The Haunting of Sunshine Girl (34 page)

BOOK: The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
9.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Victoria's handwriting is old fashioned, something out of another century. It looks like she must have written with an antique quill pen, the kind I've always wanted to find for myself.

“Read it out loud,” Nolan says.


Dearest Sunshine
,” I begin. “
Congratulations. You've passed your test. I'm so glad I was able to play a small part in your success
.”

“A small part?” I interrupt myself. “I couldn't have done it without her.”

“Keep going,” Nolan urges.


Thank you for saving my daughter. Although memories of my husband continue to fade, the knowledge that my daughter will live in my heart forever will temper the pain of losing him. Finally, Anna has a chance to find peace.

“Please thank Nolan for his aid. And help him understand his part in all of this.”

“My part?” Nolan echoes. I keep reading.


I don't think either of you has realized yet that Nolan is your protector. The two of you are inextricably connected for the rest of your lives
.”

“That's ridiculous,” Nolan protests immediately, jumping to his feet. He begins pacing back and forth on the porch behind me. “I was
useless
last night. You're the one who protected us, not the other way around.” He takes off his hat and runs his hands through his fine hair nervously; it sticks up almost straight with static electricity, making me smile. “I'm just a bookish teenager who likes doing research.”

“And I'm just a dorky girl who likes shopping for vintage clothes,” I counter. “If I can be a luiseach, then you can be my protector.”

Maybe this explains everything—the way that I'm warm when he's near, the way the creepy feeling diminishes. It could be my body's way of telling me to keep Nolan close.

But then why does it feel so wrong when he gets too close? Why doesn't it feel right to hug him, to hold his hand?

I turn back to the letter, hoping that Victoria has explained, but there's no mention of the way Nolan makes me feel. Instead, I read, “
A protector doesn't just protect his luiseach. He protects knowledge. Nolan, you will be responsible for helping Sunshine learn
.” I look up at my friend again. “Sounds like you're
exactly
what a protector is.”

The knowing smile Victoria flashed when I talked about Nolan—it wasn't because she was amused by our adorable puppy love; it was because she had just figured out he was my protector.

I keep reading. “
Please look after Anna while I'm gone
—gone?” I ask, interrupting myself again. “Where? Why?”

Nolan adds, “Why hasn't Anna moved on? Now that the demon is gone, what's stopping her?”

“I don't know,” I answer anxiously. If Anna hasn't moved on, have I really passed the test? Wasn't that part of it? I go back to the letter. “
My daughter still has work to do in this world, but I hope all of us will be in each other's presence again someday. For now know that your mentor—who was also my former mentor—will be pleased and proud to work with you
.”

“You and Victoria have the same mentor?” Nolan asks.

“Apparently,” I answer, trying to remember everything she told me about him. For the first few years they worked together she only helped light spirits move on. That doesn't sound so bad. I wouldn't mind that, I think, remembering the way it felt this morning. I might even like it.

But if that's the case, why did my test involve a dark spirit—not just a dark spirit, but a demon? I turn back to the letter.


Together you and he will resume the work that he and I had been doing
.”

I drop the note onto our damp front steps like it's hot. Now I'm the one pacing back and forth.

Resume the work they'd been doing? I press my fingers into my forehead. Victoria said that they weren't doing normal luiseach work. That he had a secret project to restore the balance. What balance? And why do I have to dive right into the secret work when Victoria had years of training first? What's the rush with me?

I purse my lips and concentrate. Victoria also said that I was descended from two of the most powerful luiseach in history, that Nolan was right—I was the last luiseach to be born. That my birth father abandoned me for my own protection . . .

All of this has to be connected somehow, right?

I look at Nolan, certain that he knows there are about a zillion questions dancing around my brain.

But I won't need any of the answers. Not if I strike a deal and give up my powers like I planned. But . . . what if my mentor says no? What if I'm somehow, I don't know,
necessary?
And if I am, how can I refuse when there is so much at stake?

