Veiled (Ada Palomino 1)

“What?” Dex and I say at the same time exchanging a glance.

“I’m serious,” she goes on, rubbing her lips together, her eyes darting back to the closet. “I don’t think you should sleep in this room anymore Ada, let alone this house. All those feelings I had before I was possessed. I’m having them here again.”

“Are you sure?” Dex asks, grabbing her hand.

“I think so,” she says, looking to me. “I believe you Ada. Whatever is here isn’t good. Whatever went in that closet might come back.”

“Wait, what?” Dex says, raising his hands. “Can you ladies catch me up to speed here?”

“Ada woke up with something in the room with her. It got off her bed and went into the closet. It had a tail . . .”

Dex eyes me, raising his brows. “Well holy shit then.”

“I also saw someone else in the room. I was talking to him. And he was real.”

I think.

Perry eyes him and I can’t read what she’s thinking. “When I walked in here she was talking to someone. I never heard another voice.”

I frown. “That doesn’t mean there wasn’t someone here with me. I’m telling you there was.”

“Regardless, that closet is a fucking slice of horrors, and that I can feel,” she says. “Whoever you were or weren’t talking to I can’t say but I can comment on that.” She points at the closet with a shaking hand.

“What did the guy look like?” Dex asks me and I’m forever grateful that at least someone is interested in the strange man in my room.

“Well actually,” I say. “The guy from my dreams. The guy from your wedding.”

Perry purses her lips in surprise. “That Jay guy?”

I swallow. “It was him. I’ve seen him before you know. In real life.”

“What? When?” I catch a twinge of hurt in her voice for not filling her in on it earlier.

“When I was at Sephora,” I tell her.

“So he’s a metrosexual ghost as well?” Dex asks.

I glare at him. “No. He was outside of the store. But I saw him. We looked right at each other. Then I lost sight of him and he was gone.” I pause. “I wasn’t dreaming then.”

Dex scratches at his sideburns. “Well I suppose that’s better than being haunted by a guy that shops at Sephora. You know you’re more than welcome to come stay with us till your school starts.”

“More than welcome?” Perry repeats, coming over to me. She grabs me by the elbow and looks me deep in the eyes. She’s nothing but determined and when she’s determined, I feel safe. “You are coming with us. And tonight, you’re sleeping with me in your old bedroom. Dex you can sleep in here.”

“Delightful,” he comments dryly. “Okay, in Seattle can I at least sleep with my wife?”

Perry leads me out of the room and I eye my father’s door down the hall.

“What about dad?”

“What about him?” she asks as we get into my old bedroom, the bed in the middle of the room, the window beside it illuminating all my extra dressers and rolling racks full of clothing.

“We can’t leave him here all alone,” I tell her.

“Dad will be fine,” she says. “He’s not like us. He’ll always be fine. You know that.”

But I didn’t.

“I’ll make sure to talk to the Knightlys before we go, let them know he’s alone. I’ll talk to Debbie down the street too, I’m sure she’d be more than willing to keep an eye on him.”

“Do you trust the Knightlys?” I ask.

She bites her lip, thinking as she goes around to her side of the bed. “I’m not sure. Sage was nice, even if he was keeping a lot of things close to his chest. But I think we have to trust them for now.”

I wasn’t sure either but deep down I felt they were just older versions of ourselves. If we went on to have a badass rock star career, of course.

I get into the bed, the room strangely cold despite the persistent heat wave. I know it’s kind of silly to be sleeping with my sister for the second night in a row, like a frightened child, but I’m grateful for it all the same.

“Is Dex going to be okay in there?” I ask her softly after a few moments, the night settling back around us. “I mean, if it was Michael in the closet . . .”

Two years ago, Dex, Perry, and I were sitting here, in this house. They’d just come back from filming their last episode of their Experiment in Terror show. Dex was upstairs editing. I was doing a workout video in the living room. Perry went for a walk. My parents were out somewhere. Then a man showed up at the door, claiming to be Michael, Dex’s estranged brother, and all hell broke loose.