybe a little."

She unpacks in about three seconds and then flings herself tummy first across the second bed and looks at me. "So, what's your story, Moorehead?"

I laugh at her directness. I like that, though. She reminds me a lot of Rebecca. A pang hits me suddenly, thinking of my friend who I won't see for a week. Becca's gone to Birmingham, Alabama, to stay with her cousin Camille, who's in college there. I regale Jess with the who, what, where, when, why, and how that is Kendall Moorehead. At least, as best as I can explain it at this point.

"Heavy, man," she says. "That's a crazy way to find out that you're adopted."

"Tell me about it." I let out a sigh, but it's not due to frustration. Just 'cause. "So, what's your deal, Spencer?"

Jess rolls onto her back and stares up at the ceiling. "I live in this wicked cool house that my great-grandparents passed down to my grandparents and they passed down to my parents. It's across from the beach and it's totally haunted. I guess I've known it all my life. I can't wait until I'm eighteen and can move out and be on my own. That's why I use the ocean as my escape. Out there in the waves, there's nothing but me and the water. I control my destiny as I ride the crests, you know? Inside my house, things are just ... weird."

"Tell me about it," I mutter.

She continues. "I see people's auras. I mean, it's like the world is one big frickin' rainbow for me. I can't just look at someone and see normal flesh and clothes. I see this blinding array of colors. I hope this Oliver dude can help me get a grip on this. It's only when I'm on the waves that I don't have this ... ability, or whatever it is."

"I've tried reading auras," I say, rolling my BlackBerry around in my palm. "But I have to really concentrate to see them."

Jess smirks. "Lucky you. I just don't want to live in a Rainbow Brite world constantly. I need some sort of ... normalcy in my life."

"I hear that, g'friend," I say with a laugh.

We venture out of the cabin and onto our front porch. A trellis covered in pink roses separates our unit from the one next door. Jess peers through the openings to report on our neighbors.

"Three girls. We should invite them over."

"Why not?" I call out, "Anyone over there?"

After a moment I hear, "Hey, y'all!"

"Come visit," Jess invites.

In a moment or so, the first of our neighbors rounds the corner, followed by the next girl, and then the next. They look very much alike.

"Triplets?" I ask out loud before I realize I've said anything.

"Hey, y'all," the first girl sings out. "I'm Maddie, and these are my sisters, Erin and Harper. We're the Pucketts."

Jess smacks her hands together. "I've never met triplets. How cool is that?"

Erin grimaces. "It has its advantages ... and disadvantages."

I can see that while there is a significant family resemblance, each girl is unique. Maddie has long dirty blond hair, Erin's is much lighter, and Harper wears her dark blond hair short. They all have the same greenish eyes, though.

"You guys are fraternal, right?"

Harper nods. "Yep. Mom was taking fertility pills to get pregnant, and all of a sudden, there were three of us."

"Instant family," Jess quips.

"Something like that," Harper says.

We swap the hellos and basic greeting information with the sisters. They're all tall and adorable. Total Southern belles. The Pucketts are in the tenth grade and hail from Cleveland—Alabama, not Ohio. Didn't even know there was a Cleveland, Alabama. They don't really disclose what their special powers are, and I don't press them for the info. I'm sure I'll find out in due time. After all, that's what we're here for.

"Excuse me?" someone asks from out on the path. "Is this cabin twelve?"

"No, we're fourteen," Jess says.

"Hey, I'm in twelve," Maddie pipes up. "You must be my roomie?"

The girl steps forward. She seems quiet and shy and a bit reserved. Her long black hair is crimped to the middle of her back and a single braid weaves across her forehead and down the left side of her face. She's plump and pretty with large black eyes.

"I guess so," she says with a shrug. "I'm Willowmeana Martin."

"Maddie Puckett. These are my sisters, Erin and Harper. That's Kendall over there, and Jess."

Willowmeana smiles and nods. Quietly, she says, "Hey there ... nice to meet you."

I can see from her dark facial features that she's of Native American descent. Also, she's sporting a tattoo of a dream catcher on her upper arm. Oh, right—like my mom wouldn't totally shit if I got a tattoo that big! Well ... a tattoo at all.

"So, why are you here?" Jess asks unabashedly.

Willowmeana seems taken aback some. "You know. The standard stuff."

Jess keeps up her Tonight Show interview. "Like what? I read auras. Kendall's psychic. The Pucketts haven't fessed up either. Come on, Willowmeana, we're your friends."

I'm not sure if Jess's open Californianess will go over big with the Alabamians and Willowmeana. I can see that not all of the girls are as eager to talk about their abilities as Jess Spencer is.

"That's okay," I say, putting my hand on Willowmeana's arm. "You can tell us when you're ready."

"No, no, it's all right. I'm just ... well, this is the first time I've ever been away from home. The first time I've been out of Canada."

"Oooo, you're a foreigner?" Harper says with excitement.

Erin rolls her eyes. "Canada's, like, attached. Get over it."

"Whatever."

"We're all in unfamiliar territory," I say, not just to Willowmeana but to everyone. "That's why we're here. We all have something we need to deal with. And we're hoping that this retreat will give us answers."

Willowmeana bobs her head in agreement. "I live outside of Vancouver with my father, who's the shaman of our tribe. This was a gigantic deal for him to let me come here."

"Same with our mom," Maddie says. "She's wigged out that I'm seeing ghosts."

"And I'm hearing them," Erin adds.

"And I'm feeling all of their emotions," Harper says with a sigh.

"Lucky me," I say. "I'm cursed with all three."

Jess shakes her blond head. "You all got me beat. What about you, Willow? It's okay to call you Willow, right?"

"Sure. No worries." She darts her eyes around at all of us and then swallows hard. "As for me, I see the souls of deceased animals mostly. They talk to me and tell me all the things that man is doing wrong to the planet."

"Heavy," Jess says. "Maybe you're the cure for global warming."

"I don't know," Willowmeana says with a soft laugh.

I glance around at the gathered group. Not exactly a motley crew, but ... we're different, nonetheless. Or are we? Perhaps our generation is just more open to the world of spirits around us.

I smile at the girls around me. We're all challenged and here for a purpose. However, maybe I'm not the weirdest, after all.