Call Spirits in Your Past **Book Two**

Chapter 54 (following ch. 49)

Verspri and the others walked from the tunnel.

"It's not disappearing," Razón said. "Oh, wait, I blinked and now it's gone."

Verspri glanced behind them. The tunnel had opened onto an ash-streaked sidewalk, and they'd hoped they could return back through it to the arts building after they stepped out. But, apparently it only worked as a one-way trip.

"Where's this room you were talking about?" Tamy asked. "I don't see an entrance."

Verspri peered towards the gym's outer wall. "Come on," he pointed, breaking into a jog.

"But isn't this the gymnasium?" Tara asked, jogging beside him. "Why is there a...weird room thing in the gymnasium?"

Verspri shrugged. "Because it's behind a fake wall, so it's completely secret? I don't know."

He trod across the ashen lawn and slid through the gap in the wall he'd discovered a few days before, Tara on his heels. He squinted in the dimness, eyes adjusting slowly from the bright sunlight.

"So this is where you met the toddler girl?" Razón's voice echoed as Verspri shuffled deeper into the classroom. "Did she ever tell you her name?"

"Yeah," Verspri said. "She said it was Ve-Are. I...don't know how much I believe her though."

"Ve-Are?" Razón asked. "As in, virtual reality?"

He paused in front of the gap to the second room, with the table. "I don't know. I'd never thought about it that way."

Coughing floated from somewhere ahead of them, and Verspri ducked through the crack in the wall. "Ve-Are?" he asked. The coughing grew more persistent. "Hello?"

The wall across from him shifted, only not like last time with the round hole. An actual, white door appeared behind the glowing control table.

"Whoa," Kessa muttered, pressing behind Verspri. He shuffled to the side to create more space around the entrance. The door opened.

"AAAAIIEE!" Isaac and Tara screeched.

"What are they screaming for?" Ve-Are's voice asked. It sounded odd, coming from a single location.

"That's not fair," Isaac mumbled, re-emerging into the room. "You just appeared out of nowhere."

Tara glared at the doorway silently closing. Ve-Are walked around the end of the table, hair wild and outfit entirely pink.

"You look...different," Verspri tilted his head. Because she wasn't shifting in and out of colors?

Ve-Are shrugged. "So do you."

"Wait...I recognize you," Razón said, pushing past Verspri.

Ve-Are glanced down at herself, then raised an eyebrow at him. "You do? Trust me, we have never met before."

"No, you do look familiar," Tamy said.

Razón snapped his fingers. "Lina! You look like Lina!"

Ve-Are leaped across the carpet, knocking Razón to the ground and kneeling on his chest. Razón stared, wide-eyed and utterly startled.

"How do you know my sister?" she hissed.

Verspri gaped at them. "Who's Lina?"

Ve-Are glared at him, but Razón started to explain. "She was the girl from the ghost town," he muttered breathlessly. "The one with telekinesis."

Tamy frowned. "How on earth are the two of you possibly related? You're here, and she's...there."

Ve-Are grudgingly stepped off Razón's chest. "I left," she muttered. "Bunch of wackos. Lina didn't come with me."