Page 10 of Haunting the Deep

My chest drops a little farther from my chin and I take a breath. “Nah, I just wasn’t looking where I was going. What’s with the suit anyway?”

“Trying out costume options for the dance.” A piece of his red lacrosse jacket peeks out from under his suit jacket.

I manage a smile. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

He briefly breaks eye contact. “Girlfriend. She thought my last costume choice was total shit. ’Scuse me…was ‘not up to standard.’ ” He uses his fingers to make quotationmarks.

“Aaah. Well, this one works. Very authentic.”

“Really?” He’s all smiles.

“Dillon!” Blair squeals from down the hall. “Iloooveit!”

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. He’s datingher? So disappointing. And it’s weird that Jaxon didn’t tell me.

“See ya,” I say, but his attention has already shifted.

I push open the side door and follow the walkway toward the bench that’s my current favorite lunch spot.

I glide for a split second on wet grass cuttings. The concrete squares ahead of me have a trail of watery footprints. And at the end of them is a guy in an old suit, not unlike the one Dillon was wearing. He sits on my usual lunch bench with his head tilted down, a hat covering his face.

“Let me guess, you’re friends with Blair and Niki.”

No answer. He doesn’t even look up.

“Seriously, the dance isn’t for another two weeks. You guys can chill out with the costumes.” Plus, this is my lunch spot. I feel strangely territorial over it.

He stands up, his hat shadowing his eyes. There’s thick stubble on his chin. He’s older, I realize, maybe early twenties. I take a quick step backward. The wooden bench where he was sitting is wet. He’s dripping water.Salt water.I can smell the brine on the breeze. It feels like the temperature dropped twenty degrees.

Behind him Niki and Matt head down the path toward us. They seem to be arguing about something. Niki walks right through the drenched man’s body. Dread coils around me like a boa constrictor.

Matt and Niki take note of my expression. Matt looks confused.

I sprint toward the school.

“Sam?” Niki says, but I don’t turn around.

I run through the hallways toward the one place I know is full of people.

I burst through the double doors and into the crowded lunchroom. There’s an explosion of chatter. I skid to a stop. Across the room, at a round table near the window, sit the Descendants. People turn and watch as I walk toward them. Blair takes one look at my heavy breathing and starts whispering to her friends. It’s like being in an aquarium tank with people oohing and aahing and tapping on the glass.

I drop my bag and pull out a chair at the Descendants’ table. “I need to make spirits leave me alone. How do I do that?”

“Well, hello to you, too,” Alice says.

“What do you mean, leave you alone?” Mary asks, scanning the nearby area. Her face mirrors my anxiety. She lowers her voice to a whisper. “Are they here now?”

“No, but…” I stop, considering how to phrase it. Oh, screw it. There’s no sugarcoating this. “I just saw a man in an old-fashioned suit dripping salt water in front of school. Like he walked right out of the ocean after he drowned in it.”

Mary’s eyes widen. Susannah looks at the nearby tables.

“Okay, get up,” says Alice.

“There is no scenario where I’m going back outside rightnow.”

Alice stands, and Mary and Susannah follow suit.

“Do you want our help or not?” Alice asks.