“It’s a dance. Try to have fun,” encouraged Evani. “With any luck, no fighting."

“My luck’s been terrible lately,” I replied, managing weak smiles around my peers.

She raised her brow. “Well, I hear you’re pretty good with a stapler or a toothbrush holder. You clocked Ollie pretty good.”

Seeing my confusion, she giggled through her admission of their previous dating history. Evani was the farthest I could imagine from Oliver’s possible girlfriends. It was mostly a ruse to scare off Angela Starr, Evani offering to help as a favor to a dear friend. With their parents frequently busy, children of council members became a second family to each other. Mr. Garren greatly disliked her, though he would never say that in front of her grandmother.

Amity, as the hard-working head of the dance committee, had outdone herself. The gym, no longer smelling like sweat and a heavy dose of cologne, resembled a winter wonderland. Fake snow sprinkled down from the starry ceiling and a professional photographer took pictures of couples and friends between several trees covered in twinkling lights.

While I admired the decorations, Cullen and his guard seamlessly blended into the crowd. Cullen, adopting a flawless Southern accent, was speaking to Mr. Simpson, under the guise of a freshman boy’s father. The far stranger sight happened to be by the drinks table: Garren, with his arm around Angela Starr. Either I was going insane or he was laughing at one of her stories. Their dynamic had done a complete 180 since their last encounter in the Blue Moon café.

I was about to point out the odd couple to Elena when I remembered that she was not with me. It felt like losing my right hand. I had gotten used to her being at my side over the past two years and instead, she was stashed away in a secret location by a man I had met this morning.

“Tessa, over here!” Serena waved at me from one of the tables. “Amity’s talking to the DJ.”

“See that? Still standing like a champ,” Danvers said, raising his glass of punch in the air. The faint smell of vodka hit my nose. “Up for another round, Byrne?”

“Robbie, I think she’s had enough,” said Serena, gently patting his arm. “We don’t need her going to the hospital. I hope Claire’s okay though. Maybe her boyfriend couldn’t make it tonight.”

Serena was not what I expected from a girl willing to date someone like Danvers. We connected over both being born in Lily Grove, where my mother was apparently a miniature celebrity at the high school, and our shared love of art. Painting proved to be the only way for her to stand out, being the youngest of five siblings.

“Imagine being her daughter,” I said, my mother’s talent acting as a giant weight on my shoulders. “Her friends thought I’d be painting masterpieces by the time I was in preschool.”

“Chace said your work is amazing.”

I bristled at the mention of Parker. Ever since his conversation with Cullen, he had kept his distance, out of fear, anger, or both. Serena immediately apologized, knowing that there was a slight tension between us. As I brushed it off, not wanting to sour the mood, I realized that I had not seen Parker since we arrived at the dance.

If there was ever a time I wanted to be more like my brother, it was now, with my compassion overriding my better judgment. I should have been on high alert for the reaper but instead, I was worried about a grade-a jackass who tormented me most of my life.

I was barely out the doors when someone seized my arm and pulled me into a nearby janitor’s closet. Damon placed one hand over my mouth, muffling the curses that poured out, while the other switched on the shabby, swinging lamp. He was dressed in a black suit, a black and red mask covering half of his face.

“I can see you’re freaked out but I need you to stay calm, Tessa.” I whacked him across the face with a dirty rag. “That’s not calm!”

“How the hell—you can’t—you’re not—no, you’re not here. The whiskey is getting to me,” I whispered, praying that he was a hallucination.

He snickered. “Better not let Viv hear about that. She’ll be offended you had some without her.” Lowering his head, he dodged another swing of the rag. “Stop hitting me with that. I don’t think it’s been cleaned since the fifties.”

“How the hell are you here? Did you turn yourself into a ghost?” I asked, reaching out to poke his chest and expecting my finger to pass through his body.

He grabbed my hovering hand. “I’m good but not that good. Being so close had a couple side effects. Just like you got my penchant for not taking people’s bullshit, I got things from you too. Your empathy, which made me listen to a guard talk about his critically ill daughter for an hour, and your resourcefulness.”

Erinyes had been heavily fortified with magic, affecting normal objects like the surveillance cameras that shut off for thirty seconds every twenty minutes. Damon made this discovery when his bout of empathy led the guard to offer a slice of cake, dessert being highly coveted among the residents of the institution. He told Damon that he had the glitches timed down to the minute and cake led to knocking the guard out, hiding him under the covers, and putting on his uniform.

