Emma held tight to Madeline’s hands. “Was this what you wanted to talk to me about a while ago? The night you tried calling and I didn’t pick up my phone?”

Madeline nodded, her lips pursed so tightly they were translucent.

“I’m so sorry,” Emma said, swallowing a hard lump in her throat. “I should have been there for you.” She wondered how much Sutton really knew about all this, or if Madeline had kept it a well-hidden secret.

“I’m sorry, too,” I added, even though she couldn’t hear me. I had a feeling Mads and I had never discussed it before, not even that night. The phone call, the one she’d made to me the night I died, was the very first time she’d reached out. I would have answered it if I could, but I was already gone.

“It’s okay.” Madeline said to Emma, her voice wobbly. “I called Charlotte. She was actually pretty awesome about the whole thing. I wanted to tell you later, but . . .” Madeline let out a bitter laugh and smoothed down the layers of her full skirt. “Believe it or not, this is nothing compared to what Dad used to do to Thayer.” She peeked at Emma. “But I guess Thayer told you that, right?”

Emma’s skin prickled at the sound of Thayer’s name. Would Thayer have told Sutton something so personal? Had they been that close?

A whoosh came over me again. That same moment I’d seen before, of Thayer taking my hands and telling me something, trying to make me understand. Had it been about his dad?

“You have to tell someone about this, Mads,” Emma insisted. “What he’s doing to you is wrong. And dangerous.”

“Are you kidding me?” The crown slipped down Madeline’s forehead. “He’d find a way to twist this around and make it my fault. My mom would side with him, too. And it is my fault. If I didn’t keep screwing up, things would be fine.”

“Madeline, this isn’t normal,” Emma said forcefully. “Promise me you’ll think about saying something. Please?”

Madeline stared at her hands. “Maybe.”

“There are a lot of people around to support you if you do. Char, me, Freddy Krueger . . .”

Madeline raised her head and cracked a smile. “Oh God, that costume is awful.”

“It freaks me out,” Emma agreed. “I’m going to have nightmares.”

“Everyone is. He thinks he looks really cool.”

“Just don’t let him slow-dance with you,” Emma warned. “Could you imagine those slasher hands on your butt?”

The girls collapsed into giggles, nearly tumbling off the bench. A group of sophomores in matching Arizona Cardinals cheerleading costumes marched in, stopped short when they saw Emma and Madeline, and then filed back out again. That just made the two of them laugh even harder.