“Ora’s an old-school witchy type. Plus she’s got an entire coven at her back. She’ll know what to do.”

“June first,” Rush says.

“Obviously,” Lelia shoots back. She palms her helmet. And then she shouts at me. “Come on!”

“I’m going to come with you . . . how?” I ask, my mind stuck.

Rush slides forward on her seat. That slight shift of her body is an invitation to come closer.

“I don’t have a helmet,” I say.

“We have a dead body,” Lelia whisper-shouts.

Once she’s tossed that card, all I can do is climb onboard. My toes skim gravel as I wrap my hands around Rush’s waist.

“Ready?” she asks.

Yesterday, I would have said yes without thinking. Today is different. Today Sebastian isn’t the only dead person in Tempest. Two bodies since I arrived in town, and I found both of them. If there was any question left about whether I have finding magic, it’s officially blown to bits.

“Just go,” I say.

The motorcycle shocks to life. Trembles between my legs. Rush steers us out of the parking lot, onto the highway, and the wind undoes me. Hair whips my face. My clothes feel like they’re flying off. Wind touches me everywhere, except the places that press against Rush.

The trees keep us company as we ride. They keep our secrets, and we never even have to ask. Maybe that’s why the Grays love them so much. Maybe that’s why girls like me are always in the woods.

June’s house is on a downslope filled with split-level ranches. Kids who look like her — the same wide cheeks and black hair and visible happiness — run around one of the yards. They’re yelling at each other in a mix of English and Spanish and a third language that I don’t recognize, which might be Tagalog. The whole scene has such a normal, comfortable afternoon feeling that I almost forget why we’re here.

Lelia knocks around in the bag with the skull inside and pulls out her phone. She sends a quick text, and June comes out a minute later, shouldering her flowered backpack. “You owe me twelve favors,” she tells Lelia. “My parents wanted me to watch them all night. Lina came home early, which is basically a miracle.” She flings herself on the bike and attaches herself to Lelia without any of the drama that I stirred up with Rush. June even has her own helmet, deep purple and glittering in the light. She sees something in our faces that makes her immediately ask, “What’s wrong?”

There are no words for what we’re doing. What we’ve done.

Our silence tells June the degree of trouble we’re in.