In a matter of minutes, he managed to do what he could not in years, sneaking down to the basement where the doctors stashed potion ingredients. He mixed together two potions and used them to swap his appearance with the guard’s and to knock the guard out for the night.

“Then I walked out of there and after a few minutes, the potion wore off and I was back to my handsome self,” he said, triumphantly. “It’s a good thing you never got sent there. You would’ve gotten out a lot faster than me. It’s both impressive and scary.”

My hands rested on my hips. “Okay, genius. What happens when the guards discover you’re not in your room?”

“You think they care that I’m not eating?” he asked, looking at me like I was insane. “They’d gladly let me starve. I didn’t come here for you to lecture me. There’s something you need to see.”

As he opened the door, we were greeted by the sight of Garren in a passionate lip lock against the wall with Angela Starr, her hand sliding down the front of his slacks. He quickly detached himself when he spotted me, failing to fix his messy hair. Damon hid himself back in the closet.

“T—Tessa, h—hello,” he said, covering his partially exposed chest. “I—we—this isn’t what it looks like.”

“I like the look. Prom meets Braveheart,” I teased, red lipstick all over his tanned face.

His face was contorted in a combination of discomfort and anger. “Heh, Angela, could you give us a minute?”

Angela nipped his ear. “I’ll be at our old spot.”

She winked at me before disappearing down the hallway. Garren’s embarrassment appeared to be an act, his face no longer red and his eyes narrowed.

“Before you start, I was doing that to protect you,” he hissed.

“Does she have the hots for me? I’m flattered but she’s not my type.” He crossed his arms. “I’m curious. How does making out like two horny teenagers help me?”

After their conversation at the café, he assumed it would fuel my determination to solve Belmont’s murder. He began spending time with her, to see if she had dug up anything else on the Belmonts, and during a recent visit, while she was in the shower, he spotted my email to her about Jackson and deleted it, which explained the lack of a response. Though it was not easy to casually bring up the Belmonts, he learned that she had attempted to speak directly to Charles Belmont.

“Did she get to talk to him?” I asked, curious if the rabid reporter had any new information. “Did he tell her anything?”

“Nothing. She somehow weaseled her way into his office but he just sat there,” he said, uninterested in the details. “Security got her out and Rosalie’s put in a restraining order. I’m the reason Angela hasn’t gone back or published anything about Fin. I keep her...distracted.”

“I can see that,” I said, nodding at the trail of hickeys on his neck.

His cheeks reddened again. “Why are you not at the dance?”

“I needed a break from watching Danvers and the other meatheads play dare or double dare,” I lied with ease. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to dry humping your fake girlfriend?”

His right eye twitching, a sign that he was about to yell, he instead chose to straighten his tie and walk away, counting backwards from twenty under his breath. I lightly tapped on the closet door. Damon led me in the opposite direction, keeping an eye out for Cullen’s guards. He turned the corner to the Biology classroom, nearly bumping into Mr. Belmont who was staring at his phone.

“Sorry, Mr. Belmont. My date never looks where he’s going.” My apology was met with silence.

“Mr. Belmont?”

His eyes did not leave the dimly lit screen. Seconds later, Mrs. Belmont left the classroom, dressed in a knee-length, sleeveless white dress and nude heels. With her movie star looks and impossibly white smile, she looked like an angel.

She pulled me into a hug, catching me by surprise. “Tessa, hello. Don’t you look lovely? I suppose great minds think alike.” Noticing my attention was on her mute husband, she waved her hand. “Oh, when it comes to business, he goes off into his own little world and in his old age, his hearing’s a bit off. You remember Tessa, don’t you, dear? Say hello.”

There was no smile or warmth in his dark eyes as he looked at me and Damon. “Hello, Tessa.”

“I was hoping to speak with Brendon,” explained Mrs. Belmont. “He said he found some of Fin’s old things in the classroom and I ended up reminiscing about my days here.”

“When did you go to Belmont High?” I asked, confused. “Fin t—I heard him say once that you and Mr. Belmont met in San Juan when he was there for a business deal.”

“Oh, that boy,” she said, with a laugh. Her voice had gone up a few octaves. “I swear he never paid attention to a thing I told him. He must’ve gotten confused. Our first anniversary was in San Juan. Such a lovely city.”

“Right, that sounds like him,” I agreed, sensing something off about her mannerisms.

