She turned to go back to the house. It was almost lights-out anyway. Maria would be back soon from wherever she’d run off to. In the meantime Lily had a homecoming dress to finish. She wanted to look good for the dance, even though she didn’t have a date. She’d thought someone might ask her, but it hadn’t happened, just like last year. When the boys at this school looked at her, all they saw was a giant pair of crutches.

She couldn’t go to the dance as Maria’s date, of course. She couldn’t risk a rumor like that spreading back to her parents. She didn’t want to give Delilah the satisfaction of knowing she still liked girls, either.

Oh. Wait. Right. Lily still hadn’t gotten used to the idea that Delilah wasn’t around to care about those things anymore.

Anyway, Lily was going to homecoming, whatever it took. She was acting class president now, and she had to play the part. Besides, getting dressed up and acting normal might be enough to snap Maria back to normal too.

But Maria wasn’t in the room when Lily got back. The power was still out, too. Lily had navigated the candlelit hallway and the hordes of pajama-clad freshmen only to find her own room dark, freezing, and empty. So much for finishing her dress. She found her matches and lit the candles that had blown out while she was gone, and left them burning for Maria as she climbed into bed.

Maybe tonight she’d finally get some sleep. Even better, maybe Maria would climb into bed with her when she got back. Maybe they could pretend things were all right again.

Lily murmured the “maybes” to herself so long she almost convinced herself they were real.

Until she heard the scraping sound.

She was half-asleep by then, but her eyes jolted open right away.

It was coming from the window. There was only one in their room, above Lily’s bed, right next to the wall their room shared with the old dining hall. Maria had a funny feeling about that window, so they always kept the curtains drawn and the window locked, despite the chill inside the room.

It had been more than a year since Lily had last heard that scraping sound. When she first moved into this room, in ninth grade, she’d heard it a few times, but it never lasted more than a minute. It sounded like a tree branch bending in the wind and dragging along the glass. Except there were no trees that close to the building.

The sounds had stopped when Maria moved into the room. How strange that tonight, of all nights . . .

Lily turned over, willing sleep to come back.

It didn’t, but the sound at the window did. It lasted more than a minute this time. And it really didn’t sound like a tree branch.