"Most are."
"It won't matter how much evidence you present him with, he'll find a way to discredit you."
I shrugged. "I'm used to skeptics. Is that your only concern?"
He shook his head again and sighed. "You won't find an ally in my mother either. I'm afraid she won't want to believe you."
It took me a few moments to understand what he was saying. "You mean she still hopes you'll be found somewhere, alive?"
He nodded. "I visited them shortly after my death. The Administrators warned me against it and I should have listened to them. They said it can be traumatic for a spirit to know how their loved ones reacted to their death. They were right." He leaned against the brick wall of the chop house and tipped his head back. "It was awful. Mother was adamant that I must be somewhere, lost or kidnapped with no way of getting home. Father either believed it too or simply went along with her because it was easier. They've spent a fortune since my death on investigators who claim they can find anything and anyone. None have even turned up my body let alone any answers to explain my fate."
His shoulders stooped and he sagged against the wall. He was clearly distressed about his parents, despite the matterof-fact way he spoke.
It made me more determined to see them than ever. "That was some time ago," I said. "Perhaps they've changed since then. Perhaps your mother is ready to move on, if only she knew the truth."
"I doubt it." He pushed off from the wall and leveled his gaze with mine. "So you see that she'll be as skeptical as my father. She'll simply refuse to believe you."
"I can still try. You could feed me some information that only you and they could possibly know."
"They'll think I told someone at school or-"
"Jacob!" I balled my fist. I wanted to punch him in the shoulder to knock some sense into him. "I'm going to try regardless of what you say."
His jaw clenched, causing the muscle high in his cheek to throb. "Emily, listen to me." He caught my shoulders and lowered his head to look directly at me. If he was trying to mesmerize me, it was working-I couldn't look away, couldn't move. I wanted to fall into the deep blue depths of his eyes and wallow in there forever. "They'll be resentful of you trying to convince them I'm dead, and...and I don't want to subject you to that. Do you understand?"
"I understand." It came out breathy. Could it really be that he was worried about me? "I'm going anyway."