“We should get going,” she said, checking her husband’s watch. “Cecile is having us make our speech before they crown Ice Prince and Princess. It would mean very much to me if you were there.”

Mrs. Belmont hugged me once more then walked off with her stoic husband. I could not shake the strange feeling in my gut.

“Is it me or was that weird?” Damon glanced down both ends of the hallway before opening the door. “He’s no spring chicken but he definitely would’ve felt you bumping into him.”

“First of all, never use that phrase,” he said, scrunching his nose. “You sound like an old lady. Second, Dad always said Charles Belmont was a man of few words. He must’ve meant it literally. We’ve got more important matters than the richest family in town.”

“I could’ve sworn he said they met in Puerto Rico but why else would she be in—”

My heart stopped as I followed him into the classroom. Belmont and Elena, their clothes in tatters, were sitting at one of the desks, covered in cuts, bruises, and a foul-smelling purple paste. Vivienne applied the paste above Belmont’s left eye.

“W—what happened?” I asked, trying not to panic as my fingers brushed over a cut on Elena’s cheek. She winced at the slightest touch. “How are you even hurt?”

Belmont explained that after my gym freak out, Cowen decided to send them to a safe house in the Underworld for the night. It was a quaint tea shop owned by an ex-council member and they had been there for over two hours when three of the guests, a seemingly normal family, revealed themselves to be hellhounds and chased the two ghosts. Not knowing the Underworld well, they found themselves trapped in an alley.

After his grand escape from Erinyes, Damon met up with Vivienne at Bacchanal and the two of them overheard the commotion. He managed to drive away the hellhounds by mimicking Cullen’s voice.

“Never even got a thank you either,” said Vivienne, dabbing paste over his nose. “No ‘thanks for saving our asses, Viv and Damon’.”

“I was busy feeling like my insides were about to burst,” retorted Belmont. “They were sitting there, celebrating Timmy’s science fair award. Who knew little Timmy had it in him to almost chew off my leg too? Don’t they have a ghost hospital?”

She smacked his nose a bit harshly. “This paste is fine. Give it a few minutes and it’ll be like you were never a dog’s chew toy. You’re lucky the apothecary owner lets me take stuff for free. What, do you wish mommy could see you so she could kiss your wittle boo boos?”

“I don’t understand,” I interrupted, before a fight erupted between them. “They had to have been working for the reaper. That doesn’t—how could they know that you were even there?”

“Let’s jump ahead to problem number two,” she said, wiping the paste from her fingers.

Vivienne headed over to the supply room as the paste began to work, healing the numerous cuts on Elena’s face. She gave me a look that said This isn’t your fault, taking my hand in hers despite the pain. A quiet sniffle caught my attention, my eyes leaving hers to see a shy, trembling Abby hiding behind Vivienne.

“I went back to the shop to look for clues, see if maybe it was a random attack or spurred on by an herb in the tea.” Damon nodded towards the frightened Abby. “She was peering through the window. My theory is that the reaper or someone working for them knew about the family connection.”

Unlike the last time, when her body was scarred by reminders of the car accident, she looked like a typical six year old girl. She kept her face pressed against Vivienne’s leg as I bent down to her.

“Abby, how are you here?” I asked, calmly. “I helped you pass on, remember?”

“This is the juicy part.” Vivienne tapped the top of her head. “Go on.”

“T—the doggy man and his friend helped me,” she mumbled.

“Doggy?” I asked, certain it was Chief Parker.

The ‘doggy man’ visited Abby on a playground, an exact replica of the one in Belmont Falls. He offered for her to return to the living world, as a special gift for nice people, but was adamant that her parents could not join her. Abby was led to a garden filled with hundreds of people, deceased souls like her.

“The lady next to me said that we were being given another chance. She wanted payback on her mean boyfriend. I wasn’t supposed to be at the shop,” she said, shyly looking down at her pink rain boots. “I knew I’d get in trouble again, like when I visited you, but I wanted to see Ellie.”

“Where were you supposed to be, Abby?” She shrugged. “How did the doggy man’s friend bring you back?”

“I don’t remember.”

Hearing footsteps outside, I ushered them into the supply room. My ability to trust was at rock bottom. Even Cullen joined my list of suspects, considering he authorized Cowen to place Elena and Belmont in the safe house. All I cared about was keeping the small group I did trust safe.

Dr. Baxter stepped into the classroom, his tie hanging loosely over his bare, sculpted chest. He smirked, not caring that he was shirtless in front of a student.

