“They do, but they’re dead, and unless someone with a lot of power gives them back corporeal form, they don’t just cease to exist without being destroyed, and I can only think of a few people who have that ability.”

“Grim?” he suggested.

I nodded. “If you mean the angel Azreal? Yeah, he’d be able to do that.”

“Wait. What?” Stacey glanced back and forth between us. “You mean the Grim Reaper? The guy Layla met?”

My brows lifted. Layla had met the Grim Reaper. How had that happened?

Zayne nodded.

“He’s not the only one who can destroy Shadow People,” I said, catching Zayne’s glance, and I saw the moment he realized what I couldn’t say. With the Sword of Michael, I could destroy Shadow People just like an angel could. “But these things are inherently evil. Like, worse than when they were living, breathing demons bent on destruction. Like, if you see a Shadow Person, you turn and run in the other direction. They’re powerful and vindictive, malicious and deadly.”

Zayne reached for the Twizzlers and dragged one ropey piece of candy out. “I’m guessing they look like shadows?”

I tilted my head. “Yes. They look like shadow outlines of people. Sort of in the name.”

He bit down on the rope of cherry and sugar and stared back at me.

“And they’re at my school?” Stacey said.

“That’s what Sam says, and that’s not all.”

“It’s not? Trapped ghosts and Shadow People aren’t enough to get between me and my diploma? There has to be more?”

My lips twitched. “He says there’s someone there who’s able to communicate with the ghosts and the Shadow People.” I looked at Zayne again. “Someone like me.”

“And what are you exactly?” She stared at me and then shifted her gaze to Zayne. Her puffy eyes sort of ruined the hard-core look she was trying to deliver. “Anyone care to fill me in? Because she’s not just some chick that grew up with Wardens.”

I frowned. “I am the chick that grew up with Wardens.”

“Who can also commune with the dead?” she challenged. “Like other normal humans?”

“I never said I was a normal human.” I smiled. “Like you.”

Now her eyes narrowed.

“Was he able to tell you what this person looked like?” Zayne changed the subject. “Any information on who it is?”

“All he told me was that it was a guy before he ran out of time,” I answered.

“So, we don’t know if it’s a student or a teacher or just some random person roaming the school.” Zayne finished off the candy with one last frustrated snap of his jaw. “All we know is someone is rounding up ghosts and trapping them in the school, and Shadow People are involved.”