Leanne leaned around the fridge door and raised an eyebrow at us, or, more specifically, me. “What’s this?”

Leanne Whitaker was now Misty’s go-to friend for weekend sleepovers? Seriously?

I struggled to keep the hurt and anger from showing on my face, knowing it would only make things worse.

When I’d been alive, the three of us had mostly gotten along fine, all on the varsity squad together. But Misty and I had been a pair, with Leanne a little on the outside. That’s just the way it was. I’d never particularly cared for Leanne. She was always too eager to enjoy someone else’s misfortune, which was, frankly, tacky. And I’d experienced that firsthand a few months ago, when I first came back as a spirit to find her talking trash about me. Bitch.

I knew Will would have lumped the old me in with her, but I never saw Leanne and me as being anything alike. Yes, people thought I was cruel, but I think there’s a difference between giving a brutally honest assessment of a situation, which may cause pain, and causing pain so you can take some kind of delight in it. Yuck.

That same trait made Leanne someone you didn’t want as an enemy, though, so a friend she was. But not the kind of friend you trusted. At least, I hadn’t, and I couldn’t believe Misty was being naive enough to do so.

Then again, Misty had never been a great judge of character. That had been my job in our friendship.

“Leanne, this is…” Misty looked at me. “What was your name again?”

See what I mean? She’d let a virtual stranger into her house. Not that I was complaining, in this particular instance, as it benefited me. “Ally Turner,” I said.

Misty nodded, rubbing her eyes like she wasn’t quite awake yet or hadn’t gotten enough sleep. “Right. Ally.” The dark circles beneath her eyes looked even more pronounced than they had yesterday.

Leanne cocked her head to one side, evaluating me.

Crap.I held my breath. This would go a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with whatever impressions they might already have of Pre-Coma Lily. Misty hadn’t recognized this body, of course. I’dbarely remembered Lily’s existence. There was no way Misty would have. But Leanne…

Her eyes narrowed, and an evil grin spread across her freckled face. “I know you.” She slammed the fridge door shut with the bottom of her foot, sending the magnets holding the twins’ artwork to the floor, and pointed her spoon at me. “You’re that girl who lost her shit in front of everyone at one of Ben’s parties last year.”

Damn it.

“What?” Misty frowned at Leanne.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leanne said, waving her spoon around in excitement. “Ben was being his douchey self.” She rolled her eyes. “He showed up with his hands all over that freshman. Henley? Hanley?” She scrunched her forehead in concentration, trying to remember. “You know which one I mean. And this chick freaked.” She sounded delighted.

“Hello, standing right here?” I muttered.

Leanne ignored me. “Anyway, there was this huge scene. And then she drove off and crashed her car.” She paused to give me a skeptical look. “I thought you died.”

“I was in a coma,” I said tightly.

Misty turned to me. “That was you?” she asked, sounding worried for the first time that maybe she’d let someone who was less than stable into her home.

Thanks a lot, Lily.I could feel my face burning even though I’d had nothing to do with any of that Ben Rogers stuff. I wished, for once, that I could remember this giant confrontation between Lily and Ben. I’d been at the party, but either I’d missed seeing it, or it hadn’t registered as anything out of the ordinary. And given the way Ben was, it might very well have been the latter. Girls were always either fawning over him or yelling at him, postfawning. Still, while I was wearing Lily’s face, it would be helpful to know if that scene had been as bad as Leanne was implying, or whether she was amplifying it for her own entertainment and my discomfort. I supposed I could have played the memory-loss card and had someone tell me exactly what had gone on, but finding a trustworthy eyewitness—in other words, notLeanne—was the trick. So I’d have to roll with it.

“That was a long time ago, and not why I’m here,” I said, shooting a death glare at Leanne, who grinned in response. “I came to make sure you were okay,” I said to Misty, which was kind of true. “You seemed really upset yesterday, and I wasn’t sure if Malachi was able to help you.…” Gag.Like Malachi was helping anyone but himself.

“She was at the psychic’s yesterday,” Misty said to Leanne, wrapping the end of her ponytail around her fingers, another nervous habit. “The one who’s been trying to help me?”

Leanne made a sour face that could have been in response to the fact either that I’d been somewhere with Misty or that Misty was going to a psychic. Apparently more than once, I realized, as her words clicked through.

“You’ve been there before?” I asked incredulously.

She shrugged. “He said it would probably take a few times before he could cleanse my aura.”

Such a scammer. “Please,” I said at the same time as Leanne, who gave me a disgusted look.

Whatever. She didn’t ownthe word.

“But he didn’t come back yesterday, like, not at all,” Misty said to me. “He missed the rest of his appointments.”

“Sweetie, I told you, he’s only after your money,” Leanne said with a condescending smile. “Someone was probably on to him, and he bailed.”

Wow. So Leanne and I actually agreed on something. Though she’d obviously let Misty go to Malachi in the first place, which I would not have allowed.

“No.” Misty shook her head vigorously. “I’m telling you he’s for real. He knew stuff about me and about her.” Her voice took on a hushed urgency. “Stuff he couldn’t have known.”

Leanne rolled her eyes and spooned another bite of cookie dough into her big fat mouth.

Misty turned to me. “You know,” she said defiantly. “You saw them. The ghosts in his office. The ones he says are his guides.”

Interesting that Malachi was apparently aware of his spirit companions. Maybe he wasn’t the fake he seemed to be. Or maybe he was really good at being that fake. Having spirit guides wasn’t an uncommon fact about mediums/ psychics. He’d probably just done his research.

“She was with that creepy dude from school, Will something. Remember him?” she asked Leanne.

I winced on Will’s behalf, and Leanne gave a noncommittal grunt.

“They were both seeing something that wasn’t there. It was the weirdest thing.” She gave a shudder and then turned back to me. “Ghosts, right?”

I hesitated before responding. I needed Misty to believe me if I was going to figure out what was really going on here. But if I spoke up now, I’d be cementing Ally’s reputation as a freak, which I might have to live with for a while.

What to do?

Finally, I nodded. Figuring out who was pretending to be me was more of a priority at the moment. Besides, I’d be out of this body before too long…probably.

Leanne snorted, and I hoped she’d choke on a chocolate chip. “Ghosts don’t exist, Misty. I told you.”

“Then why did you insist on sleeping in the guest room last night instead of my room?” Misty demanded.

Leanne focused on digging out another bite of dough. “Whatever,” she muttered. “It was warmer in there.”

Misty looked to me. “She’s here again. Alona, I mean.” She twisted her fingers together nervously. “Since last night.”

My ears pricked up. “She’s here now? How do you know?” I tried for a discreet look around the room and saw nothing out of the ordinary, no blurry spots.

Misty shook her head. “I just feel it sometimes. Like there’s someone watching me.” She smiled sadly. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m not crazy. I know it’s her.”

“Do you want to show me where that feeling is strongest?” I forced myself not to sound too eager. “Maybe I can take a look?”