“About … ?”

“Are you ever going to tell me what happened?” she asked. “Or where you’ve been?”

I had strategically avoided this conversation for months because I didn’t want to lie to her anymore and I didn’t know how to be honest without dragging her into my mess of a life. “I stayed with Will and a friend of ours. That’s where I was. It was safe there.”

Safe. As soon as I said it, I realized how untrue that really was. Merodach and Kelaeno had found us and killed Nathaniel.

Kate nodded, her gaze gentle and forgiving. “I’m glad you were with him. I was so worried you were alone all that time, but your grandma kept telling me you were all right.”

I shrugged. “Sort of. I wasn’t exactly civil for a while.” She didn’t laugh. “No one can blame you for that. I can’t even imagine what you went through. I just wish you’d have let me be there for you.”

“I missed you,” I told her. “But I just couldn’t deal … I blamed myself for everything and I was so lost. I felt like my world had ended and kept dragging on like it didn’t get the memo.”

When Kate pulled me into her arms and squeezed me tight, I lost it. I wrapped my arms around her and cried into her shoulder. I had missed her so much. As she held me, I realized what a mistake it had been to shut her out. She was like my sister, and I’d just lost my parents. I needed an anchor to my humanity, and I’d practically cut the rope and allowed myself to drift away.

“I’m so sorry,” I said between sobs against her sweater.

“It’s okay,” she murmured back. “I’m glad you’re going to be all right.”

I pulled away, forcing a smile as I wiped at my face and then wiped her shoulder. “I got drool all over your sweater,” I said with a small laugh.

She smiled back and shrugged. “I’ll just get it dry-cleaned, so it’s somebody else’s problem.”

“You’re horrible,” I said with a loud sniffle. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

I leaned heavily against the counter, folding my arms over my chest, and I stared at the floor. We fell into silence for some time until I spoke at last. “My dad didn’t kill my mom,” I said. “I know that for sure. Whoever killed her killed them both.”

Kate stepped closer to me, her voice hushed. “Ellie, do you know something? If you know something, then you have to go to the police.”

“I …” I trailed off and shook my head. “I don’t know anything that would help the police, but I do know they’ll never catch who did it.”

“Don’t think that,” she said. “The cops are good. It’s their job to solve crimes.”

They’d never solve this one, though. “I know,” I said. I couldn’t bear arguing with her about it.

“How are you and Will?” she asked, changing the subject. “Are you okay yet?”

I nodded and shrugged at the same time. “Yeah. It’s just hard. He … lost his best friend not long after my mom died—the friend we had been staying with.”

She frowned. “Wow. What are the odds that you both would go through that at the same time?”

I huffed. What were the odds? For normal people, sure, it was pretty crazy. But not for me or Will. Death surrounded us.

Her phone buzzed and she slipped it out of her purse. Then she grinned. “Marcus just texted me and says he has a surprise. It’s probably another cupcake. This boy is going to make me fat.”

“It’s still really sweet that he surprises you at school,” I said longingly. I couldn’t help feeling a twinge of jealousy at this, but I knew it wasn’t right to feel that way. I was happy for Kate and Marcus, though I didn’t approve of Marcus keeping his secrets from her. But then again, it wasn’t like he could exactly tell her that he wasn’t human. Ugh. That was a conundrum for someone else to solve.

She took my hand. “Come with me to see him before we go back to class?”

I nodded and followed her out of the restroom and toward the front doors of the school. Marcus was standing in front of a sleek black Maserati. Kate squealed and skipped up to him before launching herself into his arms. They kissed briefly, politely, since I was standing there.

“Nice car,” I said, eyeing him.

“Thanks,” he replied. “I let Ava use it sometimes, so if you see her in it, she didn’t steal it. She’s not a car person. She doesn’t know how to appreciate a fine machine like this.”

The suggestive way he said that made me wonder whether he was talking about the car or himself. I chose not to ask.

He turned his back and ducked into his car for a moment before returning with a small white box in his hand. He presented it to Kate. She flashed me a knowing look and then beamed and squealed at him as she tore open the box to find—of course—a cupcake with pink frosting. She danced and threw an arm around his neck and kissed him again.

“I’ve even got one for you, too, Ellie,” he said, untangling himself from Kate, and he took a second small box from inside the car. He handed it to me, and inside was another cupcake.

“Wow, thank you, Marcus.” I was kind of surprised that he would have gotten one for me, too, but I wasn’t going to argue with him.

“The second one was supposed to be mine,” he admitted with a shrug. “But since I don’t want to look like a jackass, I’ll give it to you. See what a nice guy I am?”