“Yes.”

He stared at the house, now visible around a bend. “What’s that sound?”

She had left the door open. Each of the three alarms made a different sound to tell them the location of the intruder. There were two others in back that turned on after they went to bed.

She didn’t even try to explain.

“You jumped the fence?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry, but I’ve been really worried. You’ve never missed three days of school. I just wanted to know you were okay.”

“I’m okay.”

He stared at the house. “Are those alarms?”

“Yes.”

“Not fire alarms, I hope?”

“No.”

He walked closer, studying her face. She probably looked bad. “Are you sick?”

“I’m fine.”

“Then why—”

“My mother is sick.”

Normally she wouldn’t give out any information about her mother. But she thought it might make him leave faster.

“Does she have the flu? It’s going around school.”

“Yes, it’s the flu,” she said. “You shouldn’t get near us.”

The way he looked at her, he might know she was lying.

“I’ll open the gate so you can get out,” she said.

They had taken only about five steps away from the house when Raven’s mother weakly cried, “Who are you? Where do you think you’re going with her?”

They turned around. Raven’s heart about stopped at the sight of Mama stumbling down the steps in a nightgown, the pistol she kept in her bedside drawer aimed at Jackie.

“You will not take her!” Mama said as she staggered toward them. “You have no right to her! Give her back, or I swear I’ll shoot!”

Raven jumped in front of Jackie with her arms stretched out. “Mama, stop! He’s a friend! He’s a friend from school!”

“No, he’s tricking you!” Mama said. “Don’t go with him! I know who he is! He’s from New York! I recognize him!”

“Mama, please! He lives down the road. He’s not from New York.”

Mama nearly fell, and as she tried to right herself, Raven was terrified the gun would go off.

“His name is Jack Danner,” she said. “I went to his father’s funeral. Do you remember that? His mother teaches at the school I used to go to.”

Mama steadied herself, swaying, and stared at Jackie. Her white-blonde hair was in wild disarray, and her face was pale and gaunt. The light of the setting sun illuminated her bony body through the thin fabric of her nightgown. She looked like a human ghost in stories.

Raven walked slowly toward her. “Let me take the gun.”

“I heard the alarms,” she said softly. “I woke up. I didn’t know where you were.”

“I know. That must have been confusing.” She carefully released the gun from Mama’s grip and set its safety switch.

She turned to Jackie, frozen in the same spot. “My mother has a high fever. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said.

“Why are you on my land?” Raven’s mother asked. She looked and sounded much more herself. She had fully departed the spirit world.

“I was worried about Raven. She’s missed three days of school.”

“If you go to school, I assume you know what the words no trespassing mean.”

“Yes, I do. I’m very sorry, Ms. Lind.”

Mama continued to stare imperiously.

“Mama, he said he’s sorry,” Raven said. “It’s cold, and you’re sick. You should go inside.”

“I am not sick,” Mama said.

“Please go inside. I’ll let him out.”

She crooked a finger at Jackie. “Don’t you ever come back here.”

“I won’t,” he said.

Raven felt like she could breathe again when Mama turned toward the house. She and Jackie walked to the outer road in silence. She still had the gun, held down at her side. She pressed the code into the pad to open the gate.

“Can she hear us?” he asked, looking at the nearest camera.

“No.”

He started to say something but stopped himself. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Raven and held her. He had never done that. She couldn’t hug him back because she had the gun in her hand. She supposed it was mostly a pity hug, but it still felt good.

He let her go and said, “I hope you come back to school soon. I miss you.” He got in his car and drove away as the gate closed.

As bad as the last ten minutes had been, Raven was elated that Mama had come back to the human world. Jackie had made it happen. Maybe the spirits had guided him into trespassing on their land. If there was one thing that could pull Mama out of the spirit world, it was a perceived threat to her daughter.

The alarms were off when she returned to the house.

“Is he your new boyfriend?” Mama asked.

“He’s a friend.”

She smiled slyly. “I saw him embrace you.”

“Why were you watching us?” Raven asked.

She took Raven’s face in her thin hands. “Because you are my treasure. I will watch over you in this life and also in the next.”