"I had another vision."

"No way! You did?" I sat on the edge of the bed, watching him tap away as he spoke. "Of what?"

"It was the view from the front porch of my house. I could see water between the homes across the street from where I stood."

"Wow, Jack... this is huge!"

"It feels like progress. Anyways, about the hospital—you said Zeke lived in the middle of the forest. But I lived in town, so I can't be him. I'm sorry you went all that way for nothing."

"It wasn't for nothing. Like Kayla would say, we had a lead that needed to be followed."

"You know, Mazie, there's no guarantee I'll remember anything more than I do now. Please don't stop trying to figure it out."

"Not a chance." I raised my hand to fist bump him. He did the same, ghostly knuckles sliding into my corporeal ones. "So... school starts the day after the day after tomorrow. Are you excited?"

"God no. I'm terrified. I don't know if you realize this, but I'm kind of an anxiety ridden mess."

"I might have noticed a little bit." He winked at me. "But honestly, you're hyping this up more than you need to. And 'a mess' is not how I'd describe you at all. Far from it."

I swallowed. "Oh yeah? How would you describe me?"

"Smart, sweet, funny, gutsier than she gives herself credit for." He tapped himself in a circle. "And super cute."

I'm pretty sure my cheeks turned cherry red. "You're just saying that because I'm the only girl on the planet who can see you. No offense, but you don't get out much."

"I don't get out at all. But that doesn't matter. Everyone at Dorn High should be honored to know you. Look how fast you made friends with Kayla."

"Kayla isn't the unwashed high school masses though. She's a lot like my friend Chelsea back in Spokane. They both befriended me, and I let them. I didn't have to work that hard. But going up against all of those kids on the first day—that's going to be hard work." I lay back on my bed and stared at the ceiling. "It makes me sick just thinking about it."

"You aren't 'going up against' anyone. If you frame it like that, that's how it will feel. It's not a battle. Even if your worst fears are realized, though, and you trip down Dorn High's non-existent stairs, you still have Kayla, you still have Chelsea and your family, and you still have me."

Jack with his silly crooked grin floated upwards until he was hovering near the ceiling directly above me.

"I don't know what to say, Jack."

"How about 'Jack, you're just about the sweetest, best-looking ghost a girl could ask for!' Or maybe just 'thank you.'"

I smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'm going to head up to the attic now. See you later?"

"Good night, Jack."

After he'd left, I wandered downstairs, made myself microwave lasagna, and texted Kayla, letting her know that Jack had had another memory. That memory was our next lead and I intended to chase it down.

The next day, I had Jack tell me every detail he could recall from his vision. Face scrunched up like someone had given him lemonade without enough sugar, he thought through every visual.

The street was a paved two-lane road. From his view, he could see only the two houses directly opposite his own, or what he assumed was his own. The one on the left was the color of salmonberries, an older home with a porch that wrapped around the front and side, like my own porch did. It had lace curtains in the front windows. The house on the right looked much newer, a typical northwest craftsman made to look like an old northwest craftsman. Chimney red siding with white trim, it clashed with its older neighbor and seemed to Jack that they should have coordinated their color scheme. The view of the water between the two homes was partially obscured by a stand of towering fir trees.

"And what about your own home?"

The pucker face returned. "The memory doesn't include much. I'm standing on the edge of a front stoop. It's covered, so it's like a tiny porch, I guess. There's a walkway leading out to the road, no fence, just a gravel path cut through the lawn. I wish I'd turned around or gone inside."

"Maybe that will be your next memory. You're sure it's your house?"

"It feels like it is, like it's a view I see all the time."

I finished writing down the information. "Okay, I'm going to take this to Kayla today. She's lived in Dorn all her life. If any of these houses sound familiar, she'll know."

I left Jack tapdancing in the kitchen and headed for Mazzeria. Kayla took my notes eagerly and read them over.

"I'm not sure, to be honest, but there are a few neighborhoods I want us to check out as possibilities. They're near the water and they have newer houses sprinkled in with older ones. Dorn isn't that big. We'll just take pictures of every salmon colored house with lace curtains and you can show them to Jack. There can't be that many." She nudged my shoulder. "See, Mazie, I told you we'd get another lead!"

Her optimism was contagious. "Okay, so when can you go?"

"Not today. I'm working here until at least five and then I'm visiting my sister to help her out with her latest relationship crisis. Tomorrow is my annual back-to-school shopping trip with my mom. It's going to take the whole day. You could borrow your parents' car and drive around."