“Well, seems Christmas came early,” he said, blatantly staring at my chest. “Santa gave me exactly what I wanted.”

Being around Damon again had amplified the anger inside me. Fighting the effects, I claimed that I was searching for Chace.

He chuckled. “In my classroom? Is that the best you can come up with, Tessa?”

“It’s the truth,” I said, convincingly. “What’s your lame excuse for being shirtless?”

Not even bothering with a believable story, he claimed that a student spilled punch on him and he kept spare shirts in the coat closet.

Barely able to hide my disgust, I walked towards the door. “I’ll pretend to believe that. I should get back to the dance.”

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The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as he grabbed my arm. His steel blue eyes lingered over my body, sparkling with hunger and lust.

“L—let go.” The supply room door creaked open, revealing the top of Damon’s head. “I said let go of me.”

“Don’t you want your present?” he asked, his innocent tone fooling no one.

“I don’t want anything from you,” I snapped.

He lowered his lip into a pout. “That’s not in the Christmas spirit.”

“Tessa?” she heard. “Hey, here you are. You like disappeared and I was wor—”

Serena appeared in the doorway. Her smile fell when she noticed a half naked Dr. Baxter with his hands on me. It was odd enough that he released my arm but I was more confused by the look on his face, as if he had been doused in ice water.

Smarter than most, she easily understood the situation. “What the hell is going on? Are you okay?”

“Serena,” he started.

“I’m not talking to you, creep,” she told him, her lip curled in disgust.

She pulled me away from the tense teacher. I never imagined he would get caught harassing me or another student but considering his usual behavior, I expected him to turn up the charm and come up with a flimsy story. It was completely out of character for him to stand there and take a verbal lashing from someone else, particularly a teenage girl.

“I was talking to my friend,” she said, fiercely. “Stay the hell away from her or you’ll be trading in the ties and button down shirts for a prison uniform.”

I took one last look at Dr. Baxter before following her to the gym. She muttered to herself about disgusting perverts and entitled pricks.

“Tessa, are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, concerned. “Do you want to tell Claire’s mom about what happened?”

“We’re not uh on the best terms right now and even if we were, she’d probably take his side. I’m fine, really,” I said, trying to act normal. “I’m used to it after four years. I mean, he started the creepy comments this year but—I’m rambling, aren’t I? I should be thanking you.”

“For being a decent person? Ugh, I can’t imagine what Claire sees in him.” I looked at her, stunned. “I know he’s the super secret older boyfriend. She tried to be cryptic but I’m not an idiot. Judging by that face, neither are you.”

“Chace told me awhile ago.” Dr. Baxter’s odd reaction stuck with me. “Have you two met before?”

“No,” she said, sounding thankful. “Robbie was probably talking about me to his friends so I bet that perv has some alarm that goes off in his head whenever someone mentions an underage girl.”

As Principal Hilton walked onto the stage, silencing the DJ with a curt nod, Elena, Belmont, and Abby popped up on either side of me. I waited until Serena and Amity were distracted by their dates before looking at Elena.

“What took you so long?” I whispered under my breath.

Damon apparently was not fond of Baxter or his unwanted advances. They had been waiting for Baxter to leave the classroom but instead, he went over to his desk where he had a photo album with pictures of me and even a cardigan I had lost in the park last year. My brother, protective as ever, flew into a rage but was restrained from attacking him thanks to Vivienne, Elena, and Belmont pinning him to the floor.

“Did Baxter do anything e—what’s happening?” Damon, joined by a now disguised Vivienne (her red lace mask matching her short, revealing dress), placed his suit jacket around my shoulders. “Seriously?”

“You looked cold,” he said, simply.

I shoved the jacket into his chest. “Now isn’t the time for the big brother routine. We’re here to find the reaper, not for you to beat up Toby for asking me to get milkshakes after the dance.”

“Who the hell is Toby?” Vivienne rolled her eyes at my sarcasm flying over his head. “What, is he the janitor?”

“There is no—you two shouldn’t even be in here.” I glanced behind me. “If Cullen recognizes you, you’re dead, maybe literally.”

Cullen and his guard had blended in so well that I could not even spot them in the large crowd. I tensed up at the other students passing glances at me, unsure if it was mere coincidence or they were skin-walkers in disguise.

“Viv?”

