“Get down,” I told her.

“I’m fine,” she said, smiling down at me. “I’m not going to fall.”

“Elise,” I said. “Please.”

“Trust me,” she said. “I’m not going to fall. Join me, it feels good.”

I shook my head and she shrugged.

“You know what we should do?” she said, her voice excited.

“What?”

“We should prank Dawkins,” she said, eyes bright. “He’s a predator. Come on, it’ll be like a present for Julie and Madi.”

“But Madison said she didn’t want to prank him.”

“She did,” Elise insisted. “She was just too scared to admit it.”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“We won’t do anything big.” She hopped down. “No mice or slashed tires. We’ll just find out where he lives and set off fireworks outside his house, like we did with Cameron.”

It took me a moment before I caved. “Okay, I guess,” I said, following her into the house and up to the attic. We rifled through box after box, starting with the ones near where we’d found fireworks the first time, but there were no more to be found.

Instead, we found a gun.

A small revolver with bullets beside it, all nestled in a leather case. Elise pulled it out, the attic light hitting the metal barrel like a spark.

I instinctively backed away. “Oh my God, put that down!”

She fiddled with it, checking to see if it was loaded. “Don’t worry. There aren’t any bullets.” Elise pointed it away from us and pulled the trigger. Click. “See? Nothing to worry about.”

“Oh my God.” Alarmed, I recoiled from her, scrambling away.

“What? It was unloaded!” she said, like it was no big deal.

It took a few breaths before I could speak again. “Still. And why was there a gun here anyway? Did you know?”

“I had no idea,” she said. “It must’ve belonged to my grandparents.”

“Let’s put the gun down,” I said, both hands raised.

Elise ignored me and got up, posing with it pointed up close to her chest like she was an action hero about to kick down a door, a spy with a license to kill. Her dark hair looked coppery, almost golden under the light, and when she swept it back to one side, she shot me a quick wink.

“Put the gun down,” I said, slowly getting up. I couldn’t believe how cavalier she was being. “Please.”

Elise sighed. “Fine, fine. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like guns,” I said. “I just really don’t like them.”

“Okay.” She put it back into the case and snapped it shut. “There, all gone. Feel better?”

I nodded.

“Let’s go to your place, watch a movie.” She dusted herself off. “I’m tired. Dawkins can wait.”

“I’m tired too,” I said, secretly relieved that the prank had been abandoned. “Let’s just stay here.”

She paused. For a moment I wondered again about all the time Elise spent over at my house. I’d thought she wanted to be there for me, protect me from the havoc my parents wrought, but wouldn’t I be safer here at the Pink Mansion, away from all of them?