J

inx let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Jackson chose to trust her. And now the jig was up.

She turned to Emily, who watched Jackson walk out the door. Emily’s expression was hopeless. She whirled to Jinx, her face contorting in anger.

“You,” was all she could say.

Jinx could give as good as she could get. She hardened her eyes and narrowed them. “It’s over, Emily. Your little trick didn’t work.”

Emily glared at Jinx. “So, you’re a freak and a jerk?”

Jinx snorted. “I’m a jerk because I found out you’ve been lying this whole time?”

Emily walked over and flopped onto her bed, her shoulders sagging. The fight had left her. Distantly, Jackson’s voice carried through the apartment: “What the—?” He’d found Travis in the kitchen, Jinx knew.

Emily shook her head sadly. “All you had to do was just say there were ghosts in the apartment. Why couldn’t you have just done that? How did you know, anyway?”

Jinx sat on the bed next to her, her loathing overshadowed by her curiosity. “Why did you do this?” she asked. “Why go through all this work? Were you doing this to make fun of me?”

“No offense, Jinx,” Emily replied, “but I couldn’t have cared less about you until this year.” Jinx’s back stiffened. They were all the same, these people. Had nothing changed since middle school?

“But then my parents got divorced. My dad had to move out to this apartment....I Googled it and found out about the murder and the haunting. It just clicked to contact you.”

“But why?” Jinx asked. She couldn’t seem to connect the dots. Off in the kitchen, she could hear Travis and Jackson talking. Leave it to Jackson to be calm and reasonable about everything. Jinx, though, felt furious. How could she be this girl’s fool? She calmed herself long enough for an answer.

Emily sighed, picking at the bedcover in front of her. The threads were coming loose. Jinx could tell that the quilt was homemade. By someone really talented—it was beautiful. Emily saw her looking at it and said, “My mom made this. She’s an amazing sewer. She even started designing clothes a year or two ago.”

Emily got up and went to her closet, pulling out a skirt and a sweater. Jinx could see the quality in the fabric and design, and how expensive the clothes looked. Probably not something she would wear, but...

“This is my mom’s design,” Emily said.

Jinx nodded, then moved her hand in a go-on motion. “Annnd?”

“And she got really successful. Now she doesn’t have time for me and my dad.”

Jinx couldn’t help it. Her eyes softened, and she relaxed a little bit. She couldn’t even imagine one of her parents checking out. Emily sat back down on the bed and unraveled some more of the quilt thread. “I thought, if my mom thought we were in danger, she’d let us come home,” she went on. “Both of us.”

A tear slipped down her face. This girl was a good actor, Jinx thought, but she was sure there was real pain here. Maybe Jackson was right about one thing.

Jinx put her hand out to pat Emily’s shoulder but just couldn’t do it and ended up smoothing her hand along the quilt too. Emily looked up at her curiously, but Jinx turned away and cleared her throat.

“So you asked Travis to help, huh?”

Emily nodded. “He’s been so great. When all this stuff happened, he was really there for me.”

Jinx sighed. They were both quiet for a moment. The only sounds were the soft mumbling in the kitchen and Emily’s occasional sniff.

Finally, Jinx said, “Look, I’m not one for advice, but this seems like a really extreme way to get your mom’s attention. Maybe if you just talk to her...you know, tell her you miss her, she’ll listen? What if she doesn’t know you feel that way?”

After a beat, Emily said, “I guess I actually haven’t told her I feel like I’m a nuisance.”

Jinx nodded. “It’ll be easier than faking a ghost.”

Both girls chuckled softly, and Jinx stood up. “Well, time to talk to Jackson.” Emily nodded and got up too.

Jinx said, “Oh, and by the way. You still owe us the $200.”

She could only be so nice, after all.