LITMIR.BIZ

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don’t see me any more.”

      He stepped closer, his face inches from Ally’s. He touched her arm.

      If he had to try to see me, I knew I was in trouble.

      Ally’s heartbeat roared in my ears and the room tilted. I stepped back, arms outstretched for balance.

      “Maggie?” he said, his voice distorted.

      I opened my mouth but, before I could speak, the room disappeared.

      I woke lying on my back on a plush leather couch. My eyelids were heavy but I fought the urge to close them again. Every time I did, I ended up back in that dark place. I’d found my heartbeat again, or at least the sound of it. The hot place took away the heartbeat, yet I still lived. Built-in bookshelves outlined the room. I sat up slowly, burrowing my feet into the soft area rug. A pristine mahogany desk rested in the center of the rug, facing the door to the room. The windows revealed darkness outside. I moved across the room, inexplicably drawn to something.

       Where did I have this feeling before?

      The heartbeat rhythm picked up until I found the source. I rested my hand on a worn cloth-covered book. All sound ceased. The heartbeat slowed. Everything I had and all of my will depended on what was inside the book.

      A gust of frigid wind whipped around me, as if someone had opened a window in the middle of winter. I tilted my head back toward the feeling.

      “Time to go, Ally,” a voice said.

      I let go of the book and my body floated away, the office fading away around me.

      I inhaled deeply; Ally’s lungs screamed for oxygen. My body launched off the bed. I sucked air deep into my lungs as if I hadn’t inhaled in hours.

      Cooper and Jamie stood watching me.

      I fell back against the bed, Ally’s hair wild on her sweaty face. I pushed her locks aside. “Did you do that to me?”

      “I don’t think so,” he said, but he didn’t move toward me.

      “Are you okay?” Jamie asked.

      I swallowed a few times, attempting to get moisture back in Ally’s mouth and closed my eyes. I had seen—felt something. The vision I’d seen quickly faded before I could grasp it, but I knew it had to do with Ally.

      Cooper lifted his hand and stared at it. “I must have shocked Ally’s body or something.”

      “Whoa, whoa,” Jamie interrupted. Her teeth started to chatter. “What do you mean, Ally’s body? Is that thing still inside?”

      I glared at her. “Yes, I am still inside but apparently—” I turned to Cooper. “I’m disappearing.”

      Cooper scratched his head. “But I’ve touched you—her before and that never happened.”

      I nodded. “What’s changed?”

      Jamie looked at Cooper for answers. He didn’t look at us.

      I sat up straight against the pillows. “Tell me what’s going on.”

      “Like I said before,” Cooper said. “This possession situation is unprecedented, especially a Prognatum possession.”

      “What’s a Prognatum?” Jamie asked.

      I waved her question away. “What are you thinking?” I asked Cooper.

      “Maybe she is in the process of transforming?” Cooper suggested.

      I balked. “How is that possible? Wouldn’t the body sense that I’m in here and not a Prognatum?”

      Cooper started pacing between the balcony and the bed. “You’d think her body would know that.”

      Maybe Ally wasn’t as smart as everyone thought.

      Cooper shot me a look.

      Damn that mind-reading. I glared right back. Something niggled at the back of my mind. He wasn’t telling me everything. His eyes darted to Jamie and back to mine.

      “Harmless, remember?” I said.

      “Who, me?” Jamie said, looking between us.

      “I think you should check in with Felix; maybe he has more information for you.” And it couldn’t come soon enough with my soul disappearing inside of a teen girl.

      Cooper sighed. “Fine. Let me go talk to Felix about this. I’ll be back soon.”

      With that, he disappeared.

      We sat in silence for a few minutes, comprehending what had happened. Cooper hadn’t wanted me to try to get in David’s office, but there was something in there. Even though I couldn’t remember what I’d seen in the dream/vision, I knew it was about Ally and David’s office might have the information we needed.

      Jamie sat back on the bed, resting on her palms. “You know, I spent a long time wondering what I’d say if I had the chance to meet one of you,” she said. “But now, I have way too much information and I’m not quite sure how to process that.”

      I pushed off the bed, grabbing her arm. “You can process later; we have something to do.”

      “Your leg,” Jamie said.

      “I’ll explain later—” I opened the door to Ally’s room and nearly crashed into Aaron. Jamie shrunk behind me.

      Aaron didn’t need to know anything about Jamie; who knew what he’d do with that information?

      “Um, Jamie.” I turned around, shooting her a don’t-say-anything glare. “You needed to get that notebook, right?”

      She avoided Aaron’s eyes. “Yes,” she said through chattering teeth. She shuffled down the hallway, tucking her arms into the sweatshirt pockets.

      “What are you doing here?” I said.

      “Cooper sent me,” he said, stepping forward into Ally’s room.

      I squeezed around him. “This place has wards,” I said. “I’ll be fine without your help.” As if he could help anybody.

      Aaron linked his arms behind his back. “I’m just doing my job.”

      A job I should have had. Heat flicked across Ally’s skin.

      Something fell, hard, down the hallway. I broke Aaron’s gaze to see Marie struggling with a vacuum and a tub of cleaning supplies. She pushed something against the door to David’s office and stepped over the threshold, disappearing into the room.

      Bingo.

      I ran down the hall. Marie had closed the office door before we got there. I reached up to knock on the door but I heard the whirr of the vacuum on the other side.

      “What do you think you’re doing?” Aaron asked. His body was close enough to Ally’s to make goose bumps.

      Even a body without a proper soul could sense his creepiness.

      He wasn’t going to get any more information than I had.

      “I just needed to talk to Marie for a minute,” I said.

       Back off!

      I hesitated by the door, and Aaron did too. He won the staring contest, mostly because I couldn’t look at his face any more. I brushed past him and down the stairs.

      Aaron appeared at the front door, blocking it. “Where do you think you’re going?”

      I pointed to the parlor. “Relax, Jamie and I have homework to do,” I said softly.

      “Oh,” he said. “I’m going to watch the perimeter.”

      “Okay then, you do that,” I said.

      He disappeared.

      I

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