"I don't have my license yet. I'm not ready to be responsible for killing someone."

"Right. I remember saying to myself the day I got mine, 'someone's going to die tonight. Thanks for the manslaughter opportunity, DMV.'" She pointed behind her towards the south part of town. "Walk then. Head that way. If you don't find anything matching Jack's description over there, we'll tackle the rest of town after school on Thursday."

"Okay, this is a solid plan." Maybe knowing we'd be following our lead in the afternoon would help me get through that first day of school without puking.

After saying goodbye to Kayla, I walked around for two hours, snapping pictures of three salmon colored homes, all lacking the red craftsman neighboring house matching Jack's description.

Jack confirmed that none of my photos matched what he'd remembered.

"We're going to drive around in Kayla's car after school on Thursday," I assured him. "If those houses are here in Dorn, we'll find them."

This seemed to be enough to placate him. "Are you still nervous about school?"

"Me? Heck no. I can't wait to walk into those halls the first day, sign up for cheerleading tryouts and the fall musical auditions. Really make my mark at Dorn High! While I'm at it, maybe I'll even run for class president!"

"You're scary when you're sarcastic."

"It's how I cope."

"Just repeat to yourself that it will be fine."

"I don't like lying. But I get that you're trying to be helpful. Let's just talk about something else. How's the tapdancing going?"

"Funny you should ask. Can I give you a lesson?"

"I don't have tap shoes." Foolishly, I believed this would be enough to get me out of it.

"Neither do I. Do I let that stop me?"

"No, but you're compelled to dance. Like you have your own ghost who was the world's greatest tap dancer in 1926 that takes possession of your feet and lets them fly. That's an unfair advantage."

"I don't think that's what's happening here, and I think you have an unfair advantage because you have solid feet that don't sometimes lose track of where the floor is because you're floating off of it."

I paused. "You may have a point there."

He gave me his crooked smile and I knew I had no choice but to go along with his scheme. "This is going to be fun."

It would not be fun. "I'm not exactly a natural talent when it comes to anything requiring physical coordination."

"If that's the narrative you keep telling yourself, then that will be your reality. You can choose a different outlook."

"Fine." I got up from my usual perch on the edge of my bed and stood in front of him. "I'm about to choose the path of the dancing queen. Feel the beat from the tambourine."

"What?"

"Never mind. Just teach me to tap dance, oh wise one."

"Okay." He came over and stood by my side. "Do this."

He flicked the ball of his foot forward in a quick, fluid motion. It made a dull thud against the wooden floor.

I imitated him as best I could and in doing so, wobbled so much I nearly fell over.

"That's... not bad. Try again."

He had me attempt his foot flicking over and over until I managed to do it halfway decently. Then he had me do it another several dozen times. To my surprise, a couple hours later, I was doing the time step. Not well, but the motions were there. I could feel how the rhythm should be, even though I couldn't quite follow it yet.

"You know, you're not a terrible teacher. This isn't totally traumatizing."

His eyes danced along with his feet. "I just wish..." His feet stilled and he looked away. "I just wish I could dance with you for real."

I'd had the same wish myself. "We are dancing for real. Together. Side by side. You're pretty much the realest thing I have in my life right now, Jack."

"Maybe you need to get out more, Mazie."

"All I know is, I have you in my life and I'm grateful for it. It's easy to talk to you and if you haven't noticed, I'm awkward, socially speaking. I know our situation is unusual. And we don't know how long you'll be here. But no one knows how long they'll be alive. So, I'm just going to take this one day at a time, try to solve the mystery that is you, and be your friend while I can be."

Jack leaned against the wall, as silent as the room had become. Finally, he nodded and spoke up. "Live in the moment, right?"

"Right, because tomorrow for all we know there'll be an alien invasion and we'll all be harvested to feed baby insectoid extraterrestrials, which will be a welcome relief because it'll mean I don't have to go to school."

"...and there's the Mazie I know and love."

"You know and what?"

His cheeks reddened as though he was Mazie Rivera and had just been told by someone that he loved her. "Don't read too much into it."

"So now you're taking it back?"

The grin returned. "All I'm saying is, I'm glad you're in my life too, Mazie. And I hope there's no alien invasion tomorrow. Who's going to solve the mystery of Jack if you get abducted and fed to sentient larva? Come on." He offered me a hand I couldn't ever actually take but which I took to mean I should join him in the center of the room again. "Let's forget about aliens and high school and my status as Ghost Boy. At least for now."

I raised an eyebrow. "Dance our cares away?"

His foot began tapping. "Let's."