Rhys and Bradley, both dressed in suits like their father, walked towards us. The youngest Belmont was carrying a handful of blue frosted cupcakes.

“What are you doing here?” Rhys asked, pecking her on the cheek. “Not that I mind. I mean, you look—wow.”

“I know you thought it was best if I didn’t join you for the speech but I wanted to be here for support,” she said, tracing small circles on his chest. “Besides, I missed my bicho.”

Damon failed to stifle his laughter, catching Rhys’s attention. Always the expert liar, Vivienne introduced him as my date.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing better, Tessa. That day was...intense, to say the least.” Principal Hilton quieted the crowd. “We should get going. I’ll find you after the speech, babe.”

“Bye,” said Bradley, with a blue-lipped smile.

He held out a cupcake between me and Damon. As Damon grabbed the cupcake, he looked upset but said nothing, joining Rhys and the rest of his family on the side of the stage where Amity was speaking with Mrs. Belmont, a microphone in her hand.

I glanced back at the spot where the cupcake had been moments ago. Besides the thin, empty space between me and my brother stuffing his face, there was just Abby, who was attempting to catch the fake snow with Elena’s help.

“What are you still doing with my brother?” asked Belmont, clenching his fists. “You’re obviously not into him.”

“Every girl has their needs, brat,” replied Vivienne, examining her freshly manicured nails.

“Your brother gets the job done...sometimes.”

His nostrils flared. “So you’re using him for sex?”

She scoffed in disbelief. “Oh, you are the last person to judge me for such a thing. At least I don’t take advantage of unconscious girls to get some action.”

Their argument was drowned out by Amity singing a song in Belmont’s memory. “What’s her deal?”

My brother’s voice broke me out of my own swirling thoughts. He picked bits of cupcake out of the wrapper, his eyes on the talented teenager.

“She’s an amazing singer...” I thought back to the encounter at the house. “And she could see Cowen but she can’t see ghosts.”

“Sure about that?” he asked, doubtful. “She might be a good actress too.”

“She was friends with both of them,” I said, indicating Elena, enjoying her time with her little sister, and Belmont, threatening Vivienne for toying with his sibling. “Pretty sure she’d freak out if she saw them in the middle of class.”

“With that voice, definitely not human,” he agreed, listening to her hold a high note for what felt like an hour.

The crowd erupted into claps and cheers when she finished her song and she waved before handing the microphone to Mrs. Belmont. She began a long speech about her ‘darling Fin’ and how much he adored the school, its students, and its teachers.

“Fin’s death was more than just a tragic passing. It was a reminder, a reminder that death can happen at any moment and while we may grieve, it is what we do after that matters. We can either shut ourselves away from the world or try to make it better. Perhaps his death wasn’t an accident.”

“What?” said Belmont, among the quiet, astonished murmurs in the crowd. “I—is she serious?”

“Katrina,” his father whispered, gripping her arm.

Mrs. Belmont sniffled. “I don’t mean any foul play, of course. What a horrible thing to think, that one of our own would take the life of such a promising young boy. Could it have been prevented? Of course. I shouldn’t have let him go out that night but I didn’t want to deny him time with his friends and maybe that was my mistake. Maybe I was too trusting and this was my lesson, to see that things need to change. The world may not be perfect but with this, I hope we get one step closer. We—forgive me...I promised myself I’d get through this.”

Mr. Belmont took the microphone from his shaken wife. “It’s alright, dear.” He cleared his throat as she stood beside Rhys, holding back tears. “As my lovely wife was saying, we have decided to use Fin’s death as an opportunity, to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. That is why my company has devised the Finley Belmont foundation. It will work towards—”

Abby hunched forward, coughing violently. She soon fell to her knees, holding onto a frightened Elena for support, a mixture of blood and sweat dripping from her pink lips.

“Abby, what’s wrong? Whatever you two are doing, stop it,” Elena pleaded, her teary eyes on Vivienne and Damon.

“We’re not doing anything,” assured Damon, puzzled by the sudden illness. “Tessa, I swear we’re not doing this. We don’t have any reason to hurt her. She was around us for hours and nothing happened. Something else is doing it. You have to believe me.”

“Daddy, stop!” Mr. Belmont was about to reprimand his youngest son for interrupting his speech. “She looks really sick. I think she needs the hospital.”

