“The rumor is he was found by a couple students who came here to have sex. If you ask me, the faculty keeps that one going.”

Thane says it in jest, but I feel sad for Mr. Richardson. I twist to see him flicker and fade, reappearing a few steps away. The urge to capture his soul rises inside me, like a flower blooming before the first frost. I know it would be a mistake, since I can’t open the gates, but I also know that the faculty and students who have made him into a ghost story keep him here, bound to this one spot, reliving his death over and over again.

I twist, facing Thane again.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I came to find you,” he says. “I heard you haven’t had a very good day.”

“That’s an understatement.”

He smiles a little. “Maybe I can make it better?”

“Unless you can get me home without an army of shadow knights noticing, you can’t.”

He shrugs one shoulder. “I can’t promise anything. Fucking Valryn are everywhere—in raven form and in human form…but I’m willing to try.”

“Really?”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” he says. “We can’t leave now anyway. We’ll have to wait until after the vigil starts, when people are a little more distracted.”

I can wait if it means getting to go home tonight.

* * *

I arrive to the vigil with Thane around seven, and as the sun sets, a sea of candlelight erupts in the dark. There are people everywhere, living and dead, on the field, on the track, and in the stands. This vigil goes beyond Nacoma Knight and Lily. It goes to Rayon High and Jake. It extends to the community.

I did this, I think as Thane and I find an open spot to stand. I’m a goddess of chaos.

Thane nudges me. “I know what you’re thinking. Stop.”

“You can’t know,” I say.

“This isn’t your fault.”

I don’t argue with him. No matter what Thane says, I’ll always feel responsible.

The sight of black birds flying overhead catches my attention. They land on the light poles and the stadium.

More shadow knights.

“They’re here to pay their respects just as much as they’re here to watch you,” Thane says.

I know that, and their presence has me searching the crowd for Shy. I haven’t seen him since lunch. I spot him surrounded by several students. He’s dressed in a Nacoma Knight hoodie and jeans. His head is bowed, and his blond hair falls into his eyes. I think about how his features change when he shifts into Valryn form—how his hair turns to silver and makes his eyes look bluer. How fit he looks in that black suit.