But Altagracia was dead. Long dead.

Lily wished she’d never bought that Ouija board. She wished she’d never put these ideas in Maria’s head. If it weren’t for Lily she wouldn’t be thinking about things like ghosts, and spirits, and supernatural beings coming to earth.

Doing things to people. Lurking in dark rooms.

Mostly, though, Lily just wished Maria would talk to her.

They still didn’t know what had happened that day by the lake. The doctors said Brandon must’ve had an undiagnosed heart condition. There was no other way to explain a healthy seventeen-year-old having a cardiac arrest during his morning run.

Lily didn’t think it was that simple. She wasn’t the only one. The school had bumped up security, building brand-new campus guard stations that ruined the picturesque effect of the ancient campus lawns.

It didn’t help that Felicia was going around telling anyone who would listen that something strange had happened that morning by the lake. She kept saying Brandon saw something up ahead, something weird, and that she thought she might’ve seen it too. Felicia was sure the “weird” thing—whatever it was—had killed Brandon.

Some of the seniors were whispering that something might’ve happened to Felicia herself that day. Something that had made her not quite right anymore.

There were other rumors, too. People said they’d seen or heard odd things the day Brandon died. One junior kept saying she’d heard humming on the front stairs. The same tune again and again. A lot of people said they’d been having weird dreams, about scary stories they’d heard as kids. One freshman had gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night and been so sure he saw a ghost’s face in the mirror, he punched the glass. He’d had to get stitches at the health center.

Most of the stories made Lily roll her eyes. Some people wanted attention. And other people would believe anything.

Felicia, though . . . Everyone said she couldn’t sleep through a single night without waking up screaming.

Lily had heard her once. The screaming had gone on for what felt like hours, but when Lily looked at her clock, it had only been a couple of minutes.

Everything was wrong. Time felt upside down.

She didn’t know what Felicia thought had happened to Brandon. All Lily knew was that there was no logical reason for Maria to have been at the lake that morning. Not unless she’d known what was coming.

How could she have, though? If Brandon had some strange, undiagnosed illness, how would Maria possibly have known? Surely she didn’t think a ghost told her?

There was no way to find out. Maria refused to talk about Brandon. Since the funeral, she’d refused to talk about pretty much anything.