He’d wanted to get out of the house, away from the stale air that filled it, but it wasn’t much better out here. It felt like the clouds were closing in on them. Even the trees loomed menacingly, like they were planning an attack.

Some days, Mateo hated this whole damn school.

He could never hate Felicia, though. So he forced a smile as they climbed up to sit on top of the nearest picnic table. “What’s up, Fee?”

She shrugged. Her hand shook as she traced a pattern on the table’s surface. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Try me.”

She shook her head. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

Great. Exactly what this school needed. Another crazy girl. “No, I won’t. For real. Tell me what’s wrong.”

She took a long breath. “I think Acheron is haunted.”

Oh, for God’s sake. Felicia too? He’d promised not to say she was crazy, so he took pains to make his voice slow and serious. “It must’ve been horrible for you, being there with him that morning.”

“‘Horrible’ isn’t even the word.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what the right word is.”

“But what happened to Brandon doesn’t mean the school is haunted,” Mateo went on. “It was just a really sad, really scary thing that happened.”

She sighed. “I knew you wouldn’t take this seriously.”

“Look, I know you’re upset. I am too.”

“I’m not upset,” Felicia said. “That’s what everybody keeps telling me. That this is just one of the stages of grief or whatever. The thing is, I’m not, like, working through my feelings, here. I’m telling you there is something legitimately wrong going on at this school. It’s a fact. I’ve seen it.”

Mateo looked her in the eye, like he was taking all of this completely at face value. “When have you seen it, Fee?”

“At night.”

“Do you mean . . .” Mateo tried hard not to sound like he was laughing at her. “While you’re sleeping?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m not talking about dreams. Well, I mean, the dreams are terrible, but that’s not what this is about. All I know is, there’s something here that shouldn’t be, and it has something to do with Maria Lyon.”

Mateo’s chest tightened. “How do you know Maria’s part of it?”

“You didn’t see her that morning. With Brandon.” Felicia wrapped her arms around her chest. “She was hysterical, but not the way I was. She was acting like it was her fault.”

Mateo nodded slowly. “Did you ever find out why she was even there?”