Nine Letters Long (3 page)

Poppy has Alex cutting out letters of the alphabet into little squares. ‘The numbers have to be bigger,' she is telling her. ‘We have to be able to see them.'

‘How do you know all this?'

‘I looked it up on the Net.' Poppy spreads out the letters and the words ‘YES' and ‘NO' around the dining table.

‘Aren't there rules and stuff with a séance?' Alex asks.

‘Don't know,' Evie lies.

‘Nah,' Poppy says, walking over to the light switch.

‘Hang on,' Alex calls. ‘I'm turning on the lamp. I'm not sitting here in the dark.'

Alex frowns at Evie and mouths ‘Are you okay?'. In return, Evie shrugs. It's too late now. Still the voices duel in her head. ‘Why am I doing this?' ‘Relax, it's just a bit of fun.' Evie feels her hands and feet starting to sweat. ‘I shouldn't be doing this. This isn't a good idea.' ‘Calm down. Stop being so uptight.' Evie takes off her thongs, wiping the soles of her feet on the carpet.

‘Okay. So does everyone understand how it works, then?' Poppy asks.

Evie hasn't heard a thing she's said.

‘Alex?'

‘I'll just go with it, Pop.'

‘Evie?'

Evie nods.

‘Evie, are you sure you're okay?' Alex asks aloud this time.

Poppy stops and faces Evie.

‘I'm just being stupid,' Evie sighs. ‘Okay. I feel better now I've said it. Let's do it.'

‘We can stop at any time, Evie,' Poppy tells her. ‘You just let me know. I'll be in charge.'

The girls place a finger on a glass that sits in the middle of the letters.

‘I'll lead,' Poppy whispers.

The others nod.

‘Is anyone there?' Poppy asks. ‘Is anyone there to talk to us?'

Silence.

‘Is anyone there?' Poppy asks again. ‘We would like to talk
to someone from the spirit world.' This time, Poppy speaks in a zombie-like voice.

Alex starts giggling.

‘Sshh.'

‘Sorry, Mistress Poppy.'

Now Evie finds herself giggling. At last her back relaxes into the chair.

‘We have to concentrate,' Poppy scolds. ‘Please can I call on someone in the spirit world? I'd like to ask a question.'

‘I think I should ask the question,' Alex interrupts. ‘It's about me, remember?'

‘All right.' Poppy rolls her eyes. ‘Go on.'

‘I would like to ask if Zac Arcos likes me – Alex, the one speaking.'

Slowly, Poppy moves the glass to the word ‘NO'. Alex glares at her. Poppy then moves the glass around the letters to spell, ‘He thinks you stink'.

‘Piss off,' Alex mouths. Evie is trying so hard not to laugh.

‘Does Zac like me?' Alex repeats. ‘I will spell his name for you, so you in the spirit world know who I'm talking about.' The girls push the glass to the letter Z, then to A and C. ‘If someone is there, could they answer my question, please? Does Zac – Zac Arcos – like me?'

They wait, their fingers resting on the glass. Slowly, it begins to move. It slides to C, then A, then Z.

‘Caz?' Alex says. ‘Not C-A-Z. Z-A-C.'

Again, very slowly, C-A-Z is spelt.

‘I think the spirit you've called up is dyslexic, Poppy.'

‘Very funny, Alex.'

The letters C-A-Z are spelt out again, just a little faster this time. Evie shifts her weight in the chair, unsticking the backs of her thighs that seem to be glued to the seat.

‘Poppy?' Alex snaps.

The glass keeps moving in the same direction. ‘C-A-Z, C-A-Z, C-A-Z.'

A bead of sweat slips down Evie's forehead.

‘Poppy!'

‘It's not me, Alex! Promise.' The fear in Poppy's voice bounces off the living-room walls. ‘It's not. Look!' Poppy lifts her finger off, yet the glass continues to slide across the table, scratching the timber as it points to the letters ‘CAZCAZCAZCAZCAZ', over and over.

Now Alex's finger is off the glass, too. ‘Shit!' she cries.

Only Evie's is left.

Her cheeks burn red as the glass whizzes around the centre of the table, jerking her arm in and out as it hits the letters at a frantic pace. Evie watches her hand in horror, aware of a heat that is descending from the ceiling and settling around her shoulders.

‘What's … what's it doing, Evie?' squeals Alex, her arms wrapped around Poppy. ‘Can't you make it stop? Tell it to stop! Stop!'