Before a single head turned, I dropped to my knees and imitated Abby. The impression was a little too good, considering my brother, Vivienne, Belmont, and Elena lost their minds. Unable to stop the performance, even for a second, I purposely hid Abby beneath me, continuing to mimic her symptoms. Parker pushed through the crowd, joining Elena and the others on the floor. He was too concerned with me to acknowledge Abby, who looked worse by the minute.

“Get the hell out of here before I neuter you myself, mutt,” threatened Damon. “Aren’t you supposed to stay away from my sister?”

“Sis—I don’t care.” He faced me. “Tessa, what happened?”

“He—can—see—Abby,” I whispered, between retching sounds.

Their eyes flickered to Bradley jumping down from the stage. He was clearly running towards us, specifically a ghostly pale Abby.

“No, he’s looking at you,” said Belmont, shaking his head. “She’s still a ghost. She’s not—solid. People can’t see people who can walk through walls.”

Parker lifted me up up from the floor, his arm around my waist. “Heh, she wasn’t feeling well at all today but she still decided to come. What a trooper, huh? I’ll take her out so she can lie down. Keep it up, Mr. B. Awesome speech. Really tugs at the heart.”

“Come on, Abby. We’ll get you help,” offered Elena.

She retracted her hand as Abby snapped at her, growling like a rabid dog. With another cough, a river of dark blood poured out of her mouth and from the never-ending flow, gnarled fingers slipped through her lips.

“What the fu—”

Vivienne was cut off by a loud pop, the gym plunged into complete darkness. Some of the lights flickered back on, thanks to the electric sparks bouncing from Li’s fingers, revealing the Belmonts were not alone on the stage. A dozen hupias slithered behind them and as one let out a guttural roar in Rosalie’s ear, she cried out in fright. The gym dissolved into utter chaos, everyone somehow able to see the creatures, and amidst the screams, I heard Cullen shout for his guards.

Tala, shifting from an oddly calm Mr. Simpson, fought off two hupias at once, a tomahawk in each hand. While others, including Li and Evani, joined the fight against the growing number of creatures, hellhounds added into the mix, some attempted to usher the terrified students, parents, and teachers out of the gym. The problem was that the school doors had been magically sealed shut.

“Tessa!”

Cullen and Cowen rushed over, relieved to see me unharmed. They stiffened at the sight of Damon and Vivienne, neither able to hide amongst the crowd.

“How are you out?” Cowen asked, his eyes narrowed at an apprehensive Damon.

Her brother feigned confusion. “Do I know you? You look like this pompous jerk who used to—”

“Enough!” Cullen’s raised voice silenced my brother. “Any other time, we would be having a very different conversation. You want to prove that you deserved to be released? Then do as you are meant to as a reaper and help me protect these people. Show the council that you’re more than your mistakes. The same for you, Vivienne. Once this is over, we’ll be having a long chat.”

“What do you want us to do?” I asked, my earlier fears a thing of the past.

“Help get those doors open. This spell is far too intricate to be done from afar.” There was an odd shimmer to the red doors. “It’s meant to keep the humans in, not the supernatural, so you’ll be able to get out and find who’s casting it. Once the spell is down, you’ll guide these people to safety. We’ll handle the creatures.”

With a flick of his wrist, a silver spiked whip materialized in his hand. He swung the whip over his head and it wrapped around the neck of a hupia cornering two freshman boys. With a single snap, the hupia disintegrated into a pile of ash. I watched in awe as the two men, Cowen armed with a longsword, sliced through the dangerous creatures like cutting a piece of cake.

“Tessa, Abby’s gone!” cried Elena.

A pile of dried blood remained in Abby’s place. I cupped her face as she began to hyperventilate, thinking the creatures had taken her.

“It’s okay,” I said, brushing away her tears. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

“I think we have more important matters than a missing ghost,” said Damon, dismissively.

“Can you not be an asshole right now?” I hissed.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry. We’re in the middle of chaos here and you want to care about a baby ghost. Priorities, little sister.”

“Fine. You three go look for whoever’s casting the spell and stop them in a non-violent way and we’ll look for Abby,” I suggested. “She has to be somewhere in the school.”

“Three?” asked Parker, looking warily at the two reapers. “Tessa, I’m sure they can handle—”

“You have better senses than any of us. I’m sure you’ll sniff out the bad guy in two seconds and then once the spell is lifted, you can help us find Abby,” I argued, leading Elena towards the nearest wall. “We don’t have time to argue. The hupias keep coming and Cullen can only hold them off for so long.”

