I know it’s foolish to think the Magpie Man was texting me, taunting me, standing outside my window. But now I don’t have anything, not even the uncertainty.

I almost tell Danny about the newspaper article, because Michael seemed genuinely clueless when I mentioned it. But if it turns out to be as harmless as everything else, that’s a thought too far.

“I’ll see you when you’re back from your retreat,” Danny says. “It won’t be our last show. I believe in you.”

He can believe all he wants, but I have been chasing the wrong shadows and messaging the wrong monsters.

Even if I get the extension, I’m back to square one.

Chapter 61

Emily is standing by the bus. She smiles and says, “Are you ready to see what all the fuss is about?”

The rest of the school gives us the evil eye as they walk past, because we’re escaping for a week, our normal clothes and suitcases more offensive than if we were giving them the finger.

Emily is doing her best not to pay attention to my head cam, although her eyes keep shooting up, then back to my face.

When I woke up this morning, there was no one in my bedroom filming me, and I missed it. The thought of this being my last show is strange, and Emily’s doing a terrible job of distracting me. It was weird how quickly I got used to Michael following me around, and now he’s gone.

Now, I’m responsible for making this good enough.

“You’ll be fine,” Emily says, because sometimes she does notice what’s happening, and I hope she’s right.

Before we get on the bus, Mr. Collins barges over and starts handing out homework to the English lit students missing this week’s class. We don’t argue, because that would only make it worse. He would probably come back with twice as much.

As well as working at St. Anthony’s, Mr. Collins tutors fifth graders for their standardized tests, and I wonder if he’s nicer to them or if all teachers have one way of teaching no matter who they’re talking to.

“Are you joining us?” Mr. Humphries asks.

Mr. Collins huffs. “I’ll actually be working this week.”

Mr. Humphries smiles like it’s a joke, but you can see he’s offended, and when Mr. Collins leaves, Emily whispers, “Prick.”

Mr. Humphries grins until he catches me looking, then clears his throat and says, “Right, let’s go.”

I’m not quite awake enough for maximum Emily, so I put my headphones on and stare out the window until Jamie strolls past, sees me, and waves.

We didn’t talk much after he caught Michael. I said, “Thank you,” and he said, “Just doing my job.”

It was a strange thing to say, but much stranger things happened that night.