“Here,” she said. “Buy candy while I get gas. As much sugar as it’s going to take to bring you back to life.”

“I’ll come with you,” Sophia said with a wicked grin.

All through the gas station’s aisles, she served Kane theories about the sick fantasies she suspected her classmates of harboring.

“Pemberton’s School for Girls,” she implored, “is full of weirdos.”

Kane went right for the Slurpee machine, per usual.

“Kane, this stuff is radioactive. How can you drink it?”

He shrugged. The bright blue mixture in the machine whirled around and around as the slush looped into Kane’s cup.

Sophia bounced on her heels, clearly wanting to say something, so he finally gave her a sideways glance.

“I figured something out, Kane. I know,” she said.

“Know what?”

Her voice was golden with pride. “Your accident wasn’t real, was it? It was related to the reveries, wasn’t it? The whole car thing—was that just a cover-up?”

Kane set his jaw and started rooting around for a lid. Sophia blocked his path.

“I’m not stupid, Kane.”

“I know.”

“If I knew I was in a fake world, I never would have acted that way. I’m smart.”

“It’s not about being smart. It’s about staying lucid.”

“I can stay lucid. I can help you guys. I see stuff that no one else sees.” She held out a straw but whisked it away before he could grab it. “For instance! I know you’re into that boy. And I get why. He’s super cute.”

Kane rolled his eyes. Of course she had a crush on Elliot. It must run in the family.

Sophia’s prodded him with the straw. “I’ve met him before. It took me a long time to remember, though. But I remember seeing him at the fair with you. And I know you two would sneak out together at night. I even knew your secret signal.”

Seeing Kane’s surprised reaction, Sophia said, “What? You thought you were discreet? Drawing those number eights everywhere? I don’t know why you didn’t just text each other. Or maybe you did. I don’t know. But then I’d see him outside, late at night, waving for you to come down, and it’d be hours before you got back.”

Kane grabbed away the straw. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

That was true.

“He seemed…different than the others,” she said. “When you were with him, you seemed…happy.”

Something about this sentence softened Sophia’s accusations, filling her words with sad wonder. And now Kane was full of his own questions. He and Elliot, happy together?

“Elliot isn’t gay, Sophia.”

Sophia leaned away, as though she regretted pushing into this territory. “Not Elliot. The boy who took care of me during the reverie. I remember his eyes. They weren’t green, and they weren’t quite blue.”