I want to throw my arms around him, but I restrain myself, not wanting to give the others more ammunition. I absolutely appreciate him coming to my defense, I just wish he didn’t need to do it at all. I should be standing up for myself.

Ekaterina purses her lips, sparks dancing along her fingers. She folds her arms, trying to look tough and mostly succeeding given the black leather jacket she wears. It’s the one with silver spikes on the collar.

“What are you doing out here?” Sini asks.

“What are you doing here?” My voice quavers far more than I want it to.

“We were looking for Natalie.” Aysha smooths her bangs beneath her beanie which, like the rest of her designer clothes, has its brand label on the outside. “Sini told us you found her phone out here. We thought maybe you missed something else.”

Of course they did.

“What’s this?” Ekaterina points at the ground where one of the runes is still visible.

“Nothing,” Morgan says too quickly as he scuffs it out with a foot. Gingerly, he plucks Kaneda’s textbook from the dirt where we abandoned it before the spell.

“You’re up to something,” Sini says, eyes puffy as if she’s been crying. “You promised you’d tell me if you heard anything.”

“We don’t know anything new,” I say, entirely the truth.

“A containment circle?” Aysha asks with a swish of her long dark hair. Rain beads on her cheeks like rhinestones. “I doubt Kaneda would approve of this.”

“Containment for what?” Ekaterina asks before either Morgan or I can deny the accusation.

“Nothing, just an experiment.” I do not want to get Morgan into trouble and I absolutely do not trust the others not to run straight to Principal Turunen.

“Oh please.” Aysha gives an extravagant eye roll.

“We looked up liekkiö, you know,” Ekaterina adds. “We know it’s some sort of ghost.” Her voice wobbles a little, showing a crack in her hard exterior.

“You think you can trap this ghost?” Aysha’s eyes are wider now and her face less pinched.

These girls are Natalie’s friends, and even though they’re awful to me, they are clearly concerned—same as me. Maybe not entirely the same as me. I bite my lip and look down, not sure how to answer. Morgan gets in first.

“We were planning to try,” he says.

“You strong enough for that?” Ekaterina asks.

Morgan hesitates.

“Even with the elemental energy in these woods…” Aysha lays a hand on the nearest birch. “That’s still a lot of magic for one person. Especially if you’re doing a summoning as well.”

“Who said anything about a summoning?” I ask.

“You going to just wait for this thing to show up?” Aysha looks unimpressed.

“They’re too chicken to do a summoning,” Ekaterina says.