Page 63 of Haunting the Deep

“I found something, too,” Susannah says, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the topic change. “Niki’s log of the Spring Fling committee.”

We all lean over the small notebook Susannah holds. She runs her finger down the pages. “Supposedly, they finalized the dance theme options in November, and there was noTitanictheme. But at the beginning of the semester, Blair and Niki got Wardwell and the history department on board, and the committee made an exception to add it.”

Alice grunts, like she’s deep in thought.

“So theTitanicwas more than just the theme they supported. They’re the ones who actually brought it to the committee and fought for it to be admitted?” I say.

“Looks that way,” Mary says.

There is the faint sound of tires on gravel.

Mary runs to the window. “Jaxon’s truck. I thought he said they’d be at the harbor!”

My heart jumps into my throat. Susannah slams the notebook shut and slides it onto the shelf. We scramble to put everything back in place. And we run. Out of the room, down the stairs, and into the hallway.

The front door clicks open. Jaxon’s and Niki’s voices spill into the house. There are still two hallways left before the door.

“We’ll never make it,” Susannah whispers.

The white walls feel claustrophobic.

Alice pulls us to a stop. “Hello! Hello?” she yells.

Jaxon and Niki go quiet. Has Alice lost her mind?

“Hello?” Niki responds hesitantly, entering the hallway we’re standing in. “Alice?”

I’m sweating.

“Your back door was wide open, banging against your house in the wind,” Alice says. “But I guess since you’re home, then you knew that.”

“No,” Niki says, like she has a bad taste in her mouth. “I didn’t. Andall fourof you came to check on my back door for me?”

Jaxon’s and Niki’s hands are interlocked. He’s wearing a blue cord with a silver anchor wrapped around his wrist, and she’s wearing a brown cord with a ship’s wheel—the dance bracelets.

Susannah tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We weren’t going to let Alice check on a probably empty and possibly burgled house by herself.”

Niki raises an eyebrow.

“But I thought you guys were just at Sam’s,” Jaxon says. He makes no effort to let go of Niki’s hand.

“And I thought that when we talked about how we both protect our parents, you wouldn’t bring up spirits in front of my dad and worry him,” I say.

Jaxon shrugs.Maybe he’s trying to punish me for not dating him. Or worse, maybe our friendship really doesn’t mean to him what it means to me.

Niki’s mouth twitches toward a smile, and she leans into his arm.

“You’re welcome,” Alice says. She looks at their clasped hands. “And those bracelets your dance committee’s selling are ugly as shit, by the way.”

Mary nods.

Niki narrows her eyes. “You know where the door is.” She pulls Jaxon toward the stairs. “Let’s go up to my room.”

Susannah gently touches my arm. “I’m sorry,” she says just loud enough for me to hear.

Mary turns to Alice in the front seat of the Jeep. “So you agree that Niki and Blair are involved now, right? That your friends were unmistakably right, and that you, no matter how much it pains you, were wrong.”

Alice rolls her eyes and drives away from the curb. “They’re involved in some way. I’ll give you that. Doesn’t prove they’re masterminding anything.”