"Yes, I'm dead. Now shut up, girl, and let me talk." Gram seated herself next to Kayla. "That's why I'm here, girl," she said cheerfully in her slow Southern drawl. "Since Elizabet thought it was important that we meet, I figured I'd go ahead and meet you. You ain't never seen no ghosts before?"
"Uh, no!" Kayla blurted.
"Ah, no wonder you're surprised. Some people just can't handle the concept too well. Elizabet now, I tried appearin' to her once, not too long after I left this world. She just couldn't handle it at all. Thought she was losin' her mind. You, on the other hand, look like you're doin' just fine, honey." She stood up, stretching wearily. Her outlines thinned even more as she stretched; Kayla could see the walls through her. "Now, girl, we have to talk with Elizabet. . . ."
Elizabet set down the sociology textbook she'd been reading and reached for the light switch next to the bed. Kayla's voice, muffled through the closed bedroom door, stopped her in mid-motion.
"Elizabet, can we come in?" Kayla asked.
"Of course," Elizabet said, then suddenly realized Kayla had said the word "we" instead of "I." "Kayla, is someone . . . ?"
The door opened and Kayla stepped in, followed by someone that Elizabet had thought she would never see again, at least not in this lifetime. Her grandmother glided into the room, smiling wickedly, with her feet not quite touching the ground. She sat down at the foot of the bed. "Evenin', honeychild," Gram said.
Elizabet just stared at her.
In the long silence Kayla finally piped up. "Uh, Elizabet, she's your grandmother, you know? Your grandmother, the dead one."
"I know who she is," Elizabet said. "What I'm wondering is what is she doing here? And why I'm dreaming about her."
"Ain't no dream, Elizabet," Gram said. "You're in trouble, an' that's why I'm here. You are in one heap of serious trouble. I can't see exactly what, my sight isn't too good looking very far into the future, but something evil has set its sights upon you, and on this girl here, too."
This must be a dream, Elizabet thought. Or maybe I'm insane. That would explain this.
"Shoot, girl, you're not crazy, any more than I am! Lordy, you believe in magic, right? Why so much trouble believing in ghosts?" Gram spoke in an aside to Kayla. "That's why I never showed up before now. I knew she wouldn't believe it."
"All right, then, I'll take this at face value," Elizabet said. "What I don't understand is how you can be here."
"You don't have time to understand," her grandmother replied. "What you have to do is teach this child what she needs to know, and quickly. You don't have much time, granddaughter. Only six months."
As she spoke, Gram's translucent body was becoming even more faint. She faded away to a mere brightness, a hint of light in the air. "Teach her what she needs to know before it's too late."
The words lingered in the empty air where Gram had sat a moment before.
"Kayla, do you know what's going on?" Elizabet asked.
Kayla shook her head. "It's not my fault," she said quickly.
"I know it's not your fault, child," Elizabet said with a sigh. "Six months. I wonder what's going to happen in six months?"
"I wish I knew," Kayla said.
"Well, we'll find out when it gets here. Alternatively, we go ask Beara, since she obviously knows something about it as well. I'd just as soon not do that, though. It might be significantly harder to get out of her home a second time."
"Yeah, that's for sure." I don't want to go back there without the Marines, or maybe the National Guard.
"Now, go to bed, child," Elizabet said. "We'll start your lessons in earnest in the morning."
"Okay," Kayla said. "I'll let you know if any more of your dead relatives show up to visit," she said, grinning.
"You do that," Elizabet said with a smile, and turned off the bedlight.
Back in her bedroom, Kayla picked up the fantasy novel from where she'd thrown it and set it down on the nightstand. "All of this is really just a little too weird for me," she said aloud, thinking about the events of the last week.
"Well, it's only going to get weirder, honeychild," Gram said from behind her.
Kayla turned so quickly she nearly fell. "I thought you were gone," she blurted.
"Naw, I was jus' doin' that for dramatic effect," Gram said, an impish grin across her wrinkled dark face. "I've always wanted to do that to Elizabet. She's always been so unflappable, even as a child; I just couldn't resist it."
"So why are you still here?" Kayla asked.