“Let’s go, Lassie,” said Damon, shoving him towards the gym doors.

Once we slipped through the doors, we split up on the opposite sides of the school. We searched through every classroom for any sign of Abby but she seemed to vanish into thin air. Elena and I were the only ones concerned with her disappearance, Belmont wanting to instead find his family. He refused to believe that Bradley was able to see Abby and no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise, it was the truth.

Elena suggested searching the cafeteria, due to Abby’s love of chocolate milk. She tore apart the kitchen, throwing pots, pans, and cardboard boxes in every direction.

“How could he see her, Byrne? It’s not possible,” he said, dodging a flying box of macaroni.

“Honestly, I don’t know.” I kept my real thoughts to myself. “But he did. I pretended to be sick so people didn’t see him talking to nothing. Can we focus on Abby, please? She didn’t run off. She was coughing up all that blood and something—”

A metal ball rolled past me and Elena and Belmont suddenly vanished from the kitchen. My voice caught in my throat as a large shadow fell over the counter. Chief Parker was leaning against the doorway, two burly men (the local butcher and a fellow officer) behind him. Finding it more unsettling to see him outside his uniform and in a regular suit, it dawned on me that I was alone, trapped with three hellhounds.

“Don’t you watch movies, Tessa?” He wiped a spot of blood from his bottom lip. “It’s never good to split up.”

“I—I’m not afraid of you,” I said, grabbing a knife from the counter.

“Y—you’re n—not?” he mocked. The men sniggered as he stepped into the room. “Well, you shouldn’t be. I have strict orders not to harm a hair on your head. Can’t say the same for your friends though. They learned that earlier today.”

“If you touch either of them, I’ll end you,” I snarled. “Where’s your boss, huh? Too scared to show their face?”

“I’ve never been one to get scared,” answered a familiar voice.

Hilton appeared in front of me, her ice blue eyes glinting with malice. Before I could comprehend what happened, she snatched the knife and pressed it against my throat.

“I thought this form was fitting.” She nicked my skin, drawing blood. “Don’t you agree, Tessa?”

Somehow, I kept my cool, refusing to show how truly scared I felt on the inside. “Do you really think you’re so tough, scaring a bunch of high school kids?”

“Oh, we’re not here to scare them,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re here to prove a point, that fighting is useless. This fight has been over from the beginning, before it even began. Tonight was a taste. Soon, the rift between the worlds will be severed and my lovely followers will roam free.”

“Cullen will stop you,” I warned.

The fake Hilton growled like an angry cat. “That fool? He can try but it’ll be for nothing. Yes, we want the world to burn but that’s what’s necessary for change, to make it better. You’re part of that solution.”

“Funny,” I said, my hand feeling warm. “I didn’t sign up for that. What’s so special about me and my brother?”

“Not a thing,” she replied, with a high-pitched giggle. “You’re not special at all. You never have been, not as a reaper, certainly not as a person. You’re a grain of sand, a mere speck, just like everyone else. You have value because of your family. You see, they destroyed me and now I get to return the favor, piece by piece. I ripped apart your grandparents, turned your grandmother into a helpless old woman...but that was only the start. With you, I get to have it all. I watch everything they fought for crumble: the council, their sweet family...and in the end, I’ll be on top while you all burn for ete—”

She staggered backwards but instead of my fist, a thin, curved wooden saber struck her pale cheek. The skin around the tip of the blade, studded with pieces of obsidian, crumbled, a glimpse of a scarred bronze face beneath Hilton’s pale, rosy complexion. Tearing the sword from her cheek, she cried out in pain, her fingers blistering as if the blade was scorching hot. A series of inscriptions appeared on the handle.

“Don’t!” she screeched, stopping the men from advancing on me.

She snapped her fingers and a swirling black hole formed in the freezer. At first, it was nothing but darkness and then I could see the gym, my brother and my friends protecting kids from the supernatural creatures. Parker whacked a hellhound in the face with a chair, Serena and Amity hiding under a table.

“Kill them all.” She flashed me a sadistic smile. “Maybe watching your life get torn away will convince you. Start with Elena, Caleb.”

“NO!”

I tackled her through the black hole, smacking into the gym floor. Several of my classmates were cowering in the corner, their injuries being tended to by Cullen’s guard. Vivienne was among the wounded, a bloody hand clutching her side. One thing on my mind, I swung the sword in hopes of slicing her in half. She easily dodged each swing, chuckling at my desperation.

