The Seance by Heather Graham Page A

Halloween. And I don’t want to go out alone.”
    Did she really want to stay there? Christina asked herself. No.
    â€œGive me ten minutes,” she said into the phone.
    As soon as Ana arrived, Christina ran out to her car and slid into the passenger seat, then stared at her friend and asked accusingly, “Okay, who have you been talking to?”
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œMe.”
    Ana shrugged. “Well, I did get a call from Jed.”
    Christina groaned. “He thinks I’m crazy.”
    â€œNot true. He…cares about you.”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous. I’ve barely seen him in years.”
    Ignoring that, Ana said, “And then I happened to run into Dan at the gas station.”
    â€œMy cousin thinks I’m crazy,” Christina said glumly, then brightened. “Did he tell you he’s going to be playing the Grim Reader?”
    â€œNo. Is he supposed to be scary?”
    â€œYeah, I think so. We need to go see him do his thing. Should be fun.”
    Ana shuddered. “And crowded.”
    â€œNot if we avoid the weekends and Halloween itself.”
    â€œWe should make plans, then. There are only two weeks left until Halloween.”
    â€œMy nights are fairly open,” Christina told her. She thought about it for a minute. “In fact, they’re completely open right now.”
    Ana giggled. “Mine, too. Hey, can he get us free passes?”
    â€œI’m sure he can. So where are we going tonight, anyway?”
    â€œA place called Once More, With Feeling. They sell vintage stuff, and then for Halloween they bring in more costumes than anyone else in the area. You’ll like it.”
    The shop was as eclectic as promised. Half of it was dedicated to the old, from fedoras to flower-child bell-bottoms. Then there were the costumes, as well as a selection of accessories that could be added to the off-the-rack offerings to individualize them.
    â€œWe should do a theme thing,” Ana murmured. “You know, like Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man and all that.”
    â€œAre we going trick-or-treating?” Christina asked.
    â€œI want to go out, anyway. I’d love to win the costume contest at O’Reilly’s this year.”
    â€œIf you want Dan to come, you’ll have to make sure he’s not working.”
    â€œWe’ll just buy him a costume and hope for the best. Are you in?”
    â€œWhatever.”
    â€œOkay, I’ll be Toto,” Ana said.
    â€œI’m not carrying you around in a basket all night,” Christina said.
    â€œI know, but think about how great it will be. Every time you see people doing the Wizard of Oz thing, Toto is a stuffed toy. You never see a live Toto. And you’ll be fabulous as Dorothy.”
    Christina shrugged. Ana was going through a rack of costumes, looking for what, Christina wasn’t certain. She found herself watching the other customers, curious to see what they were picking up.
    A group of college boys were gravitating toward the slasher costumes. One of them put on a Freddy Krueger mask, and started laughing and menacing his friends. It was quite an effectively creepy costume, Christina thought.
    And when he had it on, he could have been anyone.
    It was a sobering thought.
    â€œAre you listening?” Ana said, breaking into her thoughts.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œPay attention, would you? Mike can be the Tin Man, and Dan can be the Scarecrow.”
    â€œWe’ll be missing the Cowardly Lion,” Christina pointed out.
    â€œI’ll have to talk Jed into that one.”
    â€œYou think you can get Jed to dress up like the Cowardly Lion?”
    â€œMaybe not.” Ana looked thoughtful for a moment. “We’ll work on who dresses up as what later. He might go for it, though. He actually does have a sense of humor. Somewhere,” Ana assured her dryly. “I’m going to pay for this stuff. Then we’ll go.”
    â€œWe’ll