The Book of Lost Souls by Michelle Muto Page A

friend a hard, that’s off limits , glare. Shayde shrugged and went back to pulling the last of the weeds from the area she was working on. Shayde was right, of course. It probably was a bit unfair. But whenever Nick was around, Ivy felt like a tangle of nerves. It was as though she was always aware of him and his every move. But, she had to admit that she was a bit hard on him. If she was going to use his help, she needed to give him a break.  
    Careful , she reminded herself. Don’t start thinking you really like him.
    Ivy shook the thought from her head. After cleaning up a few last grave sites and loading up the golf cart, the girls found themselves staring at Mr. Laughton’s grave.  
    “Dad is coming up here later with Gareth to rebury the bone and fix the grave,” Raven said. “I wonder why someone picked this grave to bury the books in?”
    Ivy shrugged. “Maybe they knew that no one visited this row of graves? Random choice?”
    “Well, it was a good hiding place for a while,” Shayde said. “I still wonder who put them there and who dug them up.”
    “Maybe there’s a newcomer we don’t know about yet,” Raven countered.
    Shayde shook her head. “We always know about newcomers. If there’s one around, they’re on the down-low.”
    “We’ve actually got a mystery in our pretty boring little town. Exciting, isn’t it?” Raven rubbed her hands together. “So! Who would you suspect? Who did Mr. Nash in?”
    Ivy considered Raven’s question. She’d practically thought of little else. Problem was, most of the town was less than friendly with the Nash’s. “Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Mr. Nash had to have pushed the wrong Kindred too far. He’s always trying to cause trouble. He was just asking for something bad to happen sooner or later. I never thought someone would kill him, though.”
    “I’m surprised no one has roughed him up before this,” Raven said.  
    “That’s because Mr. Nash knew that if a Kindred really did pound some sense into him, it’d upset a lot of Regulars,” Shayde replied.  
    “Has he denied any building permits lately, failed anyone on inspection, cited anyone for code infractions?” Ivy asked.
    Shayde laughed. “That would be a really long list.”
    Ivy agreed. But what other leads did she have? The thought haunted her all the way back to the funeral home and the entire drive back home.  
    All Ivy wanted to do when she walked through the front door was to take a warm shower. Hopefully, her bad mood would wash down the drain along with the dirt and sweat. She’d managed to make it up the stairs and halfway down the hall when the floor creaked and her mother called to her.  
    Mental note to self, Ivy thought. Remember to charm that particular floorboard. The last charm had apparently worn off already.
    Pretending she hadn’t heard, Ivy headed straight for the bathroom. Her mother was just concerned, but Ivy had never felt less like talking.
    Her mother tried to get her to talk about what was bothering her over dinner, and Ivy did her best to brush it off. When her mother suggested that she was probably just having boy trouble deciding between Dean and Nick, she let her mother think exactly that. With each bit of advice, Ivy nodded on cue and replied with the required thanks, Mom . She endured the last of the speech while they did the dishes.
    “I’m going to read a little,” Ivy said, hanging the dishtowel up to dry.  
    Her mother smiled warmly, clearly happy to have done her motherly duty by giving her daughter something to think about.  
    Devlin followed Ivy up the stairs and into her room. Ivy shut the door and sifted through her dresser, retrieving a lavender sleep tee. After changing and tossing her clothes in the direction of the clothes hamper, she pulled the book bag out from under her bed.  
    Why had someone buried all three books? Who had left the bag and the remaining books there for them to find? And what did a gardening book have to