Mateo nearly fell again.

Those words. That was exactly what Brandon had said the morning he died.

God, Lily was just as much of a victim as the rest of them.

“Listen, Lily,” Mateo whispered, “you’ve got to stay away from Maria. Something’s not right with her. I know she’s your girlfriend and you think you love her or whatever, but—”

Lily started crying. “She’s not my—we’re not—does everyone know?”

Oh. Shit. He wasn’t helping her at all. He was probably making things worse.

“Crap, I’m sorry,” he said. “I only know because Brandon told me. I don’t think anyone else knows. It’s okay. Please don’t cry.”

Lily sobbed. Mateo patted her arm and sighed again.

“You need to go to the health center,” he said. She scowled, and he quickly added, “For your legs. I can tell they hurt worse than usual. They can give you something for that.”

Lily shook her head. She leaned back against the wall and held out her hands in front of her again, turning them over and over. Tears streamed down her face.

She definitely needed help. For more than just her legs.

Mateo put his arm around her waist. It was a shame the school was too busy being historically accurate to put in a damn elevator. Lily let him steer her down the stairs and to the path outside that led to the health center.

He turned to shut the door to the house. Maybe he should stay with Lily for a while. She seemed like she might break at any moment.

But when he turned back, Lily was gone.

Someone else was standing in her place.

The fog was so thick Maria could barely see the house, but she knew it was ahead of her. She was almost at the top of the hill now. She’d had to limp the whole way in her scratched bare feet. Her shoes were still on the dirty floor of the clapboard church.

She’d thought it was dawn when she left the woods, but it must have been later. There was a tiny patch of sky that was brighter than the rest, and it was nearly overhead. How long had she been in the forest? Did time work differently when the spirits were in control?

When she reached the crest of the hill, the house emerged from the fog all at once. It was so dim the white wooden siding looked gray. Maria stared up at the four stories of wood and brick and wondered how it must’ve looked to the people who’d died in that tunnel all that time ago. If any of them had ever stared up at the building like she was now, hating it as much as she did.

Not that it mattered what Maria hated or didn’t hate.