Annabel’s lip curled in amusement at her cousin’s tone. “Yeah, ‘out.’ As in, not ‘in.’”

She reached behind her and picked up something she’d left in her chair—a sheet of green paper, which she handed to Joshua. He held it up for me to read with him. Then he raised one eyebrow and looked up at Annabel.

“‘Navidad de los Muertos’?” Joshua quoted from the sheet, which was printed with what looked like black skulls.

“Christmas of the Dead,” Hayley said. “It’s a costume party at our new favorite club. It’s got a kind of dark theme instead of happiness and presents and Santa. Totally subversive, right?”

Drew gave her a noisy kiss on the cheek. “Good vocab word, babe.”

Hayley grinned widely in my direction. “I’m trying to get into Auburn next year,” she confided. “That way Drew and I can be together every day.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jillian droned, swinging her legs around and making a little jump out of the chair. “Less talking, more barhopping.”

“You’re only sixteen—you’re not going with us,” Alex said firmly.

“What?” Jillian shrieked. “But Joshua’s only eighteen.”

“She’s got a point,” Joshua said. “How exactly am I supposed to get in if she can’t?”

Annabel let out another dry laugh. “Let’s just say that the carding policy here is a little more relaxed than the one in Wilburton.”

“It’s not that strict in Wilburton,” Jillian grumbled.

“That’s beside the point,” Alex snapped. “Drew and Hayley and Joshua can all pass for twenty-one. You can’t. And anyway, you should be perfectly able to entertain yourself here.”

Jillian nearly growled as she folded her arms across her chest. But after a moment of glowering, she fell back in the chair to stare sullenly into the fire. She looked, for all purposes, like she would obey Alex’s command.

Hearing how this stranger spoke to his sister, Joshua bristled a bit. But he must have decided that Alex was probably right, because he didn’t press the issue. Instead, Joshua turned back to Annabel and shook his head.

“What about your mom?” he asked her. “Won’t she be pissed that all of us underage kiddos went to a club?”

“Josh, I grew up in the French Quarter. The fact that I didn’t have an after-school job at an S&M shop is enough for her.” She gave him a wry smile, one that strongly reminded me of Jillian’s. When Jillian wasn’t scowling anyway.

“Besides,” Annabel added, “what are you afraid of? That you’ll wake up without a kidney?”

“No, that I’ll wake up without any internal organs.”

Annabel snorted. “This club is totally safe, I promise. And anyway, we thought it was the perfect place for Amelia to have some fun—kind of creepy, really crowded. No one will notice or care if you two are dancing, making out, whatever.”

I blinked back. “That’s really … thoughtful. Thanks.”

All around me, everyone except for Jillian beamed. Alex, in particular, looked pleased, which made me wonder whether the club had been his idea originally.

In contrast, Joshua still looked doubtful. He leaned his head toward me and whispered, “You really want to go?”

“Well … yeah. I really want to go.”

The crazy thing was, I did. At this moment I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more than enjoy myself for a while. I wanted to touch Joshua without fear of discovery, or fear of disappearing. I wanted to spend a few hours not worrying about what lay in store for me. I even wanted to dance.

The idea of it was so freeing, I actually giggled. My first genuine, truly free laugh in what had to be months. When Joshua heard that, a slow smile spread across his face.

“Okay then, Club Kid,” he said. “Let’s go unpack.”

Chapter

TEN

You should stop worrying about your outfit, Amelia. You look perfect.”

The compliment startled me, and I jumped a little to the side, away from its speaker. It was something that Joshua would have said. In fact, he had said it, many times. But right now Joshua walked at least twenty feet ahead of me. He was so engrossed in his conversation with Annabel, he didn’t even notice when I began to lag behind.

If Joshua and I had kept pace, he might have seen me twist at the fabric of my skirt with one hand, might have noticed me gnaw on my lower lip.

But Alex obviously noticed. And although he’d only known me for a few hours, he obviously felt comfortable leaning close and whispering that compliment into my ear.

Upon seeing me jerk away, he held up both hands in a pose of surrender.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t.... It’s just … I’m …”

I floundered with my words and then took a quick, shallow breath. “I’m just not used to people talking to me. Besides Joshua.”

We passed into the circle of light from a gas lamp, and I saw Alex’s gaze shift forward, to Joshua. Just before we crossed back into the shadows, Alex’s eyes reconnected with mine.

“It doesn’t bother you, does it?” he asked. “That I can see you too?”

Even in the darkness I could see his smile. It was playful, teasing. The smile of someone who considered himself my friend.

I automatically wrapped my arms around my waist, hiding the tightest portion of my dress. I don’t know why, but I got the strangest impression that Alex didn’t just see me, he saw through me. As if he could read every hope and fear on the planes of my face.

I shrugged, trying to keep my expression impassive. “It’s a little unexpected. But no, it doesn’t bother me.”

“I hope not. You have no idea how nice it is to finally meet you.”

I felt one corner of my lip tug downward. “Am I the first ghost you’ve met, Alex?”

He shook his head. “No. But you’re definitely the nicest.”

“So far.”

The sound of Alex’s laugh reverberated off the walls of the narrow street. “Okay: you’re the nicest so far.”

I was about to correct him, to tell him that I’d been cautiously nice—so far—when I heard Joshua’s voice calling out to me.

“Amelia? Where are you?”

“I’m back here,” I answered loudly. Then I added, “With Alex.”

Suddenly Joshua reversed course, pushing between Drew and Hayley and walking toward us.

“Sorry,” he said when he got closer to me.

His eyes darted briefly toward Alex. For just a second Joshua let his hand hang in the air near my waist, like he wanted to place a possessive hold on me. He must have thought better of it, though, because he then dropped his arm and tucked both his hands into the pockets of his black slacks.

“I lost track of you for a minute, didn’t I?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “No big deal. Besides, it’s not like you left me completely alone.”

I turned to Alex, to ask that he make room for Joshua on the sidewalk. But without warning, Alex had already disappeared. I squinted into the darkness and saw that he’d taken Joshua’s place next to Annabel, far ahead of us. I hadn’t even heard him walk away.

“Weird,” I murmured.

I turned back to Joshua and saw that he’d stopped in the street. He now stood a few feet behind me, motionless except for the hand he ran through his hair and then left on the back of his neck. Inadvertently adopting that nervous pose I loved so much.

Maybe Joshua worried about abandoning me for a few minutes since things between us had been so strained lately. Or maybe he worried about leaving me alone with Alex for more than a couple of seconds.

At the thought that even Joshua occasionally got jealous, I laughed softly. The corner of my mouth lifted slightly, into a little half smile. I clasped my hands behind my back and took a few deliberately slow steps toward him.