“Make them stop,” I said, swiping at her shoulder. “Make them leave. You made your point. Leave!”

“Why would I? Isn’t this fun? Look at them, shaking and scared.” There was a savage joy in her voice. “How pathetic these humans are, aren’t they? Why protect them?”

I missed her wrist by an inch. “Because it’s what we do.”

“You’re as blind as your dear grandmother. Don’t you get tired of it, Tessa?” She dodged another swing. “Being the good little girl, caring about their feelings. It’s all right to admit it. I got tired of it long ago.”

“They haven’t done anything to you,” I said, boiling with rage.

“They exist, that’s enough.” The hupias and hellhounds now turned their attention on me, to protect their ‘leader’. “These humans are insignificant things. We’d be better off without their constant whining. One snap of my fingers and my followers will tear them apart. Would you like to see?”

“STOP!”

The sword vibrated in my hand, a golden glow surrounding the blade. Beneath me, the floor shook, like a miniature earthquake, and a beam of golden light shot out of the sword, destroying one of the hupias. The reaper frowned at the sight of the charred remains.

“You should’ve submitted when you had the chance,” she whispered, as Cullen’s guard advanced towards her. “This isn’t over. Now the fun will begin.”

Another black hole formed in the gym floor, sweeping up her and her followers. Damon stopped me from jumping into the hole myself, my legs dangling in the air. In a split second, it disappeared, leaving behind a floor littered with confetti and fake snow. The sword did the same, no longer in my hands.

“Not how I saw this night going.” He easily fought against my flailing kicks. “We’re not here for a suicide mission.”

Everyone was staring at their two dead classmates. The Belmonts, hiding by the bleachers, forgot about the horrors of the past few minutes, their attention on their fallen relative. Rosalie, showing a sliver of visible emotion, wrapped her arms around his neck. Her words were muffled as she buried her face into his shoulder but they vaguely sounded like “I’m sorry, Fin”.

Belmont was startled by his sister’s open affection. At the same time, he appreciated being able to see his family again, especially his mother who bombarded him with kisses.

“F—Fin? E—Ellie?” asked Amity, reaching out to touch Elena’s arm. “W—what’s going on? How are you—you died and—why did Tessa—those creepy monsters—you both died.”

“What the hell are you?” Danvers said to Parker, who had clearly turned into a hellhound during the fight.

Their questions were left unanswered, thanks to movement from the pile of ashes. Abby emerged, her dress torn and blood around her lips and fingers. Elena crushed her small frame and kissed the top of her head.

“Abby, you’re okay. Where did you go?” she asked, frantically. “I was so scared. I thought I’d lost you.”

The guard, holding their weapons, faced the pair, some, like Evani, anxious. Sharing a solemn glance with Cowen, Cullen nodded and walked towards the sisters, retrieving a jagged dagger from his pocket. Putting two and two together, I slipped out of Damon’s grasp and moved in front of them, just as Cullen raised the dagger. Elena scooped Abby up into her arms, shielding her from view.

“Tessa, it’s what needs to be done,” he insisted, refusing to look me in the eye. “You were right about the hupias. This is how they have been getting across from the Underworld. It’s a vessel without realizing it. It has no control.”

“Her name is Abby,” I stated.

“Tessa...”

“I want you to say it. Her name is Abby,” I repeated. “She is not an it. She’s a person, a six year old girl.”

“It isn’t that simple and you know it,” he said, speaking as if he wanted to convince himself more than me.

“Actually, it is and if you want to get to her, you’ll have to kill me first.” His grip tightened on the dagger. “You said you wanted to be better than the ones before you, Cedric. Your father probably would’ve slit her throat without a second thought, probably mine too, right? Then be better. Don’t look at her as some hopeless cause. Find a way to fix it.”

“Cedric, there’s only one way,” said Cowen, sternly. “Put it out of its misery. Better to be gone from existence than to serve that abomination.”

Cullen looked from his guard, insistent on eliminating the threat, to Elena, silently begging him. He hesitated before lowering the dagger.

“Alistair, take care of this whole mess,” he ordered, slipping it back into his pocket. “Li, you’ll take Abby to the main chambers. The rest of you, continue your searching. No stone left unturned.”

His eyes finally met mine, his expression indescribable. Was it relief? Pity? Fear?

“Come with me.”

A hole formed in the gym doors and with a deep breath, I followed him through the swirling white light.