Anima's Ghost: The Summer Before (Song Line Echoes, book 2)

Chapter 21: Summer's End

A week until the end of summer, Borden's out back shooting, Rune's at the computers, Gatsby and Spyro are at the table going over photographs, maps and books, and I'm sitting on the couch flipping through the photos that didn't make it onto the table. The ones of them, not ghosts or pukwudgies or abandoned buildings or unnamed graves.

The ones that I haven't shown any of them yet. Borden would kill me if he saw them – there are at least a dozen of him, and none of them he caught me taking. I smile as I flip to one of them, proud of how sneaky I was.

I quickly tuck it behind another photo as Borden comes back into the warehouse, careful even though it's unlikely he'll come over to see what I'm doing.

"Holding out on us?" Spyro says, leaning over the back of the couch to look at the photos in my hand.

I shake my head, "No, these ones aren't important. They don't have any ghosts or anything in them." He takes the photos from me so that he can look through them himself.

"You shouldn't say that," he says.

"Say what?"

"That they're not important. Ghost or no ghost, these are really good. You have a gift. That makes them important."

I glance at him, then look away quickly, feeling my face heat up. Spyro's the first person I remember ever complimenting me. And he does it surprisingly often. There's only one week of summer left. Then the boys will have to leave for school, and Spyro will have to drop me off back at my dad's house on the way. For a while, I almost forgot about that fact. But now that it's getting closer, now that I'm getting closer to losing all of this and him, the days pass too quickly and the end seems darker than anything ever has before.

I haven't said any of this out loud though. While the group has accepted me completely – or almost, at least, since Borden still doesn't like me and probably never will – part of me still thinks it's only because we've all known from the beginning that it would be temporary. That when it's all over, I'll be forgotten, because I'll be left behind.

"Anima?" Spyro's voice breaks through my thoughts. I blink, looking up, not even having realized I'd spaced out so much. "Are you okay?" he asks. I nod, but he doesn't look convinced. He never does. Not when I'm not telling the whole truth. Somehow, he always knows when there's more than what I'm saying.

I suck in a breath to brace myself for saying it out loud for the first time, breathing out, "One week left." Understanding and sadness immediately take over Spyro's confusion for a second before he looks away, back at the photos.

"I didn't realize," he says quietly. I'm almost surprised, since it's been so obvious and big to me all this time. But Spyro's better at living in the moment than I am, so it's not really surprising after all. For a minute, neither of us say anything. Then he asks, "Have you talked to your mom since the triangle?"

I shake my head, "I tried calling once, but she changed her number."

"Do you want to find out where she lives now?"

I blink. I hadn't even thought of it, and I'm surprised he has. "Why?"

"If she lives nearby, without that demon in her life..." Spyro's voice trails off and he shrugs. But I realize where he's going with this. I've thought about it myself often enough. Never for too long though, because if I thought about it too much I might end up going back to living with my mom too soon, before the end of summer cut things off anyway. And I like living with Grandma Powell, and sometimes Spyro. Even before the demon, she was never as doting or kind as Grandma Powell.

Living with my mom, I could have at least some of my life back. I could have my horse back, I could live in the country again, on a ranch. Apparently I might even still be able to live in Fall River. I'd get enough to make the bad things worth it.