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I returned to Wikipedia, skimmed the rest of the definitions, and found only variations on the first A necro to the dead

Curious now, I deleted define and searched on necroious ones According to the with the spirit world They called it evil, a practice of black ic and Satan worship

Did Derek think I was involved in blackto save ? I shivered

Aunt Lauren’s woet of a roup I knew firsthand how scary people could get when they thought you did so that crossed their beliefs

I flipped back to the list of search results and picked one that seemed more academic It said that necromancy was another--older--name for hosts Thecame from an ancient belief that if you could talk to the dead, they could predict the future because they could see everything--they’d knohat your ene or where you could find buried treasure

I switched to the next site on the list, and a horrible painting filledled by a guy with glowing eyes and an evil grin The title: The Are It was filled with stuff like that, e It described the "art of necro of the dead I shuddered and flipped to another A religious site now, quoting so about "foul necro with spirits and reanis and paintings Grotesque pictures of grotesquedemons

Fingers tre, I turned off the browser

Thirteen

I STEPPED CAUTIOUSLY FROM thearound the corner, waiting to pounce The ru roo Mrs Talbot when Dr Gill would be ready to see him I hurried into class They weren’t done withwaved for me to take the seat next to the door

When the lesson finally ended, Derek lunore him Rae waved me to the desk beside hers I bolted for it Derek never even looked ular seat beside Si as they talked

Si Was he telling Si paranoid?

After English, school was done for the day Derek disappeared with Si rooe on sentence diagrae

I was seeing ghosts Real ghosts

Maybe it would be different for soious training was limited to sporadic church and Bible school visits with friends, and one brief stint at a private Christian school when et me into a public school But I believed in God and in an afterlife the same way I believed in solar systems I’d never seen--that matter-​of-​fact acceptance that they existed even if I’d never thought hosts existed, did that mean there was no heaven? Were we all doo to find someone who could see or hear us and… ?

And what? What did the ghosts want froht of the voice in the basement I knehat that one wanted--a door opened So this spirit had been wandering for years, finally finds so request is "Hey, could you open that door forelseI couldn’t wrapwas certain I needed to knowand hearing the ghosts clearly, then I had to stop taking the to happen to you"

I turned fro roo transferred, that won’t happen with you" She sat on the couch "That’s what you’re worried about, right? Why you haven’t said ten words all day?"

"Sorry I’m just…"

"Freaked out"

I nodded This was true, even if it wasn’t about what she thought I sat in one of the rocking chairs

"Like I said last night, Chloe, there’s a trick to getting out of here" She lowered her voice "Whatever you think? About their labels? Just nod and smile Say ’Yes, Dr Gill Whatever you say, Dr Gill I just want to get better, Dr Gill’ Do that, and you’ll be following Peter out that front door any day now We both will Then I’ll send you a bill for led to smile From what I’d seen so far, Rae was ais the average stay?" I asked

She reclined on the sofa "A couple months, I think"

"M-​ Tori a bit more Derek and Simon, about threeBefore you, Liz and I were the newbies Three weeks for each of us, me a few days more than her"

"I--I was told I’d only be in for teeks"

She shrugged "I guess it’s different for you then, lucky girl"

"Or did they mean teeks was the e ood, isn’t it?"

I , huh? With Peter and Liz gone, we’re stuck with Frankenstein and the divas Speaking of which, Queen Victoria is up and about… relatively speaking"

"Hmm?"

She lowered her voice another notch "She’s stuffed full of meds and totally out of it" I must have looked alarmed because she hurried on "Oh, that’s not normal They don’t do that to anyone but Tori, and she wants it She’s the pill princess If she doesn’t get hers on time, she asks for thee Dr Gill for a refill and whoa boy--" She shook her head "Tori ran to our room, locked the door, and wouldn’t coht her the e uproar Her mom’s connected to the people who run Lyle House Anyway, she’s totally doped up today, so she shouldn’t give us any trouble"

When Mrs Talbot rounded us up for dinner, I realized I hadn’t told Rae about taking her advice and looking up the dead janitor

Tori joined us for dinner--in body, at least She spent thefor a role in the next zo fork to mouth, so sorry for her and just being creeped out

I wasn’t the only one left uncertain Rae tensed with everyfor "old Tori" to leap out and jab her about her eating Siamely tried to carry on a conversation with me and tentatively slanted questions Tori’s way, as if afraid she was just playing possu for syratefully, to our chores--Rae and I on dinner cleanup, the guys on garbage and recycling detail Later Rae had a project to work on, and Ms Wang had warned the nurses that she wanted Rae to do it without help

So after telling Miss Van Dop that I’d be right back, I headed up to my room for my iPod When I opened the door, I found a folded note on the floor

Chloe,