Jump When Ready by David Pandolfe Page A

as you may have learned
from watching Curtis, it can be far from pleasant for those on the other side
when they interact with us.”
    I felt my face grow warm. Until then, I hadn’t realized
Martha even knew about my little adventure with Curtis. Thankfully, she didn’t
look pissed off like the others had when they’d discovered what we’d been up
to.
    Jamie had explained some things to me on the day that
Curtis and I crossed over. He’d told me that what Curtis and I had done was
called Poltergeisting. It wasn’t okay. You should never do anything now that
you wouldn’t have done when you were still in your life. He’d also explained
that Curtis was what they called a Manipulator, someone who can control
physical objects in the other realm. Apparently, having that kind of ability
was extremely rare.
    I was about to ask Martha about how all of it worked when
she looked up at the ceiling as if hearing something. Nikki and I waited,
glancing at each other while Martha continued to listen to whatever it was we
couldn’t hear.
    After a few moments, Martha got up. She smiled at the two
of us but it showed in her eyes that something was bothering her. “I’m sorry,”
she said. “I’m needed elsewhere. But I can see that you’ve made up your mind.
Please don’t hesitate if I can help in any way.”
    Martha walked us to the door in no particular hurry, but
she didn’t say anything more and I wondered if she might have vanished even
before the door fell closed.
    ~~~
    Jamie stood at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed and
staring up at us like he’d been waiting there the entire time. “What’s going
on?”
    “A lot,” Nikki said. “None of it good.”
    We went into the food court and filled Jamie in. My brain
was spinning after everything that had happened, while now I was trying to
figure out what to do with the things we’d talked about with Martha—that I
probably didn’t stand a chance at helping Bethany and all that stuff about time
and going back and souls getting trapped as real ghosts. But I couldn’t allow
myself to take all of that on right now.
     “Do you think Martha’s right about the whole Speaker
thing?” I said. “I was thinking maybe I could use it somehow. But it seemed
like she didn’t think it was a good idea.”
    “My guess is she just doesn’t need it,” Nikki said.
    “Why?” I kept drumming my fingers on the table, worried
sick about Bethany. Still, I needed to learn as much as possible. I already
knew that being with her wouldn’t make any difference if I didn’t have some
sort of plan.
    “You heard what she said, right? Being able to interact
with the other realm isn’t necessarily a good thing. It can totally backfire.
Besides, she always discourages us from getting involved. And maybe…” Nikki’s
words trailed off while she thought about something.
    “Maybe what?”
    “Maybe it’s about more than Martha just having a
Manipulator or a Speaker on her hands.”
    Nikki looked at Jamie and it seemed like she was waiting
for him to say something.
    Jamie stared back at her. “What?”
    “Did I say anything?” Nikki turned back to me. “A
Manipulator can bother people. As you’ve already seen, not so fun for those on
the other side. It can be the same sort of deal for a Speaker, but it’s not
like you’re a total creep. Then again, you seemed pretty happy when you and
Curtis got back the other day.”
    Nikki was never going to let me live that one down. She’d
probably loved watching my face turn red when Martha brought it up.
    Jamie leaned in closer, the points of his mohawk poking
toward my eyes. “The whole objective for Martha is that we eventually move on.
She volunteered for this. That’s what Service is all about.”
    Nikki clamped her hand over mine to make me stop tapping
on the table. “I’m sorry. I know you’re freaking. Anybody would be but it’s
making it hard to think.”
    I forced myself to relax and sat back. “But what does