Playing with Fire Read Free Page B

my question, and she avoided looking at me. Why was she acting like this? Lily’s momand I were close. I hung out at their house all the time. Sometimes I even pretended she was my mom too.
    As my dad’s sneakers made heavy thuds down the old wooden staircase, I thought back to my conversation with Mason earlier and how Mrs. Randazzo had risen from the bushes. Did this have something to do with that?
    Dad greeted Lily’s mom. His blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled. They discussed the weather for a minute before she asked, “Is there somewhere private for us to talk?”
    â€œSure.” Dad rubbed his hand over the light-brown stubble on his square chin. He had a thing about not shaving on the weekends. “Let’s go in here.” He opened the French doors leading into the front sitting room. We barely ever used this formal room. “What’s it about?” he asked as she followed him toward the stiff teal sofa.
    Just as the doors closed behind them, I heard her reply. My stomach dropped.
    â€œSara,” she said. “I came to talk about Sara.”

Chapter 3
    I pressed my ear against the cool glass panes. Faded teal-and-gray curtains hung on the inside of the French doors, blocking my view into the room. Dad and Mrs. Randazzo spoke in low, muffled tones. I couldn’t make out many of the words.
    They’re talking about me!
    My stomach twisted. I wasn’t concerned about Mrs. Randazzo telling my dad that I could see ghosts. He knew that already. It wasn’t his favorite subject, but he wouldn’t freak out. But what if she spilled Mason’s secret? Or, even worse, what if she’d already told Lily what she’d heard? Was that the real reason why Lily wasn’t here?
    Lady Azura’s hand gripped my shoulder. “Eavesdropping is beneath you,” she scolded. “Come away.”
    This wasn’t a request. Lady Azura never made requests. Only commands. She steered me across the hall and through the thick purple velvet curtain that covered the entrance to her rooms.
    â€œWhat do you think they’re saying?” I asked. “Do you know why she’s here?”
    â€œNo idea,” she said as we entered her fortune-telling room. Another curtain far in the back concealed her bedroom and bathroom. “But if they’d wanted you to hear, they would have invited you in.”
    She switched on the lamps with delicately beaded shades that were scattered about the room. Lady Azura did not believe in overhead lighting. Too harsh and unflattering, she always said. A warm yellow glow settled on the mystical room and reflected against the heavy red drapes and the red tablecloth.
    â€œYou could find out what’s going on.” I moved to the large, round table and peered into the crystal ball displayed on a small polished-wood pedestal. “You could see them.”
    â€œSara, child, that is not a spy gadget. It is a tool to gaze beyond the realm of the physical eye.” She dropped into her oversize armchair with the nubbydark-mustard fabric. The chair was her throne. She sat there to look into her clients’ past and see their futures. She sat there when she talked to the dead.
    My great-grandmother is just like me. Or I guess, I am just like her. We both talk to the dead. Lady Azura and I are the only two in our family who can. But Lady Azura can do things I can’t. She can read tea leaves and tarot cards and see visions in the crystal ball. All I saw today was my reflection staring back at me. My blue eyes, usually so clear and bright, looked stormy and dark.
    â€œWhy so worried?” She tapped her long, oval nails on the arm of the chair.
    I told her everything. My conversation with Mason. My suspicions about Mrs. Randazzo.
    Then I hesitated. I wiggled my phone partway from the pocket of my jean shorts. I glanced quickly at the screen. No messages. Lily was being strangely quiet. She texted all the time just