I paused only when he suddenly laughed. It was a startlingly loud, throaty sound unlike anything I had ever heard from him that sent a shiver down my spine, this time not a pleasant one.

“What’s so funny?” I murmured, slowly leaning back. It was when my eyes fluttered open that the blood in my veins truly froze.

It happened quickly. One moment he was simply grinning up at me, eyes wide and vacant. Then, as if in slow motion, the skin began to peel off his face. Creamy white gave way to tissue and muscle, red and gory enough to make me feel sick, until finally the skull appeared. All the while I was trying to back away, but his legs were still wrapped around my waist like a vice, bony heels digging into my lower back, keeping me in place.

The skeleton laughed again, a hol ow noise that made my hairs stand on end, and said, “Oh, Seth. You don’t really think he likes you, right? You , of all people?”

With my tongue paralyzed by fear, all I managed to whisper was, “But . . . he kissed me first.”

“Aw. He kissed you first ?” it mocked. Jasper’s smooth accent had morphed into one that sounded more like mine, thick and Northern. “You seriously think that meant anything?”

“I . . . I don’t know, I—”

The skeleton leaned forward, to the point that I could make out the cobwebs glittering in the empty space behind its eyes. Inside its chest, below Jasper’s shirt still hanging off its shoulders, the fairy lights’ battery pack clattered against its ribs. “Don’t be ridiculous.

I thought you knew better than this by now. Just look at them!”

It jerked its chin at something behind me. I turned my head as much as possible to see what it was talking about, only for my breath to catch in my throat when I spotted my parents. They were standing in the middle of the room, a few feet apart, as if there was a physical barrier between them that kept them from coming any closer to each other.

“I asked you to do one simple thing for me! One thing, but of course that was too much to ask of you, wasn’t it? You forgot it like you forget everything, because you only ever care about yourself!”

Mom screamed. She was wearing her work clothes, her eyes red and swol en.

“ I only care about myself?” Dad yel ed back. He was staring at her with a stoic expression, but even from afar I could see the vein pulsing in his neck, the one that always popped out when he was angry. “Who went out every night this week? I stayed here every night, I . . . I cooked and I cleaned and I tucked in the kids . . .

I told them you had business meetings when they wouldn’t stop asking where you are. You know, if you can’t stand being around us, then bloody leave!”