And it’s like I’ve landed in an inferno—flames scalding, wilting my skin like a flower in winter. I wail, writhing on the ground. My fingers curl into the dirt, and bile rises in the back of my steaming throat.

When the worst of it’s over, pain still vibrates through my body. I lie, gasping for breath, unable to move.

Then something lands beside me, and I roll over to find a creature. It’s nothing like the thing of shadow that burst from Sean. This has the body of a human and large wings. I roll away, moving onto my hands and knees, blinking rapidly, my head swimming…and find that the person in front of me is just a boy, and the halo of wings I imagined, trees.

“Shy?”

“Are you okay? I thought I heard screaming.”

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” I take Shy’s hand, head spinning as he helps me to my feet. We’re inches apart, and he still has a hold of my fingers.

“How did you…” I start, but I can’t think clearly when I’m touching him. I withdraw my hand. I had clearly heard the thump of feet landing beside me, not footfalls. “W-what are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be at the game.”

“I was just arriving when I heard screams.” He’s staring down at me, studying me. I feel like he can see the last ten minutes of my life written on my face. “Sean ran out of here like he’d seen a ghost.”

Ha, he doesn’t even know he’s being funny.

“Yeah, well, Sean beat that other kid’s face in, so he’s running from his crime.”

Shy frowns. “That doesn’t sound like Sean.”

“Well, I guess you get jealous when your friend is caught with your girlfriend.”

“Sean and Ally are brother and sister.”

“Well, he didn’t like his friend messing around with his sister, then.”

A line appears between Shy’s brows, still unhappy with my version of things. I can’t tell him what I actually saw: something near invisible spewing from Sean’s body like an alien. I shiver. I never thought I’d see anything like that again. What was it doing in Sean’s body? What had it been doing in my poppa’s body?

“What are you doing out here?” Shy asks. His eyes fall to my jersey, and I cross my arms over my chest, feeling self-conscious.

“The same reason you’re here. I heard Ally scream.”

“All the way from the stadium?” he asks, brow raised.

“Well, no.”