The trees where Harper and Alex had found the bodies weren’t far from where they lived. Neither of them had been back there since they’d shown the police where to go. It wasn’t someplace where Harper ever wanted to go again, so she slowed her steps when Marcy told them that was where they were headed.

“Are you coming, Harper?” Alex asked, glancing back over his shoulder at her. He hadn’t slowed down even slightly. Harper knew that finding the bodies had really freaked him out, too, but apparently he was braver than she’d thought.

“Uh … yeah.” She sighed and caught up to them.

Fortunately, when they got to the small cypress forest that ran along Anthemusa Bay, they didn’t go into it. Marcy stopped abruptly before going in and declared that it gave her bad energy, and that apparently would interfere with contacting the spirits.

“We’ll set it up here.” Marcy motioned to a grassy patch just outside the trees. “Sit down in a circle.”

“Shouldn’t it be nighttime or something?” Alex asked, but he still did as he was told. He sat with his legs crossed underneath him, and Harper and Marcy sat on either side of him so they formed a small circle.

“Shouldn’t what be nighttime?” Marcy asked. She set her book bag on her lap and began rummaging through it.

“It just feels weird to be doing a séance or whatever outside in the bright sunlight,” Alex said.

“Yeah, I feel like we should be in a spooky room with candles and incense,” Harper agreed.

“That’s because you guys are idiots,” Marcy told them.

“This coming from the girl who carries voodoo stuff in a Captain Planet backpack,” Harper muttered.

Marcy glared at her. “Nobody messes with Captain Planet. He keeps looters, plunderers, and evil spirits at bay. And I don’t practice voodoo. That’s not my thing.”

“What is your thing?” Harper asked.

“This.” Marcy pulled out a handful of black stones, a faded book, and a thick white candle.

“I thought you said people who brought candles were idiots,” Alex pointed out.

“No, I said you were idiots.”

Marcy put the candle in the center of their circle, then carefully laid out the smooth black stones around it. When Alex reached out to touch one, Marcy slapped his hand. Then she set the backpack aside and opened the book on her lap.

“Now what?” Harper asked when Marcy appeared to be finished laying out everything.

“I’m going to read from this book,” Marcy explained. “The incantation is in Latin. I don’t know why. I guess the dead all speak a dead language. It’s important that you don’t interrupt me and you don’t speak. Just sit quietly until I’m finished.”