There was something else that had been bothering him, too. The day of Delilah’s accident, a few hours before he’d run into Maria in the hall, Brandon had gone to Austin’s room to play the game he’d just downloaded, some fantasy thing called Toil and Trouble, where you had to make potions to confuse your enemies. They’d been throwing animated newt eyes and frog toes and stuff into their really disgusting animated cauldrons for half an hour—and then Lily showed up.

Lily never came to the fourth floor. The main house didn’t have an elevator, and climbing three flights of stairs was a big deal for her. But there she was in Austin’s open doorway, the pain clear on her face even through her smile.

She’d asked Brandon to give them a moment alone, and she’d shut the door behind him. There was only one reason anyone wanted to be alone with Austin.

Except Lily didn’t do drugs. She didn’t smoke, either. The only time Brandon had even seen her drink was the night of the séance.

Brandon didn’t really care if Lily was trying to buy drugs, but he cared about what happened to Maria. And as far as he could tell, pretty much everything Lily ever did had something to do with Maria.

So was it a coincidence? Could Lily have decided to start using the same day Delilah jumped out a window?

Maybe. But it didn’t seem likely.

Plus, there was this—Maria still hadn’t told anyone she’d been out with Delilah that night.

She should’ve by now, shouldn’t she? The police, or the dean, or the doctors?

She might have information. Something they could use. Something that could help wake Delilah up. Sure, it was a long shot, but they were talking about a girl’s life.

And why the hell had she gone looking in Delilah’s purse for drugs before the paramedics got there—and then flushed them down the toilet?

None of it made any sense.

Brandon had barely had a chance to talk to Maria since that night. People were constantly buzzing over her, asking her questions, deferring to her the way they used to defer to Delilah. She’d even taken over Delilah’s seat in the cafeteria, in the first chair at the table where all the popular seniors ate.

When she wasn’t surrounded by her followers, she was with Lily. That was even worse.

Brandon had given Lily a wide berth since Delilah’s accident. There was a new look in her eyes that scared him almost as much as the woman in his dream had. He couldn’t shake the feeling that either Maria or Lily, or maybe even both of them, knew something more than they were saying.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Brandon said. “How Maria flushed the pills.”