Scaredy Kat by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel Read Free Book Online Page A

go.”
    “Wait, so a spirit orb is like a ghost?”
    “It’s a soul. Sometimes a collection of souls.”
    “Which is different than a ghost?” Jac frowned in concentration.
    “Yes. I mean, I’m not actually sure. It’s—a ghost can be a number of things, right? Sometimes it’s just energy. Like a shadow
     of a life that stayed after the life was gone. It’s not an actual personality, just an echo. Then there are earthbound spirits.
     When they died, they might not have realized it. Or maybe they had such an intense belief that death was the end that they’re
     unable to experience anything else. Um, trauma, like some really awful thing happening—that can cause a spirit to stay here
     rather than move on to the next level. And every once in a while there’s just a bad egg.”
    “Like food poisoning?” Jac asked. Jac was terrified of getting food poisoning, and was the most rigorous inspector of expiration
     dates I’d ever known.
    “No, I mean of the spirit variety,” I said. “Think of some really bad person, who’s totally obsessed with material things
     or physical things, you know, like drinking or something.”
    “Like Houston Ramada!”
    “Well, yeah in a way, but I’m thinking of someone more, you know, evil than ditzy. Someone even worse than Brooklyn Bigelow.
     Someone who derives all her power from having money or controlling people. You see, when someone like that dies, she may refuse
     to move on. Physical life is where she has all her power, and she doesn’t want to know any other kind of existence. So she
     hangs around, either manifesting as a ghost, or looks for someone vulnerable to act as a host.”
    “A host?”
    “Yeah . . . like, a person to sort of live through. Someone she can invade, and kind of occupy her consciousness a little
     bit. It’s sort of like that cartoon where the guy has an angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other. The spirit would
     act as the bad influence on one shoulder, trying to encourage the host to do what the spirit wants. Like control other people,
     or get lots of money or eats tons of food or something.”
    Jac drew her knees up to her chin.
    “Kat, I was just
kidding
about the possession thing. Now you’re telling me it’s actually possible?”
    I sighed.
    “I don’t know, Jac. I really don’t. The spirit world isn’t that simple. My mom thinks it’s possible for a negatively charged
     energy or spirit to become attached to a human to try to influence that person. But not everyone believes that can happen.
     My mom says some psychics and mediums don’t think it’s possible.”
    “Do you believe it?”
    Jac was almost whispering.
    “I don’t think I can afford not to,” I said. “I feel like I have to be on my guard.”
    “Why?”
    I got up and went over to my computer. With a few clicks of the mouse, I pulled up my most recent photos. I found the one
     of me sticking my tongue out, and maximized it to fill the entire screen.
    “Because of this,” I said.
    Jac slid off my bed and joined me next to the computer.
    “The spirit orbs,” she said.
    I nodded.
    “They all want something from me. And for all I know, there are more arriving every moment,” I said.
    “You don’t see them right now?” she asked.
    I shook my head.
    “No. But they’re there. I’m not just saying that because of the picture. Seeing the photograph was kind of a wake-up call.
     It tuned me in to it. They’re not manifesting or trying to communicate right now. But I feel them, Jac. I feel them everywhere.
     They’re all over me. They’re all around me. And they want me to let them in.
    “I’m going nuts—I want to jump right out of my skin. It’s like . . . having cooties or something. Except that I’m, like, terrified
     of them. I think it’s partly because of that old man. All that rage coming off of him. I don’t want to have anything to do
     with a spirit like that. But apparently what I want doesn’t matter. They’re here. And I