The color fled from Magnus’s face. “Killed? By the Evil Eye? But I thought—” He looked as though he might vomit. I didn’t blame him. “I’d been taught that that’s what eye contact with the Evil Eye’s host did. But there are never any bodies found, and I can never remember what I did the next morning. So, I…” He tugged and poked at the weave of his sweater. “I assumed that maybe I wasn’t killing anyone after all.”

“There are bodies. The house is just consuming them. Haven’t you ever noticed the décor looks off?”

“I let Saba arrange the furniture how she wants.” He froze. “You’re not saying she—”

“No. No, she’s just covering it up. Because…” I swallowed. “Because she’s part of the Evil Eye, isn’t she?”

Magnus blinked at me. “What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong with Saba.”

I shook my hand from his, every deceitful thing he’d done slipping back to memory. “I don’t appreciate being lied to any more than you do, Magnus.”

He blinked at me, his brows lowering. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.”

“Are you playing dumb?”

“No, I just didn’t catch what you said—”

I leaned over the table and tugged his ear, raising my voice over his frantic protests. “Then I’ll repeat the question for you—”

“Okay, I heard you,” he fussed, prying my fingers from his ear.

“She has no heartbeat. Her skin is cold and shatters like pottery. No one in the house but the two of us seems to be able to see her. What is she?”

It only took him a moment to say “Will you shut the door?”

Who’s left to hear us? I almost blurted, but there was no point in rubbing salt in Magnus’s wound. I took a deep breath and rushed over to shove the door closed, then dropped down into the chair beside him again. “Talk,” I ordered.

“She’s a victim of the Evil Eye,” he said, still rubbing his ear.

“A victim?” My wild confidence began to crumble. “So she’s … dead?”

“Yes. Reanimated, but not truly alive.”

I froze. “B-but—” My dear friend Saba … dead? “But why? How?”

He sighed heavily, like he was weary from the question. “I don’t know if I can say.”

“This is life or death, Magnus. You have to tell me.” I reached across the small table and grabbed his hand to draw his attention to me. “Please. Tell me.”

Magnus didn’t look at me. That’s usually all he wanted to do, but now … “Don’t hate me because of it.”

“Because of…?” When he kept his silence, I turned his face to look at me. “Tell me.”

He swallowed. Took a deep breath. “Who do you think she looks like?”

I paused. “You, I thought, the first day. Your sister, maybe?”

“Close.”