Uh-oh. My heart sinks to my toes. Cissy’s envy demon is kicking in, big time. Sure, she shows demonic jealousy when girls like Paulette talk about Zeke, but that’s small stuff. Her full-blown envy attacks don’t happen often, but when they do, I don’t want to be anywhere near the blast radius.

My mouth brightens into what I hope is a convincing smile. “I’m your friend first, last, and always, Cissy.” I chuck her on the upper arm. “You know that.” Out of the corner of my eye, I scan the mansion’s grounds, looking for safe lines of exit.

Cissy’s eyes keep burning red with jealousy. “Then prove it.” Her mouth compresses into a straight line. “Go with me to the tournament. Show me that I’m more important to you than he is.”

I raise my hands to shoulder level, palms forward. “Look, I know I caused trouble delivering that message, but you and Zeke totally set me up too. In the library, you didn’t—”

“Stop right there.” Her voice stays creepy-calm as her eyes flicker with fire. “I don’t care about the message. I don’t care about the library. I care about one thing.” She steps closer. “What’s. Mine.”

My mouth contracts into a tiny ‘o’ shape. I’ve never, ever seen Cissy’s envy demon this riled up. She’s a little scary right now, and I know scary. My mind freezes with shock. “I’m not sure what to say.”

She steps even closer. “Say you’re going to the tournament.”

With my palms still at shoulder-level, I waggle them from side to side in the universal sign for ‘calm down.’ “Let me think about it.” I cock my head to the right, considering. A tournament could be cool—I’d love to catch some new demon-fighting tricks. Then, I picture Lincoln’s face. Anger boils through my body, melting away all thoughts until I can’t remember why I was contemplating this stupid tournament in the first place. “Not a chance.”

Cissy bares her teeth, her eyes flaring with an almost blinding red light. She turns on her heel and marches away.

Oh, no.

This hasn’t happened since the third grade, and it’s the kryptonite to my super sassy-mouth:

The silent treatment from Cissy.

Once she’s a safe distance, I rev up Betsy and putter home, assessing my new friendless state along the way. Cissy’s out of control right now, but she can’t stay fired up forever. At least, I don’t think she can. I bet she’ll return to her normal, sweet self in a few days, tops. Yeah that’s it. I march through my front door, say my hellos to Mom, and plunk onto the couch to spend some quality time with the Human Channel.

Half-way through a Scooby-Doo marathon, I fall into a deep sleep. Within seconds, I’m dreaming of the Gray Sea.

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