Playing with Fire by Phoebe Rivers

slipping unnoticed into the bustle of the lobby. Then I saw her rub her temples. “Are you okay?” I asked.
    She was surprised to see me. “Not so much,” she admitted. She told me everything I’d overheard. “It’s not about the money. It’s about my reputation as a spiritual healer. I want to do the job I was hired to do,but I need to understand the spirit better so I can find the right herb to banish it.”
    â€œUnderstand how?” I asked as we strolled through the lobby.
    â€œWho it is. Why it’s still here.” Laura stopped before one of the walls of old photos. “Spirits stay behind for a reason.”
    Should I tell her? I wondered. I could describe the red-haired girl. I could tell her about the glow. About the flames. But if I did, I’d have to reveal my powers. Tell another person. I felt, somehow, the right thing to do would be to run the idea by Lily before blurting it out to Laura.
    I examined the photos with Laura. The lake with a small boat with an old-fashioned outboard motor. The original house with a boxy, black car in the circular drive. Suitcases were strapped to the back of the car. No trunks in those days, I figured.
    Then I sucked in my breath.
    The girl with the red hair. Except it wasn’t red now. In the photo, there were only shades of black, white, and gray. But I didn’t need to see the crimson hair to know it was her.
    She posed in a dark dress in a stiff family portrait. The photo had been taken in front of the stone fireplace that now graced the lobby. She stood with her mother and father and a younger, dark-haired girl, who looked about thirteen. I thought she might be the girl I’d seen in my vision. The girl on the bed with her older sister.
    â€œWho are they?” I asked.
    Laura didn’t know. She motioned over Sofia, who’d been straightening flower arrangements on the side tables.
    â€œThat’s the Helliman family,” Sofia reported. “The original owners of the house. Andrew Helliman and his wife, May. The older daughter was named Belinda, and the younger one was Margaret.”
    â€œWhat happened to them?” I asked.
    â€œThey all died in a fire that destroyed part of the house.”
    â€œThat’s so horrible.” Laura shuddered. “Those poor souls.” The fire I’d seen and felt now made sense.
    Laura brushed her fingertips along the portrait. “Those poor souls,” she repeated. Then she turned to me. “I think we found the ghosts who are hauntingthe hotel. It’s a whole family!” She hurried toward the open elevator. “I need to prepare for a cleansing,” she called over her shoulder before the door shut, whisking her away.
    Laura’s close , I thought with relief. I wanted her to figure it out. It wasn’t the whole family in room 22. It was just Belinda. I stared at the portrait. She gazed dreamily into the distance.
    Why? I thought. Why are you still here, Belinda?
    Only an inch separates giving someone their space and shutting them out, I decided . Enough time had passed. I headed back to the pool.
    I had a plan. A really simple one. I’d tell Lily that I was sorry a million times until I got her to forgive me. Even if Kayla refused to budge from Lily’s side, I’d keep apologizing.
    I spotted Lily and her mom standing around a tall table by the frozen yogurt stand. Kayla was nowhere in sight. Lily held her yogurt, not eating it. Her mother talked, waving her arms as she spoke. I’d been at their house enough to know the waving arms meant she was upset.
    Now wasn’t the time for my one million sorrys. I detoured down a path that led to the lake to give them their privacy. Instead of turning right to the dock and the roped-off swimming area, I headed left. The path followed the curve of the lake. Through the reeds along the shore, I watched a family of ducks paddle nearby.
    The land jutted into a lake, forming a