He and his friends laughed again—all except Candace, Tisha, and a few others, who looked down at their shoes. Even they seemed sick of his antics. I didn’t get him, like, at all. We were in the middle of the biggest crisis the human world had ever seen, and he still had the energy to pick a fight with me.

“It was a good thing that Oshun stopped Maya in time,” Zeran said as he, Frankie, Eli, and Eleni came to my rescue. “Otherwise, Winston, you’d be joining Eli’s army of ghosts.”

“Oh, no, not happening.” Eli threw up his arms and backed away. “I don’t let rejects into my army. My standards are much higher, and unfortunately, Winston, you don’t meet the minimum requirements.”

Winston glared at Eli, then gave me an equally vicious look. “One of these days after this crap with the Lord of Shadows is over, I’m going to crush you like the bugs you are.”

“We’ll try not to hold our breath,” I said dismissively.

Winston grimaced and turned to his friends. “Let’s go. We have better things to do than waste time on these losers.”

When they were gone, Eleni shook her head. “That boy is quite annoying.”

“Quite,” Frankie said.

At least Winston thought there would be a life after the Lord of Shadows. He hadn’t given up hope either. Though he still didn’t get that we were on the same side, fighting for the same thing. Bickering among ourselves was a bad look.

“I have something I need to do,” Zeran announced suddenly. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

I had almost forgotten Tisha’s warning about Zeran betraying me. If he was a spy, why would he have helped us defeat the darkbringers or fend off the Lord of Shadows? Well, unless he was deep undercover, meaning he would do anything to pretend to be on our side until the very last moment, then BAM, betrayal.

As Zeran set off, I pushed the thought out of my mind. I couldn’t sit around and worry about what might happen with him when we had the Lord of Shadows to deal with right now.

“I cannot believe that darkbringer had the nerve to snatch my ghosts from me,” Eli said once we were on our way home. “Who does Carran think she is?”

Eleni dipped her chin into her fluffy scarf and pulled the hood of her coat over her head. Her skin looked almost frozen. “Oshun said that the darkbringers attacked the school to distract us while the Lord of Shadows broke through the veil. He must’ve sent Auntie Tyana as a distraction too.”