Mezzanine

| 29 |

I told Lola she could spend the night at my house. After everything that happened, I didn't want her out driving alone, but she insisted she needed to be home before nine. Her parents would worry if she wasn't.

She assured me it would be fine. It was only a ten minute drive, and she'd text me as soon as she got there.

She was right, but even after getting her message, I couldn't fight the fear building in my gut. Ever since learning our classmates were involved in that ritual, everything felt darker, like a veil had descended around the entire town. Before, it'd seemed like the danger was contained to the factory. As long as we stayed off Ninth Street, we'd be okay.

But now...I didn't know. Was anywhere in this town safe?

I thought about my brother and how my mom believed whatever this was came after him even when we lived far away in the city. It found him even there, miles and miles away.

None of us would be safe until we figured out what these demons wanted and how we could stop them from completing the ritual. There was nowhere we could hide.

That night, I lay awake in bed, listening to the storm raging outside my window as my thoughts of demons faded to dreams of fire and flames.

***

"Jay!" Carter waved his hand in front of my face. "Hello? Have you even been listening to me?"

I shook myself from the fog clouding my mind, trying my best to focus as I leaned back against my locker. The entire day was a blur, like I'd been running on autopilot.

"Sorry," I said. "What did you say?"

"I said, don't you have to get to detention now?"

"Yeah." I let out a heavy sigh as I checked the time on my phone. "I still have ten minutes before I have to be there, though."

Dread pooled in the pit of my stomach at the idea of spending an hour and a half with Andy, but at least I'd be able to keep my eye on him. If he became possessed again, I'd know before he could do anything.

I chewed on the insides of my cheeks, staring at a spot on the linoleum floor as I avoided eye contact with Carter. I didn't want him to see how nervous I was, but it was probably written all over my face.

"Hey, you feeling okay?" he asked. "You look pale."

I flipped my hair out of my eyes as I turned my head up, finally meeting his gaze. "I always look pale."

Maybe he has a fever. He reached his hand toward me like he was going to put it on my forehead to check my temperature, but I swatted him away.

"I'm not sick," I snapped. "I'm just...tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

He furrowed his brow as he packed the last of his books into his backpack. Why won't he talk about what happened?

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

I bit down on my lower lip, my gaze wandering to the students gathering their things and heading for the doors. Which of them were in the basement of the factory Friday night? I tried to remember who I saw at the party—who might have been possessed—but there were too many faces. A haze of thoughts swirled in my mind, making me nauseous with nerves.

I watched the group loitering by the lockers across the hall. Morgan, Evelyn, and Lola chatted with a couple of other girls from the cheer squad. Lola glanced over her shoulder, like she could feel me watching her. She looked like a deer in headlights when her gaze met mine.

Immediately, she broke eye contact. She turned to Morgan, placing her hand on her shoulder and whispering something before grabbing her bag and darting down the hall.