The glass fishtails around the table, swiping numbers and letters off on its way.

‘Talk to it!' Alex is shrieking now. ‘Tell, talk, ask who …'

Evie tries to swallow. Her mouth is so dry. Her skin is burning hot. The heat is almost too much to bear. She must be close now. Very close.

‘Evie! Do something!'

‘Um, um,' mumbles Evie. A new word is starting to form. Evie can barely hear herself as she calls the letters out. ‘S-H-E. S-H-E.'

‘She,' whispers Poppy. ‘S-A-Y-S, S-H-E S-A-Y-S.
She says
.'

Now the force is so strong that Evie throws herself against the edge of the table to steady herself. ‘She says, she says.' Her voice is breathless as she spells it out. ‘Y-O-U W-I-L-L, S-H-E S-A-Y-S. She says you will. W-I-L-L W-I-L-L …'

‘Will what?' Poppy gasps, placing her hand on Evie's back to support her. ‘Will what, Evie?'

Evie shakes her head.

‘W-I-L-L W-I-L-L H-E-L-P M-E S-H-E S-A-Y-S. She says you will help me.'

‘Who?' Alex pants. ‘Who? Ask who
she?'
is

Evie keeps repeating the message, unaware of Alex's pleading. ‘She says you will help me, she says you will help me.'

‘Who, Evie? Who?' Alex is screaming and pulling at Evie's arm. ‘Who's
she
? Who's
she
?'

‘Who's
she
?' Evie whispers. ‘Who is
she
?'

The glass turns around, changes direction and skids to the letter A. Evie closes her eyes. The rest of the letters she knows only too well.

‘Who? Who?' Alex pants. ‘Who?'

‘A-T-H-E-N,' Poppy begins.

‘Athena,' Evie murmurs.

‘What?' Alex throws herself back in the chair just as Poppy calls the final letter.

‘A. A-T-H-E-N-A. Athena!'

‘Athena,' nods Evie, as the heat lifts from her shoulders back up into the atmosphere.

 

The girls huddle together in Evie's parents' bed. All the lights are on. The glass and letters have been thrown in the garbage outside.

‘What are you going to do, Evie?' Alex whispers.

Evie lies there, silent.

‘Who's Athena?' Poppy asks again. ‘Will someone please tell me who Athena is?'

‘You tell her,' Evie murmurs. She can hardly form a word. Her energy has been drained and a tiredness so deep is creeping into her spine. She is aware of a part of her distancing itself from the others. It must, for that part is the special part. The part that makes her different.

Evie's head takes her to a place that's small and dark. A place where she's crouching alone and frightened. It's hard to breathe. She doesn't want to be there. She fights her way out to return to the now, to the muffled whispers of Alex as she tells Poppy about Adelaide, Athena and the red cardigan. Evie peers above the sheet, her eyes flitting around the room. She's safe. She's here in the warmth of her parents' bed, her two best friends lying next to her.

Evie pulls the sheet over her head, closes her eyes. It's happening again.

‘You know how Evie can sometimes sense things about people?'

‘Yeah.'

‘You know how sometimes she feels it through the clothes people once wore?'

‘Yeah. Like that time we were at Glebe markets and she tried on that old shawl and started speaking, um, in an accent.'

‘Exactly. It happens with second-hand –'

‘– vintage stuff,' adds Poppy.

‘And, you know how sometimes when Evie draws her pictures end up being different –'

‘Yes, Alex! I already know all that! Now get on with it!'

‘Look, it's hard to explain, Poppy,' Alex sighs. ‘You know Evie's red cardigan – that vintage one her dad got in Adelaide?'

‘Of course I know the cardigan. Evie wears it to school every day.'

‘No she doesn't,' Alex tells her. ‘Evie hasn't worn it since Adelaide. You just haven't noticed.'

‘So what's the cardie got to do with anything?'

‘I'm getting to that! Just listen, it's … complicated,' Alex says. ‘Evie's cardigan originally belonged to a girl called Athena Poulos who lived in Adelaide.'

‘Come on, you're freaking me out, Alex.'

‘Well, this is the really spooky bit …'

Silence. Evie tries to swallow as she waits for Alex's next words.

‘Athena had been missing for months. You know, like disappeared, and that's the real reason Evie went to Adelaide in July.'

‘But you said –'

‘I know,' Alex sighs. ‘I told you she was there for a funeral … oh god, Poppy, I don't know how to explain this.' Alex takes a deep breath. ‘You know how Evie's … special? Like the way she can know stuff?'

