Almost Dead (Dead, #1) by Rebecca A. Rogers Read Free Book Online Page B

time.”
    Flora eases herself back down to the floor and raises her hand several inches above the table. Down it goes, meeting the tabletop. She curses.
    Just to be sure, I test my hand again. It’ll suck if it was only a one-time thing.
    But my handy-dandy magic trick still works. Yay! Go me.
    “Would you stop that?” Flora shrieks. “You’ve proven your point already. Damn.”
    “Fine,” I say, curling a lock of hair around my finger. Okay, I’m over it. I just want to find my family and warn them. Maybe even throw a book or two at their heads. Isn’t that what ghosts do?
    Over and over and over Flora tries…and fails. I don’t understand why she can’t grasp the idea. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. I mean, I did it. I’m not as bright as sunshine. So, what does that make her? Maybe all those alcoholic drinks are killing her brain cells. They won’t let you have drinks where you’re going, sweetie.
    “Got it!” she yells.
    I snort. “Oh, please. It only took you, like, twenty-five hours to get it.”
    “Bitch,” she mumbles under her breath.
    “Now that you both have learned how to move your hand through an object, you have to learn how to move your body through objects, too,” says Sara. “Like this.” She stands from the couch and walks to the nearest wall, next to the fireplace, and disappears.
    “How is that harder than using our hand?” I ask.
    She reappears. “With your hand, you have to focus all energy into one area. With your body, you need an equal amount of energy in all areas.”
    “WHAT?” Flora shouts. “There’s no way…”
    “Do you guys have, like, salons and stuff here?” I ask, holding my nails up to the light from the fireplace. “This place seems so dull without entertainment.”
    “Are you serious right now?”
    I eye Flora. “It’s not like you’d care unless there was a biker bar around the corner.”
    She grits her teeth, growls, and then makes a flying leap toward me. I try to push her off, but it’s like a mouse lifting a dog. How can I compete with that?
    “Ladies, please!” Sara calls somewhere in the background. Why can’t she use ghost powers and lift Flora off of me? Ugh. They’re both psycho.

    I’m able to squirm out fr om under Flora’s grasp and run straight through a wall . Something Flora hasn’t mastered, apparently, because she runs into the wall, smacking her face against the wood. I stifle a laugh. That’s what she gets for going all axe murderer on me.
    Walking through a wall isn’t all it’s cracked up to be , though. I mean, it’s dark and dusty in between the crevices. There are probably termites. Wait…do termites live in the afterlife? I step back into the living room area, where Flora narrows her eyes at me.
    “I am so proud of you, Laney,” Sara gushes. “But, Flora, you need to learn to control your temper. Anger is not the solution to your problems.”
    “But alcohol is,” I murmur.
    Sara cuts me a n icy glare. “And, Laney, you should not be so quick to judge.” She guides Flora to the couch and helps her sit. “Now, I need your full attention. If you want to make it, you have to warn those you love.”
    “And what happens if we don’t?” Flora asks.
    “If you decide against notifying them, then I can send you to the Passage of the Lost, which leads to the Tower of Forgotten Souls. There, you would stay until your physical bodies pass on. Afterward, it would be decided how long you will remain here, in Lichburn.”
    Not seeing Chase or my family again? That would suck. But waiting around in a lobby until I died would suck even wo rse, especially if I had to wait with Flora the Freak.
    “Who or what, exactly, decides where our spirits will end up?” Flora asks.
    Sara hesitates, almost like she’s unsure whether she’s given too much information away, but responds, “There is a council who dwells inside the Town Hall. They are the Elders, the ones who decide a person’s fate, as