Luminosity (Gravity Series #3) (The Gravity Series) by Abigail Boyd

evidently staring into space, when I came down the basement steps.
    “You’ve been lying to me, too,” I told her, dropping my backpack on the couch.
    “What are you talking about?” Jenna asked irritably. She spun towards me, wearing her consummate poker face.
    “There’s something going on in Limbo, isn’t there?” Last year, she’d spoken of a fog that was starting to creep in. She hadn’t said anything about it since she had accepted her death. But I’d seen that fog in my dreams. “You’ve been pretending things are hunky-dory, and now I find out that they’re not.”
    Jenna looked down at the floor, hair falling in her eyes. “I expected you to confront me sooner or later. Tone down the anger a little, though. I can feel it. It’s like you’re blasting a heat ray.”
    Her admission hit me like a brick, and I sat down, feeling lightheaded as I tried to reign in my emotions.
    “Who did you hear about Limbo from?” Jenna asked.
    I explained what Alyssa had told me, including the part about the spooky kids. Then I told her about the weird shadows, both on the street and back in the bathroom stall. When I finished, she looked anxious, playing with the fringed ends of her jean shorts.
    “Well?” I asked.
    “I hear them, too. Outside, singing sometimes—this really sad song. It’s depressing and creepy. The shadows do seem like they’re thicker and more…like creatures or something. I’d never seen anything quite like it until the first of them passed outside the window.”
    “Do you think they’re the children that Dexter killed?”
    “I don’t know about the shadows,” Jenna said. “Those seem more random, like they have less of a solid identity. I’ve only seen the orphans once or twice myself, but I’m assuming they’re the ones singing the song. Who else would it be?”
    “What about the fog?” I asked.
    “That’s always there, but I’ve learned not to pay attention to it. I think it’s just part of Limbo.”
    I felt a little hurt that she’d been so secretive. “Why didn’t you feel like you could tell me all this?”
    “I thought maybe if I ignored the shadows and the singing, they might go away,” Jenna admitted. “You were in school and things have been almost normal. I could pretend that I was still alive. But these things I’m seeing… they scare me, Ariel. You know I don’t do well with scary things. I’m not like you. I don’t have nerves of steel.”
    I laughed a little, trying not to feel bitter. “Nerves of steel? Yeah, right. I get scared all the time.”
    “So, what do we do about it?” Jenna said. “Because honestly, I don’t want to stay here forever. I don’t want to burden you….”
    “You’re not a burden,” I said immediately.
    “Okay, you say that now, all sure and free of doubt. But you’re going to college after next year,” Jenna said. I heard her voice break with emotion and I had to look away. “You can’t take me with you. I’m stuck here. But I don’t want to be stuck here with all of this creepy crap going on. I have to cut whatever rope is keeping me tied down. We need to figure out what is going on in your dreams.”
    “I haven’t had a dream in weeks. What if they’ve stopped? What if they were just flukes in the first place?”
    “We both know they haven’t stopped,” Jenna said. “You’re just getting a break.”
    She leaned forward, stretching her neck like it was sore. “The other day I went out.”
    “Went out where?”
    “I’ve wondered what happened to my running medals since I came back,” Jenna explained. I had so many of them. I just wanted to look at them one more time. They were my proudest achievement, which sounds kind of lame when I say it that way, but it’s the truth. I didn’t think I could go, but a few weeks ago I tried. Usually, I have to stay around you or take a nap, but I was able to push through all the way to my house. My parents were gone, and the house had a For Sale sign.”
    I