Kindred Spirits by Phoebe Rivers

herself. It would have to be a latent power that has come to the surface . . . but I have never sensed that Lily has any powers. Have you?”
    I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think so . . . but then again, other than Lady Azura, I had never met anyone with powers. Would I somehow sense it? Was it possible my best friend had powers too?
    Lady Azura didn’t know the answer. She was a big believer in keeping an open mind and letting the truth reveal itself. “If it is a spirit, you will eventually see it. If it is Lily, you will see that, too. And if it is you, the window will soon open wider and you will be able to better see what you can do.” She lifted a small, see-through crystal from a porcelain bowl on her glass shelves. “This is clear quartz. Add it to your necklace.”
    â€œWhat’s it do?”
    â€œIt enhances psychic abilities. If you possess telekinesis, this crystal will bring your powers into clearer view.” Her brown eyes glimmered. “How exciting thatwould be. The first of us to mentally move objects!”
    The doorbell chimed. Lady Azura checked the slim gold watch on her wrist. “Ah, Mrs. Merberg is back. Maybe we will make progress today.”
    â€œI’m going to my bedroom,” I announced. “What about Eleanor and Dwight?”
    Lady Azura smiled. “They are mine now. The house will be quiet for a while.”
    Upstairs, I passed Dad straightening the room where we watched TV. He was muttering something about the house being a mess.
    Tell me about it, I thought.
    I closed my bedroom door. I sat straight on my chair with my feet on the floor and placed a yellow pencil flat on my desk. I needed to see what I could do.
    I was going to move the pencil across the desk, I decided.
    I stared at the pencil.
    I focused on the pencil. Only the pencil.
    My eyes crossed. The yellow blurred.
    I tried to move the pencil.
    A vein on the side of my head throbbed.
    Nothing happened. The pencil stayed where it was.
    I took a deep breath and tried again. Still nothing.
    Maybe if I don’t focus so hard, I thought. I stared at the pencil and thought about seagulls, waffles, and rain. Anything but the pencil moving.
    It still didn’t go anywhere.
    I tried for twenty minutes, then gave up.
    Lily had been with me when all those strange things happened, I realized. All of them, except the skeletons, but that could have been an opening-day mechanical failure.
    It would be so cool if it were Lily moving things with her mind. Best friends, both with powers. Should I text her? Call her? How would I go about asking her?
    I had no idea.
    I stared at the pencil again.
    One more time, I decided. I’d try to move it myself one more time.

Chapter 10
    The whole next day I tried and tried. Pencils. A sneaker. My toothbrush. Even a cotton ball.
    Nothing budged.
    Perched on the high stool at the table in my crafts room that afternoon, I peered out the window. The sky was gray with misting rain. Fog blocked the view of the bay. Dad was at work. Lady Azura was with a client. Lily had gone with her family to visit a great-uncle.
    The house was quiet.
    I was arranging clamshells in a circle, overlapping one on the other to make a wreath, when I heard the first creak.
    Creaks weren’t a big deal. Our house always creaked. It was old. It had ghosts.
    But the creaks grew louder.
    They turned to scraping. And then to strange thumping.
    I sat still and listened. The noises came from overhead. Something or someone was in the attic.
    My fingers drummed the table as I watched the ceiling. Boom. Thud. What was going on up there?
    Lady Azura couldn’t help. She couldn’t climb the stairs because of her bad hips.
    I’d ignore it until Dad came home, I decided.
    I busied myself arranging the wreath. A sudden sharp squeak of rusted hinges jolted my hand, knocking the shells out of place.
    No way could I ignore it.
    Slowly I made my way up the narrow