Ashes to Ashes

I RUN DOWN ALEX’S DRIVEWAY AND ALONG THE road, where the valets have parked the cars. My heart is pounding in my chest, but I don’t stop running.

I finally spot Reeve’s truck. Please be inside it. Please. But when I get closer, I see that he’s not. It’s empty. He’s gone someplace by foot.

And then I spot his keys on the seat. I get in and tear down the roads. Where could he have gone? Maybe he went home? I check, even park the truck and run up to the house, but he’s not there. His bedroom windows are all dark, his mom and dad are watching TV alone in the den.

He’s nowhere, and I’m wasting time. I should go check on Mary’s house. Kat might need me.

I’m halfway to Middlebury, speeding up the road that rides along the edge of the cliffs, when I nearly run over him.

He’s wobbling along the edge, a bottle of liquor in each hand. I slam the brakes, and he stumbles. And a ways up the road there’s Mary, sitting on the cliffs, watching him.

I lean across the cab and jerk the passenger door open. “Get in!”

“Cho, what the—”

“Just get in!” I scream.

He stares at me in shock, but he gets in. When I put my eyes back on the road, I see Mary there, standing in the middle of the street. Reeve still can’t see her. I drive his truck up and onto the other side of the road, to pass her.

Reeve says, “What the hell is going on? What are you doing in my truck?”

“It’s Mary. Mary Zane. Elizabeth!”

Reeve’s eyes bulge. “What did you say?”

“She’s been trying to hurt you, Reeve. Her spirit—she’s—she’s a ghost, Reeve. She’s come back here for you.” We’re speeding along. “We have to get off the island. She can’t leave.”

His face is stark white. “Oh my God. I thought I was going insane. You’ve actually seen her? Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

I glance at the clock on my dashboard. The next ferry leaves in four minutes. We have to make it. We have to. “When you get to the mainland, don’t come back until I call you.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Reeve, don’t argue with me! You aren’t safe here.”

His jaw sets stubbornly. “I’m not leaving you.”

We pull into the ferry parking lot, and, thank goodness, the ferry’s still there. There aren’t any cars waiting to board, just us. We’re pulling forward when I see her.

Standing in the parking lot, right in front of us, in that gauzy white dress, looking like an angel. Face twisted up and screaming for me to stop.

There’s only one thing I can do. I hit the gas. The dockworkers shout and wave their hands at us. “No more cars!” they shout. This time I drive straight through Mary and up onto the ferry.

I spin around and look through my rear window. She’s staring back at me. She doesn’t move. She just watches Reeve and me and then disappears as the drawbridge is lifted and the ferry pulls away from the shore.