A few people—Ross, Maria, and Emily—stood bent over the figure on the ground. Below them Mateo could see a foot in a pale pink flip-flop.

He sat down. Or maybe he fell. There was no way to be sure. One second he was standing up, the next he was sitting heavily on the last of the stone steps that led to the front doors.

“Are you okay?” Brandon was sitting next to him. Mateo wasn’t sure when that had happened either.

“What happened to her?” Mateo tried to see if there was a rock or something Delilah could’ve tripped over, but all he saw was smooth grass. What would she have been doing walking on the lawn in the middle of the night anyway?

The sirens were so loud he couldn’t hear Brandon’s answer. A fire truck tore down the driveway. It steered right onto the grass and pulled up to where the crowd was gathered. The groundskeepers were going to be angry later.

An ambulance pulled up next, and the EMTs jogged out. They looked so small. Mateo didn’t see how they could fix this. He’d only seen her from the window, but he was certain Delilah was dead.

The EMTs made everyone move back to the steps. Brandon took Mateo’s hand. Maria sat down on the other side of Brandon, and Lily sat next to her. Mateo hadn’t realized Lily was out there.

“Do you think she’s all right?” Brandon said.

“She’s alive, at least,” Maria said.

Mateo leaned around Brandon so he could see Maria. “Could you tell?”

“Yeah. She had a pulse.” Maria was breathing very fast.

“What the hell happened?” Mateo looked around at his friends. They all looked just as confused as he did. Well, except for Lily. Lily had the same blank expression she always had.

“Someone said she fell out a window,” Brandon said quietly.

Mateo jerked his head up in shock. “A window?”

“That’s what I heard. They think that’s the only way she could’ve gotten so banged up.”

Mateo shook his head. Delilah was an athlete. She wasn’t clumsy. She wasn’t suicidal, either. Unless . . .

“Was she on something?” He whispered it, meaning for just Brandon to hear, but Maria heard too.

“I think she was,” Maria whispered. “But don’t worry. I took care of it.”

Wait. What?

Mateo leaned over to look at Maria again. Brandon and Lily were looking at her, too. Lily’s forehead creased.

“What do you mean, you took care of it?” Lily said.

“I went in her purse and found what she had on her when Ross was on the phone.”

“Wait, when?” Brandon said. “Just now?”

Maria nodded. Her face was earnest. Like she didn’t understand why they were surprised.

“You should give it to the EMTs,” Mateo said. “Maybe they can use it to figure out how to help her.”