“Sometimes. I don’t remember what my parents looked like anymore.” She shook her head. “I love you all. I will always love you all, even if I’m angry or disappointed. But I think it would help me if you would answer Kaylin’s questions.”

“How?”

Mrs. Erickson winced. “I met some new friends today.”

“Outdoor friends?”

“Not like Amaldi and Darreno, no. Not like you either, although closer. They were trapped in a large, dark cavern, and when I entered the cavern and they realized I could see them, it seemed to...cause problems.”

“Are they here? Or are they like us? Could they leave the cavern?”

“Yes—with both my help and Kaylin’s.”

Kaylin saw a hint of excitement, of hope, in two of the children, and none whatsoever in Jamal and Esme.

“How?”

“I’m not quite sure. Kaylin...could carry them somehow. She couldn’t see them as I saw them, but...once I did, she could help me.”

“Could she carry us out of here the same way?”

Kaylin shook her head. “I can’t even touch you.” She demonstrated this by swatting Jamal’s head; her hand passed through him.

“But how could you touch them?” Katie demanded.

“I don’t know. But to me, they didn’t look like people. They looked like written words.”

“And we don’t?”

“No—you definitely look like people to me. Short, young people, but people.”

Jamal made a face.

“We—being Mrs. Erickson and I—are trying to figure out a way to let you all out of the house, but to be honest, neither of us really know a lot about ghosts, and we definitely don’t understand why they get trapped.”

Mrs. Erickson cleared her throat.

“Okay, I definitely don’t understand it.” She glanced at Mrs. Erickson and made a mental note to ask her more about trapped ghosts when the kids weren’t all ears. Like, say, tomorrow at the office. “Teela—who is not Azoria—is going to come in if it’s all right with you.”

“And if it’s not?” Jamal asked, arms folded, expression mutinous.

“I’ll remind you that it’s Mrs. Erickson’s house.”

“We live here, too.”

“Are you paying rent? I mean as far as I can tell you’re breaking windows, which is what thugs on the outside do.”

“What’s rent?” Katie asked.

“It’s when you pay money to keep a solid roof over your head.”

“Oh. To whom?”

“We call them landlords when they’re good. We call them—”

“Corporal,” Mrs. Erickson said sharply.

“—villains? Never mind.”

“I want to know,” Katie told Kaylin.

“Yes, but rule number two: the person who owns the house gets to make the rules, and Mrs. Erickson doesn’t want to know. It’s rude,” she added.

“My dad used to say—”

“Katie, please,” Mrs. Erickson said, turning as disapproving a look on Kaylin as the Hawk had ever seen from her.