“No,” I said.

“Right,” she said, more to herself than me. “Very kinetic.”

“Kinetic? Is that bad?”

“Just weird,” she said. “Undead energy is usually passive. That’s why most ghosts wait until you find them before they start messing with you.”

The way Sarah had left my sister alone until she’d found the haunted doll.

“But this thing is lashing out, right?” Savannah said.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s really aggressive.”

“And it’s fixated on you?”

“Yeah.”

“And the first time you ever noticed it, was that tied to any really charged emotional event?”

I thought back to the nature preserve. Jared and I ran into Kendra.…But before that, I had the episode with the little boy ghost. And then—

“We kissed,” I said, avoiding Carter’s glance in the rearview mirror. “Jared and I accidentally kissed.”

“Huh,” Savannah said. “That could do it.”

“And the flowers,” I said. “It’s weird that she’s holding flowers. Ghosts don’t usually do that. Although there’s this other one across town with the same thing—aggressive, bright light, moves in pictures…and he’s holding a trophy that his brother broke.”

“So the flowers could be important.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I know what her power center is,” I said.

“You know about power centers? So you’ve read Sawamura?”

“Yes,” I said. “I think…it’s Jared.”

“Ha,” Savannah said. “Typical. I mean, sorry, but I doubt it. Do you know how rare that is? Like, point zero-zero-three percent of power centers are living beings. Yet somehow, every amateur ghost hunter wants to think they’re the exception to the rule. Further evidence of our human-centricness.”

Finally, I thought. Some good news. If Laina’s power center were just some object, then I would have no problem destroying it. Heck, I’d burn down her whole house if that would do the trick.

“Keep thinking,” Savannah said. “I’ll call you back.”

And she hung up.

Megan was watching me. “Smart, huh?”

“Scary smart,” I said. “I’ll have to apologize for stealing her book.”

“Don’t worry.” Megan shook her head. “She’s got tons.”

We were closing in on Surrey.

“So where would Kasey go?” Megan asked. “If the other girls went to places they were familiar with…where does Kasey hike?”

“She’s not much of a hiker,” I said. “I guess…she likes…”

My stomach seemed to free-fall.

“What?” Carter asked.

“She likes the waterfall,” I said. “The little one at the middle of Stewart Canyon.”

“Stewart Canyon,” Megan repeated, frowning. “That’s where Laina died.”

Carter made the turn on the highway that led east of town.

The problem was, how could I hike? I hardly had enough strength to stand.

“I’ll go,” Carter said, as if he’d read my mind. “I know you can’t. I’ll go up the trail and find her.”

“I’ll go with him,” Lydia said. “I can float.”

“Thank you, Carter,” I said. “But I can’t not go with you.”

“You need to find the power center for this ghost, right?” he said. “You and Megan take my car and go find it. Go to that girl’s house, wherever. Find it and get rid of it.”

And leave him out there in the wilderness with Laina, to fight her alone?

But what choice did I have? Besides—if Laina got the idea that her power center was in danger, she might leave Kasey and Carter alone and come after us.

“Lydia’s going to go with you,” I said. “If you need her help, just ask her, and she’ll do what she can, okay?”

“Sure,” Carter said. He sped into the parking lot and stopped the car.

“I mean it,” I said. “She’s really great.”

“Aw, shut up,” Lydia said.

I got out to go around to the driver’s seat.

Carter and I practically ran into each other at the front of the car. He pulled me into a hug.

“You’re shaking,” he whispered.

“Carter,” I said. “Please be careful.”

“I’m not scared, Lex. We’re going to save your sister.”

He turned and started for the path.

“Wait—” I said.

He turned back.

I rushed forward and grabbed him by his arms. “Thank you.”

It wasn’t what I’d wanted to say—but the words I wanted to say seemed impossible. There had never been a worse time.

“Lex,” he said.

I stared up at him. His blue eyes locked onto mine.

And we kissed.

It was a fast kiss, an efficient one. But it felt like rain on the desert.

He pulled back first. “I love you, Lex. Whatever happens, don’t forget that.”

I had to catch my breath. “I love you too.”

“I’m going now.”

“Okay—be safe!”

“I will!” he called, jogging away toward the path.

Lydia passed me as I walked toward the open car door.

“Don’t try to kiss me,” she said. “See you later.”

Megan didn’t say a word about the kiss. She was looking for Laina’s address.

“There’s a Tim Buchanan on Albright Street…” she said. “And…yeah, Tim’s the name of the dad in the obituary.”

“How do we get to Albright?” I asked, swinging out of the parking lot.

“Go left. The turn’s in four miles.”

Megan’s phone rang again.

“It’s Savannah. Hello? You’re on speaker.”

I knew immediately that something was up.

“You guys, this is crazy,” Savannah said. She was about to burst. “It’s crazy.”

Megan and I exchanged a wary glance. Crazy didn’t sound ideal. I would much rather she be exclaiming about manageability.

“Your ghost?” Savannah said. “Is not a ghost.”

“EXCUSE ME, WHAT?” MEGAN SAID.

I had the presence of mind to slow the car down and pull to the side of the road.

Your ghost is not a ghost.

Did that mean that I was responsible?

“It was the kiss,” Savannah said. “And the football guy’s trophy. So that got me thinking. If the dude’s brother broke the trophy, it’s not the ghost who’s upset. Ghosts don’t care as long as you don’t mess with their power center. But that Corcoran guy didn’t die your typical ghost death, right?”

“Right,” I said. At least I could say that much with confidence.

“So who’s traumatized? Who’s the one who can’t deal with the death?”

The one who can’t deal with the death?

“Randy,” I said. “His brother.”

“Exactly,” she said. “And who can’t deal with Laina’s death?”

I got dizzy and had to grab the steering wheel to keep from tipping over.

“Jared,” Megan said.

“Exactly,” Savannah said. “This thing that’s out there attacking people? It’s not Laina’s ghost. It’s a poltergeist. It was probably formed during what must have been one heck of a kiss, when Jared was suddenly overwhelmed by this tornado of emotions.”

I sat back and rested my head against the seat.

It had been a heck of a kiss.

“So he’s controlling it?” Megan asked.

“No. Probably not. He probably formed it and released it. Like when water boils over in a pot, you know? He had all this trauma and he couldn’t deal with it. So it boiled over and became this chaotic, manic energy. I mean, it’s still tied to him on some level—but not on a conscious level.”

“So it’s a free agent?” I said. “It’s just acting randomly?”

“Not necessarily. I mean, think about the football guy. He hates high school kids, right? Because the brother who lived hated his high school classmates. So when this energy came into being, it probably played off of what Jared wanted in that moment, which was…”

I looked up at Megan. I could hardly breathe.

“A soul mate,” I said.

Savannah sighed. “And that would be you, my friend.”

Poltergeists, it turns out, don’t have power centers.

Poltergeists have sources.

As Savannah put it: “Say you have a faucet in your kitchen. Water’s coming out of it. You don’t want any more water, so you turn off the faucet.”

“So we have to get Jared to turn off the poltergeist?” Megan said.