When my parents died and Liam didn’t show, I started to feel really alone. I suddenly realize how much that has been affecting me, and my rising emotions threaten to come spilling out. I hold my breath, prepared to let the burn distract me, but then Anna stops before us and says to Max, “Fine. You win.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Max bow.

The ridiculousness of the action isn’t what gets me. It’s how natural the absurdity feels.

“Do I want to know?” I ask.

Anna grins. “I bet Max that if he leapt at you again, you’d still freak out. Guess I was wrong.”

“And his prize?” Elaine asks.

Anna folds her arms. “I have to be a black cat at the party.”

I laugh, and it’s like a dam breaking open, it feels so good. Anna shoots me a dark look. “Speaking of which, you need a costume.”

My laughter dies. “I am not dressing up.” I fold my arms in defiance, but Anna only looks more determined.

“Everyone dresses up.”

I groan, and Roy laughs. “Go get cleaned up,” he says. “Tonight’s bonfire night!”

I shower before meeting Anna at her room. Her sweater tonight says TEA REX above the dinosaur clasping a teacup in its short arms. We’ve just stepped onto the deck when Kara pulls us aside, a roll of papers clasped in her hand. “I think I finally tracked down our symbol in a book from Gran’s collection,” she says, unfurling the papers.

We all peer down at the top paper, which is full of text and a large image of a Triskelion, the spirals wrapped in thorny vines. “It’s the family crest of Fin Varra.”

“Who?” I ask.

Kara turns the paper toward him. “Most of what I could find is in Irish. There was very little on the internet about him. Apparently, he was the king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, or the faerie folk. But he also had another name.” The look she gives me makes my stomach swoop.

“The King of the Dead.”

A slow, uneasy feeling unfurls in my stomach, and I exchange worried looks with Anna.

“King of the Dead?” I repeat. “As in the devil?”

Kara shakes her head. “Totally different idea. He’s more of an Irish god, if anything.” She shifts to the next paper. “The story goes he and his people, the Tuatha, were driven underground by another group in Ireland. What’s weird is some of the sources say underground, and some say another realm.”

She shrugs, lowering the papers. “The internet’s not super reliable on this, and all I could find in the library was in Irish. I was going to ask Gran about it, but she was in such a rush to head out tonight that she didn’t stop to listen. She was shutting me out of her mind, too, which is rude.”