‘Yeah, sort of.'

‘That's what the Athena thing was about. You see, Evie really seriously has that ESP, sixth-sense thing. Big time, if you know what I mean. She knew where to look for Athena and she ended up finding her.'

‘What? How?'

‘Athena was dead.'

Evie feels her throat contract as Poppy gulps. ‘Shit.'

‘She was murdered.'

‘Oh my god!' Poppy squeals. ‘Jesus, I feel like I'm going to be sick. Shit!'

‘I know. It's –'

‘Big,' whispers Poppy.

‘It's big, all right,' Alex whispers back.

Silence.

Finally, Alex says, ‘Seb kind of knew some stuff, too. That's why him and Evie have become so –'

‘So close,' Poppy finishes her sentence.

‘Yeah.'

Poppy throws her legs out of the covers. The three of them lie there not speaking, not moving.

‘Poor Evie!' Poppy's hushed tone lingers around the bed. ‘She must've been so scared.'

‘I'm okay.' Finally Evie speaks. ‘It's who I am, Poppy. At least I know that now.'

Again, silence fills the room.

‘Do your mum and dad, I mean …' Evie can hear all the questions in Poppy's head like ten different voices speaking over each other. ‘Is there … someone –'

‘I know a lady who's like … me,' Evie answers her question. ‘Her name's Victoria. Victoria will know …' Suddenly, Evie sits upright in the bed. ‘Victoria!'

‘What?' the others say.

‘That's got to be it!'

‘What?'

‘She must know.'

‘Who?'

‘Victoria.' Evie pulls at her hair, snatching the thoughts as they land in her head. ‘The other night when I rang you, Alex, I first pressed redial 'cause I'd only rung you fifteen minutes before. But, instead of getting your place, I got Victoria's answering machine.'

‘But, if you pressed redial, that means someone at your place must've rung her,' Poppy says.

‘I think Victoria had rung them earlier that evening and they were calling her back. Yeah.' Evie nods to herself. ‘Yeah. I knew I sensed something odd about the oldies that night. They were, like, completely different to how they were that morning.'

‘So what does it mean?' Alex asks.

‘I don't know.'

‘So you think maybe Victoria might know what the séance meant?'

‘I don't know that for sure, but it's looking mighty suss, don't you think?'

‘It has to mean something,' Poppy agrees. ‘Those words “she says you will help me”. “You” has to mean
you
, Evie.'

‘I think so. “She says you will help me. Athena says you will help me?”' Evie repeats. ‘Me? Me? Me? Who is “me”?'

Poppy shakes her head. Alex yawns.

‘Yeah,' Evie says. ‘Let's get some sleep.'

‘Sleep!' Alex says. ‘How? I'm too scared to close my eyes. I am never ever,
everdoing a séance again.'

‘You'll be okay.' Poppy gets back under the covers. ‘Good night.'

‘Well, sweet dreams – not,' Alex grunts.

Evie waits till the others are asleep before she gets up and wanders the house, trying to make sense of the night. Is this why Athena has felt so close the last few weeks? Evie had thought it was just Athena's way of saying she was around, like a friend who couldn't show her face. Now Evie realises it's more. There is something Athena wants her to do. Someone she wants Evie to help.

‘Why?' Evie asks herself. ‘Why?'

‘Because –' Evie feels her teeth gritting. ‘Because this is who you are. And there's no getting away from it.'

 

‘Are you going to be okay here on your lonesome?' Poppy asks the next morning. ‘I could ring Mum and see if
I can get out of the christening. It's just the stupid neighbour's kid.'

‘I'll be fine.' Evie wants to be alone. ‘Don't worry.'

‘Sorry, Evie; I've got to go and see my dad. Otherwise I'd stay.'

‘It's cool, Al.' Evie senses Alex's lie. She knows Alex wants out, and quickly. She wants to catch Zac on his way home from soccer.

‘Hey, um …' Alex starts. ‘We should probably keep this quiet. Shouldn't we?'

‘I think it's better like that,' Evie says. ‘I'm … I'm sorry about all this.'

‘Don't be stupid,' Poppy replies. ‘It's me who should be saying sorry for having the stupid séance idea in the first place.'

‘It's not your fault, Pop. They would've found me anyway. Maybe …'

‘Maybe what?'

‘Oh nothing.'

‘Hey, Evie, I think you're cool,' Poppy says. ‘I always have.'