“Sunshine?” Nolan asks. “Are you okay?” He smiles faintly, like he knows the question sounds ridiculous right now.

I open my mouth, positive that Nolan—my protector—can help me fit all these puzzle pieces together. But before I can say a word a fancy black car turns into our long driveway, shiny even in the fog. The chain-link fence around the yard shakes when the car rolls past it, years of rust falling onto the patchy grass.
The car moves at a snail's pace, like someone has magically set the world on slow motion. The car's windows are tinted dark, and I can't see who's inside. The car eases to a stop just behind our own—which is not nearly as clean or bright—and its engine fades into silence as the driver pulls the key from the ignition.

Without meaning to, I hold my breath, waiting to see who will emerge from the driver's side door. The world is still in slow-mo when a tall, slender man steps out of the car. He's dressed in a dark suit, a perfectly knotted gunmetal-gray tie tight around his neck. He doesn't smile as he walks up the driveway toward us.

As he gets closer I gasp. Nolan looks from the stranger to me, trying to figure out what's wrong, but I can only shake my head and point.

The stranger's eyes are a milky, light kind of green, the pupils small, despite the fact that it's a dim, cloudy day. No one has eyes like that.
Almost
no one. They look like cat's eyes.

They look exactly like mine.

Acknowledgments

From the very start
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
has been an adventure. And as with most great adventures, it's not something I could have done all alone. So many wonderful people have been part of Sunshine's journey so far, and I am tremendously grateful to them all. Go Team Sunshine!

For starters, thanks to Nick Hagen—the idea man from the very beginning and the driving force behind making Sunshine's world bigger and better. And then even bigger and even better than that. (And Nick asked me to thank his wife, Nikki, on his behalf!)

Thanks to the rad Alyssa Sheinmel for bringing Sunshine's voice and world so vividly to the page. (Alyssa asked that I send her thanks to her friends and family, especially JP Gravitt.)

Thanks to the incomparable Mollie Glick for believing in Sunshine, in Nick, and in me. She saw the potential in this project from the start and knew how to take us exactly where we'd dreamed of going. (And Alyssa says to tell you thanks for inviting her to join the team!) Thanks to everyone at Foundry, especially Jessica Regel and Emily Brown.

Great, big, enormous gratitude to the folks at Weinstein: Amanda Murray, Georgina Levitt, Kathleen Schmidt, and, of course, Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Thank you all for your amazing and overwhelming faith in and support of this project.

Thanks to Cindy Eagan for her enthusiasm, kindness, and editorial savvy. Thank you to David Davoli, Christine Marra, and Levy Moroshan.

Thanks to my wonderful family: Papa and Gamma and Greta, for helping in so many ways. To my brother and sister—two of my favorite writers—for all the inspiration. To Daddy,
. And a special shout-out to my mum for being with me every step of the way.

Most of all, thanks to all of the amazing Sunshiners out there. Without you, Sunshine's adventures—and mine right along with her—wouldn't be possible.

The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl

OCTOBER
2015

                
Sunshine
may have

                
passed her test . . .

                
but her adventures are

                
far from over.

Sunshine's luiseach powers are fully awakened and spirits follow her everywhere. Hoping to get her supernatural abilities under control, she agrees to begin work with her mentor in his eerie lab in the Texas desert. But his work is more terrifying—and, yes, even
creepier
—than she ever could have imagined. Thousands of miles from Kat and Nolan, Sunshine feels utterly alone—until she befriends another young luiseach, Lucio. But can she trust him? Can anything—her father's work, her friendship with Lucio, even Nolan's careful research—prepare Sunshine to face the sinister woman who haunts her dreams, to finally learn the truth about the rift that threatens the future of the luiseach and the human race . . . and the deadly part she may play in it?

BOOK: The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
9.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay
Pink Buttercream Frosting by Lissa Matthews
The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe
The Tudor Secret by C. W. Gortner
Knowing by Rosalyn McMillan
Navy SEAL Captive by Elle James
El sol desnudo by Isaac Asimov