It’s a slow day in the shop, so there’s nothing to stop me thinking about Zale. That moment he slipped my mother’s lost hummingbird into my hair. And what he said before that.
How maybe all the mysteries are connected.
After dinner, I open the front door to sneak away for a bit. I want to head out to Li’l Pass before it gets too dark. I need to ask Zale more about that hair clip.
Where exactly he found it.
But Evie is waiting for me on the porch. She’s perched up on the wooden railing, her eyebrows pinched together in a worried frown.
“You’re gonna leave, aren’t you?” she asks me. “Because of the storm.”
“I don’t know,” I tell her. “I might have to. If things get bad.”
I see her chin quiver. “Are you gonna take Hart with you?”
“What? No,” I say, and I move to sit beside her on the railing. “Of course not. Why would I take Hart?”
She looks down at her chipped toenail polish, and I hear her sigh. “’Cause he’s in love with you.” Her voice is barely a whisper. “Isn’t he?”
Her fingers reach for her hair, and she starts twisting a long white-blonde strand around and around and around. Evie’s always seemed so much younger than the rest of us. More immature in a lot of ways, I guess. But this summer, it’s like she’s aging backward. Every time I see her, she seems more like a lost little girl.
She’s evaporating.
Just like Hart.
“No.” I shake my head. “I told you, Evie. He isn’t. Hart barely even talks to me any more.”
She nods, but she doesn’t say anything. I look over my shoulder at her wind chime collection, and I don’t see any new ones. “You still making chimes?” I ask her. But she doesn’t answer. “Evie?”
“I guess not.” She won’t look at me. “They don’t really help any more.” She draws herself up tight. “I hear her all the time now.”
My stomach drops, and I tell myself to go easy.
“Elora?” I try to make my voice sound casual. Like it’s nothing, this conversation we’re having. But I fail miserably. “It’s her you’re hearing, isn’t it? That’s why all the wind chimes. To try and drown her out.”
Evie nods. Just barely. And my heart races inside my chest.
“I’m so tired, Grey. She won’t leave me alone. Not even for a minute.”
I take a deep breath. Will myself not to cry. “Oh, Evie. I know that has to be hard. But Elora must trust you, right? That’s why she’s reaching out.” Evie looks away from me, out toward the river, but I keep pushing. “There’s something she wants you to know, isn’t there? Something about what happened to her.”
“I’m scared, Grey.” Evie’s words are so quiet I can barely make them out. “I don’t know what to do. I’m so scared.”
“Elora needs you, Evie.” My voice is shaking now. “She needs us. Even if what she says is scary, you have to –”
Evie’s creations start ringing and clinking. The tinkling sound of them fills up the air.
“Oh, God.” She clamps her hands over her ears, and I freeze. “Please stop,” Evie whimpers. And I don’t know if she’s talking to me or Elora. But if she’s talking to Elora, it won’t do her any good. Evie’s brain is like a psychic radio, not a telephone. She can hear spirits, but she can’t communicate with them.
“Are you hearing her right now?” I ask, and Evie nods.
I listen so hard for Elora’s voice. I know it better than anyone. But I don’t hear any words whispered in my ear, and it hurts to think that maybe Elora’s still angry at me. That maybe that’s why she’s chosen Evie. Instead of me.
“What’s she saying?” I plead. “You have to tell me. We have to tell someone –”
Evie blinks fast. I reach for her hand, but she hops down off the railing and skitters away from me, like a little crab.
“Oh, God. You can’t tell, Grey,” she begs. “Not anybody.” Her voice is a tightened piano string. “Please!”
And then, before I can say anything else, she whirls around and hurries down the steps and across to her house. I hear the screen door slam.
I manage to get to my feet, but I keep my hand on the wooden railing. I don’t trust my legs. They’ve turned to mush.
I look around for my mud boots, so I can head out to Li’l Pass. I need the warmth of Zale’s electric touch.