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sentenced to eternity in clothes Mom had bought from the school supply shop. Hopefully her kick-ass boots saved me. A bit.
    “Why did you and Nancy circle me with your arms like that? Just before we ported.”
    “To make sure we all traveled together,” she explained. “When you get the hang of porting on your own, we can all just think of the same place—like the hotel or a particular street—close our eyes, and end up there. But until you’ve passed Nancy’s port test, it’s safer if we act as the TomTom and guide you. It worked though, right? The hotel to here in less than ten seconds. How cool?”
    Lorna lowered her voice—though not that much—and leaned in. “Honestly, I am so glad you’re here, Charlotte. It’s the best when new people turn up. Even if it’s just for a few days before they get their Key. Keeps me sane what with all the Rules and the clues and the Scooby-Dooing.”
    I was so glad my untimely death was good news for someone. I nodded and tried to smile. Maybe it was time to ask the question I’d been dying to ever since Nancy admitted that she could probably find her Key if she really wanted to.
    “Haven’t you tried to get to the Other Side? To find your own Key,” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t get upset. Lorna might be ditzy but she was way friendlier than Tess. Though so was a rabid rottweiler. Still, this was the first chance we’d had to talk. I didn’t exactly have unlimited friend options.
    “My Key? Not really.” Lorna shuffled. “I mean, I know how I died, but I’m not totally Key focused, if you know what I mean. My family”—Lorna’s face softened—“they live just up there.” She pointed to the Upper East Side, somewhere past the Guggenheim Museum, which glowed dental commercial white in the moonlight. “And I kind of like the fact I can still go visit them. See what they’re up to. Talk to my cat, Tiger. Find out how my little sister, Emma, is doing. See how much cuter she gets every day.”
    Lorna kept staring out, as if she could see her home. “The idea of giving that up—of moving on to somewhere where there are no guarantees that I’ll be able to watch them as much as I can now? Well, that just makes me sad. So for now, I’m staying put. It’s not like I’m in a rush or anything, is it? In theory, I have forever, so I figure I’d rather spend a little more of it in New York with the people I love. Even if they don’t know I’m here.”
    I was not the touchy-feely link-arms-on-the-sidewalk type, but right then I wanted to give Lorna the biggest hug. But I wasn’t really sure if ghosts could even hug each other. I might fall right through her. So instead I hung back, said nothing, and thought that, yep, there was definitely more to Lorna than first met the eye.
    “Besides, like Tess is always saying, finding your Key might not be such a good idea—after all, we don’t know what’s through the Door, do we?” Lorna said. “We only know that no one has ever come back through it. And that might not be because they don’t want to.” She shuddered.
    Tess. There she was again. It seemed like Nancy and Lorna were almost scared of her. Or at least weren’t about to get on the wrong side of someone with such a stellar mean-girl act.
    “I mean, what if when you go through, that’s it? You’re trapped?” Lorna said. Tess had shook her up about this, hadn’t she? “What if what’s behind the door is … hell?”
    I must have been looking at her strangely because Lorna stopped, got a hold of herself, took a second, then smiled. “I’m sure it’s not though. I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said.
    “This may be a totally rude question so please just tell me to get lost—I’m not up on the dead-etiquette thing yet—but, um, how did you die?”
    Way to lighten the mood, Charlotte.
    “No, it’s fine. I don’t mind telling you,” Lorna said. “I made out with the prom queen’s date during the slow dance section. Some bitch hit me