“What are you saying? That I’m in trouble?”

“Danger. Possibly life-threatening,” Kristi answered earnestly.

“Oh. My. God. You are nuts! Leave me alone.”

“It’s just that sometimes, when I see you, there’s no color in your skin. It’s like you’re in a black and white movie.”

Ariel shuddered despite her bravado. She backed away from Kristi, her eyes searching around as if for help. “Leave me alone. Don’t ever talk to me again. You must be on something. Or you’re a head-case. This isn’t funny, you know.” Kristi took a step forward and Ariel looked ready to scream. “Get away from me. Now!”

“I’m just concerned.”

Ariel snorted, putting more distance between them. “You’d be the first,” she muttered fiercely as she hesitated at the gate of Wagner House. Her face was so washed out she looked half dead already. “Stay away from me! You hear? Don’t ever come near me again or I’ll call the police and have a restraining order slapped on you.”

Before Kristi could say anything more, Trudie and Grace rounded a corner not far from the library. Ariel saw them and began to wave frantically, like a panicked, drowning woman hoping for a lifeline. Without another word, she met up with her friends and walked through the open gates. They all headed up the steps to the old stone manor. As Kristi understood it, Wagner House had been the home of the original settler of this tract of land. Now it was a museum.

Grace pulled one of the double doors open and the three girls stepped inside. Ariel turned to slip Kristi a final look, her face wan and shadowed. Though they were only yards away from each other, Kristi felt as if there were oceans of distance between them. The thick wooden door shut behind the trio with a distinct thud.

Kristi hesitated. Obviously the girl didn’t want her help. And who was to say that Ariel was caught in some dire, fatal situation? Sure, the elderly woman on the bus had died, but so what? Her father was still alive, wasn’t he? True, the glimpses she’d caught of the ghostly Rick Bentz had been fleeting and spotty, sometimes not being apparent for months, but he didn’t seem on the brink of death.