Giving Up the Ghost Read Free

Azura’s frown deepened.
    â€œI’m going to be late if I don’t get a move on,” my dad said, glancing at his watch. “Are you sure you can clean this up, Sara? Are you okay on time before school?”
    â€œIt’s fine, Dad. Go. Good luck with your presentation!” I said, looking up from the floor to give him a quick smile. Lady Azura had retreated back to the kitchen.
    A few seconds after the front door had closed, I heard another crash. This time it was a thud, heavy footsteps, and then the sound of my father saying a bad word. Before I had time to react, the front door slammed back open.
    My father stood there, breathing heavily. Now it was his turn to have an annoyed look on his face.
    â€œWhatever is the matter now, Mike?” asked Lady Azura. I heard a slight hint of exasperation in her tone. Evidently my father did too.
    â€œI just tripped over the front porch chair, which someone left directly in the way,” he growled in an angry voice I seldom heard him use.
    Lady Azura sniffed haughtily. “Well, I certainly didn’t leave the chair there, if that is what you are implying.”
    My dad held up a paperback book. One of Lady Azura’s romance novels. “This was on the chair,” he said, placing it on the table next to the door.
    Maybe you shouldn’t be such a bull in a china shop.
    I’d heard what Lady Azura was thinking.
    I hope you aren’t getting forgetful. First sign of senility, maybe?
    I’d heard that, too. My dad’s thoughts.
    My head started to throb. It was too early in the morning to listen to family drama.
    â€œI might get stuck working late again and may not be back until after supper’s over tonight,” my father said as he closed the front door.
    I hastily finished sweeping up and tied up the bag. I was going to be late to meet Lily at this rate. I grabbed my backpack, then picked up the garbage bag and headed out the door. “Bye!” I yelled. “I’ll grab something to eat at school!”
    I heard a muffled reply from Lady Azura in the kitchen.
    After dumping the garbage into the bin, I hurried down the front pathway and turned onto Seagate Drive to meet Lily.
    I glanced quickly back at the house. It looked the same. The weathered gables. Pale-yellow siding with burnt-orange trim. The huge covered porch. I caught a glimpse of two of the spirits—our spirits, the ones that belonged in my house. The old woman sitting on the porch, knitting. And a young boy in a cap, scampering around on an upstairs balcony. Everything looked the same as it always did. But I couldn’t help sharing Lady Azura’s feeling that something was not right.
    I thought about how I, too, hadn’t been the same recently. My ability to read people’s thoughts had grown stronger in the past few weeks. I wasn’t at all sure that this was a good thing. It made me feel guilty to hear what people were thinking. Like I was eavesdropping. Intruding. What would be next? X-ray vision? So I could see them in their underwear?
    I wondered if my powers were strengthening because I was getting older. I thought about how awful it would be if someone else could read my thoughts. I often had fears, or annoyed feelings about other people, that passed quickly. But what if someone tapped into my mind at the very moment I was thinking something terrible?
    Lately I felt like I worried all the time. In addition to worrying about my new power, I worried a lot about my dad and Lady Azura. Things had been really tense between them lately.
    I was beginning to think Lady Azura was right when she said the energy in the house was bad. What I didn’t know, though, was what to do about it.

Chapter 3
    Lily was actually there waiting for me as I arrived in front of her house. I must really have been running late, because Lily is almost never waiting somewhere before I am. She’s “chronically tardy,” as some of our teachers like