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Chapter 1: Rae 1. RAE { THREE MONTHS LATER }
Rae Carter had never run away from anything in her twelve years, no matter what. She believed in always finding out the truth and facing it head-on, even when it cost her all her friends. But now, as her mom’s minivan rumbled into their new town, she realized that running away was exactly what she was doing. And it felt... okay, actually.
Although she wasn’t so sure about the place they were running to.
“‘Welcome to Whispering Pines,’” Rae read off the large sign posted at the edge of town. “‘Mind the goats.’” She frowned. “Really? Goats?”
“Goats must be important around here,” her older sister, Ava, said in that irritatingly superior tone she’d been using lately, like it was all so obvious.
“Don’t try to pretend that’s not weird,” Rae said. “Most other town signs just tell you the population.”
Ava shrugged. “I happen to like it. You like it, right, Mom?”
“It’s definitely different,” their mom said, slowing down to match the speed limit as they cruised down the main street. Twenty-seven and a half miles per hour. Rae had never seen a decimal point in a speed limit sign before, but this time she kept that to herself. Ava would probably claim she liked that, too.
Rae scowled at the back of her sister’s head. Ava was five years older than her, which hadn’t mattered all that much before. But this past year, Rae had felt each and every one of those years piling up between them.
Don’t be such a child, Rae...
Rae shook off the memory of the worst day of her life, the day she’d really needed her sister’s help and instead got a condescending lecture. If Rae was finally running away from something, it might as well be everything. She could leave her old self behind, and be someone new here. Someone who wasn’t overly focused on strange things. The kind of girl who made friends easily—and kept them—and was able to let the little things go.
But then she thought of her dad and knew she couldn’t actually abandon everything.
They left the small downtown area behind and turned onto a tree-lined street. All of the streets here were tree-lined. They’d had plenty of trees back home in Sunnyside, California, too, but not like this. It was as if the houses and businesses of this town were battling the forest for space.
A few more turns, even more trees, and up ahead Rae spotted a moving van parked on the street in front of a rectangular white house. Her mom pulled up behind the van and cut the engine, the car filling with quiet as the three of them just sat there, staring out at their new home.
It was definitely larger than their old place but looked older, the paint a bit weathered, the bushes lining the walk slightly overgrown. Otherwise, it seemed normal enough. No goats anywhere. Rae was a little disappointed.
She glanced at her mom in the rearview mirror. Her mom wore one of those looks that meant her mind was a million miles away, her eyes wide and unfocused. It was a look she’d worn way too often this past year, ever since Rae’s dad had vanished.
Been taken, Rae corrected herself. That was one truth she couldn’t forget, not for a second. “Mom?” she asked.
No response.
“Should we go in?” Ava asked, a little louder.
Their mom gave herself a little shake and smiled. “I suppose we’d better,” she said. Of course she responded to Ava. She always did.
Rae crossed her arms, remaining in the back seat as her mom and sister got out and headed toward the house. Neither of them looked back, though, and after a minute Rae got tired of being sulky and climbed out of the car too. She took a deep breath.
The air smelled different here, like pine needles and dirt. The trees nearby had just started to change color, clumps of red and orange bursting out from behind all that green. Rae had heard that nothing beat autumn in Connecticut. So far it seemed like it was off to a slow start.
“You coming in?” Ava called, poking her head out the front door.
“Yes, yes,” Rae grumbled. But she hesitated at the bottom of the driveway. Once she went inside, that would be it. The end of the old Rae, the start of the new. She wasn’t sure if she was ready.
She looked at the moving van looming in front of her, packed full of everything from her family’s old life, and realized she didn’t really have a choice.
Movement behind the van caught her eye. Someone was walking through the yard of the house across the street. Rae glanced at the open front door behind her, then took a step away from it. She wasn’t stalling. She was investigating.
She stepped past the van so she could see the house across the street better. It sat up on a hill, its own driveway long and unpaved, and at the bottom a large square sign read, GOT A GHOST PROBLEM? NAME YOUR PRICE! in bold orange letters. Below that, written in black, it said PARANORMAL PRICE: SPECIALIZING IN EXORCISMS, TAROT READINGS, AND HOUSE CLEANSINGS, followed by a phone number.
Rae scratched her head. Maybe it was a joke?
She looked past the sign, through a thin layer of trees and up the driveway, where a boy with messy dark hair moved slowly backward through the yard. He was tall and skinny and wearing all black—probably a requirement if his family actually specialized in ghost hunting—and he was tossing handfuls of something into the grass as he walked.
“Hello?” Rae called loudly. If they were going to be neighbors, she might as well be friendly.
The boy looked up at her.
She waved.
He turned away, tossing more of whatever it was into the grass behind him and ignoring her completely.
Rae slowly lowered her hand to her side, her heart sinking. Maybe things wouldn’t be any different here for her after all.
“Don’t mind him,” a voice said behind her.
Rae whirled, coming face-to-face with a girl about her age wearing jeans and a gray T-shirt with the words “Seeking Samantha” printed on it.
“Caden Price doesn’t really like people.” The girl tossed her long dark hair back over her shoulder. “I mean, we live on the same street, and I think he’s spoken to me once.”
“What’s he doing?” Rae asked.
“Drawing a line with salt.”
“Salt? Why?”
“I have no idea, and frankly, I’m scared to ask. But he does it a lot. Especially lately.”
“Great,” Rae muttered. She was living across from a ghost-hunting weirdo with a condiment problem.
“I’m Brandi, by the way,” the girl said. “You must be Rae, right?”
Rae’s eyes widened. How could this girl possibly know that?
“I promise I’m not some creepy stalker,” Brandi said quickly. “We just don’t get many new people here, so as soon as the moving van showed up, I had to investigate.”
“Spoken like a true stalker,” Rae said, the words slipping out. She immediately regretted them. They belonged to the old Rae, the one who had ended up friendless and alone. “I mean...”
Brandi laughed. “No, that’s fair. My mom tells me I’m too nosy for my own good. Claims it’ll get me in trouble someday.” She shrugged. “Anyhow, you’ll be in my school, good ole Dana S. Middle School. Seventh grade, right?”
Rae nodded.
“I’m a grade above you, but I like helping new students get settled in, and since you’re, like, only the second one we’ve had in a year, I can totally show you around if you want.”
“Show me around? You mean, here? Or at school?”
“Both.” Brandi grinned. She had chapped lips and a small gap between her front teeth, but somehow they made her smile look better.
Rae wanted to grin back, but embarrassingly, she could feel tears building in the back of her eyes. It had been a long time since anyone had been so nice to her. Not since her ex–best friend had cut all ties at the beginning of sixth grade. “I’d like that,” she said, turning a little away and blinking rapidly.
“Cool beans.” Brandi studied the moving van. “You probably want to get started unpacking, huh?”
“Not really,” Rae admitted. She wasn’t looking forward to going through all those boxes.
“Oh good! Want to get ice cream with me instead? I’m supposed to be cleaning, but if I’m showing the new girl around, my mom can’t really get mad at me.”
“Oh, so you’re using me?”
“Just a little.” Brandi flashed another gap-toothed smile. “Want to come anyhow?”
This time Rae managed to smile back. “I’d love to. Let me just check with my mom.”
“I’ll wait.”
Rae turned and hurried up the driveway, her earlier hesitation gone.
It was time to reinvent herself here in this strange little town. Out with the old Rae, and in with the new.
