“Kaylee, I know what I would be willing to do to protect you, and I see the same kind of commitment in him when he looks at you. There is nothing—no one—he wouldn’t be willing to go through for you.”

“That’s mutual, Dad. I’d do the same for him.”

“I know.” He blinked, and his eyes stayed closed so long I thought he might be praying. “That’s the scariest part of all.”

* * *

When my dad went back to bed, I texted Emma. One word.

Incoming…

Her response came a minute later—OK—and I blinked into her room just as she turned on her bedside lamp. Toto, another of Styx’s littermates, started growling less than a second after I arrived. Evidently being dead made me suspect.

“It’s twelve-thirty in the morning, Kay,” Emma grumbled, sitting up in the bed in a purple polka-dot pajama top. “Some of us actually have to sleep.”

“Sorry. I need to borrow something and I wanted to check on you.”

“Why?”

“Because Avari knows who you are and where you live.”

“Yeah. That’s why Toto’s here.” She patted the bed and Toto jumped onto it, then curled up in her lap, a fierce little ball of fur with sharp teeth and small, dark eyes that watched me closely.

“Yes, but we don’t understand what we saw when we talked to Scott last night, which means we don’t know what kind of restrictions Avari has in this form. For all we know, Toto may not even recognize him as a hellion.” And even if he did, if Avari had a physical presence in the human plane, what was to stop him from bashing in the poor dog’s head just to shut him up? What good was an early warning system when it couldn’t prevent the thing it was warning you about?

“Would it creep you out if I pop in a couple of times during the night to check on you?”

Emma frowned. “Yes. But do it, anyway. I’d rather be creeped out than possessed or dead. No offense to recently departed.”

I smiled. “None taken.”

“So what did you want to borrow?”

“Okay, promise you won’t laugh…”

She threw the covers back and crawled to the end of the bed. “No way. Spill.”

“Do you still have your Halloween costume from last year?”

Her brows rose in interest. “The candy stripper? Yeah, I think it’s still in there.” She was already halfway across the room, headed for the closet. “Why?”

“It’s kind of a bribe.”

“For Tod?” She glanced at me as she pulled the closet door open, and I nodded. “Not that I don’t totally approve of the intent, but I doubt you’d have to bribe Tod into doing anything for you.”

“Okay, then, it’s a reward.”

“Wow. Somebody must have been a very good boy.” She dug into the clothes hanging in her closet, all the way at the back, on the right.

“It’s probably a stupid idea. I just thought…” But I couldn’t explain what I’d thought, and I wasn’t sure I should. I didn’t want her to know about the emptiness that swelled inside me in the middle of the night, when I was all alone. I didn’t want her to know that giving into the emptiness was so much easier than fighting it, and that the only way I’d found to fight it was to keep living. Keep being a student, and a friend, and a daughter, even when sometimes those roles no longer seemed to fit.

Being with Tod was the only thing that still felt natural, and…

“You just thought what?” Emma pulled the costume from the back of the closet and held it up, still on the hanger.

“I just thought that with all the death, and the demon possessions, and the evil teachers, and stuff, we should try to have fun whenever and wherever we can. Even if all we have is a few stolen moments in an empty hospital room. Does that sound stupid?”

“I think it sounds beautiful.” She frowned. “What do you think that says about me?”

“That you spend too much time with me.” I studied the costume critically, eyeing the short red-and-white-striped skirt and the very low, heart-shaped neckline. “I’m going to look like an idiot in that.”

“You’re gonna look great. If living dead boy doesn’t have a pulse already, he will when he sees you in this.”

“Thanks, Em.”

“No problem. Now get out of here so I can get some sleep,” she said. I took the hanger from her, but before I could blink out, her eyes widened. “Oh, don’t forget the tights!” She pulled open the top drawer of her dresser and started rooting in it, and when she turned around again, she held a pair of lacy white costume tights with tiny red crosses embroidered all over. Then she looked at me and frowned. “On second thought, tights get in the way and they’re too easy to rip. I’ll just keep them.”

“Em, your tights are safe. I’m not planning to…go that far. Tonight.” Nor was I entirely clear on how that possibility would be a threat to her tights.

She rolled her eyes. “As the poster child for unplanned sex, I wholly recommend spontaneity. As the product of unplanned sex, I wholly recommend protection. Not that that’s a problem for you. Either way, the tights stay here.”

“Wait, does that mean you’re planning my spontaneous sex?”

“Someone has to.”

“But if you plan it, how is it spontaneous?”

“You’re already overthinking it. You’re not supposed to do that until afterward.”