Ashes to Ashes (Burn for Burn 3)

“Are you kidding?” Nadia says. “I think Daddy loved him. That Korean culture stuff, Daddy ate it up! Reeve was so smart to do that.”

Lillia smiles into the mirror. “I feel bad. I basically scared Reeve into his best behavior. I was so sure he’d do something . . . I don’t know. Something that Daddy wouldn’t like.”

I shake my head. Reeve knows how to charm everyone. That’s part of why he’s so dangerous. It can happen, even when you don’t want it to. Even when you are trying your very hardest to resist. Lillia should know that better than anyone else. She’s known him for years. She’s seen the way he treats people. And yet she doesn’t recognize it. She refuses to see his true colors.

Nadia rolls onto her stomach and watches Lillia remove her makeup. It’s clear Nadia adores Lillia. After a while Nadia says, “Lilli.” She’s trembling. “I’m sorry I was so terrible to you.”

Lillia turns around in her chair. “Nadi, don’t even.”

But Nadia has started to cry. She smothers her face in the comforter.

Lillia immediately gets up and lies on the bed with Nadia and strokes her hair. “It’s fine, okay? I understand why. You were upset. You loved Rennie a lot. We both did.”

“Still. That’s not what sisters do.” She sniffles some, but it only makes the tears run harder. “And now you’ll be going away to college, and I won’t ever see you, and . . . and . . .” Her face wrinkles up like a baby’s. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

Lillia shushes Nadia, and lies down next to her, comfy-cozy. “I’ll miss you too, Nadi,” she whispers. “But I’m not going away forever! I’ll come home a lot, or you can come and visit me. We’ll go shopping, and eat at the food trucks. Boston’s not that far away.” She reaches over to her night-stand and plucks out a tissue for Nadia. “I don’t know what you’re so sad about, anyway. You’re going to have Phantom all to yourself now.”

Nadia laughs, but she’s still sniffly. Lillia pulls her blankets up over them, reaches for her TV remote, clicks something on, and the two lie in bed together. As snug as two bugs in a rug.

Lillia falls asleep first, and Nadia nods off a few minute after. I slide up next to Lillia and place my hand on her forehead.

*  *  *

Lillia puts on her daisy bikini and walks out to their backyard pool with a drink and her towel. Nadia and her friends are there, swimming and suntanning. Lillia leans back in her lounge chair and closes her eyes, as peaceful as can be. Finally Reeve arrives in his swimming trunks.

Lillia’s dreaming about today. She’s trying to relive it all over again.

That’s not going to happen.

There’s a splash, and Lillia opens her eyes, confused. This isn’t how it went. Reeve should be scooping her up, jumping into the water with her.

She looks around. Nadia and her friends are gone. And Reeve’s already in the pool.

With me.

Lillia screams a bloodcurdling scream. “Mary, no!”

I’ve got my hand on Reeve’s head, holding it below the surface. It doesn’t matter that he’s got the body of a Greek god. His strength is no match for me.

Her hands fly to her mouth, her eyes wide and terrified. She darts toward the pool edge, but I make the pool stretch wider with every step closer she takes, so she never makes up any ground. She can’t get close to us. “Please stop!”

“You’ve been a crappy friend to me, Lillia. You broke our pact, you forgot about me, and you fell in love with the one person you shouldn’t have.”

She touches the necklace, her mouth agape. Then she runs to the diving board and falls onto her stomach. She’s reaching out, trying desperately to get a hand on Reeve. “Mary, please! He’ll drown!”

“Yes, he will. When Reeve dies tomorrow, remember that I’m the one who killed him.”

*  *  *

I lift my hand from her forehead.

See you tomorrow, Lillia.

Chapter Thirty-Five

LILLIA

WHEN I WAKE UP, I know that I had a bad dream, but I can’t remember what it was. I’m lying in bed trying to piece it back together when Reeve calls.

“Come over,” I say, rolling onto my side.

“I’ll stop by after I go work out my legs at the school pool.”

Hearing that makes me nervous. I sit up in bed. “Your leg isn’t hurting, is it?” Reeve’s been working out so hard these last few weeks, following the coach’s plan so he’ll be fully ready for the prep school’s summer session.

“Don’t worry. It’s fine. I’m just being proactive.”

“You’d tell me, though, right? If it was hurting you?” I wonder if I’ll ever not feel guilty for what happened to Reeve on homecoming night.

“You sound like my mom,” Reeve says, laughing.

I make a tsk sound. “Well, we both care about you, dummy!” He’s right, though. Mrs. Tabatsky and I are both on him about not pushing himself too hard. And we’re both a little obsessed with Reeve’s protein intake.

I know Reeve was just joking, but I’m still thinking about it an hour later, when I’m sitting in the kitchen eating cinnamon toast and fingering the necklace he gave me yesterday. No girlfriend in the world wants to be compared to her boyfriend’s mother. That’s the opposite of hot.

So I get an idea to surprise Reeve at the pool, for old times’ sake.

If only I had a new bikini to wear. Something Reeve hasn’t seen me in. Nadia’s downstairs watching a movie, so I sneak into her room and go through her drawers. I find a brand-new one that she bought at the end of last season. It’s a tiny triangle top and a skimpy bottom in iridescent lavender, the kind of bikini I’ve only ever seen girls wear in Miami. At the time, I tried to veto it, because I felt like it was a bit much for her, but she acted like I was being a prude. She clearly never wore it, though, so she must have agreed with me deep down.

I change into it and check myself out in Nadia’s mirror. I tug at the bottom so it covers a little more. It’s definitely sexier than any bikini I’ve ever owned, but at least Reeve won’t be comparing me to his mom anymore.

Chapter Thirty-Six

MARY

Many ghosts are motivated by a deep psychological issue, about which they tend to be single-minded and obsessive. Be warned that if a ghost makes him- or herself known to you and does not solicit your help, he or she likely means to do you harm.