Vic took off for the house and his cell phone. I ran toward Lucas, not sure what I was going to do but desperate to keep him from either being killed or killing his mother.

Lucas’s wild — eyed gaze told me he was beyond reasoning with. So I cried, “Kate, don’t! You don’t want to do this!”

“Let me give my son some peace!” She never stopped circling her son; one of her eyes was already blackening from his fist. Lucas would never have done that to her, never, if anything of his spirit was in control.

I slipped between them — not like she could do anything to me, what with me being dead and everything. “You can’t kill him. You know you don’t want to.”

Her gaze went right through me, focusing only on the cloudy figure of her son behind my transparent form. “I can and I will.”

My desperation peaked. I looked at Kate, pleading with every part of my soul for her to stop and try to see that her son was still with her — to see him through my eyes — until it felt almost like my desperation had become a blade that could cut through her — Then this bizarre tidal pull seized me, dragging me toward Kate in the blink of an eye. Before I could ask myself what was happening, I felt myself being drawn into her, absorbed by her. Everything went dark for an instant, and then when I could see again, I knew I was looking through Kate’s eyes. I could feel her body all around me, like a suit of armor, but one with warmth, breath, and a heartbeat.

Kate’s hand dropped the stake as her feet stumbled backward. The only thing I could think was, I’m possessing someone. I’ve possessed Kate.

How did I do that?

The sheer power of my desperation had acted almost like a battering ram, opening a portal into her very self. Could all wraiths do this? I had no idea. All that mattered was my ability to stop this fight.